My following investigation appears in New Matilda: When Antony Loewenstein visited Haiti earlier this month he found a country still struggling to recover from 2010’s devastating earthquake – and foreign NGOs doing little to empower ordinary Haitians The earthquake shook Haiti’s National Palace to its core. The moment tremors hit on 12 January 2010, the…
Category General
Assange to UN: “It is time for the US to cease its persecution of WikiLeaks”
More on the compelling Julian Assange speech to the UN here.
Living under drones; the reality of US weapons in Pakistan
A new report documents the reality of what “precision” drone attacks mean for Pakistani civilians:
In the Syrian civil war, America and jihadis are on the same side
Yet more spectacular reporting from Ghaith Abdul-Ahad (the man has form) from the Syrian city of Aleppo (via the Guardian): Soldiers! Soldiers!” The man hissed his warning as he hurried past, two bullets from a government sniper kicking up dust from the dirt road behind him. It was enough for Abu Omar al-Chechen. His ragtag…
Breaking news; Egypt wants greater independence while Washington and Israel quiver
Fascinating interview with Egypt’s new President Mohamed Morsi in the New York Times that will be a welcome wake-up call to those presuming Cairo will remain a dutiful client state. No chance: Mr. Morsi, 61, whose office was still adorned with nautical paintings that Mr. Mubarak left behind, said the United States should not expect…
Afghanistan remains a massively outsourced war
Most of the world media announced last week that America’s “surge” in Afghanistan was over. Not so fast. Here’s some numbers (via Mother Jones) that reveal the depth of Washington’s occupation in the country: Here a few more numbers to keep in mind as we approach the 2014 deadline for withdrawal of US combat forces:…
“Only in America” files; get students more weapons
This is a lead story in today’s Wall Street Journal which I’m reading in California. It’s hard to understate the insanity of these proposals, that the more guns circulating in society the better, that more guns will make America safer: At more college campuses across the country, students are winning the right to pack a…
Finally, some resistance to disaster capitalism masters G4S
Via the Guardian: The private security firm… G4S… should be the first name on a government blacklist of “high-risk” companies that have failed to deliver public services, a cross-party investigation into the… Olympic security shambles… has concluded. The Commons home affairs committee says G4S should forgo its …£57m management fee for the contract that it still insists on claiming…
Everything you think about the goodness of the West is wrong
Read on. David Cromwell from Medialens provides the antidote to the false narrative which we’re taught from a young age.