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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.”
source: UN, Al Jazeera (2012)
‘In February 2008, two newspapermen debated on Today, the BBC radio program that starts the day and sometimes sets the political agenda. One was Nick Davies, aGuardian reporter of the good old-fashioned kind who diligently ferrets out stories, the latest of which was “phone hacking,” by journalists and others. There had been rumors of tabloid reporters clandestinely accessing voicemails on the mobile telephones of public figures well before something happened to the cell phones of the young princes William and Harry in late 2005. Numerous messages on their cell phones and…’
Jeffrey Wheatcroft’s extensive article on ‘Dial M for Murdoch’, including background and chronology of hacking, political influence and more, can be freely accessed here at The New York Review of Books
Lang Hancock thought journalists were either “socialists” or “communists”. Gina, too, is deeply scornful of the press. Very few reporters…
Nick Bryant’s piece @ the mOnthly continues here and is freely available by clicking this line.
For the Norb Fones perspective on the concentration of media ownership, please click below:
Norb Fones: good morning ‘stralia and welcome to Stomurdhart
fearfax or rinedigi, Lord Chwissie…what do yooo think? asked Gina.
Gina, dear, dear Gina…how the devil are you? Smeashing to hear from you, all the way down there in Auwsstraylia. Super doops!
Well, Lord Chwissie….fearfax or rinedigi?
I, I, I, I wather like fearfax. Look, they’re both inspired, on message. Ehhumphh…the former wolls off one’s tongue and has a wather clever bwand pwoposition…ya know, my gal, keep the trogledites in line, what? What? Hahahh…
Lord Chwissie wissie…yooo are just my soooper doops pair of eyes and ears in Blighty…you’re kinda like an extention of my bwain!
Heavens, heavens…tell me my dear, dear Gina. Tell me…is it weally twue about Harridan and flegship editorship opps?
Ben’s packing his bags as we speak. He’s a fowern editor of such, such, such…
Mowal couwage?
Yes, thet’s the expression I was searching for…that and of wepute! My hirsute, sandled Ben!!!
And Norb Fones and Flinty are getting a pwoper look in too…look in too with your new toys? Ahumphh, dear Gina?
Oh yesss, yesss….it’s all mine. All of it…It’s just blooody well ALL MINE!!!
(source UN & Al Jazeera 2012)
Tartus (Arabic: طرطوس / ALA-LC: Ṭarṭūs; also transliterated Tartous) is a city on the Mediterranean coast of Syria. Tartus is the second largest port city in Syria (after Latakia), and the largest city in Tartus Governorate. The population size is 115,769 (2004 census).[2]
During the 1970s, similar support points were located in Egypt and Latakia, Syria. In 1977, the Egyptian support bases at Alexandria and Mersa Matruh were evacuated and the ships and property were transferred to Tartus, where the naval support base was transformed into the 229th Naval and Estuary Vessel Support Division. Seven years later, the Tartus support point was upgraded to the 720th Logistics Support Point.[9]
(source: AFP & Wikipedia)
The first Earth Summit was held 20 years ago – greenhouse gas concentrations continue to spiral upwards – this week will see 50,000+ people converge on Rio de Janeiro for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, aka RIO+20 Earth Summit.
Here at the interpretOr, we’ll be sharing Al Jazeera infographics on a daily basis in the run up to RIO+20:
(source U.N. & Al Jazeera 2012)
“An advocate of freedom of expression is necessarily also a practitioner. The basic law for those who want to defend freedom of expression is that they must demonstrate their commitment by practising what they preach. When we speak out for our right to freedom of speech, we begin to exercise it. When we write about our right to freedom of expression, we begin to practise it. There can be no theoretical advocacy of these freedoms, there can only be practical, practising advocacy.”
Aung San Suu Kyi is leader of the National League for Democracy. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Price in 1991 and collected it in Oslo 16 June 2012.
According to Hannah Krakauer in New Scientist, North Carolina legislators have found a novel way to ameliorate climate change.
They plan to stop climate change in North Carolina by legislation. By creating legislation that bans the current method of calculating sea level rise and replacing it with a linear method of calculation that gives inaccurate but much lower level outcomes, they hope to save millions of dollars in reparation.
Hannah Krakauer reported that :
The 8-inch model, based solely on historical records from the last 100 years, flies in the face of modern climate science. Sea level rise is due to a combination of climate-driven factors: warmer temperatures cause ocean water to expand, and rising temperatures are melting the Arctic and Antarctic ice caps. The combined feedback makes for exponential – not linear – growth. Yet the North Carolina bill states: “Rates of sea-level rise may be extrapolated linearly to estimate future rates of rise but shall not include scenarios of accelerated rates of sea-level rise.”
“This is unprecedented,” says Orrin Pilkey, professor emeritus of geology at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. “It’s the first time a law has dictated the shape of a curve.”
NC-20, the group behind the bill, has argued that incorporating the 39-inch predictions would be an enormous economic burden on coastal communities. “The legislature has declined to face the problem of what we’re going to do about it, and instead has attacked the science,” contends Pilkey.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21934-north-carolina-tries-to-outlaw-climate-models.html
To celebrate this miraculous occasion I have created a new but nostalgic anthem for North Carolina.
Carolina Climate Anthem
Wishing is good time wasted,
Still it’s a habit they say;
Wishing that swimming I had mastered
That’s what I do all day.
But speaking of wishing I’ll say:
Maybe there’s nothing but fishing but
Chorus
Nothing could be finer than to float round Carolina in the morning
No one could be wetter than my paddling red setter when I feed her in the dawning.
Where in the morning dories
Sail around my door
I love to hear the stories
Of when we lived onshore
Throwing out my burley but the water is too swirly in the morning
Butterflies still flutter up to kiss the salty buttercups but there all drowning
If I had Aladdin’s lamp for only a day,
I’d make a wish and here’s what I’d say:
Nothing could be finer than to float around Carolina in the morning
Though everything could be better and we’d be less wetter if we listened to the warning
Dreaming was meant for night-time
I live in dreams all the day;
I know it’s not the right time,
But still I dream away.
What could be sweeter than dreaming,
Just dreaming and drifting away.
(Repeat Chorus)
Apologies to Gus Khan and Walter Donaldson
*theinterpretOr is looking at an alternative melody based on Frank Zappa’s “Carolina Hardcore Ecstasy”
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21934-north-carolina-tries-to-outlaw-climate-models.html
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.
‘The fact that Kim Kardashian’s marriage lasted only 72 days can have a longer-lasting impact on the news in America than any environmental policy initiative. High gasoline prices (in the US “high” means that a liter of gasoline costs the equivalent of €0.77, or less than half the price of gasoline in Germany) are so important to so many people that they could decide the election. The fact that 52 percent of Republicans in Mississippi believe that Obama is a Muslim, or that 46 percent of Americans believe that man was created precisely as is written in the Bible can make political debates extraordinarily tedious…’
The President of Disappointments: How Obama Has Failed to Deliver click through to Der Spiegel
By Ullrich Fichtner, Marc Hujer and Gregor Peter Schmitz
Go on then Fones, put it to the test then, if you’re so damn sure! Go on, you potato of a man. Wretched, viscious…potato…bastard.
Ohhh, what vile scum duth I hear before me? Just crawl back to your microbiotical vegetable garden and yer…and yer friggin’ mung beans, you, you…
So to what, exactly, do you attribute global warming, ehh? You overpaid, foul-mouthed bigot, you…
Foul mouthed, foul mouthed?? I’ll let you jolly well know, that by MY calculations, human beings produce a mere, trifling 0.000001% of carbon dioxide – ya know – ceee ohhh tooo – in the earth’s atmosphere. 0.000001 percentile points…
Yeahh, right. And I’m a banana.
That you may be. Climate change…climate change is caused by the seasons. The SEASONS, man. Autumn, summer…err, errr…
Have you totally lost it, Fones?
Winter. Winter and autumn. Look, don’t you know WHO I AM. I’m Fones, NORB FONES!!!!
( for more Norb Fones: Norb Fones: mOnster of talkback… “well, hello Tony” )
Christmas 2010, David Cameron had a festive lunch at the home of Rebekah Brooks, also in attendance was her then boss, James Murdoch…oh, and Elisabeth Murdoch and Matthew Freud too. Cosy…(see earlier interpretOr circa mid 2011)
June 2012 and Old Etonian, ex Carlton Communications PR man, David Cameron PM is before the Leveson inquiry.
Just how was that lunch, David Cameron?
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.
FORMER Deputy Prime Minister Lord Prescott (UK) has accused the Tory Cameron government of exploiting cheap labour. It came after unpaid workers were bussed into London for the event and left stranded in the middle of the night.
The former deputy prime minister said there had been a “complete disregard” for the conditions of the stewards.
They were forced to sleep in the cold under London Bridge in the early hours of Sunday morning.
He also warned the incident could set the tone for the treatment of workers during the Olympics.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said: “It raises many questions on the provision of unpaid labour in these kind of positions, not only on the Jubilee event, but also particularly for the coming Olympic ones.”
source & more @ The Scotsman
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…and a few of the above too.audience source: WordPress.com for the interpretOr (as of June 2012) |
June 2012
… Greece heads for exit; EU in denial;Poland’s ailing east; US healthcare, decision time; Mississippi, republican and poor; Israel, prison as a means of control; Sudan’s contentious pair; Nicaragua, Ortega backs down; Burma’s Chinese border struggle; the UN at work; refugees special report…and more…
Le Monde Diplomatique is informative, broad and freely available by clicking below…
… @ http://mondediplo.com/tag/open-access
“LMD provides a cool, reasoned, different view of the world’s most pressing issues”
New York Review of Books
’72? I must have been around 4, 4 or 5. Still toddlerish, for sure. I was taken one day to this seemingly strange place – it felt a bit like a clinic of some sort…big and weird, anyway. I guess at that tender age, I didn’t yet have any meaningful reference points…playgroup, nope. It just seemed unfamiliar, bit kinda cold…
I think one of the men, maybe more, had a beard. A beard and some sort of overall, bit like a house painter or a technician. Look, what I really remember very clearly – lucidly even – was the marshmallow bit. I’ll come back to that in a sec….
“So, Keith…we seem to be getting closer. We’re back at Stanford, by the sounds of it….”
Back at…at Stanford, yes. Hhhhhh…look, I can’t escape it. Ever. I mean 40 friggin’ years haunted by a friggin’ marshmallow. Come on…!
Keith, I can hear your rage…maybe more exposure therapy, you know, systematic desensitization…??
I know, I know. Look, Stella, I really know that everything you’re doing is for the best. For me…It’s just…it’s just that it’s been all over the news again. The big FOUR O…
Keith, I’m aware of that. The Gladwell book, Z’s recent appearances…
I mean…part of me feels that I was almost kinda “arrested” at Stanford. Almost like part of my development was cryogenically frozen. Heck…why? I just wanta…to know WHY?
Look, the original Mischel study, of which you were a part…
…reluctantly, in retrospect. Errr, a toddler. Please remember Stella, a TODDLER. Fourish, no consent. Well, only that handed over by “them”…
Them? Oh yes, them. And how are “them”?
Stop trying to derail me here. I’m not here to discuss “them”…
My intention was not to derail or diminish your experience, Keith. Please…maybe we can explore the marshmallow?
Ok, ok, ok. I’d like to do that. The marshmallow. I mean, what would any other sane, hungry toddler do? You tell me, huhhh? Nearly an hour prior, sitting in the back of their car. Bored. Probably thirsty too. Then a strange place with creepy people – that marshmallow was my only sensory escape. It was comforting. Comforting and delicious…
Keith, how did you feel as you ate it? Ate the marshmallow…
Relieved. It was my salvation. I loved it.
You loved it…
Yes…
But it didn’t last?
Of course it didn’t last. I ate it and the bearded fxxxxxs wouldn’t gimme another one. Not…even…one…more. I mean, one more! How hard is that? I’m four and in a university of repute, in the psych department and all I wanted was one more friggin’ marshmallow. Ahheuuuu….phneurr…
oh, Keith…
(jamesh 2012)
The vast majority of the people of Australia, and for that matter, many people in many other countries are supportive of the work of Wikileaks.
Despite this, Julian Assange has been sacrificed by an Australian Government which like many of its predecessors puts the rights of Australians to know the truth a long way behind its subservient relationship with the United States of America.
There was a time when Australian Prime Ministers like John Curtin and Billy Hughes were prepared to stand up for Australia, not only against the demands of the United States, but also the whole world if that was necessary.The Gillard Government by contrast is hiding behind deceptive language trying to disguise its true position. It is clearly playing a part in a coordinated plan to have Julian Assange sent to the USA where he can be charged with espionage and face the death penalty.
Our small neighbour New Zealand has shown that it has the courage to do what it believes right. Despite threats of economic devastation if they resist US pressure to conform to US military demands NZ refused to port US nuclear warships.
The Australian media is also lacking in courage, preferring to mount a campaign of character assassination against Assange rather than stand up for the principle of free speech they claim to adhere to. Perhaps they are ashamed they were champions of the illegal war in Iraq and that they failed to shine a light on war crimes that only Wikileaks had the guts or sense of human decency to expose.
The USA is an important ally, but many of their recent actions in the Middle East and Guantanamo Bay and also the illegal rendition of individuals to places of torture was an appalling breach of international law and a blot on the character of the USA. Especially as many of those tortured were innocent of any crimes. In the long term this behaviour is damaging to the United States and to all of us who silently acquiesce to this criminality. It also provides justification for retaliation that may also breach normal standards of engagement.
If we are to have a free society and a peaceful world we must always speak out against injustice and thuggery, whether it is done by our friends or by our enemies. Truth only wounds those who have acted badly and do not want their actions exposed. We the people need to ensure that those among us who have the courage to expose the truth, are protected from dishonest totalitarian governments if we want to live in a free society.
The author has no desire to prevent Julian Assange from facing a fair trial if he has broken the law, but is dismayed that the Australian Government has not demanded an agreement from the Swedish Government that it will ensure that Assange is not sent to face another of the US kangaroo courts that sentences people who have been tortured to force confessions.
Ben Harridan is in the conference room of the Caucasian, juggling the demands of an imminent subs promo deadline with his hectic Foreign Editor’s schedule. He pitches to NY via the video conferencing thingummy…
Is your sock drawer a bit, well, bonkers? Yes, they’re practical, and yes, they go with just about anything, but why not add just a hint of grey to your sock essentials with these Trevor Cheesley New Oxford Plain Socks with Contrast Bipping?Each pair of Trevor Cheesley socks in this triple pack comes with a 1 year subscription to the Caucasian!So the ‘average’ grey sock can have its own hidden virtues too – who knew? Well, we do…
Ben, my freyend, that’s a terrific subscriptions promo. It’ll appeal to our discerning readership – hey, appeal, apparel…appeal…
Heck, huhh, haa. Master James. Smashing.
Now, I need to discuss May’s lying bonus. It seems you had a bumper month! I’ll cite somma the highlites:
– Israel, Netanyahu is a very nice man really….Obama is a communist North Korean Manchurian candidate…Dave Cameron may be an old Etonian but he has ridden a bicycle and once met a member of Boney M…Tony Blair wasn’t really god-father to paaa’s other son…more weaponry will hasten a more stable world (we love that one), internet censorship is actually an important security measure… I mean, the list goes on, Ben…ad infinitum…
(more here harridan’s extraOrdinary rendition and harridan cOnfronts the 10 Absolutes of Reuters Journalism )
vile kyle is at it again.
This time around, vile kyle is ridiculing a disabled Pakistani baby. He does this live on air. He makes a fortune spouting vile, fascist shite. He also does this kind of thing from the safety of his studio.
He looks a bit like this….
Uhhh. Just who is paying this craven narcissist?
It’s disturbing that he even has an audience.
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.
Liberal Party leader Tony Abbott shows his true colours in refusing to support a proposal to put in place an anti- corruption body or new codes of conduct for Members of the Australian Parliament.
Abbott considers that striving to demoralise and brutalise Craig Thompson on the floor of the parliament so that he will resign or have a psychological meltdown is a better solution for him to become Prime Minister than waiting for the next election, or for the proper procedures of the parliament and the law to be followed.
This shows two vital aspects of Abbott’s character. The first aspect is his ruthlessness that allows him to continually put his own ambition above any other consideration. The second is his deceit.
Abbott does not want stronger codes of conduct because he knows that at least one of the members of the Liberal/National coalition is likely to be caught by its provisions and penalties, and therefore strip her vote from the coalition negating the possible loss of Labor’s Craig Thompson.
The true reason Tony Abbott does not want to wait for any of the proper procedures or solutions to be used is because he wants an immediate election while Labor is at its weakest point. He does not want Labor’s program of reforms to be implemented because he knows they will be popular and that his alarmist rhetoric will be shown to be untrue, leaving him revealed as the emperor with no clothes.
Green Party leader Christine Milne has clearly articulated a major emerging issue for Australia and the countries of the South. The neo-colonial pillaging of resources provides almost no benefit to the ordinary citizens of exploited countries and constitutes a blatant dispossession of future generations.
Milne was responding to the announcement that the Australian government would allow foreign workers to be flown in to work on Gina Rinehart’s Roy Hill iron ore mine in Western Australia.
A recent report by the Australia Institute showed that 5 out of every 6 dollars profit from mining in Australia went to overseas investors and that most of the remaining profits went to a handful of wealthy Australians like Gina Rinehart. The most significant benefit to ordinary Australians is derived through the jobs of mine workers.
By eliminating Australian jobs there is very little benefit to this country in digging massive holes in the ground and the significant harm of creating environmental damage and global climate change.
Christine Milne is spot on in identifying the need for a new examination of the ramifications of the impacts of mining on this country and its people.
Australians are in danger of becoming the present day equivalent of the Incas and Aztecs whose Gold and Silver resources were plundered by Pizarro and Cortez and the surviving population was forced into slavery.
Gina, mmmmuhhhh. I am honoured to bee your guest this evening. Your guest here…here et your luvelee magnolia penthouse. Vwat splendid oils upon arrival! Z’art…
Yes, they’re super doops, aren’t they? Leni, I’ve commissioned a triptych by the late Saffron Legging that I shall be gifting to Morley. It’ll accompany the nugget inscribed with my ode d’or.
Vell, thets splendid fraulein Gina. Und ze subject matter….zee subject matter of this acqeezition.
Well, it wepwesents Western Australia, all the element things and nature…the air in the sky…
Ochhh, eet sounds marvelous…
And, and and, Leni…the subject matter includes a shark and a dog. Vwee see the doggie… swimming in the water…the ocean…splashing in pursuit of a ball…the next panel depicts a shark fin upon the horizon…viewed, as seen from the water…
Gina, ze soobject matter is so raw! So raw und so naturel. Und thee third? The final panel?
The shark comes rocketing to the ocean’s surface and has the pooch in it’s jaws!!! Ha, haaah. I love it…
So, zee doggy succumbs… to zee force of nature in zee shark! Now, ze sementecs…eets, eets…
All mine, Leni. Please come on through…
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…
Psychological research can often confirm existing hunches. For those of us that find Fox ‘News’, Caucasian editorials, Abbott rhetoric and resource business platitudes STUPID, as well as offensive, the May ’12 issue of the Psychologist (journal of the British Psychological Society) is coming to the rescue…
‘Think less and become more conservative’:
“The less time or mental effort a person puts into thinking about an issue, the more likely they are to espouse a politically conservative perspective. That’s according to a new study by Scott Eidelman and his team, who stress that their point is ‘not that conservatives rely on low effort thought’ but that ‘low effort thinking promotes political conservatism’…
….reduced mental effort encourages more conservative beliefs fits with prior research suggesting that attributions of personal responsibility (versus recognising the influence of situational factors), acceptance of hierarchy and preference for the status quo – hallmarks of conservative belief.”
Think more and become less conservative? Bring it on.
“People did not believe in my facts and thought my theories unsavory. Resistance was strong and unrelenting.”
The hedge fund Magnetar helped create billions of dollars’ worth of risky deals called collateralized debt obligations, many of which failed spectacularly in the financial crisis. Magnetar, meanwhile, had taken positions that allowed the firm to profit when many of those same CDOs collapsed. Since Magnetar’s dealings was reported on two years ago, there’s been a long line of investigations and settlements related to the hedge fund.
Magnetar itself has never been charged with wrongdoing, and it has always maintained that it did not have a strategy to bet against CDOs they were involved with. But today’s Wall Street Journal reported that Magnetar is indeed under investigation by the SEC.
But the Journal reports that the SEC’s investigation is looking into whether Magnetar took such a prominent role in structuring some of the CDOs in which it invested that it became a de facto collateral manager, responsible for selecting the assets in a CDO. If that were the case, Magnetar might have some responsibility to all the investors in the deal.
The SEC has been circling around the Magnetar deals for some time, hitting some of the investment banks and managers involved. Here’s a roundup of all the charges, settlements, and investigations that we know of stemming from Magnetar deals:
Settled:
June 2011: JPMorgan agrees to pay $153.6 million to the SEC to settle allegations that it misled investors by not telling them that Magnetar was involved in the creation of a CDO called Squared CDO 2007-1. In reaching the settlement, JP Morgan did not admit or deny the SEC’s allegations.February 2012: State Street Global Advisors pays the state of Massachusetts $5 million to settle allegations that it did not disclose to investors that Magnetar was involved in constructing the CDO Carina CDO Ltd. State Street did not admit or deny Massachusetts’ allegations.
Charged:
June 2011: The SEC files a complaint against manager Edward Steffelin for his involvement in structuring JPMorgan’s Squared CDO 2007. In October 2011, a judge threw out part of the SEC’s case, ruling that Steffelin had not engaged in “fraud or deceit.” Other charges are still pending. A lawyer for Steffelin declined to comment on an ongoing case.Under investigation:
June 2011: The SEC is reportedly investigating Merrill Lynch and the firm NIR Capital Management over the Magnetar CDO called Norma.September 2011: The SEC is reportedly investigating the Japanese Bank Mizuho and an executive there, Alexander Rekeda, over the making and marketing of the CDO Tigris, another Magnetar deal. Mizuho did not immediately respond to our requests for comment on the current status of the investigation.
September 2011: The SEC warns it may bring charges against the Ratings Agency Standard & Poor’s, which abruptly downgraded a Magnetar CDO called Delphinus CDO 2007-1. (In an SEC filing in February, S&P’s parent company, McGraw Hill, said that the SEC’s warnings “have no basis and they will be vigorously defended.”)
February 2012: The SEC warns Alexander Rekeda that it may bring charges against him for misleading investors about Magnetar’s role in creating Delphinus. Rekeda, who is now at the investment firm Guggenheim Capital, could not be reached today for comment.
May 2012: According to the Wall Street Journal, Magnetar itself is under investigation by the SEC. Magnetar told ProPublica in our original story that the SEC was “looking broadly” at CDOs and had requested information from Magnetar, but said that they were unaware of a particular target of the investigation.
The Journal also reports that the SEC continues to investigate NIR and its founder, Corey Ribotsky, for its role in creating Norma with Merrill Lynch. NIR did not respond to our requests for comment, but a lawyer for NIR and Ribotsky told the Journal that the firm had not acted improperly in selecting Norma’s assets. A spokesman for Bank of America, which now owns Merrill Lynch, declined to comment.
This article was by ProPublica.
The JIC (Joint Intelligence Committee) of the British government has directed the Home Office to convey the Obama administration’s terms re Ben Harridan to the detention unit at Heathrow…
“Inspector Weeting, the Obama people are adamant. No latitude. Mr Harridan has conspired with Hague ICC held master criminals…Chesney, Bliar, Dumsfeld. The evidence is in print – black and white. His words are recorded there in the newspaper archive. I mean, fuckin’ hell Charlie, he has salivated and gushed over them all. He had access to venal aresholes of the highest order! He even recently described Dubbya as “visionary and morally courageous…” I mean, the man is a criminal and a craven turd…let me read you a bit of his recent Bush/Cheney revisionism in his ghastly rag:::
“Rich Armitage, Paul Wolfowitz, Bob Zoellick – with very deep Australian connections, and a doctrine that put solid allies ahead of all others. Howard sensibly took maximum advantage of all that this offered.Right now the whole world is absurdly against Bush. If he jumped in front of a speeding train…”
I mean..Inspector Weeting, the Armitage/Wolfowitz/Zoellick troika had a doctrine of malice, discontent and exploitation. What doesn’t he get yet? I mean, listen to this, I’ll patch it in, it’s an excerpt from Harridan’s interrogation of late:::
Mr Harridan, let me put this to you…as Foreign Editor of the Caucasian, do you consider that you have influence?
We provide our readers with information… Don’t you know who and what I am!? This, this, this is quite simply a kangaroo court…
Harridan. Just answer the question. Influence, yes or no?
Yes, ok, ok. At the end of the day, we have a measure of influence.
A measure, Mr Harridan? Can you elaborate?
Look, I’m the bloody chap who does the heavy lifting. It’s not easy traversing the globe and …I’m sure, a more balanced understanding of Bush’s achievements, as well as his failures, will emerge.
I wanted to begin this article with a new group name that appropriately described Australian political reporters. I refuse to call them a “Pack”, even though it rhymes with hack, because a media pack sounds active and alert, not at all suitable for the aging and pathetic mob of name droppers, lobbyists and scandalmongers who constitute the Canberra media.
I have settled upon “Wallow”, a name that more accurately describes a group of gossiping dirt lovers who lethargically flop around on the muddy shores as a vast river of fundamental information flows past their uncomprehending eyes.
Why do the Wallow focus on the non events occurring in this country? How is it they are capable of extracting the finest nuances from a story with sexual connotations? They relentlessly pursue the Peter Sleeps and Craig Thompsons for some juicy gossip that makes no difference to this country, and while they are doing so, they miss the real story.
The Wallow have concentrated their gaze on the personal imbroglios of both of these miscreants and attempted to widen the smear to their parties while missing the really important ramifications that could massively change the future direction of the Australian nation. If both of these MPs are removed from the Australian Parliament there is a real chance that Tony Abbott can very quickly become our Prime Minister. Why is the possible impact of this invisible to the Wallow? Perhaps they have mud in their eyes.
By his own admission, and despite his relentless calls for the resignation of the Gillard Government, Tony Abbott is not ready to take over governing of this country. He has offered no clear idea of what he will do in government beyond reversing important reforms implemented by the Rudd and Gillard Governments. Abbott has refused to say what his reversal plans will cost the Australian taxpayers and is equally coy about the feasibility of the few new programs he promised to implement in his budget speech. He said he didn’t need to reveal the cost until the next election is due. This means on the last day before the election when it is too late to calculate the true cost of his program socially and economically.
The last time Abbott ran for government his last minute budget was farcically exposed as being greatly flawed. Now there is a real possibility of Abbott becoming the Prime Minister long before the next election is due. It is a disgrace that the Wallow has failed to pin him down on this fundamental issue.
On the day of his recent budget speech it was far too easy for Tony Abbott to get away with saying that because the next election is not due for over a year, that there is no need to outline his alternative plans or tell us what his budget will cost until then. Yet on the same afternoon Abbott repeated his demand for Prime Minister Gillard to resign her commission and go to an election immediately.
The media Wallow has no agenda to keep the populace informed on important public issues. They see themselves as media celebrities and performers and the providers and creators of gossip. In short they treat the public as short attention span fools to be manipulated by fear and envy. The Wallow no longer have a beneficial purpose in society above telling us what to buy and where to do our shopping. Not so much a fourth estate more a glorified advertorial posting board.
While the Wallow blindly flop in the murky shallows we seem destined to be led by a man who does not agree with science or with evidence based decision making; a man who plans to drag us backwards into a narrow prejudiced Tea Party style past. While trumpeting Christian values he seeks to turn back refugees seeking our help and shelter. He calls the Prime Minister a liar and yet he makes promises he knows he cannot and will not deliver. He then excuses himself saying we should not rely on the promises he speaks, only on the promises he has written down.
Tony Abbott has driven Australian politics to new low levels of nastiness. He has regularly put his own ambition above the public interest. He needs to be exposed before our country regresses into an ignorant, deeply divided winner take all battlefield, like that created by Margaret Thatcher in the United Kingdom. Unfortunately we cannot rely on our largely foreign owned Australian media to shine a light on his deficiencies.
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