The glories of unaccountable privatisation in action (via New Matilda): Not only is the $1 billion contract awarded to detention centre operator Serco beyond the reach of public scrutiny, but Senate Estimates hearings today revealed that the Department of Immigration and Citizenship collects scant data on breaches and has limited knowledge and oversight of staff…
AIPAC faithful hate Palestinians and believe in fairy tales
Max Blumenthal paints the bleak picture: On May 22, thousands of supporters of America’s most powerful pro-Israel lobbying group, the America-Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, converged on Washington for the group’s annual conference. For two days they watched Democratic and Republican congressional leaders pledge their undivided loyalty to the state of Israel, and by…
Chinese prisoners forced to earn web game credits
A surreal environment in a country where human rights campaigning is an issue largely seen as a Western plot to undermine Beijing: As a prisoner at the Jixi labour camp, Liu Dali would slog through tough days breaking rocks and digging trenches in the open cast coalmines of north-east China. By night, he would slay…
Saluting the lone woman who stood up to Netanyahu in Congress
Rae Abileah is a peace activist with the group CodePink and a Jewish American of Israeli descent. She shouted out during Netanyahu’s pro-occupation speech a few days ago: No more occupation! End Israeli war crimes! No more occupation! End Israeli war crimes! She tells Democracy Now! why: There’s a culture of silence and fear in…
Israel wants to win Twitter war but not end the occupation
Beyond parody: Come September, in just three months, the State of Israel is likely to find itself facing a diplomatic onslaught of a totally new kind. If one believes Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, that month the representatives of the world’s nations at the United Nations will be discussing whether to recognize Palestine as a state,…
Obama’s Middle East words as empty as air
My latest article for New Matilda appears today: The US President is delivering sterner speeches on the Israel Palestine conflict but until he bolsters his rhetoric with action, it’s hard to see how progress can be made, writes Antony Loewenstein Forget about what he actually said. Imagine if US President Barack Obama said something like…
Handy reminder that Sri Lanka wants to teach world how to use terror
Human Rights Watch issues a timely statement: Governments should decline the invitation to attend a Sri Lankan military conference that seeks to legitimize the unlawful killing of thousands of civilians during the armed conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Human Rights Watch said today.… The Sri Lankan government has invited 54 countries…
Obama admin pleased that Netanyahu refuses to acknowledge Zionist racism
Really: White House spokesman Jay Carney expressed satisfaction with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Congress address and his commitment to peace. The White House is satisfied with the commitment Netanyahu expressed for the two-state vision, Carney said. Ben Rhodes, a senior official in the US National Security Council who is currently touring Europe with President Barack…