By his admission this week of passing documents to Wikileaks for the simple reason that he believed the world had a right to know that Washington was lying about a litany of wars around the world, his stance is incredibly brave. The fact that Manning’s actions are so unique (and the corporate press was offered…
Showing all posts tagged New York Times
If vulture capitalism could be defined at Florida Atlantic University…
The infiltration of corporations into every aspect of modern life is something that should be resisted, not least because the agenda of a private prison company is rather different to a university. Or should be. Over to you, New York Times: In recent years, where stadium naming rights could be sold, universities and professional sports…
The normalisation of Israeli criminality
The latest developments in the case of Prisoner X continues to reverberate around the world (though as many Palestinians are rightly say, where’s the equal attention on the countless Palestinians held for years illegally in Israel’s administrative detention system?) Some of the latest on Prisoner X here, here and here. The New York Times: The…
How war language has infected Afghanistan
Moving story by Habib Zahori, a reporter for The New York Times’s Kabul bureau. During my visit to the country last year I constantly heard how the war consumed the lives of most Afghans, though I deeply respected the individuals who tried and not let it control their lives: It is a cliché anymore to…
America’s freedom of the press? Dream on
Disturbing post from Freedom of the Press Foundation (great new group, support them) on the serious threats from the Obama administration to transparency and democracy in America: A… disturbing report in Saturday’s Washington Post describes… an FBI investigation of a large number of government officials suspected of leaking classified information to the press, engulfing an unknown group…
Documenting the unaccountable war on terror
Laura Poitras is a remarkable American film-maker who has faced constant harassment by US officials for simply doing her job of documenting the countless abuses against innocents since 9/11. Here are two short films, made for the New York Times, that are beautiful, moving and rage-inducing. This is the true face of America in the…
Will US start prosecuting journalists for espionage?
Michael Calderone, Huffington Post: Here’s a back-and-forth from… Wednesday’s proceedings… in the case against Pvt. Bradley Manning that should be troubling for journalists. Colonel Lind, the judge, asked a prosecutor a hypothetical question: If Private Manning had given the documents to The New York Times rather than to WikiLeaks, would he face the same charges?“Yes, ma’am,” said…
How Obama treats Americans who dare challenge the “war on terror”
During my recent trip to Washington I met former CIA officer… John C. Kiriakou. He was friendly and generous and aware that he was facing time in jail. It’s both ironic and outrageous that the Obama administration, who has pursued whistle-blowers more than any US government in history, is happy to send this man to jail…
Criminal UN negligence in Haiti over cholera crisis
During my recent visit to Haiti, working on a book and film about disaster capitalism, the issue of UN incompetence/criminality over causing the outbreak of cholera was a primary concern of many and rightly so. This Al-Jazeera documentary takes a critical look at the UN’s response: Here’s the latest New York Times feature on the…