from Crikey …..

In Tasmania, even crooks like Gay can run a business

I'm confused. A few weeks ago we were told in the West that people occupying government buildings in Ukraine was a very good thing. These people, we were told by our political leaders and elite media commentators, were 'pro-democracy protestors'.

When Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas decided to defy the United States and Israel over stalled peace negotiations, he formally indicated to the United Nations last week that Palestine will join 15 international conventions relating mostly to the protection of human rights and treaties governing conflicts and prisoners of war.

“Moreover, Russia has pointed to America’s decision to go into Iraq as an example of Western hypocrisy. … But even in Iraq, America sought to work within the international system. We did not claim or annex Iraq’s territory. We did not grab its resources for our own gain. Instead, we ended our war and left Iraq to its people and a fully sovereign Iraqi state that could make decisions about its own future.”

introducing George Venturini …..

“One of the most horrible features of war is that all the war-propaganda, all the screaming & lies & hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting.”

George Orwell

from Crikey ….

Sinodinos takes the stand: if he didn't know, it doesn't wash ….

from Crikey …..

Arise, sons of privilege.

A report by the Senate Intelligence Committee concludes that the CIA misled the government and the public about aspects of its brutal interrogation program for years - concealing details about the severity of its methods, overstating the significance of plots and prisoners, and taking credit for critical pieces of intelligence that detainees had in fact surrendered before they were subjected to harsh techniques.

Last December, Xanana Gusmão, the prime minister of Timor-Leste, was on an official visit to the world’s newest nation of South Sudan when he received an urgent call from Dili. Officers from the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and the Australian Federal Police had just taken files and computers from the Canberra office of Bernard Collaery, one of the lawyers advising Timor-Leste in a dispute with Australia over a treaty that divided the spoils of the $40 billion Greater Sunrise oil and gas field.

The Abbott government might as well end the pretence and shut up the accountability shop.

When Robert Menzies won elections, he would reassure voters that he would govern not just on behalf of those who voted for him but also on behalf of those who didn’t. It was a promise to put the national interest above partisan interests and a recognition that almost half of the electorate always votes for the other side.