Wednesday 27th of November 2024

John Richardson's blog

the sky is falling .....

the sky is falling .....

The big powers are moving tentatively towards global de-nuclearisation, taking small but significant steps to show they do want everyone to pitch in. Obama's decision to shelve the European defence missile programme shows serious intent, so too Gordon Brown's announcement that Britain would cut down from four to three its Trident missile-carrying submarines.

have you stopped beating your wife .....

have you stopped beating your wife .....

By accusing Iran of having a secret "nuclear weapons program" and demanding that Iran "come clean" about the nonexistent program, adding that he does not rule out a military attack on Iran, Obama mimics the discredited Bush regime's use of nonexistent Iraqi "weapons of mass destruction" to set up Iraq for invasion.

As there is no real case against Iran, Obama took a script from Bush's playbook and fabricated one.

roo rackets .....

roo rackets .....

Schwab: Dixon's "termination" anything but

Adam Schwab writes:

truth speaks to power .....

truth speaks to power .....

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, in his first ever address to the United Nations, on Wednesday accused the veto-wielding powers of the Security Council of betraying the principles of the UN Charter.

"The preamble (of the Charter) says all nations are equal whether they are small or big," Gaddafi said through an interpreter. He received a smattering of applause.

Reading from a copy of the UN Charter, Gaddafi said: "The veto is against the Charter; we do not accept it and we do not acknowledge it."

deja vu .....

deja vu .....

Afghanistan's much ballyhooed recent election staged by its foreign occupiers turned out to be a fraud wrapped up in a farce -- as this column predicted a month ago. It was as phony and meaningless as U.S.-run elections in Vietnam in the 1970s.

Canada played a shameful role in facilitating this obviously rigged vote.

patriot games .....

patriot games .....

from Crikey .....

A week in the life of Australia's greatest living political hypocrite ...

"aussie tony" & the value of faith .....

"aussie tony" & the value of faith .....

from Crikey .....

Blair's mission from God rings hollow

Alex Mitchell writes from London:

same old muddy boots .....

so many muddy boots .....

Angus Houston seems like a nice enough bloke .... his quiet, calm demeanour almost suggests that he is a thinking man's soldier & not the big, bold warrior that we might normally expect in an Air Chief Marshall or the person of our Chief of Defence Forces.

But, as always, first appearances can be deceiving .....

The other night, on the SBS Dateline program, the benign facemask of military discipline, coupled with polished media relations training, slipped for a moment & we caught a glimpse of the steel warrior lurking beneath the soft appearance.

whistleblower .....

whistleblower .....

from Crikey .....

Allan Kessing: my side of the story

Whistleblower Allan Kessing writes:

I joined Customs in 1990 and retired in 2005. My first three years were on the wharves then two at Sydney airport. In January 1997 I was approached to join a new intelligence section analysing sea and air cargo where I remained until returning to the airport in 2001.

sweet poison .....

sweet poison .....

from Crikey .....

Ad self-regulator says 72% sugar is a simple serve of fruit

David Gillespie, lawyer and author of "Sweet Poison, why sugar makes us fat" writes:

on smoke & mirrors .....

on smoke & mirrors .....

More than 50 years ago, Vance Packard shook the commercial world with the publication of his book The Hidden Persuaders. It was, as the book jacket claims, "A revealing, often shocking explanation of new techniques of research and methods of persuasion."

Packard revealed, "If people couldn't discriminate reasonably, marketers reasoned, they should be assisted in discriminating unreasonably, in some easy, warm, emotional way."

eclipsing guantanamo .....

eclipsing guantanamo .....

Palestine is under an oppressive military occupation. At times of political tension, the IDF detains large numbers of Palestinians "because the regulations that govern Israeli military tribunals provide little procedural protection to detainees." From March - October 2000, over 15,000 West Bank Palestinians were arrested. Over 1,000 were held in administrative detention without charge.

the value of the voiceover .....

the value of the voiceover .....

from Crikey .....

Woolies donates $2m, spends $500,000 talking about it

Stephen Downes writes:

Motorists using busy major roads in Melbourne and Brisbane have recently noticed large billboards advertising a $5000 grant from Woolworths to the Somerton Park Sea Scouts.

Some, not recognising the name Somerton Park, have eventually found that it is neither in Queensland nor Victoria but in South Australia. It's likely that the same ad is gracing billboards around the country.

rage of convenience .....

rage of convenience .....

Hamid Karzai is poised for outright victory in Afghanistan's bitterly contested presidential election after officials said he had won more than 50 per cent of the vote.

But his likely re-election without having to face a second round after reaching the milestone with almost all of the votes counted was mired in controversy. United Nations monitors said they had found "clear and convincing evidence" of fraud and election officials ordered a recount of thousands of disputed ballot papers.

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