My new piece for Declassified Australia on the disparity between Afghan and Ukrainian refugees and how Australia (and the US) view the neediest people on the planet: Around 6,000 humanitarian visas have been granted to Afghan refugees in the 12 months since the end of the US occupation in August 2021. This is from a total of…
Showing all posts tagged Australia
Twenty Years plus since Taliban takeover of Afghanistan
The Twenty Years project is a collaboration between Afghan artists, journalists and a number of Australians, including me, about the legacy of the US-led war in Afghanistan. There was recently a major exhibition at Blacktown Arts gallery in Sydney, Australia featuring Afghan artists Khadim Ali, Elyas Alavi, Orna Kazimi, Najiba Noori, Melbourne-based artist Tia Kass…
In conversation with whistle-blower David McBride
David McBride is a courageous whistleblower who exposed Australian war crimes in Afghanistan. For his sins, he’s now facing trial and potentially life in prison (while not one soldier who committed the war crimes has faced court). We’ve become friends over the last years and I deeply admire his principles. David interviewed me recently about my…
Challenging the power of Murdoch
My debut article for US outlet The Intercept: RUPERT MURDOCH, who oversees a global media empire that includes Fox News, doesn’t like losing, but he just tasted defeat in Australia’s election. Despite years in which Murdoch’s media properties vociferously backed conservative Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Labor leader Anthony Albanese won the May 21 contest. Australia…
Will the Australian election give voice to Palestinians?
My latest investigation for Declassified Australia (including my photos from Gaza in 2017): It’s one of the longest trials of a Palestinian in Israeli history with no end in sight. Israel charged a Gaza-based, World Vision Australia employee, Mohammed El Halabi, in 2016 with illegally diverting millions of dollars of aid money to Hamas. Six years on, Halabi remains in detention…
Supporting Palestinian rights can be risky
Back in 2007, I co-founded Independent Australian Jewish Voices (IAJV) with academic Peter Slezak, a space to support more critical voices on Israel/Palestine. One of our early signatories was Moss Cass, a senior minister in Gough Whitlam’s government in the 1970s and one of the world’s finest environment ministers. He recently died at 95 and…
Radio New Zealand interview on spying in the Pacific and independent journalism
Following the recent publication in Declassified Australia of a great investigation on Australian and New Zealand spying across the Pacific by reporter Nicky Hager, we were both interviewed on Radio New Zealand on the Pacific Waves show that broadcasts across New Zealand and the Pacific: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Nicky Hager was also interviewed…
The never-ending gold rush in Afghanistan
My latest investigation is a joint piece for Declassified Australia and Declassified UK on the rush to exploit Afghan resources (mostly since 9/11): The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August last year has caused the country to implode. It was already on life support after more than 40 years of war but the swift removal…
ABC Radio National Big Ideas on Afghanistan and the Taliban
The ongoing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan receives far too little international media attention. Last night ABC Radio National Big Ideas program featured a discussion about the issues: The crisis in Afghanistan Six months after the withdrawal of Australian troops from Afghanistan, it is clear the embattled country is in the midst of a major humanitarian…
The war on drugs from a Slovakian view
My book, Pills, Powder and Smoke: Inside the Bloody War on Drugs, was recently released in a Slovakian edition. It’s been reviewed in Slovakia’s biggest newspaper, SME, by Lubomir Jasko, and it’s very positive. Here’s the Google Translate version: Anti-drug campaign or war against people? Antony Loewenstein, The War on Drugs, translated by Samuel Marec,…