Another week and another column by a Melbourne Herald Sun editor Alan Howe on just how dysfunctional is the Middle East, Arabs, Muslims, Palestinians, Islamists etc. The man has form. Yes, this is what countless Zionist lobby trips to Israel do to a Murdoch man. Hatred Inc: In Arab lands, like-minded, militant Islamists abound. Some…
Explaining Stuxnet against Iran
From the Australian TV show Hungry Beast: Stuxnet: Anatomy of a Computer Virus from Patrick Clair on Vimeo.
Disaster capitalism photo collection
I’ve spent the last 3 weeks in Western Australia and Christmas Island researching a book and other projects on disaster capitalism (overseas travels planned in 2012). I investigated the role of Serco in remote detention centres, Woodside attempting to develop a multi-billion dollar gas hub in the Kimberley and a tropical paradise being used for…
Just what role does British government have in wanting war against Iran?
Jonathan Cook in Al-Akhbar English: Last February Britain’s then defense minister Liam Fox attended a dinner in Tel Aviv with a group described as senior Israelis. Alongside him sat Adam Werritty, a lobbyist whose “improper relations” with the minister would lead eight months later to Fox’s hurried resignation. According to several reports in the British…
BDS has major bank victory in Israel?
Yes: The powers that be are furious at BNP Paribas for shuttering its operations in Israel, and suspect it is acting due to Arab and anti-Israeli pressure in France, the bank’s home base. Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, Banks Supervisor David Zaken and their top officials believe the bank’s board…
Memo to corporate hacks; objectivity doesn’t exist
Salon’s Glenn Greenwald is right: Contrary to popular wisdom, there aren’t two types of journalists: those who express opinions and those who are objective. … The two types are those who honestly acknowledge their opinions and those who deceitfully pretend such opinions do not influence their journalism. One reason modern establishment journalism has become so corrupted…
On the frontlines of the ongoing Egyptian revolution
I salute them. This amazing footage shot by Australian indy journalist Austin Mackell:
Rest easy, citizens, Serco rides to the rescue
Is there anything Serco can’t do with enough money? It’s the company that’s always in the right spot at the right time (helped, of course, by the fact that countless politicians on all sides believe in “efficiency”, aka cutting services). The Guardian reports: Privately employed engineers are being trained to detect “dirty bombs” so that…
Three examples of disaster capitalism in action
One (via Wired): An obscure Pentagon office designed to curb the flow of illegal drugs has quietly evolved into a one-stop shop for private security contractors around the world, soliciting deals worth over $3 billion. The sprawling contract, ostensibly designed to stop drug-funded terrorism, seeks security firms for missions like “train[ing] Azerbaijan Naval Commandos.” Other…
We don’t live in a democracy, repeat after me
Spot on, argues Roger D. Hodge in Harpers: The corruption of our institutions manifests itself in a variety of ways, but in none so dramatic as the imbalance of national wealth, which in recent decades has shattered records formerly set in the late 1920s. Although it is often claimed that the gap between rich and…