Australia has a long history of romanticising the individuals who make a fortune selling our natural resources, regardless of the cost to the environment. Gina Reinhart, profiled in this stunning New Yorker piece, is part of this tradition, pushing tax-free, economic zones and advocating low wages so she makes a killing. It’s vulture capitalism on…
Showing all posts tagged Australia
If I ruled the world
I was asked by Osman Faruqi, editor of the University of New South Wales student newspaper Tharunka, to write a column: The role of the US hegemony is over. Washington no longer controls the world by charm and force. It’s a multipolar planet with countless centres of power. Wouldn’t this be something to celebrate? In…
Radio Live in New Zealand on 10 year anniversary of Iraq war
The ten year anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq will leave the media agenda now. It should not. The country we invaded and occupied remains broken. I was interviewed this morning by New Zealand’s Radio Live about the conflict (starting at 19.52).
That rare occasion when Australian politicians speak truths over Palestine
There were two examples in yesterday’s New South Wales parliament. Firstly,… Labor Councillor Shaoquett Moselmane dared talk about the reality of Israeli crimes in Gaza and a host of other usually unutterable realities in polite company. There were then attempts to shut him down by his own party and the rapacious Zionist lobby. The usual suspects…
Australian politics is little better than satire. Discuss
Australian politicians, including Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, are currently wandering around Western Sydney looking for friends and spewing bile against anybody who isn’t “Australian”, whatever the hell that means. Pandering to the racist instinct is the worst kind of politics. I’ve never linked to a story on Channel 7’s Today…
Max Brenner soon to open at leading Australian university?
Max Brenner is a chocolate shop that deserves all the protests it receives, namely because it supports the Israeli military. Here’s the latest development in Australia in a story by Ammy Singh in Tharunka newspaper from the University of NSW: The probable opening of a Max Brenner chocolate store at UNSW this year has prompted…
What resistance in Bougainville, PNG means
The resource curse has hit Papua New Guinea more than many other countries in the world. Massive mineral and energy wealth is largely squandered by a corrupt government and Western multinationals. It’s an issue I’ve investigated in my forthcoming book and documentary about disaster capitalism. There’s a great website by Dr Kristian Lasslett that details…
10 years on, Iraq is broken
Patrick Cockburn, one of the finest mainstream journalists around, writes for the UK Independent… from Iraq about the state of the nation we invaded and occupied in 2003: Iraq is disintegrating as a… country under the pressure of a mounting political, social and economic crisis, say Iraqi leaders. They add that 10 years after the US…
Oz Zio lobby complains and weeps to ABC about alternative Jewish views
During the recent Prisoner X story about Israel’s covert and often illegal terrorism in the Middle East, I was interviewed by ABC Radio AM on the related issues. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry, a leading Zionist lobby group, sees its role as enforcing public debate over Israel/Palestine. They miserably fail at this, of course,…
What Zionist lobby leaders ignore at their peril over Ben Zygier
Savvy piece by JJ Goldberg in Forward: Many community leaders view crises like the ones in Australia, Argentina and Washington as evidence of a new global anti-Semitism. Israel’s intelligence services conclude differently: that Israel’s continuing West Bank occupation and settlement expansion are fueling a rising frustration among Israel’s longtime friends, gradually morphing into hostility toward…