Anzac Day: Australia’s imperial romance with white Anglo-American global dominance
At the levels of public ritual and private observance, the ANZAC narrative is much about processing loss and assuaging g…
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Will the freedom flotilla sail to Gaza?
The non-violence training to join the Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s ships to Gaza has been intense. As hundreds of us from 32 countries gathered in Istanbul, we were briefed about what we might encounter on this voyage. “We have to be ready for every possibility,” our trainers insisted. Continue reading »
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ASPI chief takes exception to being singled out by China
The director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a lobby group for big tech and foreign agencies, claims that China’s alleged targeting of the agency “should be of concern to all Australians”. Continue reading »
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Red poppies and bare ground: Why do we discriminate among our war dead?
The 100 000 or so dead men and women in Australia’s overseas wars are symbolised by red poppies, on the Roll of Honour at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, in shrines around the nation, on the more than 5000 war memorials in our towns and suburbs, in war cemeteries overseas, and worn on Anzac Continue reading »
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World’s biggest democracy expels ABC journalist but little noise in Australia
One wonders how the Australian mainstream media will react to the news that India, the so-called biggest democracy in the world, has thrown out ABC correspondent Avani Dias from the country. Continue reading »
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Australia’s group think epidemic and the Adelaide AUKUS fairytale
The idea that nuclear submarines can be built in Adelaide under AUKUS has the characteristics of the “group think” that led to invasion of Iraq in 2003, and has been described by former Foreign Minister Alexander Downer as a “bit of a fairytale”. “Some government in the future will make the obvious decision and not Continue reading »
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Our entire view of the world remains insular. How can Australia change?
Unlike virtually every non-Anglophone country on the planet, Australia still has no mandatory teaching of foreign languages in its schools. Why do we assume, as a matter of colonial entitlement, that people from non-Anglophone countries will understand us, but it is not even a matter of decency to make the same effort to understand them? Continue reading »
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Lehrmann and the engagement of ministerial staff
In the oceanic commentary on the Bruce Lehrmann cases, little attention seems to have been given as to how he got into Minister Linda Reynolds office in the first place. If he hadn’t all could have been spared the terrible things that have happened as a consequence of his admission – the catastrophic ignominies he Continue reading »
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Iran just destroyed US power in the Middle East
Former US ambassador Chas Freeman argues that Iran’s strike “changes all the rules of the game in the Middle-East”. Continue reading »
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Israel is turning hospitals into mass graves while the West fixates on ‘Antisemitism’
A mass grave created by the IDF has been uncovered at a Gaza hospital, where Palestinian civilians appear to have been the victims of a gruesome massacre. Continue reading »
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The costs of living and the price of death: Spare a thought for Gaza and Sudan
In response to questions about starvation in Gaza and Sudan, a Federal Labor MP has explained, ‘In Australia, the cost of living is the issue. It’s voters’ major concern, and a political priority.’ Continue reading »
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“Green” industries and Albo’s Venn diagram
The PM has announced a series of big-dollar programs to promote energy transition, “green” industries, local manufacturing and “critical” minerals. He is juggling themes that are not always consistent. The government needs to be prudent as it backs projects with taxpayers’ money. Continue reading »
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The Anti-China War Book: Pezzullo hears the call again
It is extremely hard to kill off a public figure of the calibre of Mike Pezzullo. As with a person of similar personality, Tony Abbott, one can be sure they are out of the play for good only when their bodies lie at a crossroads at midnight, with a wooden stake through their hearts. Before Continue reading »
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Towards an effective lobbying regulatory scheme
Although lobbying is integral to democratic representation, there are concerns regarding the secrecy and unfair influence of professional lobbyists, which may ultimately lead to corrupt conduct by lobbyists and/or officials. Continue reading »
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Capitalism is the single greatest source of violence
What the present moment reveals, once again, is that Western aggression during the “Cold War” was never about destroying socialism, as such. It was about destroying movements and governments in the periphery that sought economic sovereignty. Why? Because economic sovereignty in the periphery threatens capital accumulation in the core. Continue reading »
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Why Australia needs a national folklife centre
Twelve months since the launch of the Albanese Government’s new cultural policy, REVIVE, it’s time we promoted Australia’s heritage of folklife. Continue reading »
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Lions lying down with the lambs
Rwanda is now a peaceful country which remembers each year, the awful genocide of 1994. People can blindly become killers if their leaders are successful in instilling enough fear into them. Learning from history is an antidote. Continue reading »
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‘National emergency’: Why Korean voters handed 192 seats to opposition parties
By stopping short of 200 seats, the electorate sent a message that both ruling and opposition lawmakers to make more use of dialogue and negotiation. Continue reading »