Another tragedy in Afghanistan. And what do most of the corporate media focus on? How will this affect NATO strategy? What will US troops do? Will Obama’s supposed counter-insurgency tactics be derailed? What about wondering about the Afghans themselves? Here’s FAIR: The news that a U.S. Army sergeant killed 16 civilians, most of them children,…
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Pre 9/11, Pakistan knew a thing or two about private occupation
What a fascinating piece of history, via the Washington Post, and an indication that mercenaries and private contractors have been part of war well before the “war on terror”: As U.S.-funded Afghan jihadists battled the Soviets in the late 1980s, the unassuming American-run bar in this ancient frontier city bulged with gossiping foreigners. Today, with…
False lure of mining riches in Papua New Guinea
My following investigation appears in New Matilda today: Papua New Guinea has a new leader but the country’s relationship to mining remains complex. Locals who aren’t happy about the growth of the industry are left with few options, reports Antony Loewenstein from Port Moresby At Port Moresby international airport in Papua New Guinea sits piles…
That rare beast; Palestinians talking freely on mainstream US TV
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Please remember to close the door behind you in Afghanistan
“The country is in a state of slow decline”, says… Jennifer Rowell, advocacy coordinator for CARE in Afghanistan, in the New York Times. The country’s reliance on foreign aid has made the situation dire and as security deteriorates it appears many programs will disappear. Relying on mercenaries to protect civilian work creates a whole range of…
MSM has duty not to replay Iraq 2003 with Iran 2012
While some in the corporate media, such as this article in the LA Times, question how the US has any idea about Iran’s actual nuclear program, the bigger question is how journalists report the information given by military and government sources. Do they become, like in Iraq in 2002 and 2003, propagandists for war? The…
What Arabs really think (and guess what, Israel and America are the real threats)
Fascinating new research, published on Al Jazeera, that reflects Arab opinions more than one year after the Arab Spring: A majority describe themselves as religious, but they mostly don’t support the interference of religious authorities in citizens’ political choices. 71 per cent say they don’t distinguish between religious and non-religious people in their economic and…
What the MSM isn’t telling us about the war in Afghanistan
My following book review appears in today’s Sydney Morning Herald: A journalist with access to a superpower’s military machine refuses to toe the line. “I went into journalism to do journalism, not advertising,” independent American journalist Michael Hastings told… The Huffington Post… in 2010. ”My views are critical but that shouldn’t be mistaken for hostile – I’m…
Israel and America are both in an abusive relationship (and they rather love it)
This really a remarkable piece in The Economist that requires no explanation: News flash: Israel is not master of its fate. It’s not terribly surprising that a country with less than 8m inhabitants is not master of its fate. Switzerland, Sweden, Serbia and Portugal are not masters of their fates. These days, many countries with…