The kind of commentary that any sensible writer would make but alas they don’t. The Atlantic’s Conor Friedersdorf explains: Observing that the Sunday attack on a Sikh temple in Wisconsin hasn’t attracted nearly as much attention as other shooting sprees, including last week’s rampage at an Aurora, Colorado movie theater, Robert Wright… wonders… if the disparity is…
Showing all posts tagged war on terror
How neo-Nazis infiltrate the US military
More on a fascinating upcoming book by Matt Kennard called, Irregular Army: How the U.S. Military Recruited Neo-Nazis, Gang Members, and Criminals to Fight the War on Terror.
Don’t think for a second that a militarised US empire is going away
Nick Turse in TomDispatch provides a terrifying overview of what Barack Obama has merely accelerated in the last four years: In the 1980s, the U.S. government began funneling aid to mujahedeen rebels in Afghanistan as part of an American… proxy war… against the Soviet Union. It was, in the minds of America’s Cold War leaders, a rare…
Just two examples of what privatised “security” means
The Washington Post: The security contractor at a Tennessee plant that stores the nation’s supply of weapons-grade uranium has replaced its general manager almost two weeks after three protesters, including an 82-year-old nun, got into a high-security area. Security firm WSI Oak Ridge confirmed to the Knoxville News Sentinel Wednesday that Steven C. Hafner is…
One sorry Australian tale that reveals how the country has become dangerously secretive
This story appeared recently in the Fairfax place then disappeared just as quickly. It’s an important investigation by Philip Dorling about the Australian government’s mostly secret war on supposed trouble-makers. Don’t believe a word of it. It’s largely a fishing expedition with little oversight: The curious case of Timothy Byrnes, a complaint to ASIO and…
Tamils remain occupied and monitored in Sri Lanka
The BBC’s Charles Haviland reports from the previously sealed north-eastern corner: I was with the army as they detonated left-over munitions near a major battle scene. “Here, crouch behind these sandbags,” they told me as we stood, in protective clothing, a few hundred metres from the detonation site. “If shrapnel comes anywhere near, just duck.”…
What freedom of speech really means in today’s US
A fine program,… Alyona Minkovski on RT, has now finished and this is from her last episode:
Just what Africa needs; a US-funded, partly privatised military force
The LA Times reveals yet another Washington-led proxy war, this time in Africa. Privatised and essentially unaccountable, this is another example of the US never learning from history. Arming and training such a force will almost inevitably blow back on the West at some point: The soldiers stood at attention, rifles at their sides, as…
How do we define terrorism? Anybody who’s opposed to us
Medialens ask the questions most in the media aren’t: When is an act of terrorism not terrorism? When the victims are officially sanctioned state enemies. This was clear from the political and media response to the assassinations of senior ministers of the Syrian ”˜regime’. On 18 July, a… bomb attack… on the national security headquarters in Damascus…