Category: Middle East
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Scottish writer’s stand on Palestine
There’s sad news about Iain Banks, the Scottish novelist. He has cancer, and only months to live. His brilliantly imaginative novels include The Wasp Factory and The Crow Road, and he can also write in a lighter vein. I liked his satirical post-9/11 thriller Dead Air. There must have been something in the air in…
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Pro-Zionists attempt to gag MPs in NSW Upper House
Shaoquett Moselmane, a Labor MP in the NSW Legislative Council, is the first Moslem in the NSW Parliament. The former mayor of Rockdale, Moselmane is one of six candidates in the pre-selection for the seat of Barton which Robert McClelland is vacating at the next federal election. To raise his profile among Moslem pre-selectors in…
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The IMF’s howler: Millions in poverty
The IMF’s howler: Millions in poverty To the millions of pauperised citizens of Europe, there has been an unprecedented admission of guilt by the International Monetary Fund (IMF): we got it wrong. In a New Year report entitled “Growth Forecast Errors and Fiscal Multipliers”, the IMF admitted that it had plunged nations of the Euro-zone…
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NSW Labor’s revival starts at the Radisson
Sam Dastyari has two jobs: general secretary of the NSW Labor Party and head honcho of the state branch of the right-wing faction known as Centre Unity. How do I know? I’ve received an email invitation from Dastyari to the 2012 Centre Unity Christmas Party on Tuesday, December 18, starting at 6pm. The card ends…
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Historic win for Palestine
Palestinians always knew that their culture, history and land constituted an independent, sovereign state. Nevertheless, they will celebrate the UN General Assembly vote that officially recognises their statehood and are entitled to do so. Recognition has taken decades and the struggle has taken thousands of lives. The Israeli regime declared through its propaganda foghorn that…
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Behind the Israel-Hamas conflict
It’s a fortnight since President Barack Obama was re-elected to the White House and Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu has started to feel the heat. On the eve of the election, “Bibi” went to the UN General Assembly in New York and produced his ludicrous poster at the rostrum depicting the supposed time line for…
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The unfeeling toffs
SO NOW it’s London, Glasgow and Belfast. There were massive demonstrations on Saturday against the Cameron government’s austerity measures – 100,000 people took to the streets in the capital alone. Called by the Trade Union Congress (TUC), the day was a significant show of strength. At the rally, though there were signs that the TUC…
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The ugliness of the anti-Islam crusade
The worldwide revulsion at the anti-Islam film, The Innocence of Muslims, has been coupled, in many Western countries, with the caveat: “But in the interests of free speech we defend the right of the film to be shown.” The film is a vile attack on the fastest growing religion in the world and its 1.6…
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Libyan “victory” starts to unravel
Overnight the lawless hardline Islamic militias in Benghazi destroyed the US consulate and killed the American ambassador. Twelve months ago Libya’s second city was being hailed as the epicentre of the country’s “new democracy” and the armed gangs were “freedom fighters”. Today Libya is virtually a failed state run by a feeble and corrupt central…
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Human cost of bank austerity
The connection between the economic crisis and the increasing rate of suicide is worldwide. In April a 77-year-old retired pharmacist Dimitris Christoulas shot himself in front of the Greek parliament after shouting: “I have debts. I can’t stand this anymore. I don’t want to leave my debts to my children.” He said in a suicide…