Yesterday I appeared on the Al Jazeera English program, The Stream, talking about people and corporations making money from the Syrian war (eg. the new… report, Border Wars, from The Transnational Institute on arms dealers finding huge profits from the European refugee crisis). My segment starts at 1:32: The holy month in Aleppo What has Ramadan…
Showing all posts tagged Syria

How drugs have always perverted human wars
My Guardian book review appears this weekend: In October 2015 a Saudi prince was arrested at Beirut international airport accused of trying to smuggle… nearly two tonnes… of the… amphetamine drug Captagon… through the country. Two months later, Lebanese officials claimed to have confiscated 12 million Captagon pills heading to the Gulf. The synthetic drug, invented in 1961, has…

How little we know about the Western war against ISIS
My story in the Guardian: We don’t know whether the Australian military has killed or injured civilians in Iraq, and if so, how many. Since Canberra joined the US-led mission against the… Islamic State (Isis) on 8 October 2014, the Australian Defence Force (ADF) has provided barely any information about its operations. So the new report…

Too little to celebrate in South Sudan
My article in Le Monde Diplomatique English: The UN Security Council recently imposed new sanctions on South Sudan including travel bans on six South Sudanese citizens. Samantha Power, US ambassador to the UN, praised the move saying: “The Security Council took strong action in support of a peaceful end to the conflict in South Sudan…

Punishing migrants is a sure way towards greater unrest
My weekly Guardian column: Surely bombing yet another Muslim country is a mistake. But that’s exactly what Italian foreign minister Paolo Gentiloni has called for – attacks on Islamic State (Isis) positions in Libya to stem the flow of refugees streaming into Europe. Calls for tough action, like Gentiloni’s, are growing in response to refugees…

UN head Valerie Amos backs arms embargo on South Sudan
My following story appears in today’s Guardian (I’m currently based in Juba, South Sudan): Valerie Amos has joined calls for an arms embargo against South Sudan, the most senior UN official to back growing international demands for action against the country as it enters a second year of civil war. “Anything that takes weapons off…
ABCTV New24's The Drum on ISIS, terrorism and Gough Whitlam
Last night I appeared on ABCTV News24’s The Drum talking about ISIS, terrorism and Gough Whitlam’s collusion in the occupation of East Timor:

Triple R radio interview on war, ISIS and failing "war experts"
Yesterday I was interviewed by Melbourne’s Triple R Spoke program about the current war against ISIS, the Middle East and media blindness and complicity:

2SER AidWorks on Syria, ISIS, Gaza and human rights
I was interviewed this week by 2SER’s AidWorks about many issues of the day: