Sometimes I read something that puts the notion of human rights into perspective. This story about a man who escaped from a North Korean gulag is shocking beyond belief. It sounds like hell on earth: His first memory is an execution. He walked with his mother to a wheat field, where guards had rounded up…
Category General
When Murdoch and Israel collide, it all makes sense
This stunning investigation in the Australian Financial Review is fascinating on a range of levels, not least Rupert Murdoch’s relationship with the Israeli military and intelligence elite. What does this say? There is a seamless and ethical-free zone inhabited by multinationals that naturally gravitates towards the Zionist state because of its self-described expertise in security:…
Nothing is private in the 21st century
Our digital world is increasingly monitored by a range of state and non-state actors. Be afraid and be aware. A recent cover story in Wired showed how the US government, with no transparency, is building a massive listening station where everybody is targeted: Under construction by contractors with top-secret clearances, the blandly named Utah Data…
September 11 and Bin Laden; more pieces of the puzzle
Another day and another fascinating insight into Osama Bin Laden post 9/11 and the real role of Pakistan. Lead story in today’s Dawn: Al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden moved to Pakistan in 2002, a few months after US started large-scale air strikes on Afghanistan, particularly in the Tora Bora region, during its anti-Taliban war…
What happened that night in Kandahar when US solider committed massacre?
Australian TV SBS Dateline travelled to the site and investigated:
Destroying Afghanistan one freedom bomb at a time
After 9/11, the West invaded Afghanistan under the guise of eradicating terrorism and helping its poor people. Years later, this is our legacy: The Afghan government should release the approximately 400 women and girls imprisoned in Afghanistan for “moral crimes,” Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. The United States and other…
“Paper of record” still too keen to report US/Israeli view over Iran
Editor of the New York Times Jill Abramson claims her paper’s coverage on Israel and Iran is impartial and there’s no chance the “flawed” 2003 reporting over Iraq could happen again (via Politico): Q: What are the concerns and considerations you take into account when covering the tensions between Israel and Iran, especially in light…
Iran’s horrific death penalty poison
Amnesty International releases its 2012 report on executions globally and Guardian Films features one story from Iran about a lawyer who saves juveniles from the hangman:
One loaded British Tory who just happened to love Libyan rebels
This is how power works, a rare window into modern politics. If you thought the war in Libya was truly about liberating the Libyan people, 99% of players behind it had other ideas. Here’s the UK Telegraph: A major Tory donor whose oil firm was given government help to set up a supply deal in…
How Australia enjoys being a client state part 975432
The Washington Post explains how Canberra is desperate to help America maintain hegemony: The United States and Australia are planning a major expansion of military ties, including possible drone flights from a coral atoll in the Indian Ocean and increased U.S. naval access to Australian ports, as the Pentagon looks to shift its forces closer…