As with Ari Folman’s movie-length cartoon Waltz with Bashir, this film is most commonly viewed as a confession, by a former Israeli soldier, about his part in the 1982 Lebanon War. My personal view is that whilst both Waltz with Bashir and Lebanon are most certainly products of a personal and collective process of redemption, in Lebanon Samuel Maoz makes three aesthetic choices that violently differ from those made by Ari Folman in Waltz with Bashir.
READ MOREExercise caution with KONY 2012
A brief comment on the KONY 2012 that has flooded social media over the last two days. I would suggest exercising extended critical reflection on the issue before further circulating it. The issue is not as black and white as it is painted nor will any good solution come easily. Invisible Children’s suggestion of a [...]
READ MOREStop warmongering in the Middle East
The public discussion in the West addressing Iran’s nuclear program has mainly relied on threat diplomacy, articulated most clearly by Israeli officials, but enjoying the strong direct and indirect backing of Washington and leading Gulf states. Israel has also engaged in covert warfare against Iran in recent years, somewhat supported by the United States, that has inflicted violent deaths on civilians in [...]
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Playboy Magazine, and the proliferation of nukes
Julia Gillard would be well advised to seek out an edition of this month’s Playboy. If approached with open eyes an article by Arms Control Wonk blogger Joshua Pollack has the capacity to recast the Australia-India relationship.
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Red river: The blacklisting of Rio Tinto
In February 1995, Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto announced three deals that secured access into Grasberg, a massive gold and copper mine in the Indonesian province of West Papua. This is the story of why the mine has been deemed “gorssly unethical” by the Norwegian government.
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Leste we forget: what lies beneath East Timor
Expats and Timorese working for the UN, NGOs and in government have differing views as to what will happen in 2012 as the election season approaches and UNMIT withdraws. What we do know, however, is that there are more than just grenades beneath the surface in East Timor, says Mark Notaras
READ MOREIsrael and Apartheid? Reflections on the Russell Tribunal on Palestine
An allegation of apartheid, like genocide, stands for something evil in the public mind, and is associated with the kind of institutionalized racism that owes its name to the governing process of South Africa under white rule. But the crime of apartheid was generalized on the basis of this historical background, and has the status of an [...]
READ MORELest We Remember: reflecting on SIEV 221, one year on
What follows is the final in a three-part series of three related reflections on the anniversary of SIEV 221, the Christmas Island Boat Tragedy. Here are parts one and two. Part Three: Getting the message What is the message of border security, and who is its intended recipient? The imputed message is for the categorically [...]
READ MORELest We Remember: reflecting on SIEV 221, one year on
What follows is the second in a series of three related reflections on the anniversary of SIEV 221, the Christmas Island Boat Tragedy. Part Two: It *must* have been the weather… The ocean is inherently hazardous, yet our culture has no word for fortuna, or the Gods. After technology, the other general lesson the reports’ [...]
READ MORELest We Remember: reflecting on SIEV 221, one year on
What follows is the first in a series of three related reflections on the anniversary of SIEV 221, the Christmas Island Boat Tragedy. Part One: The integral accident In the dark reflection of the one-year anniversary of the shipwreck of SIEV 221 – the Christmas Island Boat Tragedy – it’s time to ask ourselves and [...]
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