I’m currently working on a book about disaster capitalism and rampant privatisation, diseases that seemingly sweep all before it. The idea that selling everything into private hands will solve our economic problems is ludicrous and yet both major sides of politics in many Western states back the idea. Resistance is key, so here’s Paul Krugman…
Showing all posts tagged Iraq
Vogue gives template example of sychophantic writing
The Arab world is exploding against its dictators but Vogue is seemingly oblivious. Here’s a nauseating profile of Syria’s First Lady Asma al-Assad. Somebody should tell the “journalist” that Syria is a brutal police state that tortures its own citizens. But not to worry, she lets her children play with Lego: Asma al-Assad is glamorous,…
Talking to Finkel, Anderson and Stewart in India on occupation
I recently attended the Jaipur Literature Festival in India and moderated a session with three men who know something about war and conflict. Brit Rory Stewart, New Yorker’s Jon Lee Anderson and the Washington Post’s David Finkel. The video of the event is now online (the sound and picture aren’t perfectly in sync but you’ll…
“Winning” colonial wars the privatised way
There’s something morally and legally sick that in post 2003 Iraq (and to this day) privatised mercenaries are the way the Western states maintain their power in the country: A former British soldier potentially facing the death penalty in Iraq insisted that he remained anxious but hopeful as his case was adjourned last night. Danny…
Because the Middle East needs so much more US involvement
Just what the Middle East needs; more meddling in its affairs, because the current state of the region shows a wonderfully happy place. Only in America could “stability” be defined as backing Zionist occupation and Arab dictatorships: There’s a raging debate on Capitol Hill surrounding huge cuts to foreign aid funding proposed in the House…
What New Delhi can learn from Cairo
My following article is published by leading Indian magazine Tehelka: The Middle East is the region where global empires lavishly exercise their chequebook. Since the Second World War, America has bribed, cajoled and backed autocratic regimes in the name of stability. Israel, self-described as the only democracy in the area, has been insulated from the…
Who says Abu Ghraib is bad for business?
Private contractor CACI provided some of the torturers at Abu Ghraib in Iraq. So it therefore makes sense, following the rules of crony capitalism, that a rebounding economy is suiting CACI just fine: CACI, an Arlington County-based defense contractor, hired 3,500 people in its last fiscal year and plans 4,000 hires this year. It has…
Wikileaks: Not all leaks are created equal
My following essay appears today in Online Opinion: The Obama administration is pursuing Wikileaks and its Australian founder Julian Assange for alleged criminal activity in releasing classified documents. The US Department of Justice has ordered Twitter to hand over private messages sent by parties close to Wikileaks and the whistle-blower website says that even the…
America isn’t leaving Iraq for years to come
Don’t believe the political and media hype that Washington is on its way out. Quite the opposite, explains private military contractor writer David Isenberg: You thought private security and military contractors were downsizing in Iraq? Think again. On February 1 the… Senate Foreign Relations Committee released a report “Iraq: The Transition from a Military Mission…
American propaganda watch
It must be seeping into the water: The American Museum of History, on the Mall in Washington, DC: One of the popular exhibitions in recent years was “The Price of Freedom: Americans at War”. This included a tribute to the “exceptional Americans [who] saved a million lives” in Vietnam, where they were “determined to stop…