CAPITALISM: Financial crisis,
failed policies, failed system
Financial crisis, recession, poverty, wars, climate change, homelessness, health care and education cuts, privatisation, unemployment — these are just some of the outcomes of a system that is failing millions of people around the world. It is a system based on greed, on the growth and accumulation of wealth by a small minority at the expense of the majority. more...

Editorial:
The unwinnable war
Australia’s PM Kevin Rudd declared recently that Australia’s military forces would be in Afghanistan for the "long haul" but without a "blank cheque". Whether "the long haul" means 5 years, 10 years or 50 years is not clear. One commentator even suggested 100 years. more...

Questions for Sydney’s future
Just before the NSW ALP Conference last weekend the popularity rating of current premier Morris Iemma had fallen to just 28 percent, reminiscent of Prime Minister Howard’s last popularity rating before his recent electoral annihilation. more...

Bush, millionaires and climate change
No one requires additional proof of the growing hatred that drives the slaughter in Iraq, a country where 95 percent of the population is Muslim — of these, over 60 percent are Shiites and the remainder Sunnis — or the killings in Afghanistan, where over 99 percent of the population is also Muslim — 80 percent Sunni and the remainder Shiite. The two nations are also made up of nationalities and ethnic groups of diverse origins and locations. more...

Assimilation or recognition?
One of the 10 streams at the government’s 2020 Summit was called "Options for the future of Indigenous Australia". One hundred selected representatives attended each of the 10 forums and the Indigenous representatives made their demands loud and clear. But when these were written up in a summary of the ideas raised, the main wishes of the Indigenous people were watered down considerably. What came forward in the summary was not so much the demands of the Indigenous people but the program favoured by the Rudd government. more...

Culture & Life:
Iraqi support for militias,
religious parties drops
Iraqi Parliament members from several political blocs went to Baghdad’s Sadr City last week hoping to stop the violence that has trapped civilians in the crossfire. The delegation was accompanied by representatives of Moqtada al-Sadr, in what some called a lobbying effort to get the Iraqi government to stop its campaign against Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia. more...