And the West wonders why the Arab world regards its calls for democracy as hollow as Netanyahu’s love of freedom for Palestinians: David Cameron‘s efforts to promote democracy in the Middle East by becoming the first foreign leader to visit Cairo were overshadowed as it emerged that he will spend the next three days touring…
Showing all posts tagged Britain
“Winning” colonial wars the privatised way
There’s something morally and legally sick that in post 2003 Iraq (and to this day) privatised mercenaries are the way the Western states maintain their power in the country: A former British soldier potentially facing the death penalty in Iraq insisted that he remained anxious but hopeful as his case was adjourned last night. Danny…
Here’s an idea; don’t sell weapons to any state that kills its own citizens (including Israel)
Today’s UK Observer editorial urges Britain not to sell weapons to autocrats. Good advice but no mention of course of the seemingly never-ending sale of deadly munitions to Israel in its daily war against the Palestinians: When it comes to approving the sale of arms to unpleasant regimes, as the cases of Bahrain and Libya…
Next thing to privatise: the air that we breathe
Are there any limits to what neo-liberal governments won’t sell to private interests? The highly contentious plans for a …£250m sale of England’s forests will be abandoned because of the furious backlash that has hit the Government. David Cameron humiliated his Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman in the House yesterday, and shocked MPs, when he disowned…
Al Jazeera’s Listening Post on Egypt’s revolution
The biggest story in the world right now is the ramifications of the Egyptian uprisings. Al-Jazeera English has been a beacon of reporting and insights over the last weeks (and indeed, leaves every other global news network for dead because it understands the world isn’t simply about what London or Washington thinks or wants). I…
Tip for journalists; don’t ask too many questions about Mubarak, please
Medialens shows the narrow views in the UK media: Western journalists, then, are confronted by three salient facts in Egypt: 1) Mubarak’s regime is a brutal military dictatorship responsible for widespread torture. 2) The Egyptian people are clearly intent on removing this dictator. But also: 3) A major reason why the Egyptian people are currently…
What does it take to teach officials lives aren’t to be privatised?
The healthy response to an investigation of uncontrolled power towards refugees would be to stop the outsourcing of such tasks but rest assured the British government will simply find another multinational to do the job. The sick religion of privatisation over people’s lives: The multinational security company hired by the government to deport refused asylum…
Zionist has to hide in Britain
When you are a spokesman for an occupying army that commits war crimes, you should watch where you travel. This story highlights what is now the reality for Israelis and it hasn’t come a day too soon: The chief spokesman of the Israel Defense Forces said on Tuesday he had visited Britain incognito and under…
No wonder Egyptians don’t trust the West, why should they?
Robert Fisk on the infantile comments of our leaders towards the Egyptian streets. Perhaps it’s time to throw out our democratically-elected men with some serious people. They couldn’t be much more obsequious: Only when the power of youth and technology forced this docile Egyptian population to grow up and stage its inevitable revolt did it…
Cables of a failed war
Just one of the latest Wikileaks-related cables, this one from London in 2009: Prime Minister Brown was “very pleased” by President Obama’s December 1 speech describing the way forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and HMG would like U.S. and UK public statements to remain in synch, Philip Barton, Director, Afghanistan and Pakistan, in the Cabinet…