Crikey is one of Australia’s best independent news websites. I… contributed extensively over the years from 2009 – 2012. Its current departing editor, Marni Cordell, with whom I worked when she edited another great Australian site, New Matilda, has written a revealing article that interviews previous Crikey editors and their experiences. It contains this anecdote that…
Disaster Capitalism film asks key questions about aid and politics
The following article appears today in the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age and is written by Garry Maddox. The headline is, “Australia’s foreign aid is largely wasted because of corruption, says documentary maker Antony Loewenstein”: Australian feature films have largely avoided hot political subjects… lately –… though that may… change with Matthew Saville’s planned film on the…
Drug cartel wars between Mexico and the US
My essay in the Los Angeles Review of Books: Joaquin Archivaldo Guzman Loera, known as “El Chapo,” was recaptured by Mexican marines in January. It was the latest in a long history of farcical escapes and imprisonments that have dominated the life of the world’s most infamous drug boss. His legacy is clear. Unmarked graves…
The nightmare of today's Western-backed Rwanda
My book review in The Australian: Rwandan President Paul Kagame is feted across the world, celebrated for rescuing his country after the 1994 genocide and bringing stability to a devastated nation. Kagame’s government has received billions of dollars in aid and weapons for more than 20 years from the US, Israel, Britain and the EU,…
What the Sanders and Corbyn movements say about Australia
My column in the Guardian: Charisma and persuasion matter in politics. Though neither trait guarantees fair policies or outlook – think Tony Blair… backing the catastrophic war… against Iraq, or Malcolm Turnbull hailing himself as a free speech champion before… pressuring the ABC… over its robust journalism – image is apparently more captivating than ever in the 21st century.…
Israel's biggest anti-BDS conference hits Jerusalem
My story in Mondoweiss… (my photos here): One of Israel’s biggest newspapers staged the country’s first national… conference… against the… boycott, divestment and sanctions… (BDS) movement this week in Jerusalem.… Yedioth Ahronoth… and its website… Ynet… organized a day-long event that featured the majority of leading Israeli politicians and many cultural figures. Fear, paranoia, anger and determination was ubiquitous amongst the panelists and audience.…
ABC Radio Adelaide Australia on Palestine, disaster capitalism and PNG
Yesterday I was interviewed by ABC Radio Adelaide from Australia by host Peter Goers on Israel/Palestine, disaster capitalism and Papua New Guinea:
Interview with US magazine The Source about disaster capitalism
I was recently interviewed by Lulaine Compere for leading American music magazine The Source: The system of capitalism is always being debated. In most countries people are fighting it, seeking to replace it, or trying to improve it. The mere presence of capitalism also brings with it values and ideas that will have huge consequences…
The “war on drugs” in Guinea-Bissau translated into French
Late last year I visited Guinea-Bissau in West Africa to investigate the country’s role as a key drug smuggling hub between South America and Europe. I published a number of stories about it including in… Foreign Policy. Leading French website… Ulyces… is committed to translating investigative stories from across the world and bringing back the tradition of financially…
The UN on trial: debate at the London School of Economics
During my recent time in London I was an expert witness at the London School of Economics during a fascinating event putting the UN on trial. 70 years old and always controversial, prosecution and defence lawyers tried the UN and asked both a jury and large audience if the UN should continue. A number of…