The kind of commentary that any sensible writer would make but alas they don’t. The Atlantic’s Conor Friedersdorf explains: Observing that the Sunday attack on a Sikh temple in Wisconsin hasn’t attracted nearly as much attention as other shooting sprees, including last week’s rampage at an Aurora, Colorado movie theater, Robert Wright… wonders… if the disparity is…
Showing all posts tagged terrorism
One sorry Australian tale that reveals how the country has become dangerously secretive
This story appeared recently in the Fairfax place then disappeared just as quickly. It’s an important investigation by Philip Dorling about the Australian government’s mostly secret war on supposed trouble-makers. Don’t believe a word of it. It’s largely a fishing expedition with little oversight: The curious case of Timothy Byrnes, a complaint to ASIO and…
Tamils remain occupied and monitored in Sri Lanka
The BBC’s Charles Haviland reports from the previously sealed north-eastern corner: I was with the army as they detonated left-over munitions near a major battle scene. “Here, crouch behind these sandbags,” they told me as we stood, in protective clothing, a few hundred metres from the detonation site. “If shrapnel comes anywhere near, just duck.”…
What freedom of speech really means in today’s US
A fine program,… Alyona Minkovski on RT, has now finished and this is from her last episode:
Just what Africa needs; a US-funded, partly privatised military force
The LA Times reveals yet another Washington-led proxy war, this time in Africa. Privatised and essentially unaccountable, this is another example of the US never learning from history. Arming and training such a force will almost inevitably blow back on the West at some point: The soldiers stood at attention, rifles at their sides, as…
What everybody has done to Afghanistan (screw it up)
The legacy of 30 years of war in Afghanistan is profound. A recently released report of atrocities during the Soviet era highlights individuals currently in high positions of government. So much for accountability and thank you Western nations for ignoring such things when enabling these forces. And if you think the US-led occupation is coming…
How do we define terrorism? Anybody who’s opposed to us
Medialens ask the questions most in the media aren’t: When is an act of terrorism not terrorism? When the victims are officially sanctioned state enemies. This was clear from the political and media response to the assassinations of senior ministers of the Syrian ”˜regime’. On 18 July, a… bomb attack… on the national security headquarters in Damascus…
Why does Australian join every bloody US war? To be tough, really tough
In a new report by the US Studies Centre at Sydney University titled, Australia, the US, and the Vietnam and Iraq Wars: “Hound Dog, not Lapdog”, the findings are interesting: In this article, Maquarie University’s Lloyd Cox and the US Studies Centre’s associate professor in American politics Brendon O’Connor refute the portrayal of Australia as…
My 2012 PEN Free Voices lecture on free speech and why it matters
The following is published today as the lead piece by ABC’s The Drum: The two-hour drive from Islamabad to Peshawar is along a surprisingly smooth road. Mud-brick homes sit amongst lush, green fields. Police checkpoints are set up routinely to stop unwanted visitors. I am asked why I want to see the troubled Pakistani town…
West loves Saudi repression on a daily basis
Yes (via Salon’s Glenn Greenwald): For all the righteous talk about human rights oppression and violent assaults on democratic protesters in the Muslim world, any honest ranking would place Saudi Arabia… near… or at… the top… of that list. This week, the long-time head of the deeply repressive Saudi Interior Ministry, Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, died.…