Category: the fear trade
With a history of plagiarism and consistent lack of compassion, it is hard to determine whether Julie Bishop’s stance may be attributable to sheer ignorance or zero empathy, but heck, maybe they’re not mutually exclusive in this particular case? The civil war in Sri Lanka endured for 25+ years and the situation in northern areas may still be fraught and perilous, particularly for the Tamil minority.
This interpretOr reported on the plight of Tamil refugees in May 2008 (from Australia), in conjunction with David Gray of news agency Reuters who was on the ground in north eastern Sri Lanka and one of the few Western journalists behind the lines with hundreds of thousands of trapped largely Tamil CIVILIANS.
One of Gray’s pieces touched on:
“An estimated 450,000 people have been displaced in the 25 year old Sri Lankan civil war. Since 1983, well over 70,000 people have lost their lives.”
My research led me to uncover that the majority Sinhalese population had to a significant extent systematically disenfranchised the Tamil minority since independence from the UK in 1948, evidenced by Sinhalese being imposed as the official language and the genocide that was unleashed when the first ever telephone directory was released in the capital, Colombo, readily identifying NAME, ADDRESS, PHONE NUMBER of anyone with a TAMIL surname.
DIAL M FOR MURDER, julie bishop?
Archbishop Desmond Tutu has called for Tony Blair and George Bush to be hauled before the international criminal court in The Hague and delivered a damning critique of the physical and moral devastation caused by the Iraq war.
for more: story in full @ the Observer (UK)
“Herr Abbott…your pantz, they’re really hot” said Scott…
Why thank you Scott, I rather like them myself…
Noo, nooo Herr Abbott, your pantz…they’re on fire!!
What’s that old uhh…that schoolyard taunt? Look…quite frankly Scott, I yah, I yah’ve got the latest from Mitt’s team and I’ve had a heck of a lotta opportunities to uhmm, ahh test them out this week. They’re so…look, they’re ahh, they’re soo good that I’ve ordered a few extra pairs for Julie, Alan, Bolty and erhh, for you Scott. You too shall wear those pantz. You’ll wear them with ahh, wear them with pride…
Oleaginous cheeseball, Mor(m)on and US presidential wannabe, Mett Rimnoy, is proud to be a major contributor to global warming:
“Governor Mitt Romney, when campaigning unsuccessfully to inherit the Bush battle standard, was to appeal by claiming that global warming had nothing to do with the US. If the globe thought it was warming, then the globe could get on and do something about it, but leave Planet America out of it.”
Chris Patten, ‘What Next?’ (2008)
Chancellor of Oxford University & last UK Governor of Hong Kong.
Moronism is the religion practiced by Morons, and is the predominant religious tradition of the Later Saint Day Knee movement. This movement was founded by Ed CreePbuhmlicker, Jr.beginning in the 1920s as a form of spiritual primitivism leg-slapping dance movement. During the 1930s and 1940s, Moronism gradually distinguished itself from traditional Protestantism. Moronism today represents the new, non-Protestant faith taught by CreePbuhmlicker, Jr in the 1940s. After CreePbuhmlicker, Jr’s death, most Morons followed the force to the Rocky Mountains as The Church of Later Saint Days (LSD Church).
Other branches of Moronism include Moron fundamentalism, which seeks to maintain practices and doctrines, such as public spanking with bacon, that were discontinued by the LSD Church, and various other small independent denominations.[1]
The term Moron is derived from the Book of Moron, one of the faith’s religious texts. Based on the name of that book, early followers of founder Ed CreePbuhmlicker, Jr. were called Morons, and their faith was called Moronism. The term was initially considered pejorative,[2] but is no longer considered so by Morons (although other terms such as Later Saint Days, or LSDs, are generally preferred).[3]
AUGUST 9, 2012
BY DINAH GARDNER
BY DINAH GARDNER
Even rainstorms can be sensitive in China. The recent storm in Beijing which killed at least 77 people caused the censors to come out in force, withnewspapers told to can coverage and online accounts of the deluge snipped.But with 500 million internet users, the obvious question is, how does China do it? What are the mechanics of China’s internet censorship?
It makes things simpler if we divide the censorship first into two camps: censoring the web outside China and censoring domestic sites.
American journalist James Fallows very readable account of how China censors the outside web explains: “Depending on how you look at it, the Chinese government’s attempt to rein in the internet is crude and slapdash or ingenious and well crafted.”
(press ‘hot’ words to access story in full @ the Index on Censorship)
As the world faces the possibility of another right-wing, religious, ironed-bible, helmet haired fuckhead in the White House making loud noises about “Hiraynianns”, let us not forget the lessons of relatively recent history…
A right-wing, religious, ironed-bible, helmet haired fuckhead called Ronnie Reagan, moved in to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue a mere 30 odd years ago and hatched a foul and cunning plot to raise slush funds to finance his favourite Central American fascist death squads, the Contras –
(A Human Rights Watch report found that the Contras were guilty of targeting health care clinics and health care workers for assassination; kidnapping civilians; torturing and executing civilians, including children, who were captured in combat; raping women; indiscriminately attacking civilians and civilian homes; seizing civilian property; and burning civilian houses in captured towns).
As truth is sadly, stranger than fiction, he embarked upon this nice little earner by covertly selling arms to…IRAN…and the relatively new and archly religious fundamentalist regime of …Ayatollah Khomeini…
more below on Iran-Contra from Wikipedia:
The Iran–Contra affair (Persian: ایران-کنترا, Spanish: caso Irán-contras), also referred to as Irangate, Contragate or the Iran-Contra scandal, was a political scandal in the United States that came to light in November 1986. During the Reagan administration, senior Reagan administration officials secretly facilitated the sale of arms to Iran, the subject of an arms embargo.[1] Some U.S. officials also hoped that the arms sales would secure the release of hostages and allow U.S. intelligence agencies to fund the Nicaraguan Contras. Under the Boland Amendment, further funding of the Contras by the government had been prohibited by Congress.
The scandal began as an operation to free seven American hostages being held by a group with Iranian ties connected to the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution. It was planned that Israel would ship weapons to Iran, and then the U.S. would resupply Israel and receive the Israeli payment. The Iranian recipients promised to do everything in their power to achieve the release of the U.S. hostages. The plan deteriorated into an arms-for-hostages scheme, in which members of the executive branch sold weapons to Iran in exchange for the release of the American hostages.[2][3] Large modifications to the plan were devised by Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North of the National Security Council in late 1985, in which a portion of the proceeds from the weapon sales was diverted to fund anti-Sandinista and anti-communist rebels, or Contras, in Nicaragua.[4][5]
“Now we are creating air bases in Central Asia to seize Iranian oil reserves. Or, more dangerously to take on China en route to North Korea, or vice versa. Since these neoconservative contingency plans for world conquest will end more soon than late in our destruction one wonders why our media, bought and obedient as they are, cannot see that they are on the wrong side of human history, now more than ever fragile and out of control as we nuclearize space itself and attack nation after nation while silencing those few of our citizens who see what is up ahead for us.”
Gore Vidal
Point to Point Navigation, 2006.
Hot on the heals of Deputy Prime Minister, Wayne Swan’s revelations about the inspiration to him that is Bruce Springsteen, Tony Abbott, Federal Opposition leader and former Director of Australians for Consitutional Monarchy, has come out swinging, expressing his eternal adoration of 50’s US singing sensation, Pat Boone:
“Pat’s moral compass was evident, his course set. He navigated fame and stardom with sincerity and panache. I uhmm mean, quite frankly, he is sheer, uhmm, talent as a singer and actor, combined with his old-fashioned values, contributing to his popularity…”
Touching on Boone’s role as a cheerleader for fascist US politicians, Mr Abbott added:
“At the end of the day, Patty campaigned for Ronald Reagan to become Governor of California in 1966 and 1970, and actively supported Ronnie’s bid for the Republican presidential nomination in ’76. He was quite frankly absolutely right in arguing that Democrats and others who were against the president during the Iraq War could be questioned for their patriotism.[24] On Fox News he often had the courage and fortitude to express his outrage toward opponents of George W. Bush He said that their criticisms of the president showed they did not “respect their elders”
Boone’s spokesperson, Ben Harridan, was unavailable for comment.
‘The wrecking by Rumsfeld of Iraq and Afghanistan, two countries that had not and could not have done us the slightest harm. Simultaneously as their cities were being knocked down at enormous expense to us, the tax payers, contracts were being given to the vice-president’s company, Halliburton, to rebuild those same cities that his colleague at the Defense Department had knocked down. This is a win-win situation for the higher corruption that governs us.’
Gore Vidal
Point to Point Navigation, 2006.
“There is growing evidence that how we act is often influenced more by what we think others think than what we think ourselves. Before the Gulf War, for instance, most Americans were against invasion, most Americans thought that other Americans were for the war, and the latter rather than the former led them to accept the invasion without overt dissent.”
Steve Reicher (University of St Andrews) & Alex Haslam (University of Exeter): excerpt of letter published in the July 2012 issue of the Psychologist (British Psychological Society).
Belarus has now vowed to hold accountable those involved in parachuting teddy bears from a Swedish plane with slogans of human rights into the country, after initially denying their existence. Now there are fears for young journalist Anton Suryapin. Andrei Aliaksandrau reports for the Index on Censorship, (26/07/12):
Belarus has finally admitted the flight of a small Swedish plane that parachuted teddy bears into the country (as reported by Index on Censorship) did happen. The authorities had previously denied the incident had taken place, in spite of video evidence. President Lukashenko promised today that “the ones to blame will be punished”. He did not mention, though, if Anton Suryapin, a journalist who has been detained as a result of the case, will be among those appointed to be “to blame”.
Suryapin, 20, is being held at the KGB detention centre in Minsk for posting pictures of the bears on his website. Around 1,000 “plush paratroopers” were parachuted over Belarus earlier in July from a plane flown from Lithuania by members of Swedish advertising agency Studio Total; each of the toys held a small poster with slogans in support of human rights and the freedom of expression in the country. The government has allegedly accused the journalist of assisting the breach of the state border.
“This case demonstrates that Belarus remains one of the most hostile media environments on earth, where law enforcement is used to silence free voices,” Index on Censorship said in a statement today.
Index on Censorship also called on the authorities of Belarus to immediately release Anton Suryapin and return his professional equipment confiscated by the KGB.
There is little information on the development of the case. According to the Belarusian law, the prosecution has 10 days to bring official criminal charges to a suspect. As the 10-day limit on detention without charge has passed, it may mean official criminal charges have been brought against the young journalist.
Andrei Aliaksandrau is Index on Censorship’s Belarus and OSCE Programme Officer
1. “What, me rich?”
2. “It’s Great That Some Women Don’t Have a Choice”
3. a challenging student life…“Neither one of us had a job, because Mitt had enough of an investment from stock that we could sell off a little at a time,”
4. “Unzip Mitt” (sic)
5. “Enough of you people.”
Opinion: Bailed-out banks facilitate $21tn offshore cash hoard
July 23rd, 2012 | by Nick Mathiason | Published in All Stories, Views from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (+ another jfreos pic)
Investigative economist James Henry exhaustively trawled through financial information held by the IMF, World Bank, Bank for International Settlements, central banks and national treasuries to come up with the most definitive report ever written on the super-rich and offshore wealth.
Henry’s Price of Offshore Revisted report, commissioned by Tax Justice Network, shows:
– between $21 trillion and $32 trillion of financial assets is owned by High Net Worth Individuals in tax havens. This does not include real estate, art or jewels.
– a conservative 3% return on that $21tn taxed at 30% would generate $189bn – a figure easily eclipsing what OECD industrialised nations spend on overseas development aid.
– the top 50 private banks collectively managed more than $12.1tn in cross-border invested assets for private clients, including their trusts. This is up from $5.4tn in 2005.
– fewer than 10 million members of the global super-rich have amassed a $21tn offshore fortune. Of these, less than 100,000 people worldwide own $9.8tn of wealth held offshore.
Accompanying the Price of Offshore Revisited is a separate paper (which I co-wrote). It reveals that data used by individual countries to assess the gap between rich and poor is inaccurate. And as a result, inequality is far more extreme than policymakers realise. This is because economists calculating inequality fail to include the vast majority of offshore cash in their findings. So the wealthy are far better off than the studies suggest.
In Inequality: you don’t know the half of it, eight of the world’s leading economists were asked whether offshore wealth was largely excluded from inequality studies. Ranging from the World Bank’s acting chief economist to academics at the Paris School of Economics and the Brookings Institute in the US, they all confirmed this was the case.
Climate change very slow but real. So far all cures worse than disease. Shale gas huge breakthrough for US. Half carbon of coal and oil.
(via the aptly named Twitter)
The latest disgraceful episode of sex crimes against children by Catholic priests and their covering up and inaction by the church hierarchy including Cardinal Pell, has again failed to awaken police, courts or legislators to the need to bring churches in Australia under the rule of law.
How many more atrocities against children will be allowed because politicians are too afraid to take on the mainstream religions which happily involve themselves in sexual politics being debated in our parliaments yet call for separation of powers to enable them to keep their criminal behaviour hidden from the public view?
It is not only the Taliban who continue to carry on practices and prejudices that belong to the Dark Ages of human history. The Christian Churches continue to discriminate against women and homosexuals in ways that are considered to be unlawful and a breach of human rights by our national laws and conventions.
What other organisations are allowed to prevent women from attaining the highest levels of office, or in the case of the Catholic Church, any level of office. The same discrimination applies to homosexuals who are even denied the right of full participation as lay members of the church.
Thank goodness they don’t practice female circumcision.
The question needs to be asked, what constitutes a church? Is it a hierarchy of priests or is it the body of worshippers? After all did not Christ say, “Do not set your-self up and call yourself father”
I cannot think of any other organisation that can insist that its workers, paid or unpaid, must be male and must not be married. If priests are not workers, what is their status and to whom must they answer?
This leads to more questions such as, does the state have the constitutional power to force the church to conform to the laws of the state? And who is responsible for ensuring compliance?
The practice or doctrine of forced chastity on young men wanting to be priests is cruel, stupid and abhorrent, and to my mind sets in place a dangerous set of circumstances for both the psychological health of young priests and the safety of children in their care.
For the many lives lost and for the many brutalised children, the Australian Government must summon the courage to end the appalling criminal homophobic and inhumane practices of the Christian Churches in this country.
Their criminal behaviour, cover-ups and contempt for state law rivals the outlaw bikie gangs that seek to be a law unto them-selves.
“In 1949, shortly after Israel’s War of Independence, the Hebrew writer S. Yizhar published a story that became an instant classic. “Khirbet Khizeh” is a fictionalized account of the destruction of a Palestinian village and the expulsion of all its inhabitants by Israeli soldiers in the course of the war. The narrator, a soldier in the unit that carries out the order, is sickened by what is being done to the innocent villagers. Sixty-three years have passed since Yizhar wrote “Khirbet Khizeh.” I wish I could say that what he described was an ugly exception and that such actions don’t happen any more. This week I find myself in Susya, in the South Hebron hills, whose inhabitants, if the Israeli Civil Administration gets its way, will be, quite literally, cast into the desert…”
story continues here at the New York Review of Books (please click)
Banish the image of a classic classroom from your mind—chalkboard, desks and all. The future of education has arrived, and next-era classrooms look like, well, call centers: students seated at individual corrals, some with headphones on, being taught and drilled on quadratic equations while a teacher monitors their progress from behind her own computer. (A nightmare in the making? ed)
That was the picture painted by Rupert Murdoch when he spoke late 2011 at a two-day conference in San Francisco hosted by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s education reform outfit. Murdoch was there, he admitted upfront, as “a businessman” ready to move into the education market. Murdoch’s News Corp. has been quietly developing virtual-learning and technology-driven products for K through 12 schools, and with his address Murdoch made his first large public splash into an arena he’s valued at $500 billion. For entrepreneurs big and small, American public school reform has become a prime business opportunity. ( ColorLines.com )
Retiring Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, lets rip at Old Etonian Cameron Toryism in his new book, Faith in the Public Square, excerpts of which are appearing in the Observer newspaper (UK):
“Practically speaking, at the individual and the national level, we have to question what we mean by growth. The ability to produce more and more consumer goods (not to mention financial products) is in itself an entirely mechanical measure of wealth.”
“By the hectic inflation of demand it creates personal anxiety and rivalry. By systematically depleting the resources of the planet, it systematically destroys the basis for long-term wellbeing. In a nutshell, it is investing in the wrong things.”
Afghan refugee, Arif Ruhani, shared his harrowing story with me in 2009. In April of that year there was a burning boat near Ashmore reef that reignited debate on refugee policy and responses. Then Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, acknowledged that deteriorating conditions, particularly in countries like Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, were causing people to flee their homelands.
Perhaps we need to ask ourselves as human beings, what would it be like for us if we awoke to the armies of the night? What would we do if we were no longer safe due to sporadic acts of violence, murder on our doorstep? What steps would we take to try and survive the carnage? What would we do to protect those that we love? We may find answers to some of these fundamental human questions in Arif’s candid and courageous account:
Arif Ruhani’s story begins in Afghanistan in 2001 when the Taliban seized control of Oruzgan Province. This was not a unified event as Mujahedeen factions were fighting between each other for power and populations were being murdered. His family became homeless and were displaced from village to village.
“We were trying to lead a ‘normal life’ after the Taliban came in to power and then the whole thing changed. The threat to our life was more imminent. They were killing people for no reasons, oppressing people and trying to make everyday life harder and harder. That was causing my family to choose for me to flee Afghanistan.”
The family pooled money for Arif to escape…”there was not even a single office in my area of any international government or organisation. Impossible.” His father made a deal with people smugglers on the ground in Afghanistan. Arif was then taken with a group of people to Pakistan and “from there my journey starts.”
Traveling under a false passport, he flew to Indonesia where he spent three months in hiding before boarding a small boat bound for Australia. Suitable for 20 people, but with 80 on board, the boat’s engines stopped working after 6 hours at sea. It was night and the vessel began taking on water. Two of his friends drowned before reaching land. Arif returned to Jakarta where other Afghan asylum seekers were arrested by Indonesian police. While there, he became aware of the Tampa Affair where in 2001, 400 asylum seekers were picked up from their sinking vessel by the Norwegian container ship Tampa and then refused entry to Australia. He also learned of the Howard Government’s Pacific Solution, which saw those refugees set offshore to places including Nauru.
“We heard the news about the Pacific Solution, about the (Australian) Government trying to stop people coming by boat, but we still had no choice. We couldn’t go back to Afghanistan”
After a month in hiding, he boarded another small boat that was soon intercepted off Christmas Island by a large Australian Customs vessel. Women and children were taken aboard the customs ship, while Arif and many other men were detained aboard their boat for 13 days…
“This was a really difficult part of my journey coming to Australia. We were prisoners. The fishing boat was very cramped. They didn’t allow us to move freely and we were watched the whole time. We even had to wait for permission to go to the toilet…some people that spoke out were then sleep deprived. It was like torture.”
The Australian authorities tried to fix the boat to send it back to Indonesia, but it started leaking and was deemed too dangerous. The remaining passengers were transferred to the customs ship and after two days, they were detained at Christmas Island detention centre, which was still being built at the time. After two months on Christmas Island, they were transferred to Nauru, arriving on December 22, 2001. They were initially interviewed by the Australian Department of Immigration and refused refugee status. Many people were wrongly classified as Pakistani, reportedly due to inept interpreters working for the Australian Government. Arif too was initially classified as Pakistani.
“Many of my friends were sent back to Afghanistan and were killed.”
So began a long period of detention on Nauru that was to last until June 2005. Over this period, Arif and other detainees had no access to telephones or the Internet; in fact, no access to the outside world. Arif estimates that there were over 100 children also in detention, ranging in age from 1 to 17 years old. One young boy was detained on Nauru, his mother had died and he was separated from his father who was in Australia under a Temporary Protection Visa (TPV). After three years, the boy was repatriated with his father.
The detention centre on Nauru was funded and administrated by a body called The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and Chubb were contracted for security. Arif said he and others were told repeatedly by Australian authorities (during the Howard years):
“If you don’t go back to Afghanistan, we will send you back by force.”
“We were living in constant fear of being deported by force”, said Arif. Many detainees arrived on Nauru with chronic PTSD (Post Traumatic stress Disorder), while others also developed other severe psychological problems and had no access to treatment. Hunger strikes were also symptomatic of people’s acute distress.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was finally able to visit detainees an Nauru in 2004. This prompted the Australian Department of Immigration to interview individual detainees – Arif was among 29 Afghan asylum seekers whose cases were rejected. He was told by Australian officials that they had reached a new agreement with the Afghan Government whereby he and other remaining Afghan refugees would be sent back. After an agonising delay, Arif was later told that he would be accepted after all, and gained entry to Australia under a TPV, arriving in June 2005. Under the terms of these visas, refugees were denied the right to travel and there was no right of even temporary family reunion.
Arif was granted permanent residency in 2008 and lives in Perth, where he talks of the relationships he has made with local people:
“I am very thankful to them: they have helped me a lot. I will be thankful to them forever.”
Asked about his experiences and the plight of other refugees, Arif Ruhani said:
“It is very difficult to express how I feel. I would definitely say to anybody who will read this, please, please help these people. These people are putting their lives at risk for a safe life, for peace and for freedom.”
This morning at nine o’clock while writing a post titled “Some Australians are More Equal Than Others”, that deals with issues relating to the deportation of Julian Assange, I was interrupted by a message that lasted for only a second or less.
My post was replaced by a deep blue screen with a smaller bordered message in the centre.
The message simply stated “He’s dead Jim”
The message instantly disappeared and my computer shut down.
At first I struggled to work out what had happened and why. On reflection I thought someone or some large organisation must have been responsible. How did they know my name or that I use the shortened version Jim, while my co-blogger also named James always uses his full name?
They, whoever they are, must also have considerable surveillance resources because I was only part way through my blog when the message flashed on my screen.
Who would have the technical ability to so quickly override my computer?
Despite its clarity and simplicity, the message has an ambiguity that needs to be considered. It was not saying I was or would be dead. The tone did not seem overtly threatening to me. It was almost like friendly advice or a simple statement of fact.
So was the message an implied threat? Or was it a whistle-blower warning me of the certain fate awaiting Julian Assange?
The certainty of the message “He’s dead ..”, would imply that the author strongly believes or knows that Assange’s future is fait accompli.
Perhaps that now Assange has lost his appeal, everything has been arranged for his extradition or rendition to the USA with the active support of Sweden and the compliance of the Australian Government.
So who would intercept my blog and send me such a message? There are a number of possible suspects who might have an interest but few with the resources, and all of these are linked to Governments.
We at theinterpretor would like to know if anyone else has had the same or a similar experience?
Some Australians More Equal Than Others
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and her ministerial team have chanted a well-rehearsed mantra when questioned about their lack of assistance to Julian Assange, who faces extradition to Sweden even though he has not been charged or found guilty of any offence in Sweden.
The mantra used is “We are providing the same level of consular support that we provide for every other Australian citizen who is facing difficulties overseas.“
When asked if her government has asked the USA Government if it intends to apply for Assange to be extradited to the USA from Sweden, Julia Gillard and her Ministers give exactly the same answer that “they have not provided us with that information”. Clearly she is avoiding the question because the true answer would be unpopular with the electorate which strongly supports Assange.
Do we compare Assange’s “equal treatment” to that given to David Hicks who was illegally incarcerated in Guantanamo Bay where he was brutalised and put through an illegal kangaroo court process. Or can we compare it with Mamdouh Habib who was left to rot after he was seized by the US forces and sent to an Egyptian prison where he was incarcerated without trial and tortured.
In each case the Howard Government made no complaint against their illegal and brutal treatment or even demanded that they be given a fair trial. Prime Minister Julia Gillard proclaimed Assange as being guilty even though he has not been charged with any offence in Australia or abroad.
The current government is too ashamed to allow the truth of its position to be known. Following freedom of information requests from Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlam for documents recording discussion between the Australian and US Governments relating to Julian Assange’s extradition; Senator Ludlam was provided with FOI documents that had so much of the printing blacked out “for security reasons” that no sense could be made of the information.
Perhaps Senator Ludlam would have learned more if he had asked Anonymous.
Contrast the above treatment of Australian citizens with that of Melinda Taylor, an Australian lawyer working for the International Criminal Court, who has recently been imprisoned in Libya. The Australian Government has made strong public and consular statements in support of Ms Taylor.
The Foreign Minister Bob Carr was quickly sent to the Middle East to pressure the Libyan Government to in turn pressure the local officials holding Ms Taylor to set her free.
“Our ambassador is working closely with his international counterparts, with the ICC and with Libyan authorities to seek full consular access to Ms Taylor and a swift end to her detention,” Senator Carr said.
This great variation in the level of protection provided to Australian citizens can be only be explained by looking at who is imprisoning them. In the case of Hicks and Habib it was the US military and with Assange it is likely that the final destination is again the US military who would like to silence him. At no stage did an Australian Minister intervene or even complain about their torture.
Ms Taylor while unfortunate to be caught up in a power struggle between the central government and local officials is lucky that she is detained in a small newly created “democratic state”, rather than by a large superpower so powerful it can ignore international law, and the concerns of the rest of the world with impunity.
The implications of a failure of courage by middle sized countries to stand up to the excesses of the superpowers has worrying implications for the future of everyone on the planet. We will not have a world free from conflict and tyranny unless all of us stand up for justice without regard to whom it applies.
If we are silent about the rendition and imprisonment of those who expose the truth of such tyranny and injustice, we are choosing to live in a world that will become our own prison.
Rupert Murdoch joined in an “over-crude” attempt by US Republicans to force Tony Blair to accelerate British involvement in the Iraq war a week before a crucial House of Commons vote in 2003, according to the final volumes of Alastair Campbell‘s government diaries.
Fear-trade ambassadors, arms dealers, ‘logistics profiteers’ and associated disaster capitalists now have their own chain of C21 luxury hotels in conflict zones, according to German news magazine ‘Der Spiegel’:
‘Enclosed by towering concrete walls and barbed wire, the sand-colored building is surrounded by lush green lawns and manicured flower beds — a haven of luxury amid chaos. Snipers patrol the roofs, and entry, strictly controlled, is subject to numerous security checks. Guest are patted down, while their baggage is scanned twice and sniffed for explosives by large dogs…’
click here for the full story @ Der Spiegel (English)
(Reuters) – Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown flatly contradicted media tycoon Rupert Murdoch at a judicial hearing on Monday, suggesting the News Corp chief had misled the government-sponsored inquiry into press ethics under oath.
click for more on this story @ reuters
“This country is a soft touch, that’s the problem,” said Tony Abbott recently in regard to asylum-seekers.
As an immigrant to this country, I’m very reassured through meeting other Australians that the toxic views of Abbott and his cronies are very much those of a minority. A man ‘leading’ a party that tries to make political capital from the agony of the world’s most vulnerable human beings is disgusting.
Here at the interpretOr, we think it’s timely to repeat an earlier posted question:
Tony Abbott, what would you do if you and your family were awakened by the armies of the night? Would you not seek sanctuary and shelter?
His position is as illogical and spiteful as demonising the victims of accidents or natural disasters. Actually, perhaps it’s even worse. That victims of war and oppression are burdened by the scorn and intolerance of people in relatively free, wealthy countries is odious and craven.
To recap. First, Cameron, Osborne and the Murdochs together embraced a relationship of mutual benefit, irrespective of the interests of the British public and democracy…
Second, the Murdochs knew what went on in the News of the World and approved of and supported the cover up and the pay-offs. Therefore the Prime Minister and Chancellor entered into an agreement with the bosses of a criminal organisation.
The third question is this: granted that Cameron and Osborne knew that the Murdochs were “tough” (just as did Thatcher and later Blair) did they also understand they had become criminal? After Cameron won the Tory party leadership in 2006, perhaps only the Guardian was trying to ring the alarm bell over the courtship. But after Goodman was jailed for hacking and Coulson resigned were these not danger signals? Osborne is said to have then recruited Coulson and Cameron agreed to give him “a second chance” as he put it. But really, did both of them believe the “rogue reporter” line?
It does not matter if you want to give them the benefit of the doubt because an identifiable moment in the run-up to the 2010 election removes all uncertainty. To explain this begs readers’ patience, but it is a defining moment. The fullest account so far is the gripping book subtitled ‘News Corporation and the Corruption of Britain’, Dial M for Murdoch. It’s by Tom Watson MP, the hero of the Select Committee and Martin Hickman of the Independent. (The hint in the title is heavy-handed – see openDemocracy’s review of the book by the author of The Murdoch Archipelago, Bruce Page, who agrees there is a comparison with KGB but denies that NewsCorp assassinates, and I agree with him).
The story seems to be this, drawn from Dial M for Murdoch (pp. 107-10, 167-181). After Cameron had put Andy Coulson in charge of his press and media operation in 2007, it emerged that as Editor of News of the World Coulson had employed Jonathan Rees.
Back in 1989 Rees was a partner with Daniel Morgan running a private detective agency. Apparently Morgan was concerned about Rees’ connections to corrupt police. After having a drink with Rees in a pub Morgan was murdered. Rees denied he was responsible. He went on to run a lucrative business obtaining stories while the police were suspicious and began to bug him. They recorded him saying “No one pays like the News of the World” and, more important, discovered that he was planning to plant cocaine on someone to fit her up. After he did so, he was charged with perverting the course of justice and given a seven-year sentence in 2000. Released in 2005 he was promptly re-employed by… Andy Coulson at the News of the World.
Dear Gina. Dear, dear Gina…well, congwatulations are in order!! Splendid achievement.
Ohh Lord Chwissie, I weally, weally hoped that this was to be you. You upon the telephone…
Dear Gina. Dear, dear Gina. Your pa would be pwoud. Why, you have the midas touch.
Ohh Lord Chwissie, it’s my cwowning achievement. World’s…richest…WOMAN! Andy Pandy sent me a congratulatory telegwam and exclaimed that he was considerwing a sex change!!
Did he now! Did he now, ho-ho. You and he embody a ‘fair go’, Gina. ..A great big, luvelee jubelee fair go. Tony’s tickled to bits too over this and he wants to nail Australia’s richest man!
Lord Chwissie, he’s married with childwen. Just what on earth do you mean?
Nooo, nooo, dear Gina. Tony…wants …Australia…to have a world’s richest man title.
Hahh, yooo are a card, viscount B. A weal card. I’m getting wather poety amidst West Perth’s ambrosia hues. I’m on fire….I’m nucleartastic…it’s mine…it’s all just bloody well all mine!!!
And all mines, dear Gina. All mines…
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed, and hence clamorous to be led to safety, by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
H. L. Mencken
“Dramatic, slimy events in Australian politics. Country desperately needs election to get fresh start.”
Rupert Murdoch via twitter 28th April ’12
An interpretOr grew up among drastic, slimy events in UK politics with Murdoch and his minions at their rotten core.
The man has no shame. But then again, that’s pretty run of the mill for odious sociopaths. Slimy…
“On my first day as prime minister, I would pick up the phone to the President of Nauru to accept Nauru’s bi-partisan, standing offer to reopen the detention centre there.
Within a week of taking office, I would give new orders to the navy that, where it is safe to do so, under the usual chain-of-command procedures, based on the advice of commanders-on-the-spot, Indonesian flagged, Indonesian crewed and Indonesian home-ported vessels without lawful reason to be headed to Australia would be turned around and escorted back to Indonesian waters.”
‘LANDMARK SPEECH (sic): THE COALITION’S PLAN FOR MORE SECURE BORDERS’
Tony Abbott, 27th April 2012
(Executive Director of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy 1993/94)
“A man whose lies helped to make the case for invading Iraq – starting a nine-year war costing more than 100,000 lives and hundreds of billions of pounds – will come clean in his first British television interview tomorrow….” (the Independent: 03/04/12)
click for more at the Independent
The future of Afghanistan must not be determined by the self-interest of the USA, UK and other occupying powers.We owe it to the Afghan people to stand up for their rights and to end the occupation of their country, so that the process of reconstruction can at last begin. Just as with Korea 60 years ago,War on Want is calling for an immediate negotiated settlement to the war in Afghanistan.We invite all those who believe in human dignity and justice to join us in this call.
John Hilary
Executive Director War on Want
George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949):
“Here were produced rubbishy newspapers containing almost nothing except sport, crime and astrology, sensational five-cent novelettes, films oozing with sex, and sentimental songs which were composed entirely by mechanical means on a special kind of kaleidoscope known as a versificator.”
The Sun website (14/03/12):
Get the latest news and features at The Sun – Showbiz, babes, celebrities, sport and racing, national and …Page 360 FREE on Sun iPad app … SOLDIER questioned after girlfriend is stabbed to death in front of her four-year-old son
Textbook Murdoch. Tragic.
“News Corp papers across the world propagate the myth that prejudice has no effect on the lives of modern-day Aboriginal people.”
John Pilger @ the NewStatesman
http://www.newstatesman.com/australasia/2011/05/pilger-australia-rights
Between 1993 and 1994 Tony Abbott was the Executive Director of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy.[5] the interpretOr has just visited the Australians for Constitutional Monarchy (ACM) computer world-wibe-website through one of our computer thingummies and we can confirm that they have wecently weleased “a selection of videos from throughwout the world.” Smashing.
the interpretOr 