Armistice Day…or, making the world safe for Big Oil

As the armaments boosters and those turning a Nelsonian eye to the futility of it all ‘celebrate’ the ‘glorious dead’ of the Great War and its Armistice Day of more than 100 years ago, socialist historian Humphrey McQueen puts a different slant on what he says really happened a century ago in the power play to control the world’s major enabler of production. His analysis explains why the ‘war that never really ended’ still girdles the Middle East today.

Govt seeks new powers to send in the troops

The federal government is hell bent on boosting its powers to call out the troops at a moment’s notice anywhere in Australia, and even in anticipation of a problem occurring. The new law, now being considered by a parliamentary committee, would be perfect for using the Army, Navy and Air Force to protect President Trump when he visits, or to stop protestors at Adani mine or port sites, where fracking is about to get under way or any environmental protest is likely. The power to call out the troops should be very tightly constrained, which is the opposite of how this draft bill is written, says CLA CEO Bill Rowlings.

Command failings that are defence-less

Fury was the initial response on social media among Defence personnel to allegations against special forces soldiers. But as new details emerge almost daily, there’s recognition that leaders at many levels within the Australian Defence Force may have as many questions to answer as the troops. If accountability failures extend throughout the organisation, Army wife Kay Danes writes, an open and transparent Senate inquiry would be the least mechanism needed to get to the bottom of the allegedly widespread management problems in the ADF.

Lest we forget the dead, lost fighting for distant empires

Lest we forget we will all chant, as we have all chanted for a century now. And yet it is as if all that chanting only ensures we remember nothing. If we remembered would we 100 years later still allow our young men to be sent off to kill or be killed in distant conflicts defending yet again not our country, but another distant empire, as we have in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Who obeys the law, wins

Did special forces or other soldiers violently strip, cover with hoods, and threaten with anal rape when apprehending non-violent protesters in Australia. We’re keen to know answers. 4 Nov 2014