My weekly Guardian column is here: Australia has an identity crisis that has never been resolved. Are we a US client state, happy to host any number of… American troops… and… spying assets, or a fully integrated part of Asia? Do we crave true independence, or are we happy to remain America’s ‘deputy sheriff‘ in the Pacific region?…
Showing all posts tagged United States
Hold the champagne, but nuclear deal with Iran (probably) avoids war
Robert Fisk on the winners and those who are pissed that a war against Tehran may not now happen: It marks a victory for the Shia in their growing conflict with the Sunni Muslim Middle East. It gives substantial hope to Bashar al-Assad that he will be left in power in Syria. It isolates Israel.…
What a humanist, progressive, pro-Palestinian Jewish Rabbi looks like
Brant Rosen is that rare breed, an American Jewish Rabbi who remains outspoken about Israeli crimes against the Palestinians. He’s been profiled in the New York Jewish Forward newspaper: It was on December 28, 2008, soon after Israel launched its punishing military campaign in Gaza, known as Operation Cast Lead, that Rabbi Brant Rosen hit…
Why the US truly fears Ed Snowden and Wikileaks
It has nothing to do with endangering national security (ignore the bleating of far too many corporate journalists who simply repeat talking points from their intelligence sources) but the profound shame of US hegemony being challenged and revealed. Here’s Henry Farrell and Martha Finnemore in Foreign Affairs: The U.S. government seems outraged that people are…
How America applies a two-tier justice system
Glenn Greenwald explains the reality of the law in the land of the supposedly free:
Why the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement is undemocratic
I was asked to comment by New Matilda: Antony Loewenstein Independent journalist, activist and author of Profits of Doom.… Twitter: @antloewenstein The details of the TPP,… released by Wikileaks… and proving the transparency group remains a vital organisation doing the work journalists should be undertaking, are worrying for national sovereignty. The idea that Australia will become even more…
Who and what killed Yasser Arafat?
A fascinating, new documentary by Clayton Swisher for Al Jazeera English, Killing Arafat, that examines the murky circumstances around his death. It focuses principally on the Palestinian Authority (rather than the obvious other suspect, Israel) and portrays the US-backed institution as corrupt and utterly untrustworthy. Swisher explains more about this in a recent piece in…
Nightmare reality of US Special Forces in Afghanistan
America and its allies never intended to bring “democracy” or “freedom” to Afghanistan. The reality has been covert missions tasked to root out “terrorism”. When the vast bulk of foreign forces leave the country post 2014, this CIA-led killing machine will continue. Welcome to US nation building. This is a stunning investigation by Matthieu Aikins…
David Hicks in his own words about Guantanamo and search for justice
After years of smears and lies told about Australian citizen David Hicks (along with the legal, physical and moral abuses), former Guantanamo Bay prisoner David Hicks speaks to the Sunrise program and explains why he needs and deserves justice for years of assault: