My weekly Guardian column is published today: This month, the United Nations accused Canberra of… potentially breaking international law… by forcibly repelling refugee boats back to Indonesia.… Adrian Edwards, spokesman for the UN high commissioner for refugees,… said… that the international body was “concerned by any policy or practice that involved pushing asylum-seeker boats back at sea without a proper…
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Why Obama embraces NSA spying
After watching the awful CBS show this morning in New York, Face the Nation, with laughable coverage of the NSA and establishment figures backing its secrecy and illegality, here’s Glenn Greenwald with a reality check on the need to push back against state intelligence gathering: In response to political scandal and public outrage, official Washington…
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Boycott of Israel makes prime-time coverage in Israel
The Zionist lobby and its various backers can argue that global anti-Semitism is the reason the Jewish state is increasingly isolated. Dream on. Here’s Larry Derfner, writing in +972 Magazine, explaining the sign of the BDS times: On Saturday night the boycott of Israel gained an impressive new level of mainstream recognition in this country.…
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Arena Magazine reviews Profits of Doom
The following review (arenaprofitsofdoom) of my book Profits of Doom appears in Arena Magazine this month.
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US media largely ignores world; citizens remain insular
The role of corporate media is to serve powerful business interest and advertisers; serving the public good ain’t really a serious consideration. New data from the US is both disturbing and unsurprising and shows even more reason why alternative and indy media must grow in power (via IPS): If people outside the United States are…
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Why the Wikileaks Party visit to Syria was so delusional
My weekly Guardian column is published below: The sight of Australian citizens associated with the WikiLeaks party… sitting and chatting… with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad… during their… recent… “solidarity… mission”, along with their comments about the regime, is a damning indictment on a party that ran a… dismal election campaign… in 2013 and has never bothered to explain… its subsequent collapse. For WikiLeaks supporters…
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America's special-ops reach into every corner of the planet
Nick Turse is one of America’s most concise chroniclers of empire. His latest essay in TomDispatch attempts to gain information about the real number of US special operation forces operating across the globe. It’s a tough task but goes to the heart of what America has become: This year, Special Operations Command has plans to…
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Thanks for all the support and long may it continue
To all my readers, supporters, friends and interlocutors, thanks for all your ongoing support of my work and I look forward to continuing the relationship in 2014 and beyond. Many plans and projects on the way. Long live independent journalism.
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Wikileaks Party meets Syria's Assad and ignores reality of country
It’s the first day of 2014 and what a way to begin the new year. Today’s Australian newspaper features this story on page one by Jared Owens and Rick Morton. As a Wikileaks supporter since 2006, right from the beginning… (and I remain a public backer of the organisation), it’s tragic to see the Wikileaks Party…
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How Western-backed Saudi fundamentalism is causing chaos
One of the great unspoken truths of the 21st century. After this week’s shocking terrorist acts in Russia, it’s possible (though impossible to know) that Saudi Arabia may be behind the carnage (they threatened as much a few months ago). The venerable Patrick Cockburn, writing in the UK Independent, on the ominous signs of sectarian…