Bush’s Black and White Ball - he&#...
Posted by Marcus O'Donnell in Presidential politics on 09 17th, 2006 | No Comments
A lot of stuff in the press - news, analysis and opinion - about opposition to Bush’s wiretap and torture plans from leading Republicans like Colin Powell. It is interesting though that even when these pieces seek to address substantive issues they nearly always end up analysing policy as posture...
The Vietnamization of Bush’s Vacat...
Posted by Marcus O'Donnell in Presidential politics on 08 29th, 2005 | No Comments
In another installment of blistering analysis Frank Rich writes of the Vietnamization of Bush’s Vacation. It’s an astute look at Bush’s stubborn refusal to face the reality of the dismal state of the conflict in Iraq. He’s just going to stay the course with his stay the course...
News, Community Service and TV drama...
Posted by Marcus O'Donnell in Uncategorized on 08 5th, 2005 | 1 Comment
Monday’s episode of 24 began with a casually dressed Kiefer Sutherland and a message for viewers:
“Hi. My name is Kiefer Sutherland. And I play counter-terrorist agent Jack Bauer on Fox’s ‘24’. I would like to take a moment to talk to you about something that I think...
War of the Worlds...
Posted by Marcus O'Donnell in Film & popular culture on 06 28th, 2005 | 1 Comment
With the Australian media preview of War of the Worlds last night SMH film writer Gary Maddox has an intriguing little piece in today’s paper. It’s not really a review, it’s not really a comment piece, it’s a short reflection on post 9/11 culture and the new film:
Panicking...
Blair gradually softens language...
Posted by Marcus O'Donnell in Uncategorized on 09 29th, 2004 | No Comments
The Guardian navigates changes in Tony Blair’s language about Saddam and WMDs:
How PM’s language changed
Saddam Hussein’s regime is developing weapons of mass destruction, and we cannot leave him doing so unchecked
April 10 2002, House of Commons
There are literally thousands of sites....
The new iron curtain...
Posted by Marcus O'Donnell in Uncategorized on 09 28th, 2004 | No Comments
In more rhetoric that draws parallels between our current sense of crisis and the cold-war Pakistan’s President Musharraf warned the United Nations General Assembley of a new ‘iron curtain’:
The president said the causes of terrorism had to be tackled, pointing to international disputes...
More on Cat Stevens fiasco...
Posted by Marcus O'Donnell in Uncategorized on 09 28th, 2004 | No Comments
Good article by American Muslim journalist and editor, Hasan Zillur Rahim from AlterNet about US banning of Yusaf Islam and other moderate Muslims. He points out that even the 9/11 commission recently recommended working with moderate Muslims as a key to the “defeat of terrorism”:
Time and...
Kennedy Says Bush Makes US More Vulnerab...
Posted by Marcus O'Donnell in Uncategorized on 09 28th, 2004 | No Comments
This AAP report, posted on Common Dreams, makes explicit the simmering connections between the cold war era and the current war on terror and brings back the cold war bogey of nuclear attack into post-cold-war discourse.
The Bush administration’s failure to shut down al-Qaida and rebuild Iraq have...
The strange case of Cat Stevens...
Posted by Marcus O'Donnell in Uncategorized on 09 24th, 2004 | No Comments
The refusal of US border patrol to allow Yusaf Islam, the singer and Muslim peace activist formerly known as Cat Stevens, to enter their country is weird and troubling on a number of levels.
This little incident exposes in a very stark way the confusion over what is a threat, or rather the pervasiveness...