Top all-time · #3507
John Pilger
Personal blog · johnpilger.com/articlespoliticshistory
John Pilger's personal blog at johnpilger.com covers politics and history. Since 2013, 21 different Hacker News readers have linked it 28 times, most often “A world war has begun. Break the silence.”. The last post was in 2024, but the archive is still widely read.
Too few sampled comments (21) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link John Pilger's site for long-form reporting on Assange, Chagos, war and US foreign policy, and for his documentaries such as The War on Democracy and Stealing a Nation.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 21 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
A celebration of the life and legacy of John Pilger, whose journalism and films took on power, uncovered hidden agendas and gave voice to the voiceless across the world.
Most-linked posts?
- A world war has begun. Break the silence.4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2016-05-19
- /articles/assange-the-untold-story-of-an-epic-struggle-for-justice2 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2015-08-13
- /videos/the-war-on-democracy2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2013-05-14
- /articles/from-pol-pot-to-isis-anything-that-flies-on-everything-that-moves2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2015-11-14
- The siege of Julian Assange is a farce2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2015-03-13
- Getting Julian Assange: The Untold Story2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2017-05-21
What Hacker News says?
It's funny that when it comes to Assange, suddenly the UN group's findings become "non-binding". Did you read what they had to say about it? > The Opinions of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention are legally-binding to the extent that they are based on binding international human rights law, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The WGAD has a mandate to investigate allegation…
Comment linking /articles/getting-julian-assange-the-untold-story
on “Sweden Drops Julian Assange Rape Investigation”Submitted Getting Julian Assange: The Untold Story as a story · 51 points
HN discussionThe first part of what you're saying is true. I think the defense in this case has challenged that actually took place, and there's some questions about compelling the US to produce evidence or the UK courts considering the US's statements in trials as evidence to Assange's innocence. http://johnpilger.com has lots of detailed information about all the proceedings and the complete lack of any semblance of a fair hea…
Comment linking /
on “Why are Amnesty International monitors not able to observe the Assange hearing?”Submitted A world war has begun. Break the silence. as a story · 24 points
HN discussionThe two women say they were not raped, and were railroaded by Swedish police. > "On a point of law, the Swedish Supreme Court has decided Ny can continue to obstruct on the vital issue of the SMS messages. This will now go to the European Court of Human Rights. What Ny fears is that the SMS messages will destroy her case against Assange. One of the messages makes clear that one of the women did not want any charges…
Comment linking /articles/assange-the-untold-story-of-an-epic-struggle-for-justice
on “Sweden drops Julian Assange rape investigation”Submitted War by media and the triumph of propaganda as a story · 4 points
HN discussionThere are apparently some driving elements behind that: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/26/cage-campaigner... At the larger scale, religious justifications are no more relevant than socialism's role in turning some rural Cambodians into ruthless killers (as opposed to the state-terrorism): http://johnpilger.com/articles/from-pol-pot-to-isis-anything...
Comment linking /articles/from-pol-pot-to-isis-anything-that-flies-on-everything-that-moves
on “State of emergency declared across France after Paris shootings and explosions”Submitted The siege of Julian Assange is a farce as a story · 3 points
HN discussionhttp://johnpilger.com/videos/the-war-on-democracy
Comment linking /videos/the-war-on-democracy
on “U.S. Secretly Obtains Two Months of A.P. Phone Records”Submitted This Week the Issue Is Not Trump, It Is Ourselves as a story · 2 points
HN discussion>> Also, nobody is predicting another war with a major international power. I think [0] would show some other reality. 0: http://johnpilger.com/articles/a-world-war-has-begun-break-t...
Comment linking /articles/a-world-war-has-begun-break-the-silence-
on “The U.S. Navy’s Big Mistake: Building Tons of Supercarriers”Submitted The Coming War on China – John Pilger as a story · 2 points
HN discussionAnders Behring Breivik had a long manifesto that was meant to provide conceptual landscape behind his killing of 77 people. Unsurprising is the appearance of Geert Wilders, Pamela Geller, Daniel Pipes et al. in there, but its remarkably instructive that the likes of the respected George Orwell are also cited. Part of his worldview (and not necessarily his course of action) is shared by a substantive part of the peop…
Comment linking /articles/from-pol-pot-to-isis-anything-that-flies-on-everything-that-moves
on “The War ISIS Wants”Submitted Why the rise of fascism is again the issue as a story · 1 points
HN discussionFor those curious about this history, you can watch John Pilger’s 2004 documentary Stealing a Nation for free on his website: https://johnpilger.com/stealing-a-nation/ For those who prefer to read, historian Mark Curtis has published online an excerpt regarding Chagos from his 2003 book Web of Deceit: https://www.markcurtis.info/2007/02/12/the-depopulation-of-t...
Comment linking /stealing-a-nation/
on “UK will give sovereignty of Chagos Islands to Mauritius”Considering what a brief and skewed description of the Julian Assange story is reported by the article, this is probably a good time to repost John Pilger's more thorough reporting on the events, for anyone who wasn't following it or doesn't remember clearly: http://johnpilger.com/articles/the-siege-of-julian-assange-i...
Comment linking /articles/the-siege-of-julian-assange-is-a-farce-a-special-investigation
on “UN panel 'rules in Assange's favour'”I also recommend his doco "The War on Democracy" http://johnpilger.com/videos/the-war-on-democracy
Comment linking /videos/the-war-on-democracy
on “How the U.S. betrayed the Marshall Islands, kindling the next nuclear disaster”The following part from [0] seems relevant a bit too: In the 1970s, I met Leni Riefenstahl and asked her about her films that glorified the Nazis. Using revolutionary camera and lighting techniques, she produced a documentary form that mesmerised Germans; it was her 'Triumph of the Will' that reputedly cast Hitler's spell. I asked her about propaganda in societies that imagined themselves superior. She replied that…
Comment linking /articles/the-return-of-george-orwell-and-big-brothers-war-on-palestine-ukraine-and-truth
on “Looking Back on the Spanish War (1942)”"On the day Marianne Ny reactivated the case, the head of Sweden's military intelligence service - which has the acronym MUST -- publicly denounced WikiLeaks in an article entitled "WikiLeaks [is] a threat to our soldiers." Assange was warned that the Swedish intelligence service, SAPO, had been told by its US counterparts that US-Sweden intelligence-sharing arrangements would be "cut off" if Sweden sheltered him."…
Comment linking /articles/assange-the-untold-story-of-an-epic-struggle-for-justice
on “Julian Assange 'disappointed' as sex assault case dropped”"Those doubting the degree of ruthlessness Assange can expect should remember the forcing down of the Bolivian president's plane in 2013 - wrongly believed to be carrying Edward Snowden." If you think of Sweden as ABBA, think again: "In December 2010, The Independent revealed that the two governments had discussed his onward extradition to the US." "The rendition and subsequent torture of two Egyptian political refu…
Comment linking /articles/assange-the-untold-story-of-an-epic-struggle-for-justice
on “Julian Assange 'disappointed' as sex assault case dropped”"On a point of law, the Swedish Supreme Court has decided Ny can continue to obstruct on the vital issue of the SMS messages. This will now go to the European Court of Human Rights. What Ny fears is that the SMS messages will destroy her case against Assange. One of the messages makes clear that one of the women did not want any charges brought against Assange, "but the police were keen on getting a hold on him". Sh…
Comment linking /articles/assange-the-untold-story-of-an-epic-struggle-for-justice
on “Julian Assange 'disappointed' as sex assault case dropped”> we only found out it was false after the fact The correct information was available, but largely ignored by mass media. For example: > 13 March 2003 > The Blair Government has known, almost from the day it came to office in 1997, that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction were almost certainly destroyed following the Gulf War. > Of all the pro-war propaganda of Blair and Bush, and their current threats giving Saddam…
Comment linking /articles/iraq-s-weapons-of-mass-destruction-were-almost-certainly-destroyed-following-the-gulf-war
on “UK government proposes fine or block if website fails to tackle “online harms””Scary prospect for us all. I read a Pilger article last year that sent chills down my back: http://johnpilger.com/articles/a-world-war-has-begun-break-t...
Comment linking /articles/a-world-war-has-begun-break-the-silence-
on “Mikhail Gorbachev: 'It All Looks as If the World Is Preparing for War'”did you watch "the war on democracy"? You really should. http://johnpilger.com/videos/the-war-on-democracy
Comment linking /videos/the-war-on-democracy
on “WikiLeaks helps move Snowden on”Clinton is easily one of the most pro-war (meaning an aggressive and militaristic foreign policy) candidates since the end of Vietnam. Many sources on that but I'll link just two.[1][2] Her focus is primarily on Russia, as she openly stated during one of the Democratic debates (given a choice between Iran, Russia, and North Korea, she picked them as "the greatest threat"). The entire Syria thing is largely a proxy w…
Comment linking /articles/silencing-america-as-it-prepares-for-war
on “Effort to Expose Russia’s ‘Troll Army’ Draws Vicious Retaliation”I'm not an expert on the history of Russian foreign policy, but there are a lot of credible voices outside of the MSM that tell a different story than the U.S. administration does. For example: 1. http://johnpilger.com/articles/a-world-war-has-begun-break-t... 2. http://www.alternet.org/world/exclusive-interview-seymour-he... Those focus largely on other topics, but both touch on how the attitude towards Russia (and…
Comment linking /articles/a-world-war-has-begun-break-the-silence-
on “Effort to Expose Russia’s ‘Troll Army’ Draws Vicious Retaliation”Ecuador did not refuse. They are the ones who wanted Assange to be questioned in the embassy in the first place. But obviously there is a procedure for this to happen, and as another commenter says, a date has now been set. The Swedes, after years of refusing to come to London to question Assange, finally agreed after the UN ruled that Assange's stay is arbitrary detention and criticised Sweden for its handling of t…
Comment linking /articles/freeing-julian-assange-the-last-chapter
on “Swedish court upholds Assange arrest warrant”Daesh have no more relation to salafism than what Bush and Blair's murderous excursions have to do with WMD or democracy. Daesh apparently attracts two categories of people: 1. people suffering from PTSD who have lost much of their capacities to think clearly; specifically, part of butchered Sunni community in Iraq following the sectarian war fuelled by US invaders after years of deadly sanctions (they also include…
Comment linking /articles/from-pol-pot-to-isis-anything-that-flies-on-everything-that-moves
on “Saudi clerics declare Isis terrorism a 'heinous crime' under sharia law (2014)”
