I’ve just spent three weeks in Papua New Guinea investigating disaster capitalism for a new book (out 2013), as well as filming a documentary. Here are my photos of Bougainville, Madang and Port Moresby/Papa Lea-Lea. It was a wild trip and revealed deep complicity of Western and Chinese corporations in the exploitation of the nation.…
Showing all posts tagged China
Iran remains connected to much of the world (although MSM only sees Israeli and American views)
Every day now sees yet another threat of isolation… of Iran by Washington and Israel. The corporate press dutifully report every official statement but as usual miss the bigger story. Here’s Pepe Escobar in TomDispatch: Let’s start with red lines. Here it is, Washington’s ultimate red line,… straight from… the lion’s mouth.… Only last week Secretary of Defense…
What the internet can (and cannot) do to hasten revolutions
My book The Blogging Revolution was recently released in India in an updated edition.… Here’s a pretty good review of it by J Jagannath in a leading Indian newspaper, Business Standard: The little spark that the Tunisian fruit vendor Mohamed Bouazizi ignited in December 2010 to torch himself in retaliation against corruption has engulfed the…
Perhaps the scariest article you’ll read all year (robots will soon control us all)
If this is the future of warfare and intelligence gathering, rest assured it won’t only be Washington doing it. Last month philosopher Patrick Lin delivered this briefing about the ethics of drones at an event hosted by In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s venture-capital arm (via the Atlantic): Let’s look at some current and future scenarios. These go…
Afghanistan should watch out; vulture capitalists on the prowl
Although it receives little media coverage, Afghanistan has vast energy reserves. This is perfect for foreign firms to exploit a very vulnerable country. This story on ABC highlights the Australian role in this sordid activity: Afghanistan wants more Australian help – not from the military, but from Australian mining companies – to kick-start a post-war…
The Blogging Revolution updated and released in India
My 2008 book The Blogging Revolution detailed the role of internet censorship in non-democratic nations and Western firms assisting repressive regimes monitor the web. It was released in an updated e-book edition in August and focused primarily on the Arab revolutions. I’m proud to announce it’s now being released in an updated print edition in…
The Commonwealth needs relevance bypass
John Kampfner is spot on in the Guardian last weekend: The death knell of the Commonwealth has been sounded for as long as there have been summits. By accident rather than design, this anachronistic gathering of 54 states may actually say more about the state of global priorities than the participants realise. And the direction…
Libya is now land of business opporunities
Well, that didn’t take long. Even before Gaddafi was found and murdered, Western businesses were dreaming of the huge profits that could be made. Disaster capitalism on crack. Now, in a front page New York Times story, the joys continue: The guns in Libya have barely quieted, and NATO’s military assistance to the rebellion that…
The out of control drone future
So this is where our supposed civilised world is heading. A disturbing piece in the weekend’s New York Times: At the Zhuhai air show in southeastern China last November, Chinese companies startled some Americans by unveiling 25 different models of remotely controlled aircraft and showing video animation of a missile-armed drone taking out an armored…