Showing all posts tagged United States
What Ed Snowden’s revelations say about our so-called democracy
It’s the kind of story that necessarily interests the general public. Surveillance, leaking, US power and Wikileaks (note, for the record, in today’s New York Times yet another clear indication that the US wants to destroy/punish the vitally important website). Last week I wrote for the Guardian about the PRISM revelations by Edward Snowden and…
Why defending Wikileaks and Ed Snowden should be easy call
Stunning piece by John Cassidy in The New Yorker: More unnerving is the way in which various members of the media have failed to challenge the official line. Nobody should be surprised to see the New York… Post… running the headline: “ROGUES’ GALLERY: SNOWDEN JOINS LONG LIST OF NOTORIOUS, GUTLESS TRAITORS FLEEING TO RUSSIA.” But where are…
When corporate press sees role as protecting US power not interrogating it
Remarkable interview with the Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald, key journalist on the Edward Snowden story, with establishment “reporter” David Gregory of Meet the Press yesterday. How unedifying and revealing that Gregory asks Greenwald whether he should be charged with a crime for being involved in the Snowden leak story. Once a hack who loves attending Washington…
Why Edward Snowden rightly fears Obama’s war on whistle-blowers
The last 24 hours have seen the incredible and inspiring journey of Edward Snowden from Hong Kong on his way to Ecuador. Wikileaks have been essential in the process. It’s encouraging, in the face of belligerence and illegality by Washington in its “war on terror”, that alternative forces and balances of power are able to…
World War Z zombies as Israel/Palestine metaphor
This is a big-budget, Hollywood action film about zombies taking over the world with Brad Pitt as the hero. It’s fun in parts and exciting, with stunning special effects, though it also feels disjointed, as if the whole doesn’t quite come together. It’s pro-UN, pro-American and and (largely) pro-Israel. This is what I want to…
Rare Australian voice backing whistle-blowers/Wikileaks/transparency
There’s really nobody in the Australian Parliament quite like Greens Senator Scott Ludlam, a constant voice against excessive government surveillance and the national-security state. His speech this week is a cracker, covering Michael Hastings, Bradley Manning, Wikileaks and Edward Snowden. If only more politicians saw their role like Ludlam, questioning the ever-increasing role of the…
Silicon Valley and US intelligence doing more than heavy petting
Following the recent revelations about global surveillance and Prism by leaker Edward Snowden, the mainstream media is finally seriously investigating the intimate and unhealthy links between tech firms and the US government. This New York Times story… reveals some of those connections and why none of us should trust the privacy pledges given by Facebook, Google…
We all should be Bradley Manning
A bold new campaign to support the incredibly important whistle-blowing of Bradley Manning:
Definition of insanity; dumping billions of $ in Afghanistan
The West lost the war in Afghanistan years ago; now it’s just about saving face and thinking through the best way to spin disaster into a win. Better hire more PR hacks for the job. The Afghan people are an afterthought. The Washington Post on just one example of madness: Facing a tight… withdrawal… deadline and tough…