Happy new year, Rupert

Following Britain’s Business Secretary Vince Cable declaring his opposition to Rupert Murdoch, this letter in today’s UK Independent expresses the views of many who care about media diversity and decency: Vince Cable’s remarks to the undercover reporters were undiplomatic, yes, but heartening nevertheless. What Cable didn’t say was why he thinks so little of Murdoch.…

Yet more Wikileaks cables to devour

When the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten recently announced it had received the entire collection of the Wikileaks cable dump, the world was strangely silent. But there is a treasure trove in there and should be examined. Heaps on Sri Lanka from the last years, including Colombo allegedly purchasing weapons from North Korea and Iran. Norway as…

Ahmadinejad bitch slapped by even harder hard-liner

Oh my: The chief of the Revolutionary Guard angrily slapped Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in early 2010, as Tehran was still dealing with the fallout from last year’s election, according to a leaked US diplomatic cable. The cable, written in February, said Revolutionary Guard Chief of Staff Mohammed Ali Jafari blamed Ahmadinejad for the post-election…

Tel Aviv more than happy to help Beijing target its own people

What’s a Zionist state to do when it has such wonderfully useful skills at managing occupation and repressing people? Sell that knowledge to another repressive state such as China: Sino-Israeli relations were generally distant prior to the 1980s but that decade saw the beginning of significant Israeli arms and technology transfers to China. Early efforts…

Fallujah children suffering because of us?

What will the West do if we are at fault in causing massive defects in Iraqi children? A study examining the causes of a dramatic spike in birth defects in the Iraqi city of Falluja has for the first time concluded that genetic damage could have been caused by weaponry used in US assaults that…

Britain always sees its role as imperial power

Post 9/11 there have been countless discussions about the lack of accountability for foreign forces and privatised mercenaries in theatres of war. This debate isn’t so new and Western governments have clearly long believed that they have the right to act and kill as they wish: SAS soldiers were to be provided with life insurance…

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