Barack Obama has pledged to close Guantanamo Bay and rebuild “America’s moral stature in the world”. Noble sentiments, but evidence is mounting that the use of torture will continue as a policy of the US.
Showing all posts in June 2019
How a militant group thinks
The logic of Hamas in the Gaza Strip and beyond: Escalating the conflict in Gaza, and even committing a suicide bombing within the Green Line, can affect Israel’s electoral process. Hamas may believe that a rise in terrorism will lead to the election of Likud, which will improve the group’s own image in the international…
Doing us all a favour
A piece the New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman should write as soon as possible: The sudden outbreak of peace in Iraq has made me realize, among other things, one incontestable fact: I have no business holding a pen, at least with intent to write. I know, you’re thinking I’m going too far. I…
We stand up for all human rights, not just Jews
Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) recently released a collection of essays by Jewish dissenters. My chapter, as the co-founder of Independent Australian Jewish Voices (IAJV), is about the situation in Australia and the growth of public anger towards Israel’s war crimes in the occupied territories. The book, A Time to Speak Out, launched in London and…
Honesty is the best policy
Facebook, twitter, blog, facebook, email, online game, then blog, how long have you stayed online? If you have stared at your computer screen and clutched your mouse for over 6.13 hours a day, you are, I am sorry, a person of mental disorder according to the latest official definition in China. China will be the…
Another side of a “liberated” country
Kabul Korrespondence is a blog written by a Westerner living in the Afghan capital. He’s also an editor of the world’s first Afghan photo agency, Aina Photo. A post from yesterday details the fascinating contradictions of the fledgling nation: Schoolboy error shouldn’t stop attempted suicide bomber’s timetable This morning, he was a committed jihadist. This…
Iran isn’t the only problem
Internet censorship is increasingly occurring in so-called democracies, including Argentina: Since 2006, Internet users in Argentina have been blocked from searching for information about some of country’s most notable individuals. Over 100 people have successfully secured temporary restraining orders that direct Google and Yahoo! Argentina to scrub the results of search queries. The list of…
A picture of the region
Minute 22, a project by the bi-monthly magazine Sowar, is “about taking a single photo at the exact same time in the Arab world”: Egypt – 2:22pm Iraq – 2:22pm Jordan – 2:22pm Lebanon – 2:22pm Saudi Arabia – 2:22pm Syria – 2:22pm Yemen – 2:22pm Libya – 1:22pm Sudan – 2:22pm Morocco – 12:22pm…