The following discussion was held on 18 September at the Brecht Forum with the founder of Mondoweiss Phil Weiss and yours truly:
Showing all posts tagged United States
Mitt Romney’s position on Israel/Palestine is little different to Obama in reality
The latest controversy over Mitt Romney’s comments towards Israel/Palestine at a fund-raiser are instructive: I’m torn by two perspectives in this regard. One is the one which I’ve had for some time, which is that the Palestinians have no interest whatsoever in establishing peace, and that the pathway to peace is almost unthinkable to accomplish.…
Just how many bases does America have in “liberated” Afghanistan?
That’s a question that seemingly nobody can answer. This is empire logic. Nick Turse investigates for TomDispatch: Afghanistan may turn out to be one of the great misbegotten “stimulus packages” of the modern era, a construction boom in the middle of nowhere with materials largely shipped in at enormous expense to no lasting purpose whatsoever.… …
Here’s why the New York Times (and much of the Western press) doesn’t get Haiti
One of the great gaps in Western media coverage of Haiti is the constant ignoring of American and corporate complicity in keeping the place on its knees. It’s something I saw during my visit there last week. A story in yesterday’s New York Times was a perfect example of this curse. There is barely any…
Wall Street getting away with murder
The American banking system came close to complete collapse in 2008 and yet to this day barely anybody has been prosecuted. The Obama administration has a policy of looking forward and not looking back (and this includes national security, torture and finance). Here’s a new Al Jazeera documentary about the issues:
“After Zionism” featured at University of Sydney’s Sydney Ideas
The first public event for my new book with Ahmed Moor, After Zionism, took place on 2 August: The Israel/Palestine ‘peace process’ has failed and the occupation has never been more pervasive. The prospect of a two-state solution, a position advocated by all Western countries, is increasingly criticised as being at odds with the realities…
Haiti run, controlled and influenced by too many foreign interests
Being here in Haiti for the last while, it’s striking how often I hear how many locals say that their independence was taken from them years ago, particularly by the US and foreign NGOs. This story has only inflamed sentiments (via GlobalPost): Sean Penn’s aid foundation, J/P HRO, began tearing down the once-picturesque National Palace…
The aid economy that fuels Haiti’s misery
I’m currently in Haiti working on my book about disaster capitalism and a documentary with New York film-maker Thor Neureiter. It’ll be a global picture to show how privatisation and outsourcing, in the military, aid, intelligence, detention centres and mineral exploitation businesses, are creating a world of even greater disparity. Cholera remains a massive issue…
