Read this stunning… story… by Ken Silverstein in Foreign Policy. It’s about corporate power, energy needs, corruption, immunity from prosecution, Bill Clinton, the company Glencore and how our world is increasingly ordered: When Glencore, the world’s biggest commodities brokerage firm, went public in May 2011, the initial public offering (IPO) on the London and Hong Kong stock…
Our failed war against Yemen
Yet another country where US policy has empowered resistance forces against a corrupt and brutal central government. Jeremy Scahill and Richard Rowley report for Al-Jazeera:
Nobody said US war-making was smart; paying insurgents off who then attack us
No commentary required (and similar things are clearly happening in Afghanistan, I heard it discussed routinely during my recent visit there). Eli Lake reports for The Daily Beast: During the war in Iraq, battalion commanders were allocated packets of $100 bills and authorized to use them for anything from repairing a schoolhouse to paying off…
The Australian right to target businesses complicit with Israeli occupation
The position of BDS [boycott, divestment and sanctions] in Australia remains highly relevant. Debating Israeli apartheid in Palestine is necessary. This case starts today: On May 1, 19 Melbourne activists will be put on trial for their political activity. In a precedent-setting case, these pro-Palestine activists will be fighting a variety of charges designed to…
Scahill on Obama’s war on Muslim civilians
The relentless US-led drone war against “terrorists” in Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan, Afghanistan and beyond rarely examines who is actually being killed. President Obama has massively expanded the global program. This weekend saw a Drone Summit held… in Washington DC that highlighted this still largely secret war. A keynote speaker was the leading investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill…
Shadow of Bin Laden continues to haunt
The life and times of Osama Bin Laden post 9/11 remains shrouded in mystery. During my recent visit to Pakistan, I spent time with Shaukat Qadir, a retired Pakistani Army Brigadier, who personally investigated the story behind Bin Laden’s killing last year. This lead story in the Guardian by Jason Bourke adds more details to…
Long past time to retire Zionism
Gideon Levy in Haaretz writes a provocative essay that proves how Zionism has become a word and ideology that largely represents occupation and exclusion: Zionism is already 115 years old; it should have retired long ago. If on Independence Day we’re concerned about the future of a state approaching retirement age (presuming it’s a man,…
“Gender trumps everything” in Middle East
I don’t agree with all the points made here by Mona Eltahawy about gender repression in the Muslim world but it’s an important discussion:
Serco is determined to do one thing worldwide; turn a massive profit
If more evidence was needed of the global menace that is British multinational Serco (via Salon): On April 4, Barbara Harms’ boss forced her to attend a meeting about why she shouldn’t join a union. The two-hour, on-the-clock meeting was run by Michael Penn, a professional anti-union consultant. Harms says Penn told workers that “you’re…