Following my recent investigation on the failed attempts to exploit Afghan resources for Declassified Australia and Declassified UK, I was interviewed by South Africa’s Radio Islam about the story and what’s happening in Afghanistan today.
The never-ending gold rush in Afghanistan
My latest investigation is a joint piece for Declassified Australia and Declassified UK on the rush to exploit Afghan resources (mostly since 9/11): The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August last year has caused the country to implode. It was already on life support after more than 40 years of war but the swift removal…
ABC Radio National Big Ideas on Afghanistan and the Taliban
The ongoing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan receives far too little international media attention. Last night ABC Radio National Big Ideas program featured a discussion about the issues: The crisis in Afghanistan Six months after the withdrawal of Australian troops from Afghanistan, it is clear the embattled country is in the midst of a major humanitarian…
The war on drugs from a Slovakian view
My book, Pills, Powder and Smoke: Inside the Bloody War on Drugs, was recently released in a Slovakian edition. It’s been reviewed in Slovakia’s biggest newspaper, SME, by Lubomir Jasko, and it’s very positive. Here’s the Google Translate version: Anti-drug campaign or war against people? Antony Loewenstein, The War on Drugs, translated by Samuel Marec,…
How modern life is sucking away our focus
My book review in The Saturday Paper on Johann Hari’s book, Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention: We’re all drowning in distraction. “It felt like our civilisation had been covered with itching powder,” writes British journalist Johann Hari near the beginning of this insightful, global investigation, “and we spent our time twitching and twerking…
Melbourne’s Triple R radio interview on Declassified Australia
Late last year, I co-founded the new media outlet, Declassified Australia. We aim to critically report on Australia’s real relationship with the world. It’s often not pretty. Today I was interviewed on Melbourne’s Triple R about it all.
The enduring legacy of disaster capitalism in its many forms
The stubbornness of disaster capitalism is legendary. I recently spoke to the New York-based podcast series News Beat on the war in Afghanistan and how many people made a fortune during the 20-year US occupation. The show has done a follow-up episode just on disaster capitalism and in it I discuss mining, Blackwater founder Erik…
Pakistan wants to end the drug war
One of Pakistan’s biggest newspaper, The Express Tribune, positively reviews my book, Pills, Powder and Smoke: Inside the Bloody War on Drugs: Released last year, Antony Loewenstein’s book titled, Pills, Powder, and Smoke: Inside The Never-Ending, Bloody War On Drugs is a detailed investigation into the individuals, officials, activists and traffickers caught up in the long-spanning…
20 Years: The words that shaped the war in Afghanistan
As part of the Twenty Years project, a journalistic and artistic initiative with Afghans in Australia and around the world to assess the legacy of the US-led war in Afghanistan, we commissioned young, female, Afghan-Australian artists to make a short film on these themes. This is their statement: The fall of Kabul in 2021 was…
The countless ways to punish drug users
A key theme in my latest book, Pills, Powder and Smoke: Inside the Bloody War on Drugs, is the absurdity of governments continuing to push futile drug war policies. This week I was interviewed by the UK Telegraph about a new British policy that aims to punish drug users with the threat of losing their…