Rupert Murdoch laughably claims The Sun is one of the finest newspapers in the world. Oh sure, if you hate everybody:
Assange debuts on Murdoch-run The Simpsons
Wikileaks Julian Assange on The Simpsons 500th Episode from LeakSource Archive on Vimeo.
How vulture capitalism in the “war on terror” really works
I’m on a number of global email lists that discuss privatised security post 9/11. This is from an anonymous retired navy captain: Somebody’s civilian friends or benefactors have always been making money on our wars. The funny twist is how the “military industrial complex” of years gone by has evolved into a “personnel support complex”…
Understanding the need for always asking “why”?
Creating Freedom – Part 1: The Lottery of Birth (Trailer) from Creating Freedom on Vimeo. More on Creating Freedom here.
America wants “human terrain” to whitewash occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan
Years after 9/11, the US military believed that counter-insurgency meant learning about the countries you were invading and occupying. Sensible decision but nothing could alter the fact that America was conducting a brutal occupation of Muslim lands. Resistance rightly followed. “Human Terrain Systems” were employed – anthropologists, social scientists and others – to be the…
Mining in Afghanistan unlikely to bring stability to the nation
When the war in Afghanistan is truly over – ie. never – mineral exploitation is likely to bring further strife to the country. Western multinationals aiming to make a killing? Alas, yes, writes McClatchy: An Afghan-American company that failed to win a multibillion-dollar contract to develop one of Afghanistan’s most lucrative mines alleges that the…
RIP Anthony Shadid
The New York Times has a moving obituary of this truly great journalist; a rare mainstream reporter who realised that the big stories aren’t about “important people but the effect of power on citizens of the world, in his case the Middle East.
Helping PNG by leaving the country breath on its own
During my recent visit to Papua New Guinea, I constantly heard complaints about the absurd number of Western advisers who were coming to the country telling locals how to live their lives. It’s a form of neo-colonialism. This is therefore good news: Australia’s international aid agency says it has now saved more than $US90 million…