American multinational KBR has its tentacles everywhere, including in Australia. The US-based Project on Government Oversight laments the over-reliance on suspect corporations with little or no accountability. This is the definition of disaster capitalism: At least one out of every six dollars spent by U.S. taxpayers on contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past…
Thank you Washington for watching Australian public and democratic protests
The infiltration of American (non) intelligence in Australia is almost comical; it certainly hasn’t brought any more love to the fading super-power. FireDogLake reports: Pro-Cuba, pro-Serbian, pro-Palestinian, pro and anti-Kosovo Independence, Sri Lankan, antiwar and socialist demonstrations were closely monitored by the US Embassy in Canberra, Australia in 2008 and 2009, a secret cable posted…
Arab revolutions ain’t all about Wikileaks or censorship but damn fine bravery
Despite what Wikileaks may claim – the release of US embassy cables undeniably revealed the depravity of the relationship between Washington and various dictators but they hardly sparked the Arab Spring – social media played a part in the uprisings and subsequent changes. As I argue in the recently released and updated edition of my…
Murdoch press shamefully allows false charge of anti-Semitism to hover
This week Federal Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon was openly accused of anti-Semitism in a letter published in Murdoch’s Australian for supporting BDS and Palestinian rights. The following day this appeared in the paper: The assertion by David Syme (Letters, 30/8) that well-documented human rights abuses by Israel against Palestinians can be dismissed as nonsense is…
Leading Israeli paper says BDS is working
Though like so much corporate reporting globally, there’s no real explanation apart from Jew hatred. Nothing about the occupation or why Zionism has become such a toxic ideology. Still, encouraging that BDS is having the desired effect; business as usual isn’t sustainable while oppressing Palestinians. Ynet: Many Israeli agricultural products have been recently targeted by…
Kashmir writer’s festival over before it began
As someone who believes in the responsibility of artists and intellectuals to take a stand against tyranny, this news is positive: Indian-administered Kashmir’s first major literature festival has been cancelled after local writers and artists said it would give the false impression that basic freedoms are allowed in the troubled region. The Harud literary festival…
Book reviews can save lives
A fascinating piece of history written by Australian academic Scott Burchill: In August 2004 I was asked by The Age to review [Australian journalist] John Martinkus’ new book ‘Travels in American Iraq‘ (Black Inc, 2004). It was a very good account of life after the invasion and Martinkus was clearly more sympathetic to the occupied…
When you say “liberating” Afghanistan, you mean privatising the lot?
The future of warfare, led by America and the West, is fueled by unaccountable corporations: At least one in every six dollars of U.S. spending for contracts and grants in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decade, or more than $30 billion, has been wasted. And at least that much could again turn into waste…
Hello, my name is the IDF and I love to protect interlopers
In case you need any reminding that the role of the IDF is to protect the colonists illegally living on Palestinian land: The IDF has conducted detailed work to determine a “red line” for each settlement in the West Bank, which will determine when soldiers will be ordered to shoot at the feet of Palestinian…
Who would like to provide PR for a brutal, US-backed dictatorship?
PR Watch has the news: Bahrian’s Sunni-led monarchy has hired the Washington, D.C. PR firm Qorvis Communications at a rate of $40,000/month to help improve its image after the Bahraini government, struggling to suppress a Shia-led protest movement, attacked the humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders (DWB). The group offers medical care to injured protesters who…