I’ve just returned from Afghanistan where I was independently investigating the role of the war economy and vulture capitalism since 2001. I’ve never been to a country like it; Beautiful, suffering under Western occupation, Taliban attacks, deep conservatism, poverty and US-empowered warlords. I met Afghan civilians who had suffered at the hands of private mercenaries,…
Britain being transformed into an unaccountable, privatised mess
One (via Open Democracy): My post yesterday about G4S… recruiting ex-police officers to run cut-price murder investigations… [9]… ran with a rather shocking image: epaulettes emblazoned with the red, white and black G4S company logo above the words (in much smaller type): “LINCOLNSHIRE POLICE”. G4S dominant and on top, as it were. I guessed that the image (first…
American wars killing soldiers in the thousands
Shocking (via the New York Times): An American soldier dies every day and a half, on average, in Iraq or Afghanistan. Veterans kill themselves at… a rate of one every 80 minutes. More than 6,500 veteran suicides are logged every year — more than the total number of soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq combined since…
Palestinian Christians treated like second class citizens by Jewish state
Very few people understand the reality of life under Israeli occupation. Father Peter Bray, the Vice Chancellor of Bethlehem University, has regularly written missives about what it really means. This is his Easter message: Easter Sunday 8 April 2012 Greetings from this holy city of Jerusalem where again I have had the opportunity to gather…
Another mining company that isn’t helping people prosper
Early this year I visited Papua New Guinea to investigate the exploitation of resources by Western multinationals under the guise of development. Tragically, similar things are happening across the world, often away from the mainstream media’s gaza. Bianca Jagger travelled to India and found this: When I arrived at Biju Patnaik Airport, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, I…
We are being lied to over Afghanistan says senior US army man
US Army Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davis: Senior ranking US military leaders have so distorted the truth when communicating with the US Congress and American people in regards to conditions on the ground in Afghanistan that the truth has become unrecognizable.
Pakistan: private security is a state within a state
My following investigation appears in Australian publication Crikey today: The Pakistani city of Peshawar is situated an hour from Afghanistan. Driving there from Islamabad, the landscape was mostly lush green fields, poor villages and mud houses. After being stopped at five checkpoints along the way, an attempt to intercept foreigners and militants entering the sensitive…
Teaching Israel a necessary and non-violent lesson
Just another average day in occupied Palestine (via Haaretz): The state has confirmed that, acting without a court order, the army has barred Palestinian villagers from freely accessing their farmland for two years. The admission was made in the state’s response to a High Court petition filed last year by Beit Furik residents. The plots…
Attending a book fair…in Mosul
Things are changing in Iraq, reports Niqash: One of the most dangerous cities in Iraq recently held its first book fair. And despite concerns about security in the troubled northern city of Mosul, the event was an unprecedented success for both locals and visitors. A sign hanging between two power poles and some traffic lights…