Showing all posts in June 2019

Come on down, Mark Slater of Page in the ACT: “Of course John Howard has confidence in Amanda Vanstone. He is confident she will stonewall, blame-shift and protest ignorance just as his ministerial code of misconduct demands. After all, she’s learnt everything she knows about accountability from the Little Master; say as little of substance…

“The Jordanian businessman accused of passing oil money from Saddam Hussein to George Galloway has revealed that he is once again trading in Iraq and making trips to America with the approval of the US authorities.” The Independent reports today that Fawaz Zureikat says “neither the new government in Baghdad nor US officials had raised…

Gerard Henderson is known for being boring. He exceeds at his chosen craft, writing weekly in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald on matters of national importance and defending those groups, individuals or countries desperately in need of assistance. Today, the establishment’s friend and ally wraps his warm embrace around Bush’s America. Phil Gomes takes…

What is the future of the Australian Liberal Party? When John Howard finally leaves the stage, what will remain? There is much evidence to suggest an organisation controlled by far right thugs. Enter Alex Hawke, Federal President of the Young Liberals. The Sydney Morning Herald reported in May 2004 of a physical altercation between moderates…

“For the past three weeks, a set of figures has been working a hole in my mind. On April 16th, New Scientist published a letter from the famous botanist David Bellamy. Many of the world’s glaciers, he claimed, ‘are not shrinking but in fact are growing. …555 of all the 625 glaciers under observation by…

With another Central Asian nation suddenly in the news and the outbreak of violence causing hundreds of deaths (blamed both on Muslim extremists and the army), let’s take a look at this virtually ignored country in the region. As widely reported, Uzbek President Islam Karimov is a staunch ally in George W. Bush’s “War on…

Patrick Cockburn is the UK Independent’s Iraq correspondent. He paints a depressing picture of current day Iraq. “There is no doubt that the US has failed to win the war. Much of Iraq is a bloody no man’s land. The army has not been able to secure the short highway to the airport, though it…

A reassuring sign that Australian television still believes a woman’s place is acting like a lady and behaving as a princess. A depressing new program is looking for contestants: “If you think you’re a ”˜diamond in the rough’ who can be transformed into a Princess with poise, elegance, beauty and grace, then fill out the…

The Washington Post provides a gripping account of US Marines fighting insurgents in Western Iraq. “They came here to die,” said Gunnery Sgt. Chuck Hurley, commander of the team from the 1st Platoon, Lima Company, of the Marines’ 3rd Battalion, 25th Regiment. The article fails to mention any effect of the action on the local…

Does Israel have close to 400 nuclear warheads? Former Pentagon official and whistle-blower, Daniel Ellsberg, made the announcement at a recent news conference before the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty conference at the UN in New York. “That’s more than Britain, China, India and Pakistan, and probably more than France”, he said. Israel’s arsenal should be abolished…