The evidence that Tony Blair has amassed a fortune since leaving office is clear. He’s rather keen on providing advice to dictators. This news is therefore unsurprising. It’s how these people see the world; PR is a substitute for human rights. It pays far more, too: He has produced four volumes of diaries, become a…
Showing all posts in June 2019
My Mind’s Own Melody trailer
This looks fascinating. Now that I’m working on a documentary about disaster capitalism (which has nothing to do with wild musicals), I’m very interested in the use and abuse of style in the service of a bigger aim. Here’s the just released trailer for a new Australian short film and a little background to the…
Global detention centres are thriving and vulture capitalists rejoice
Placing tortured asylum seekers into immigration detention in Britain – where private companies “take care” of aspects of this process – is shameful. Britain’s Channel 4 has the story: Meanwhile, in Australia Serco is loving the increase in asylum boats. The more the merrier. Yesterday’s Australian records the screams of joy from the Serco board-room:…
Future warfare will be brought to you by a multinational
Wired reports: Sure, it took an extra year or so, but Northrop Grumman has finally penciled in the first flight of the giant surveillance airship it’s building for the U.S. Army. The… Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle… —… a football-field-size, helium-filled robot blimp fitted with sensors and data-links — should take to the air over Lakehurst, New Jersey, the…
ABC TV News interview about freedom of speech in West and beyond
During last week’s Sydney Writer’s Festival, before my PEN lecture on free speech, I was interviewed by ABC TV News about the growing threat to our freedoms in the West, as governments and private companies monitor and collect our digital details: [video… ogg=”/cms/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/586444_20120517-Sydney-Writers_video2.ogg” mp4=”/cms/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/586444_20120517-Sydney-Writers_video2.m4v” width=”400″ height=”224″]
Assange interviews President of Ecuador Rafael Correa
His show, The World Tomorrow (past episodes here), is one of the most fascinating shows around at the moment (Salon’s Glenn Greenwald is spot-on). It provides a worldview largely missing from the corporate media. This week’s interview covers #Occupy, US hegemony and a changing Latin America:
What real war coverage should look like
This is remarkable. Returned US army vets giving back their medals of honour near this week’s NATO conference in Chicago. Powerful, poignant and the kind of voices almost never heard in the mainstream media. Much easier and safer to interview generals (hello ABC TV’s 7.30 last night) about a war in Afghanistan that they’ve ruined…
Why my people are broken part 775432
Utterly depressing form of group-think at the Jerusalem Post. The title is, “Yes, all criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic!“. The Zionist state is immensely powerful in so many ways yet remains utterly insecure. That’s what occupying another people will do to you: That is to say, the historical circumstances under which Israel and the Jews…
Thank you Saudi Arabia for expanding drone war in Yemen
That’s what a good, autocratic ally does for America; remain dictatorial while “fighting terrorism”. The New York Review of Books: The United States is quietly being drawn into an escalating conflict in Yemen. Following the discovery earlier this month of a new bomb plot aimed at American airliners, the US government has been aiming drones…