My weekly Guardian column is here: Reading the global and Australian media recently, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Russian president Vladimir Putin is a dangerous demagogue who threatens the security of the world after his country’s involvement in Ukraine and Crimea. How many times have we seen those infamous… shirtless photographs… of Putin looking menacing and…
Showing all posts in June 2019
A truly free society would support and not silence BDS
Me at ABC’s The Drum today: The BDS movement is a logical and non-violent response to human rights abuses in Palestine, so why is it being threatened in a country like America that prides itself on free speech, asks Antony Loewenstein. It seems barely a week passes without a student union or corporation somewhere in…
Why Zionism is incompatible with democracy
Great discussion on Al Jazeera English on the (in?) ability of the Jewish state to be a truly democratic nation for all its citizens.… Mehdi Hasan debates with former Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben Ami: )
Ed Snowden: Encryption is answer to NSA spying
Striking conversation with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden at America’s SXSW overnight. We can and must resist unwarranted government and corporate snooping:
Condemning media propaganda over Russia and Ukraine
The Western media prides itself on self-criticism but the fact remains that very journalists routinely challenge the inherent power structures of government and the press. RT host Abby Martin this week damned Russian incursions into Crimea and meddling in Ukraine (she maintains her job thus far) and in this interview with CNN’s Piers Morgan she…
It's time for Australia to face up to its dark military past and present
My weekly Guardian column is published today: Official, government-mandated story telling should be treated with suspicion. How else to to separate the truth from hagiograhy? Australian prime minister Tony Abbott was in Darwin last week-end to… attend a welcome home ceremony… for soldiers who fought in Afghanistan. “Australians don’t fight to conquer”, he said in a voice…
3AW Neil Mitchell interview about drugs and decriminalisation
In 2012 I wrote for the Guardian a column about the lunacy of the “war on drugs” and the need to decriminalise or legalise many drugs. Last week I was interviewed by one of Australia’s more popular radio presenters, Neil Mitchell, about these issues and why it’s becoming increasingly mainstream, especially in the US, to…
How Israel brutally imposes regional order (yet fails to get respect)
A strong piece by Larry Derfner in +972 magazine: Most people in the West, I’d say, think that if Israel gives up the occupation, it will be healed. It will no longer be a danger to others and itself. Unfortunately, that’s not the case, and additional proof of this came Monday night when Israeli jet…