My weekly Guardian column: Since last week’s… victories… by the militant group Isis against a weak, US-backed, Iraqi government, the same, failed protagonists from the 2003 invasion have come out of the woodwork to advocate another… military intervention. Although some journalists, like The Independent’s… prescient… Patrick Cockburn, have been warning about the… growing power… of Isis, voices on the ground are few…
Showing all posts tagged war on terror
Triple R radio interview on US, drones and civilian murder
I was interviewed this week on Triple R’s Spoke show about US drone strikes in Yemen, killing Australians and the law:
The Daily Show on Bowe Bergdahl and Fox News
Nothing short of genius tinged with necessary slap-downs of race-baiting Fox News:
Israeli writer Ari Shavit on Palestine, occupation and BDS
My following interview appears in the Guardian: During an event at the Sydney writer’s festival last month, Israeli writer and author Ari Shavit told a packed auditorium that his country was “an oasis in the Middle East”. He explained to the audience, who largely appreciated his words despite some grumblings when he condemned the occupation…
Why understanding the "other side" remains vital in war
During last week’s Sydney Writer’s Festival, I was involved in a fantastic event about World War One Poetry with Tony Birch, Colin Friels, Judy Davis, Jennifer Mills, Omar Musa and Maxine Beneba Clarke. It was organised by Jeff Sparrow at Overland magazine. I read the following piece: My father’s father, Fred Loewenstein, was born in…
Jeremy Scahill in Australia
Last week I had the honour to meet and spend time with US investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill. He was here for the Sydney Writer’s Festival (photos from the event here) – our panel together discussed the importance of indy journalism in the face of corporate reporting – and it was unique hearing somebody speak clearly…
Noam Chomsky speaks at launch of Glenn Greenwald's new book
The following event took place this week at Harvard and contains… a discussion of Greenwald’s latest book, No Place to Hide:
How the US war in Afghanistan has protected a torturer
A stunning investigation by the Washington Post on what the American war in Afghanistan has supported; one of the most brutal thugs in the country: In Afghanistan, his presence was enough to cause prisoners to tremble. Hundreds in his organization’s custody were beaten, shocked with electrical currents or subjected to other abuses documented in human…
We know too little about US drone attacks
My weekly Guardian column: The news that the US had killed two Australian “militants” in a drone strike was… announced… in mid-April.… Christopher Havard… and “Muslim bin John”, who… also held… New Zealand citizenship, were allegedly killed by a CIA-led airstrike in eastern Yemen in November last year. Readers were given little concrete information, apart from a “counter-terrorism source” who claimed…
The NSA wants to spy on everything and everybody
Former head of the NSA Keith Alexander (a man who proudly designed a system, with full political backing, to spy on citizens in America and globally) is interviewed by John Oliver in a witty and revealing way; yes, he wants you to feel comfortable with mass surveillance: