Following Britain’s Business Secretary Vince Cable declaring his opposition to Rupert Murdoch, this letter in today’s UK Independent expresses the views of many who care about media diversity and decency: Vince Cable’s remarks to the undercover reporters were undiplomatic, yes, but heartening nevertheless. What Cable didn’t say was why he thinks so little of Murdoch.…
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Britain always sees its role as imperial power
Post 9/11 there have been countless discussions about the lack of accountability for foreign forces and privatised mercenaries in theatres of war. This debate isn’t so new and Western governments have clearly long believed that they have the right to act and kill as they wish: SAS soldiers were to be provided with life insurance…
No country should be immune from war crimes prosecutions, including Sri Lanka
Just what the world needs; another corporate journalist defending Sri Lankan war crimes and condemning Westerners (and many Tamils, but who cares about them?) for daring to demand accountability for the Rajapaksa junta. Welcome to the hall of infamy, UK Daily Telegraph Diplomatic Editor Praveen Swami. Sadly, you’ve swallowed the “war on terror” mantra completely,…
British tax dollars going to the Serco beast
Sigh: 684 payments from government totalling …£169,479,414 (showing 10 largest, see all) …£3,982,623 from NOMS on 2010-09-20 (details) …£3,931,259 from NOMS on 2010-08-12 (details) …£3,770,493 from NOMS on 2010-06-18 (details) …£3,754,305 from NOMS on 2010-07-20 (details) …£3,680,296 from NOMS on 2010-06-04 (details) …£3,493,239 from DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION on 2010-05-13 (details) …£3,453,153 from Department for Work…
Sorry London, supporting death squads is a problem
Don’t say Wikileaks isn’t opening up the possibility of a more accountable Western state: The [British] government faces a legal challenge to its support for a Bangladeshi paramilitary group described by human rights organisations as a “government death squad”. Lawyers are to seek a judicial review of the legality of training assistance provided to the…
Wikileaks was recently receiving 100k pounds a day
An expansive interview with Julian Assange in the Guardian that thankfully doesn’t obsess over the contested sex charges: Julian Assange said today that it would be “politically impossible” for Britain to extradite him to the United States, and that the final word on his fate if he were charged with espionage would rest with David…
Wikileaks isn’t solely about challenging the US empire
Assange on Al-Jazeera discusses the role of Wikileaks, not being opposed to paying for material (why should journalists be the only ones compensated when leakers are taking the biggest risks, he argues?) and getting material from closed societies such as China:
Assange and the Jewish analogy
Not quite sure of the accuracy of this comparison; institutional anti-Semitism against Jews wasn’t just in the establishment, it was widely shared across the community: The founder of WikiLeaks has compared his treatment by the Swedish authorities seeking his extradition over sexual assault allegations to the persecution of the Jewish people in the last century.…
Nothing in the Wikileaks documents? Please
One: The prime minister of Mauritius has accused Britain of pursuing a “policy of deceit” over the Chagos islands, its Indian Ocean colony from where islanders were evicted to make way for a US military base. He spoke to the Guardian as his government launched the first step in a process that could end UK…