I spent today at Sydney’s Villawood detention centre for refugees and met men from Iraq, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. Stories of pain and trauma. All refugees can’t understand why the Australian government keeps them in limbo for months and years deciding on their fate. They fear being returned to Iraq, Afghanistan or Sri Lanka and…
Showing all posts tagged Afghanistan
Afghan women and warlords, sitting in a tree…
Just remind me. We’re staying in Afghanistan to save the women from awful oppression at the hands of the Taliban. This rather challenges that bogus narrative: Often characterised as valiant crusaders defying Afghanistan’s chauvinistic culture, many female candidates standing in tomorrow’s parliamentary elections may in fact be just the opposite: proxies doing a warlord’s bidding.…
What the unhinged Israel lovers want next
Blogger Andrew Sullivan, recently made aware of the disastrous and destructive actions of radical Jews and hardline Zionists, gets it in one: Peter Beinart heralds it in: “Ever since 9/11, according to opinion polls, Republicans have worried more about terrorism than have Democrats. Initially, this fear translated into overwhelming support for military action abroad. But…
A massive payout coming the way of Assange?
Guy Rundle reports in today’s Crikey that Julian Assange should be defended and supported by those who believe in human rights (and don’t want to back imperial wars in the Middle East or beyond): The treatment of WikiLeaks’ spokesperson Julian Assange, facing investigations of harassment and rape, has been disgraceful, leading international human rights lawyer…
Now why would China want to work with the US on net censorship?
Is this our web future? A Chinese writer calls for a global coalition to fight material that powerful interests don’t like, such as the recent Wikileaks revelations about the failed Afghan war.
Obama and Bush should dine together and share ideas about torture
The similarity between Barack Obama and George W. Bush in their prosecution of the “war on terror” is increasingly clear. Just in case it isn’t obvious how deep this illegality goes, here’s Michael Hayden, Mr. Bush’s last CIA director, talking to the Washington Times: You’ve got state secrets, targeted killings, indefinite detention, renditions, the opposition…
Obama finds a bankrupt Afghan policy (so he keeps it going)
Ahmad Wali Masoud, former Afghan Ambassador to Britai, and one of the six brothers of the slain Afghan legend Ahmad Shah Massoud, tells the Daily Beast that American backing for Hamid Karzai is leading to possible revolution: Why did they pump billions of dollars into this country through one man, but do not promote political…
Blair “miscalculated” and he shrugs his shoulders
A softball ABC interview with Tony Blair where he essentially acknowledges he was wrong about Iraq and Afghanistan, and yet we’re still supposed to take him seriously on Middle East “peace”?
Reporters embedded into the war architecture
Vaughan Smith, founder of London’s Frontline Club, writes that the process of embedding journalists in the military machine (especially in Afghanistan) is increasing the chances of the next war: So-called “embedding”, the term for the practice by which journalists have been allowed to accompany allied troops in the Iraq and Afghan wars, is not just…
Obama hearts Bush over Iraq and group hugs all around
If it wasn’t clear enough how similar Barack Obama is to George W. Bush in terms of prosecuting the “war on terror”, Obama’s speech today about the “end” of the Iraq war takes the cake: