My following investigation appears in New Matilda today: Papua New Guinea has a new leader but the country’s relationship to mining remains complex. Locals who aren’t happy about the growth of the industry are left with few options, reports Antony Loewenstein from Port Moresby At Port Moresby international airport in Papua New Guinea sits piles…
Category General
Please remember to close the door behind you in Afghanistan
“The country is in a state of slow decline”, says… Jennifer Rowell, advocacy coordinator for CARE in Afghanistan, in the New York Times. The country’s reliance on foreign aid has made the situation dire and as security deteriorates it appears many programs will disappear. Relying on mercenaries to protect civilian work creates a whole range of…
MSM has duty not to replay Iraq 2003 with Iran 2012
While some in the corporate media, such as this article in the LA Times, question how the US has any idea about Iran’s actual nuclear program, the bigger question is how journalists report the information given by military and government sources. Do they become, like in Iraq in 2002 and 2003, propagandists for war? The…
What Arabs really think (and guess what, Israel and America are the real threats)
Fascinating new research, published on Al Jazeera, that reflects Arab opinions more than one year after the Arab Spring: A majority describe themselves as religious, but they mostly don’t support the interference of religious authorities in citizens’ political choices. 71 per cent say they don’t distinguish between religious and non-religious people in their economic and…
Rejecting Serco in Australia
All power to these people, highlighting to the public the reality of the rapacious British multinational Serco: Opponents of the privatisation of government services today took their concerns to the door of the Perth office of multi-national provider, Serco. About 60 people under the banner of Occupy Perth – the same group that held a…
What the MSM isn’t telling us about the war in Afghanistan
My following book review appears in today’s Sydney Morning Herald: A journalist with access to a superpower’s military machine refuses to toe the line. “I went into journalism to do journalism, not advertising,” independent American journalist Michael Hastings told… The Huffington Post… in 2010. ”My views are critical but that shouldn’t be mistaken for hostile – I’m…
Saluting the power of Anthony Shadid-style journalism in a cynical age
Famed New York Times journalist Anthony Shadid died tragically in February in… Syria… while reporting the war there. He was one of the finest reporters of his generation, spending years in the Arab world explaining its twists and turns. He proved that insightful, punchy and beautifully written journalism still matters in the modern age. Now his widow,…
Outsourcing justice; G4S wants control in Britain
The world’s largest security company, privately run for profit, wants to run even more of our lives. Open Democracy… explains: A violent burglary. The scenes of crime officer who visits your house is employed by G4S. Fibre samples are found, swabs taken and despatched to G4S Forensics. A suspect is held in police cells run by…
Understanding PNG and how the resource curse infects everything
During my recent visit to the country, not a day passed when a land-owner or NGO didn’t complain about the negative effects of Western corporations on daily lives; exploitation supported by a corrupt political elite. Some recently released documents via Wikileaks provides a grim picture. Both are written by Australian journalist Philip Dorling. The most…