A new book by a Wall Street Journal journalist, Jess Bravin, features on Democracy Now! and explains the legal, ethical and moral black-hole that the Bush and Obama administrations have established on the Cuban prison island:
Category General
Rejecting hate speech spewed by Geert Wilders
I was proud to be involved in last night’s Sydney rally against far-right, anti-Islam racist Geert Wilders, raising my voice against his bigotry. I believe he has the right to free speech but opponents have a responsibility to challenge his bile. Via AAP: About 100 protesters are rallying outside a function centre in Sydney’s west…
When the Saudis strike Yemen don’t expect Washington or MSM to care
The “war on terror” remains as murky as ever. Interesting post by Sheila Carapico for Middle East Research and Information Project: Senate hearings to confirm John Brennan as the Obama administration’s appointment to be director of the CIA… brought to light… a heretofore clandestine American military facility in Saudi Arabia near the kingdom’s border with Yemen. While…
If vulture capitalism could be defined at Florida Atlantic University…
The infiltration of corporations into every aspect of modern life is something that should be resisted, not least because the agenda of a private prison company is rather different to a university. Or should be. Over to you, New York Times: In recent years, where stadium naming rights could be sold, universities and professional sports…
Amy Goodman on what independent media looks like
Great interview of the Democracy Now! host on PBS and AOL in 2013:
How Britain sells weapons to the world and still claims to be responsible nation
Penetrating story by Andy Beckett in the Guardian: In the town centre of Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria, between McDonald’s and Carphone Warehouse, there is an unusual statue. Four firm-jawed figures in factory clothes stand back-to-back. One wears a flat cap, one wields a sledgehammer, one has a welder’s visor. All of them are in purposeful poses,…
So this is how the Iraq war could have started
A fascinating insight from the British mercenary Simon Mann in Vice magazine about what the Bush administration were really like; criminals on a war mission: Weren’t you also asked to help kick start the Iraq War in 2002? Yes. Someone who said he was friends with the American neocons asked me to come up with…
Disaster capitalism photography and film event hits Sydney
I’m proud to announce the following in Sydney in August (with Melbourne and hopefully overseas to follow soon after.) This will compliment my book on the subject out in the same month.… More information in the coming months: Disaster capitalism is the ideology of our age, supported by the vast bulk of the political and media…
The real Wikileaks and Julian Assange
Amidst all the (mostly) slamming coverage that occurs in the media against Julian Assange and Wikileaks, it’s a welcome relief to read this long interview of Assange by John Keane in The Conversation: Julian Assange could be described as the… Tom Paine… of the early 21st century. Drawing strength from distress, disgusted by the hypocrisy of governments,…
Bush tortured and Obama drones; discuss
Jane Mayer in the New Yorker teases out the issues: There are some disturbing similarities between the Obama white paper and the Bush torture memos. Both use slippery legal language to parse dark government programs. Both have been deliberately hidden from public and even congressional oversight. And both involve the blurring of C.I.A. and military…