Columnist Thomas Friedman – whose understanding of the Muslim world involves staying at very expensive hotels and then speaking to the doorman to sense the “Arab street” – writes yet another article that shows how little he gets about the region. Want to speak to people who aren’t just in the elites, Friedman? When I…
Showing all posts tagged Iraq
Why Arab revolutions are so unique (and don’t need or want Western “help”)
New York Times journalist Anthony Shadid on Democracy Now!: I think for the first time—absolutely, since I can remember, but perhaps that a lot of people can remember—the region [Arab world] is speaking with an indigenous vocabulary. You know, it’s speaking about its own vision. It’s articulating its own vision. It’s so radically, fundamentally different…
”˜Collateral Murder’ soldier talks in new documentary
The Wikileaks effect; giving a human voice to the US-caused horrors of war in Iraq:
ABC News24 on killing Afghan civilians, Assad and ignoring indigenous lessons
Last night I was a guest on ABC TV News24’s The Drum to discuss issues of the day (video here). Foreign issues were front and centre. America’s Kill Team in Afghanistan – US troops murdering civilians for fun – is just the latest example of occupiers in inhospitable lands treating those they’re supposed to protect…
Obama defenders find ways to justify use of arms here and there
The New York Times, being an establishment paper, unsurprisingly backs Barack Obama’s military intervention in Libya. Much more revealing, however, is this interview with Samantha Power, a senior director on the National Security Council. I truly wonder if she believes the words she’s telling Politico: Obama “has used his pulpit and a number of speeches…
Do we know anything about Libya’s “rebels”?
Not much, no. In fact, what’s remarkable about the Western intervention is the complete lack of understanding who is fighting for what and why. Calling for democracy is essential, of course, but what else? Barack Obama’s recent speech backing the war was all about protecting civilians and America not willing to watch massacres take place.…
Another moment in Australia’s dysfunctional refugee system
A refugee activist from Western Australia writes to me: An Iraqi asylum seeker I visit at a detention centre just got a rejection letter from DIAC [Department of Immigration and Citizenship]. His brother is an Aussie citizen whom I have met while he has been visiting the Iraqi. After waiting 14 months, the government says…
Thousands gather in Sydney to back Wikileaks
Last night’s large event in Sydney to support the right of Wikileaks to publish material was a huge success. Thousands turned up to hear speakers chastise the Australian government for shamefully bowing down to America’s wishes over Julian Assange. Wikileaks enjoys majority community support: A high-profile human rights lawyer claims Julian Assange’s only crime is…
West so keen to still be a colonial power in Arab world
Patrick Cockburn on the Western love affair with picking compliant leaders in places we should simply step aside: There is something frivolous and absurd about France’s sudden recognition of the Libyan rebel leadership in Benghazi as a sort of quasi-government. Presumably it’s intended to give the impression Nicolas Sarkozy has a grip on events, it…
CACI is perfect representation of modern era
Private contractor CACI has done very well in the post 9/11 world (including providing the guards who tortured detainees at Abu Ghraib in Iraq). Writer Andrew Cockburn highlights a company that represents the modern world of creating something out of nothing (unless you include maintaining and protecting the bogus “war on terror” as important): The…