My following article appears today in the Guardian: In April 2010, as the war in Afghanistan was raging and US president Barack Obama… “surged” 30,000 more troops… into the country, Australian opposition leader Tony Abbott suggested that under his leadership, a Coalition government would have considered increasing involvement. “The government should explain why it’s apparently right that…
Articles in The Guardian
How much does religion cause violence and war in the world?
This week sees the official launch of a book I’ve co-written, For God’s Sake. Today the Guardian runs extracts from one of its chapters, Doesn’t religion cause most of the conflict in the world?, by all four contributors: Rachel Woodlock (Islam) Religion is powerfully motivating and belligerent humans fight over it. Heck, religion has caused…
Why Prism is important; we’re watching the watchers
My following article appears in today’s Guardian Australia: Politicians and journalists ignore public opinion at their peril. Less than two weeks after the explosive revelations by former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden on the creation of a privatised,… American surveillance apparatus, a TIME poll finds a majority of… Americans support the leak, and… Snowden receives a…
How privatisation infects Australia
My following piece is published today in the Guardian Australia: The racism was raw. In 2011, John worked inside the Villawood detention centre in Sydney, and had little time for asylum seekers and their plight. He believed they had more rights than he and his co-workers had been given. John was employed by MSS Security,…
As two-state “solution” dies a necessary death, one-state in Palestine gains serious traction
My following article appears in The Guardian today: The Palestinian finance minister recently warned that the two-state solution would be in crisis unless the Palestinian Authority (PA) immediately received more funds. “The two state solution is in jeopardy if the PA is not able to continue to function,” Nabeel Kassis… said. But Kassis was talking about…
Beating the western drum
My following essay appears in the Guardian today: During the recent war between Georgia and Russia, bloggers on both sides of the conflict provided searing accounts of atrocities and manoeuvres unseen by western journalists. In a country such as Russia the space for alternative and critical views are rare. The war showed an authoritarian regime’s…
Complicit in silence
My following article appeared in yesterday’s Guardian Comment is Free section: During the current Israeli siege of Gaza – correctly described by Saree Makdisi as “strangulation”, Israel’s ambassador to Australia issued a plea for understanding the Jewish state’s position. The ambassador, Yuval Rotem, argued that, “the people of Gaza are not the enemy”. He also…
The great firewall of China
My following article appeared in yesterday’s Guardian Comment is Free section: In a country where the government maintains a tight grip on information across all media formats, recent statements by a senior Chinese Communist party official were revealing. Wang Guoqing, a vice-minister with the cabinet’s information office, said that mobile phones and the internet were…
Shifting sands
My following article appeared in… yesterday’s Guardian Comment is Free section: Western impressions of Saudi Arabia have inevitably changed since September 11. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers came from the kingdom and a number of Saudis have been discovered fighting against the Americans in Iraq. Beheadings with a sword in public are routine and the relationship…
The public and the private
My following article appeared in yesterday’s Guardian Comment is Free section: Spending time in Iran inevitably results in endless conversations about politics. Virtually everybody has an opinion about the US, Israel, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the nuclear issue, women’s rights or even underground hip-hop (one of the country’s most famous rappers was recently arrested in Tehran for…