Blight and Revelation: Coronavirus, Austerity and the UK
Epidemiologist Michael Marmot begins his August 10 piece in The Guardian on a sombre note. It is drawn from The Plague by Albert Camus. “The […]
AIM Extra
JAGGED #9 – Crazy Daze
Follows on from JAGGED #8 – ghost-woman MOTHER (JAGGED has contained some difficult material regarding suicide ideation and the legacies of childhood sexual abuse – […]
Macron Lectures Lebanon: The Condescending Politics of Aid
The explosion in a Beirut portside warehouse containing over 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate on August 4 has done its bit to light more fires […]
Don’t Stigmatise the Nuke! Opponents of the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty
It would seem a logical step, at least from an existential perspective: to ban something so utterly horrendous to life; to forbid its use in […]
Selective Maritime Rules: The United States, Diego Garcia and International Law
There are few more righteous sights than the paunchy US Secretary of State savaging the People’s Republic of China with his next volley on Chinese […]
Foiled at Toronto: The Tiger Squad’s Canadian Outing
Silencing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul was a feat of primeval brutality that sent a shudder through even the most hardened officials. The House […]
Death From the Sky: Hiroshima and Normalised Atrocities
When US President Harry S. Truman made the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, followed by another on Nagasaki […]
Big Tech Antics: The Data Robber Barons Appear Before Congress
Silicon Valley continues to sprawl in influence, and its modern robber barons bestride the globe with a confidence verging on contempt. The technology giants that […]
Mealy-Mouthed Universities: Academic Freedom and the Pavlou Problem Down Under
A sorry state of affairs has descended upon Australian academic institutions like a suffocating cloak. Vice-Chancellors and their overly remunerated toadies are getting human relations […]
Pulling out of Germany: Trump Adjusts the Military Furniture
One noisy theme in the Donald Trump Disruption Show in an otherwise chaotic assemblage of messages has remained fairly constant: winding back US troop commitments. […]
Coronavirus Criminality: Bolsonaro and the International Criminal Court
This could be the stuff of fiction. But then again, many legal principles began, at some point or rather, in the sludge of speculation before […]
Julian Assange’s Political Indictment: Old Wine in Older Bottles
The book of hours on Julian Assange is now being written. But the scribes are far from original. Repeated rituals of administrative hearings that have […]
Mephistopheles of Wall Street: Goldman Sachs, 1MDB and the Malaysian Settlement
Malaysia’s politicians were crowing. “We are confident that we are securing more money from Goldman Sachs compared to previous attempts, which were far below expectations,” […]
JAGGED #8 – ghost-woman MOTHER
Follows on from JAGGED #7 – Bang goes the suicide gun. I’ve never celebrated Mothers’ Day, and I never will. JAGGED is now 29,577 words […]
Revisions on China: Abandoning the Nixon Legacy
There is little doubt about it. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is the puffed-up hawk of the Trump administration, talons at the ready, beak […]