Israel has not only completely disregarded the orders of the International Court of Justice to cease its assault on Rafah as we expected it to do, but has actually ramped up its ruthlessness as though trying to make a point. There were reportedly more than 60 Israeli airstrikes on the southernmost city in the Gaza strip in the 48 hours after the ICJ ruling, including a horrifying massacre on a displacement camp full of civilians in tents. (more…)
Category: Media
-
Hacking’s victims fight back
Fresh revelations suggest that the scandalous behaviour at London-based Murdoch newspapers was wider and deeper than previously believed. (more…)
-
John Pilger on the war in Ukraine
The Guardian obituary of John Pilger last year did not mention his views on the war in Ukraine. John Pilger, the renowned Australian journalist who passed away in 2023 at age 84, was a vocal critic of Western foreign policy and media propaganda. (more…)
-
The New York Times explains how gangsters now govern Israel
The rather timid headline for a recent aggressive story in the New York Times (NYT) introduced a detailed investigation by that newspaper of how the governance of Israel has been captured by brutalised backers of apartheid. (more…)
-
Anti-China tariffs are ‘blatant protectionism’ – Asian Media Report
In Asian media this week: TikTok stage of Sino-US rivalry ‘dangerous’. Plus: Human trafficking the curse of cyber-crime; Election body tells Modi to stop dividing society; Junta’s conscription campaign flagging; Xi, Putin give West the big finger; Thailand’s dugongs casualties of climate change. (more…)
-
Rules show how not to win friends and influence people
The ABC is running jolly programmes on and for the Pacific as part of a government policy to counter Chinese influence. But in a closer, bigger and more important region already eyed by Beijing the national broadcaster and its paymaster offer indifference and ignorance. Or is that arrogance? (more…)
-
The bleak picture of Australian politics: this is how we change
We are confronting a deep structural crisis in our society. We have confused the idea of democracy with the institutions of political parties and representative democracies. The major parties have become structures representing economic and security elites to which only second rate personalities flock, incapable of navigating the huge challenges we face globally. Meanwhile, the under resourced education system has become an iron cage, captured by industry, that we have been imprisoning young minds into, and from which they are now breaking free. (more…)
-
UK’s legal process a form of ‘psychological torture’, as Assange battles US
John Shipton has been in London, observing his son Julian Assange’s appeal against extradition to the United States. (more…)
-
US in high-risk legal gamble as court grants Assange leave to appeal extradition
The US is playing a high-risk legal game in refusing to fold its tent and walk away from the prosecution of Australian citizen Julian Assange for exposing US war crimes. (more…)
-
Are Albanese and Rowland afraid of Murdoch or are they in his pocket?
Knowing with any degree of certainty what motivates the behaviour and decision making of political leaders whose skill set is focused on creating public perceptions, is problematic. Accordingly, it’s prudent to look less at what they say and more at what they do or don’t do. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland are two such people. (more…)
-
The slow-motion execution of Julian Assange continues
The ruling by the High Court in London permitting Julian Assange to appeal his extradition order leaves him languishing in precarious health in a high-security prison. That is the point. (more…)
-
Courts protect crimes by agents of the state, punish whistleblowers
David McBride, for all his flaws, is a better, a more decent and honourable person than any of those he has discomforted or outraged. (more…)
-
What’s wrong with the media?
If you are in Melbourne and travel though the CBD along Collins Street on the 109 tram you pass a nondescript building called Collins House. (more…)
-
Papering over our pain in the time of genocide
Keeping silent, while a genocide is in full swing for all to see, is not good for social cohesion. (more…)
-
The AIJAC propaganda machine
The Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) is a constant presence in Australia’s mainstream media. Its predominant role is to defend the state of Israel come hell or high water. (more…)
-
When it comes to Ukraine, Australia’s media is one-eyed
It is curious that though the Russia-Ukraine conflict is now in its third year, Australian audiences have been only given one side of the picture: that of Ukraine and its Western backers. (more…)
-
America’s criminal complicity in Palestine
American elites are squandering the country’s global standing and political capital defending the indefensible with Israel’s genocidal war. (more…)
-
The Kremlin needs a new PR agent
Moscow would have us believe it is fighting a life and death struggle in the muddy trenches of Donbas. But what do we get to see on the inauguration of its president? Glittering gold chambers and goose-stepping soldiers. (more…)
-
Don’t blame social media for violence against women
The recent horrific murders of several women have sparked widespread calls to tackle the scourge of domestic violence. Some commentators have pointed fingers at social media, and internet usage more generally. Pernicious impacts include intolerance of others, especially through ‘echo chambers’ where users reinforce existing prejudices. Suggested remedies include various forms of bans or controls, especially for younger people. (more…)
-
Gaza genocide protests by students shames the elites in the Western world
These elites in politics, business, media, and church have brought shame on themselves and us. Either covertly or overtly they have supported or wilfully ignored the genocide. History will be a very harsh judge. (more…)
-
To his adversaries, Albo is a pushover
The way that the government has permitted the opposition and the Murdoch media (and even the ABC and Fairfax media) to push it around on issues such as climate and immigration policy raises the question: Does modern Labor have any moral bottom at all? (more…)
-
WikiLeaks founder’s fate will be known in just 7 days
In just 7 days, a British court will decide whether to extradite WikiLeaks founder and publisher Julian Assange to the US where he will face trial on espionage charges. (more…)
-
Albanese advised to come clean on AUKUS and China – Asian Media Report
In Asian media this week: Government must persuade public on nuclear subs. Plus: Violence against women an Asian tragedy, too; Beijing, Manila clash over shoal agreement; West hastening loss of supremacy; Modi’s attacks show worry about poll; Hong Kong should promote its common law system. (more…)
-
The West believes antisemitism is a more egregious problem than genocide
The loss of Western authority as a result of Israel’s genocidal attack on Gaza has merely sped up changes already underway for a generation. (more…)
-
Meta versus Australia
The ABC now faces an awful dilemma. If, as now seems certain, it loses the media bargaining code revenue it has been receiving from Facebook, now Meta, it will have to sack many of the 60 journalists and support staff it has recruited since entering into commercial contracts in 2021. (more…)
-
Israel’s war on journalism
Last Sunday, Israel closed Al Jazeera’s office in occupied East Jerusalem, confiscating broadcast equipment and taking the channel off air. Israel’s targeting of journalists and their families, the closure of Al Jazeera’s Jerusalem office, the imprisonment and alleged torture of journalists, and the refusal to let foreign journalists enter Gaza amounts to a war on journalism.
-
The media must surely act now to rebuild public confidence
Community trust in journalism is at an all-time low. Even politicians rate higher.
(more…) -
Indian spies expelled from Australia in 2020
India, regarded as a friendly nation by Australia, operated what is being called a “nest of spies” in this country, the ABC reports, adding that the group was kicked out in 2020 after the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation discovered what they were up to. (more…)
-
The Wakeley church stabbing and the dreaded ‘other’
I remember watching a timid singer walk on stage and when he opened his mouth to introduce himself, out came a French accent. The audience mewed and cooed in awe. The next contestant tenuously stepped onto the stage and started to speak. Her accent was Chinese. The audience’s reaction was completely different. Racism manifests in strange ways. Halting English from one accent gets a thumbs up but another accent – not so much. I think it’s called selective racism. (more…)
-
Israel-The Real Terrorists
The Western world (18 % of the whole world) believe HAMAS is the terrorist of Gaza. That’s a result of mainstream media conflating HAMAS terrorism with legitimate aspirations for self-determination. It disregards the observation that one man’s terrorist may be another man’s freedom fighter in the Gaza strip. (more…)