The explosion of these companies post 9/11, increasingly operating in developing countries with little oversight, shows no sign of abating. Today’s Express Tribune in Pakistan confirms it (though the role of foreign mercenaries is yet another area requiring far more investigation): Private security guard companies continue to operate in a legal black hole, as key…
One more Western government far too keen to assist the private security industry
A worrying global trend sees Western officials increasingly working with unaccountable private security firms in the name of “efficiency”. Canada’s conservative government is joining in: This fall the Government of Canada will reintroduce… legislation that would expand the power of citizen’s arrest. In 2010 Bill C-60, as it was called, died on the order paper; this…
US backing for Egypt largely about arms trade
How grubby (via the New York Times): An intense debate within the Obama administration over resuming military assistance to… Egypt, which in the end was approved Friday by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, turned in part on a question that had nothing to do with democratic progress in Egypt but rather with American jobs at…
What part of “Kill the Arabs” don’t you understand?
Gideon Levy in Haaretz on the selective outrage by Zionists towards intolerance: The voice on the other end of the phone was clearly very upset. Its owner had rung late at night to talk about the “pogrom,” as he called it, at Jerusalem’s Malha shopping mall a few days before. As the former head of…
American invasion of Iraq caused mass destruction and still Baghdad gives DC the finger
This is almost comical. After years of occupation, mass killings and utter American criminality and incompetence, Foreign Policy reports that Washington just can’t get any love or support: The first major test of U.S. post-war influence in Iraq is now raging over efforts to stop Iran from funneling arms to Syria through Iraqi airspace, but…
When will Jews get past their incessant victimhood?
Strong essay by Israeli Uri Avnery: Yeshayahu Leibowitz, an observant Jew, said years ago that the Jewish religion had practically died 200 years ago, and that the only thing that unites all Jews now is the Holocaust. There is much truth in this, but the Holocaust must be understood in this context as the culmination…
What serious media would have reported about Wikileaks (but did not)
So many stories and so much missed deliberately or wilfully ignored. Interesting extract from a new book, The phone hacking scandal: journalism on trial. This is by Justin Schlosberg and details how many key media outlets consistently fail to hold power to account (and no, it ain’t an accident): The performance of serious media in…
Vulture capitalism shifts gear in Afghanistan
Shifts are afoot in Afghanistan over private security but the reality remains murky; what happens when mercenaries try and get respectable? The Afghan government is giving companies extensions ranging from a few weeks to 90 days to change from private security guards to a government-run force, officials said Sunday. The reprieve comes just three days…
For those hoping China will be more benign super-power, think again
Reuters reports: A Chinese telecommunications equipment company has sold Iran’s largest telecom firm a powerful surveillance system capable of monitoring landline, mobile and internet communications, interviews and contract documents show. The system was part of a 98.6 million euro ($130.6 million) contract for networking equipment supplied by Shenzhen,… China-based ZTE Corp to the Telecommunication Co of…