I’m on a number of global email lists that discuss privatised security post 9/11. This is from an anonymous retired navy captain: Somebody’s civilian friends or benefactors have always been making money on our wars. The funny twist is how the “military industrial complex” of years gone by has evolved into a “personnel support complex”…
Showing all posts tagged privatisation
America wants “human terrain” to whitewash occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan
Years after 9/11, the US military believed that counter-insurgency meant learning about the countries you were invading and occupying. Sensible decision but nothing could alter the fact that America was conducting a brutal occupation of Muslim lands. Resistance rightly followed. “Human Terrain Systems” were employed – anthropologists, social scientists and others – to be the…
Mining in Afghanistan unlikely to bring stability to the nation
When the war in Afghanistan is truly over – ie. never – mineral exploitation is likely to bring further strife to the country. Western multinationals aiming to make a killing? Alas, yes, writes McClatchy: An Afghan-American company that failed to win a multibillion-dollar contract to develop one of Afghanistan’s most lucrative mines alleges that the…
What austerity really means in capitalism; private companies reaping rewards
One small example, via the Huffington Post, of how corporations are looking to maximise profits at the expensive of society: As state governments wrestle with massive budget shortfalls, a Wall Street giant is offering a solution: cash in exchange for state property. Prisons, to be exact. Corrections Corporation of America, the nation’s largest operator of…
Photos from stunning yet troubled Papua New Guinea
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.…
Disaster capitalists in Bougainville just want another shot at ruining the place
A foreign company destroys Bougainville in Papua New Guinea and leaves a trail of ecological destruction. Years after, the same company wants to re-open the same mine by whispering sweet nothings about its intentions. Dont believe a word. Following my Crikey investigation last week, today sees an unintentionally funny response to the publication. Yes, vulture…
The secret contractor toll in Afghanistan; this is how we fight our wars
Strong piece in the New York Times that reveals some of the reality behind the Western war in Afghanistan. Increasingly privatised with no accountability at all, it’s a system that suits the powers that be very much. Corporations are making a killing and governments look like they’re hiring less staff. Almost the perfect definition of…
When Afghans move away from privatised thuggery (in theory)
After years of the US allowing Afghanistan to become a paradise for private mercenaries, Kabul is fighting back (though, to be sure, a government with no legitimacy at all): The push by Afghanistan’s president to nationalize legions of private security guards before the end of March is encouraging corruption and jeopardizing multibillion-dollar aid projects, according…
What the resource curse is doing to Bougainville in Papua New Guinea
My following investigation appears in Crikey today: The rusted air vent is deafening and a whoosh echoes around the pit. Copper-polluted water sits in a pool nearby and trees are starting to take over the graded hillside. Rocky, uneven ground is where locals pan for gold, hoping to find a few grams to make some…