DhafirTrial

Glenn Greenwald The Intercept

Western journalists claim that the big lesson they learned from their key role in selling the Iraq War to the public is that it’s hideous, corrupt and often dangerous journalism to give anonymity to government officials to let them propagandize the public, then uncritically accept those anonymously voiced claims as Truth. But they’ve learned no such lesson. (more…)

Marcy Wheeler Salon.com

Not only does the national security elite believe members of their club should face different standards of justice, but they also believe our recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been successes.

That’s the lesson one gets from reading the letters written to Judge David Kessler in support of a lenient sentence for David Petraeus after his conviction for leaking classified information (more…)

Hans V. von-Sponeck and Denis J. Halliday ICH

Tariq Aziz, former Prime Minister of Iraq has passed away. Twelve years of suffering in Iraqi jails have ended and he can finally rest in peace. Unwell, deprived of adequate medical help and abandoned by the outside world, he was held hostage by Iraqi governments following the illegal invasion of Iraq by the US and the UK governments in 2003. Tariq Aziz was needed by a struggling authority as a symbol of victory after having inherited a destroyed nation following years of sanctions and a failed occupation. (more…)

I’ve always loved Sebastião Salgado’s photographs and saw an exhibition at the Glasgow Museum of Modern Art (GoMA) many years ago: stunning.  This beautiful talk by Salgado is food for the soul (16 mins); very uplifting; and much needed for the times in which we live. Katherine

Pro Publica

In late 2011, the Red Cross launched a multimillion-dollar project to transform the desperately poor area, which was hit hard by the earthquake that struck Haiti the year before. The main focus of the project — called LAMIKA, an acronym in Creole for “A Better Life in My Neighborhood” — was building hundreds of permanent homes.

Today, not one home has been built in Campeche. Many residents live in shacks made of rusty sheet metal, without access to drinkable water, electricity or basic sanitation. When it rains, their homes flood and residents bail out mud and water. (more…)