By Jim Hayes
Rupert Murdoch and his empire has been caught in Saudi Arabia’s purge of members of the royal family, government ministers and officials. Continue reading Murdoch at risk of losing control over his empire
Catalan political crisis enters a new phase
By Joe Montero
Since the 7 October unilateral declaration of independence, events have moved fast. The central Spanish government has taken over administration, set an election for 21 December and ha started taking steps to maximise the vote in its favour.
Continue reading Catalan political crisis enters a new phase
The Paradise Papers extreme capitalism and the ICIJ
by Joe Montero
The massive Paradise Papers leak is as big as the Panama Papers release last year,. Although it is grabbing some attention, it is not producing headlines on the same scale.
Each of these stories first came to light in a German publication (Suddeutsche Zeitung). But with the Panama Papers it was mainly WikiLeaks that brought the contents to the world’s attention. In the case of the Paradise Papers the WikiLeaks connection is missing.
The involvement of WikiLeaks in the first case, made sure that all the contents were made public. In the second case, what comes out has been more selective, although the Paradise Papers involved more than 13.4 million documents, which we are told, details more than 120 politicians around the world involved in of shore banking activities.
A massive 6.8 million of these documents were leaked from a major Bermuda based legal firm called Appleby and are in the hands of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).
A group of corporate interests and very rich individuals initiated, fund and support the ICIJ and there is also an association with a formidable list of corporate media outlets around the world. These links are important, because they provide an explanation of what drives the group.
The two best known backers are the Ford Foundation associated with the car manufacturer of the same name and George Soros’ Open Society Foundation. What binds this group together is a shared political mission that is encapsulated by George Soros, who wrote that the main threat to society is the rise of “laissez-faire capitalism and the spread of market values into all areas of life is endangering our open and democratic society”.
The Soros way to carry this out, is to create a political centre that proclaims opposition to extreme capitalism, as the means of defending the existing political, economic and social order, against forces hostile to it. The method is to build a politics of compromise in connection to the class divisions that exist in society. The cry is that no one has absolute truth and harmony can only be guaranteed if conflict is ended through compromise. This means that big business must give some ground on the key issues of the day.
It is on this basis that he launched his concept of “open society,” a term borrowed from Austrian philosopher Karl Popper’s book, The Open Society and Its Enemies (1945) and is the reason why he became the number one backer of Hilary Clinton and an opponent of Donald Trump.
This is a view of the world that is shared by the consortium that has given rise to the ICIJ, which is selective in the use of information. That which serves the political mission gets priority.
Nevertheless, what has been brought to light in this exposure of extreme capitalism is in the public interest. The downside is that within the ICIJ exposure there is an unhealthy obsession with the Russian connection and a seeming determination to squeeze this into the claim that they stole last year’s US Presidential election.
No doubt the Russians showed an interest in the outcome and nudged things along where they could. This is nothing new. It also works the other way around. The American interfere in Russian elections and elections in many other countries. This is the unfortunate reality of global politics and international tensions.
Foreign interference is wrong and needs to be opposed. The danger is that over playing this card, can lead to the neglect of the most fundamental issues. In this case, Clinton was a rotten candidate, who turned out to be even more disliked than her opponent. She was the darling of Wall Street, corrupt in her own right and came across as an extremely arrogant individual, who stood for the continuation of the policies that were rousing so much anger in American society. These are these important factors that cost her the election. It was domestic factors and not Russians that determined the result.
Despite the weakness in the ICIJ handling of the issue, the much larger scale of the money laundering and tax evasion cannot be ignored. The ICIJ has had to deal with it by necessity, in the battle against extreme capitalism and this has provided another warning that the world needs urgent action from governments.
To date, the political establishment in country after country has done very little to make a difference and is a worry that will feed the growing resentment, against as regime of unequal treatment, where justice is seen to be given on the capacity to buy it.
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Glencore’s Australian arm moved billions through Bermuda
The following article by Ben Doherty (Glencore Paradise Papers 6 November 2017) provides an exposure of some of the activities this major multinational has been involved in, and this includes questionable practices in moving around money and using tax free havens, ignoring safety concerns at its mines and the environmental destruction of indigenous lands. This is all revealed in the Paradise papers, a massive cache of 13 million leaked documents obtained by German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. In Australia, the cmapny’s subsidiary is presently in a lockout dispute with its workforce at its Oaky North mine, aimed at cutting wages by nearly half.
Continue reading Glencore’s Australian arm moved billions through Bermuda
Unions push to raise minimum wage
By Joe Montero
In the pursuit of a fair sharing of the wealth of this nation, it is reasonable to argue that wages should be raised to a living level that maintains an acceptable standard of living for all. Continue reading Unions push to raise minimum wage
We are all equal before the law in Australia and was that a pig flying by my window?
The following was penned by Terence Mills (The AIM Network 28 October 2017) and it points out the duplicity that occurs when politicians found to have received payments that they were not entitled to get treated very differently to Centrelink recipients accused of the very same thing.
Streets ice-cream boycott launched
From New South Wales
The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) is calling on Australians to boycott Streets ice cream products, as part of its strategy against an attempt by the company to cut the wages of its workforce. Continue reading Streets ice-cream boycott launched
Morrison’s Corporate tax cut drive is wrong
By Joe Montero
Treasurer Scott Morrison is calling for the company tax rate cut to be fast tracked, claiming that this is the only way to get the Australian economy moving. Continue reading Morrison’s Corporate tax cut drive is wrong
Stop Adani Summit to be held in Melbourne
Tony Abbott just keeps on playing the same organ
Contributed by Joe Montero
Tony Abbott is a disgrace and as each day passes, he looks even more ridiculous. But it would be a mistake to just laugh at him. What he does has serious consequences.
This is because what he says is used by some very powerful people. They are pulling the strings and using him, an instrument to push a political agenda. If it were not for this, he would be ineffectual.
Abbott might look like a man whose own hurt and ambitions play their part in his eager willingness to be the spoiler against the man he has a score to settle with Malcolm Turnbull. This is undoubtedly part of it. There is also more.
There exists a section of Australian society that is very accustomed to enjoying greater privileges than others have, and a sizable part of it is worried that this is under threat. Its aspirations and fears are bundled in a mixture of a specific view of Anglo and Christian traditions, utmost faith in the market as a regulator of society, small government and opposition to what regarded as a waste of resources on those regarded as good enough to be counted in their society.
It is a well-documented reality, permeating Australian history and alive and well today. Abbott resonates with this section of Australian society.
This is where Abbott has resonance. He speaks for them. This is what gives him his importance.
Nowhere else, is this born to rule mentality better expressed than through News Corporation’s tabloids, television radio stations. They raise Tony Abbott of national and even international significance and at the same time chip away at the leadership of Malcolm Turnbull, suggesting that he is not decisive and militant enough to deliver.
There is a major block within the parliament and the Coalition parties, representing this elite section of Australian society. It is backed and is the political centre of gravity for the creation of a political movement around the Rupert Murdoch view of the world.
One thing the born to rule element has learned over the generations, is that dividing society into hostile blocks is a good way to keep control a fear of others. This is the underlying foundation principle behind the politics of hate that has bubbled up in the last few years.
All this has a lot to do with what Abbott says and why he gets so much attention. He waded in on the side of climate deniers, for example. Now he is putting effort into opposing marriage equality and there is the ongoing crusade against Islam.
Putting forward an opinion is one thing. But when it comes to Tony Abbott, there is much more to it.
The bigger picture is that he is playing a role in the process of creating the new political movement of the privileged, drawing closer sections of the Coalition support base, parts of church hierarchies, One Nation allies and a collection of other odd bods, into a crusade to save the world as they know it.
Battle lines where there shouldn’t be battle lines. Focus is on those issues that can most easily be used to set up villains, to be used as a skeleton, on which to legitimise narrow interests and dupe another part of Australian society into being the unsuspecting foot soldiers of the defence of privilege.
Building division and setting up villains is used to silence critics as well. Borrowing from Donald Trump, all that is not permissible is branded as fake news. Use of vilification and bullying is legitimised.Proper discussion, based on real facts, van be evaded and attention can be turned away from those who are pulling the strings.
With his most recent elevation, Tony Abbott has been on the international stage, playing a similar role, helping similar elements in other counties, facing similar fears and sharing a shared view of the world.
Whether Tony Abbott is fully conscious of his role does not matter. He is still doing harm and hurting people, and for this he should be accountable.
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