What we gave Iraq. One: The former chief executive of a British chemical company faces the prospect of extradition to the US after the firm admitted million-dollar bribes to officials to sell toxic fuel additives to Iraq. Paul Jennings, until last year chief executive of the Octel chemical works near Ellesmere Port, Merseyside, and his…
Showing all posts tagged Saudi Arabia
Riyadh loves a good Zionist love-in
Good to see that one of the key Arab nations, like Egypt, is happy to lie down with a rapacious Jewish state: Saudi Arabia has conducted tests to stand down its air defences to enable Israeli jets to make a bombing raid on Iran’s nuclear facilities, The Times can reveal. In the week that the…
How’s that Washington, Middle East continuity coming along?
American foreign policy, under Barack Obama, that’s called terrorism if carried out by any other state: The top American commander in the Middle East has ordered a broad expansion of clandestine military activity in an effort to disrupt militant groups or counter threats in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and other countries in the region, according…
Washington and the Muslim world, a testy relationship
Views from across the Arab world: We are now approaching the first anniversary of President Barack Obama’s June 4, 2009 speech in Cairo, which offered Arabs and Muslims around the world a new “engagement” with the United States. A year later, how do Arab publics see the results of that effort–and how much do their…
America, land of the cyber warrior
Who trusts Washington to keep the internet free? The US military has appointed its first senior general to direct cyber warfare – despite fears that the move marks another stage in the militarisation of cyberspace. The newly promoted four-star general, Keith Alexander, takes charge of the Pentagon’s ambitious and controversial new Cyber Command, designed to…
ABC TV broadcast on internet freedom and anti-censorship
I recently debated in Sydney on the motion that governments shouldn’t censor the internet. ABC TV broadcast the discussion and our team included a robust explanation on the principles of free speech. An edited version of the debate was broadcast tonight on ABC Radio National Big Ideas:
The one-minute explanation for the “war on terror”
Lessons on terrorism that every American should know:
Running women are a danger to the House of Saud
Saudi Arabia bans women from jogging down a street allegedly for reasons of safety. Sure thing. Just another day in a US-backed dictatorship.
Why internet censorship is a fool’s paradise
My following article is published today by the Sydney Morning Herald/Age online: We live under the illusion that governments can protect us from the evils of the world. Paedophilia, extreme violence, lessons in self-harm and suicide, race hatred and terrorism. We have every right to expect governments to monitor hate and terror sites and arrest…
How Blackwater would like to police the world
The ongoing saga over private military contractor Blackwater continues (mostly exposed by journalist Jeremy Scahill) in this exclusive report: Erik Prince, the reclusive owner of the Blackwater empire, rarely gives public speeches and when he does he attempts to ban journalists from attending and forbids recording or videotaping of his remarks. On May 5, that…