Wonderful independent Australian magazine Overland is currently running its Subscriberthon. I was asked to offer some words of support: Independent media has never been more important. Our world is currently experiencing a necessary crisis in confidence in corporate media, corporate governance and capitalism itself. Relying on corporate media to accurately report on this crisis is…
Of course Afghan government can’t live without privatised forces
Don’t believe anybody who says that private security and mercenaries won’t increasingly be in the front-line of US-led wars (if not in the headlines). The New York Times reports: President Hamid Karzai’s plan to disband private security companies that protect billions of dollars worth of aid projects and replace them with government forces is fraught…
With Libya “free”, the Islamic Republic may soon receive freedom bombing
Peace-loving Britain, America and Israel may soon engage in yet another “liberation” in the Middle East: Britain’s armed forces are stepping up their contingency planning for potential military action against Iran amid mounting concern about Tehran’s nuclear enrichment programme, the Guardian has learned. The Ministry of Defence believes the US may decide to fast-forward plans…
Wikileaks on real role of New York Times in setting media agendas
Julian Assange on The New York Times: Part 1 from NYT eXaminer on Vimeo.
Noam Chomsky speaks at #OccupySydney, 2 November 2011
Last night, just before Noam Chomsky delivered the 2011 Sydney Peace Prize, he spoke at #OccupySydney. I filmed his short appearance: Some of my photos from the Chomsky visit here and here.
The never-ending march of Serco in Western Australia
So: The State Government has announced the company Serco is its preferred tenderer for services at a new young adults corrective centre. The Corrective Services Minister Terry Redman says the company was chosen to provide services at the facility in Murdoch after an extensive evaluation of its standards. Mr Redman says Serco’s performance will be…
Spirit of resistance still lives inside Iran
A new graphic novel, Zahra’s Paradise, is released that shows the long and ongoing struggle of Iranians for a better, safer and non-fundamentalist future. The New York Review of Books: The people that Zahra and Hassan come across in their quest tell them stories: of missing relatives, confiscated property, executions, and the like. Hassan, for…
Only fools believe we should stay in Afghanistan
After more than 10 years of Western-led war in Afghanistan, The Guardian’s Jonathan Steele says that it is a conflict that we’ll (thankfully) never win. Take note America, Britain and Australia: Two days after 9/11, I wrote a column in The Guardiansaying that if the U.S. reaction was to put boots on the ground in…