The Digger

For those of us horrified by the technocratic, techno-obsessed culture we live within (and criticizing it while typing into our laptops), here’s a couple of longish readings for consumption. For those of you of substantial years who say tl;dr, consider if you would have said that a quarter century ago. Yes, the Internet is messing with all our attention spans. Resist! Resist! The first article is the so-called Unabomber Manifesto, entitled <em> </em> by its author, Ted Kaczynski, as published in <em>The New York Times </em> in 1996. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/national/unabom-manifesto-4.html To refresh your memory, quoting Wikipedia, “Between 1978 and 1995, [Ted Kaczynski] killed three people and injured 23 others in an attempt to start a revolution by conducting a nationwide bombing campaign targeting people involved with modern technology. In conjunction with this effort, he issued a social critique opposing industrializ...

September 13, 2019 "Information Clearing House" - Julian Assange will remain in prison after his jail sentence finishes because of fears he may run away. The WikiLeaks founder was told this morning that he would not be freed when his current term for skipping bail expires on September 22. Assange, 48, was handed a 50 week jail sentence in May following his seven year stay in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, which ended when he was dragged out of the Knightsbridge property by the police. Then home secretary Sajid Javid signed an order in June allowing Assange to be extradited to the US over computer-hacking allegations. Westminster Magistrates Court heard this morning that there were "substantial grounds" for believing that Assange would be at risk of absconding. The WikiLeaks founder appeared by video-link from HMP Belmarsh wearing a loose-fitting T-shirt. District Judge Vanessa Baraitser told Assange: "You have been produced today bec...

The Devolution of US-Russia Relations A retired Australian diplomat who served in Moscow dissects the emergence of the new Cold War and its dire consequences.  By  Tony Kevin I n 2014, we saw violent U.S.-supported regime change and civil war in Ukraine. In February, after months of increasing tension from the anti-Russian protest movement’s sitdown strike in Kiev’s Maidan Square, there was a murderous clash between protesters and Ukrainian police, sparked off by hidden shooters (we now know that were expert Georgian snipers) , aiming at police. The elected government collapsed and President Yanukevich fled to Russia, pursued by murder squads. The new Poroshenko government pledged harsh anti-Russian language laws. Rebels in two Russophone regions in Eastern Ukraine took local control, and appealed for Russian military help. In March, a referendum took place in Russian-speaking Crimea on leaving Ukraine, under Russian military protection. Crimeans voted over...