No wonder so many in positions of power fear Wikileaks. What we are seeing is diplomacy and statecraft laid bare. And the results are devastating. We are lied to on a daily basis. And what of the countless corporate journalists taken on embedded trips to Afghanistan, simply “reporting” futile battles and tiny details that ignore…
Showing all posts tagged Australia
How hard is it to discuss Serco and refugee policy?
The corporate media is hopeless. Here’s a feature in today’s Australian newspaper about Christmas Island, the increasing crisis of refugees being overcrowded and residents getting upset over it all. But there’s no mention at all of Serco, the British multinational running the place, a firm integral to the institution. Not good enough: An Amnesty International…
Israel may have to attack Iran, Zionist leader tells obedient Murdoch typist
Hands up all those who like taking free trips to Israel organised by the Zionist lobby? The Sydney Morning Herald’s Lenore Taylor does and her recent column simply “reported” alarmist Israeli comments over the supposed threat of Iran. It wasn’t journalism; it was very effective stenography. No alternative voices were offered. Today, in Murdoch’s Australian,…
Of course empire spokesmen hate Wikileaks
Jeffrey Bleich, US ambassador in Australia, writes an embarrassing defence of secrecy post-Wikileaks, claims lives have been lost (with no evidence) and wishes for the good old days of governments sharing secrets because they know what’s best: Before I became an ambassador, I worked for many years as a lawyer advocating for freedom of expression…
Assange receives Alliance media card: unions offer support for Wikileaks
The following was just released by the ACTU: WikiLeaks’ editor-in-chief Julian Assange will today (Thursday) be given his Media Alliance union card, confirming that he is a member in good standing with the Australian journalists’ union, the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance. Assange’s Melbourne lawyer Rob Stary QC will accept Assange’s new media card from…
Our leaders happy to let people starve or die
One of the key messages emerging from the Wikileaks cables is the callousness of Western leaders towards human rights. It’s seen as an inconvenience. That’s why we treat them with appropriate contempt. One: The Howard government urged the United States to force the collapse of the North Korean regime by denying it aid, despite advice…
ABC TV News 24 on refugees and government failures
I was invited back on ABC TV News24’s The Drum tonight with host Waleed Aly and guests Jo Stella and ABC journalist Gillian Bradford (video here). We talked mostly about domestic politics especially asylum seekers and the parlous state of refugee policy on both major sides of parliament. I argued that Labor has spent the…
Zionist violence isn’t violence at all, jokes Rudd
An editorial in the Sydney Morning Herald today that highlights an amazing recent comment by Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd showing the inherent racism of Western backers of Zionism: Rudd made a distasteful joke about Menachem Begin carrying out ”some interior redesign” of Jerusalem’s King David Hotel – referring to a terrorist bombing in 1946…
An Australian call for war crimes to be investigated in Sri Lanka
Australian Lawyers for Human Rights yesterday released the following statement: “The panel of experts appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, to advise him on accountability issues for the events in Sri Lanka during the period of civil war should recommend that the United Nations set up a properly resourced, independent and…
Australians back Wikileaks all the way
It looks like many Australians believe in greater transparency in global dealings. Governments and corporate journalists, are you listening? Most Australians support the release of the WikiLeaks cables, say that Julian Assange should receive legal support, and are critical of the federal government’s rhetoric on the issue, new polling reveals. And support for Assange and…