This is the state of human rights against faceless asylum seekers in Australia. Justified frustration, after months and years of waiting for decisions, is met with violence. And under-staffed Serco are the battering rams of the failed policy? From yesterday’s ABC’s The World Today: BRENDAN TREMBATH: Refugee advocates and the Greens say they’re horrified that…
Who says BDS isn’t working against Israel?
Example one: The Israeli security firm Hashmira, which is owned by the Danish concern G4S, announced last weekend it will stop providing equipment to security installations over the Green Line. The move comes in the wake of public pressure in Denmark following a report from the Coalition of Women for Peace, which runs the “Who…
Assange: internet can liberate and/or imprison
He’s right (though probably exaggerates the influence of Wikileaks in the Arab revolutions): The internet is the “greatest spying machine the world has ever seen” and is not a technology that necessarily favours the freedom of speech, the WikiLeaks co-founder, Julian Assange, has claimed in a rare public appearance. Assange acknowledged that the web could…
Channel 10 TV on playing global football in Palestine
This happened: The Palestinian national soccer team faced Thailand on Wednesday in an Olympic qualifying match deep in symbolism: It’s the first time the Palestinians have hosted a competitive match at the international level, and for excited fans in this conflict-ridden area, it marks an important step in their struggle for independence. Following a 1-0…
Don’t trust the Australian government with Wikileaks
Why would we? Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is believed to have been tipped off more than seven months ago about Australian intelligence scrutiny of his whistleblowing activities. Senior government ministers yesterday claimed to have no knowledge of co-operation between Australian intelligence agencies and the United States government concerning Assange after WikiLeaks began publishing thousands of…
US govt says shocking treatment of Bradley Manning is just fine
And who really believes them? Quantico is a military brig, not a prison, and it is not a maximum security facility. http://www.quantico.usmc.mil/activities/display.aspx?PID=588&Section=SECBN Manning, however, is considered a maximum custody detainee. He is not “under isolation 23 hours a day.” Here are the facts of his pre-trial confinement: PFC Manning is not in solitary confinement. He…
Australia must take action against Sri Lanka war criminals
While most Australian journalists dutifully followed Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard around the US recently – remind me why so many hacks travel there and do nothing but report on press conferences and fawning speeches in Congress? – Inner City Press at the UN in New York asks real questions: Sri Lankan citizen Palitha Kohona…
If only Israeli state really cared about stopping terrorism
The recent murder of Jewish settlers in the West Bank was an appalling act of terrorism. No ifs or buts. But watch the debased response of the Zionist state to this outrage. Haaretz editorial: The despicable murder of five members of the Fogel family on Saturday is a crime against every human being. But the…
Iranian web war is run by Tehran’s insecure minority
A cyber-army of terrifying intent: Iranian hackers working for the powerful Revolutionary Guard’s paramilitary Basij group have launched attacks on websites of the “enemies,” a state-owned newspaper reported Monday in a rare acknowledgment from Iran that it’s involved in cyber warfare. The report followed an announcement in January that Iran had formed its first cyber…