What matters to the Muslim world today? The death of an old man in a Pakistani compound? Or the stirrings of Arab revolutions against the wishes of Western forces far keener to maintain the status-quo of dictatorships? Robert Fisk, a journalist who has met Bin Laden on a number of occasions, said yesterday that Bin…
The official, New York Times approved version of OBL’s death
Here it is: After years of dead ends and promising leads gone cold, the big break came last August. A trusted courier of Osama bin Laden’s whom American spies had been hunting for years was finally located in a compound 35 miles north of the Pakistani capital, close to one of the hubs of American…
Australia pays Serco and they give us no answers
As Australia’s immigration detention continues moving out of control – over-crowding, mental trauma, privatised and unaccountable care – the British controller of the centres, Serco, is now just trying to shut down debate: The company running Australia’s detention centres is cracking down on guards suspected of talking about what goes on behind the wire. Serco…
Hold the champagne, Bin Laden’s murder doesn’t remove Western occupation of Muslim lands
Time.com’s Tony Karon, one of the most perceptive journalists in the American mainstream, writes that the US killing of Osama Bin Laden is all about symbolism and will do nothing to help the Western position in the Arab world: Before leaving for a vacation in South Africa in December of 2001, my editor asked me…
Osama Bin Laden dead but “war on terror” ain’t going anywhere
Barack Obama has announced the death of Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan. So many questions, so few answers. Will his death really make a difference to the “war on terror”? Arguably not. Bin Laden has become a symbol, little more. Occupation of Muslim lands has only worsened since 9/11, so hatred of the…
How long will Cablegate last?
Julian Assange tells a Bulgarian publication of investigative journalism: We are not yet sure exactly how long it will take to publish all the cables. Our system is to contact at least one media organisation in each country the cables originate from and give them cables that are of interest to their market. They then…
In case it wasn’t clear; Australia is America’s bitch
Really: Australia secretly worked with the United States to weaken a key international treaty to ban cluster bombs, leaked US diplomatic cables show. Despite taking a high-profile stance against cluster munitions – condemned as the cause of large numbers of civilian casualties – Australia was privately prepared to pull out of international negotiations on a…
Read here to understand why US created hatred post 9/11
The recently released Wikileaks files on Guantanamo Bay showed a US empire arrogant on fear and power. But here’s an insight from Lawrence Wilkerson, retired Army colonel who served as Colin Powell’s right-hand at the State Department, that explains a lot. From a speech in 2009 on the “mosaic philosophy”: This philosophy held that it…
Israel either recognises Hamas/Fatah or becomes more of pariah state
Zvi Bar’el, Haaretz: Israel’s Pavlovian response to Palestinian reconciliation, which included the usual threats of boycott, is the result of the ingrained anxiety of people who no longer control the process. For five years, Israel has done everything to change the outcome of Hamas’ watershed victory in the elections in the territories. It did not…