Yesterday the world was greeted with the tragic news that 33 year old, US investigative journalist Michael Hastings died in a car crash in LA. Apart from being a fearless reporter, he was also a friend. I’m still in shock. We weren’t overly close but met years ago at a writer’s festival in Brisbane and…
Showing all posts tagged United States
Why it’s dangerous to privatise America’s intelligence services
The post 9/11 world has seen an explosion in private companies making a killing in both assisting and exaggerating the “threat” of terrorism. I examine this deeply in my upcoming book, Profits of Doom. Here’s a great piece by a beacon on this issue, journalist Tim Shorrock, writing in the New York Times: And if…
ABC Radio’s The World Today on Edward Snowden and Prism
I was interviewed today for ABC Radio’s The World Today program: ELEANOR HALL: In the Federal Parliament today, The Greens will attempt to get an explanation from the Government about Australia’s involvement in the US PRISM surveillance system. America’s National Security Agency confirmed last week that it is running a clandestine internet surveillance program which…
Why Prism is important; we’re watching the watchers
My following article appears in today’s Guardian Australia: Politicians and journalists ignore public opinion at their peril. Less than two weeks after the explosive revelations by former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden on the creation of a privatised,… American surveillance apparatus, a TIME poll finds a majority of… Americans support the leak, and… Snowden receives a…
Al Jazeera’s The Listening Post on Ed Snowden and intelligence leaking
The importance of leaking to ensure transparency in a democracy is something we should never forget. The great Al Jazeera media program The Listening Post this week tackles Edward Snowden, Bradley Manning and Wikileaks. They asked me to comment on the ways in which the Snowden story unfolded in the press. My clip is at…
Why nobody should take US seriously over Israel/Palestine part 65443
Watch this performance by a hack at the State Department this week and why Washington has no interest in holding Israel to account for its daily violations of human rights in Palestine:
Watch the NSA leak like a sieve
There is a world of intelligence gathering that staggers in terms of size and depth. Here’s James Bamford in Wired on a future over which citizens have no say: Physically, the NSA has always been well protected by miles of high fences and electrified wire, thousands of cameras, and gun-toting guards. But that was to…
The remarkable story behind Edward Snowden leak
The Guardian gives a pretty comprehensive insight into the thinking of Snowden and his skepticism towards the corporate press. Read the whole thing: As he pulled a small black suitcase and carried a selection of laptop bags over his shoulders, no one would have paid much attention to Ed Snowden as he arrived at… Hong Kong… International…
Jeremy Scahill on NSA spying and Big Brother normality
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