My weekly column for the Guardian appears today: The ABC TV Lateline interview with Kurt Campbell, former US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, was… cordial, even reverential. It was conducted in the middle of March this year, more than a month after Campbell had left the state department. Interviewer Emma Alberici…
Showing all posts tagged human rights
The fallacy of Clinton-backed "support" in Haiti
When I visited Haiti last year I investigated the reality of industrial parks and how they largely shafted locals. I cover it in Profits of Doom. A new report (via Common Dreams) reveals the fallacy of this Western elite pushed scheme: Haiti’s Caracol Industrial Park—the U.S. State Department and Clinton Foundation pet project to deliver…
Aid Watch event on Profits of Doom and politics of development
With the release of my recent book, Profits of Doom, I’ve been doing many public events discussing the issues. This was a great one, organised by the wonderful NGO Aid Watch on 19 August: A major concern with the Australian aid program is that it favours commercial interests in aid delivery. The commercialisation of aid…
Unquestioning aid is worst kind of support for the world
My following article appears today in ABC Religion and Ethics: Cholera is killing Haitian men, women and children. For three years the United Nations has refused to take full responsibility for its Nepalese peace-keepers bringing the deadly disease to a nation they were tasked to protect. More than 8,300 people have died and more than…
Fortress Australia keeping out persecuted Hazaras from Afghanistan
It’s a shameful irony that can’t be forgotten. Australia has had troops in Afghanistan since 2001, supposedly to fight terrorism and the Taliban. The Hazaras are constantly under attack by extremists and many of them must flee for a safer life. Australia may be trying to convince Hazaras not to leave but the terrible facts…
Mineral Policy Institute reviews Profits of Doom
The following review, by Charles Roche, is published by… this NGO: Prolific author, blogger and commentator… Antony Loewenstein… has targeted disaster capitalism in his new book,… Profits of Doom.… … It’s an ambitious book seeking to not only build on… Naomi Klein’s… work from the… The Shock Doctrine… but to ”˜generate a global debate’. A wide ranging text; part philosophy, part travelogue, built on a…
ABC Radio National's Religion and Ethics Report interview on Profits of Doom
The ethics of foreign aid is a major issue in my book Profits of Doom. This interview is one of the most thorough of my work and thesis thus far: Prime Minister Tony Abbott has abolished AusAID as a free-standing agency and folded it into the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He has also…
Breaking news; privatisation and resource exploitation don't bring prosperity
A key theme in my book Profits of Doom is how an agenda of privatisation never brings the prosperity that its proponents push. New information, from the World Bank of all places, confirms this so listen up: The World Bank is admitting that so-called economic growth in Africa, rooted in privatization and resource extraction by…
Max Blumenthal talks about his new book "Goliath" on Israel/Palestine
American journalist Max Blumenthal has been reporting on the Middle East, the far-right, racists and weirdos for years. He’s a gem, and a friend. His latest book, Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel, has been released (I’ve just received a copy). Here he is speaking to Abby Martin on RT: