How JFK would pursue peace in Ukraine
Sixty years after Kennedy’s commencement address at American University, crucial lessons must still be learned abo…
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Australian peacekeeping: our best kept secret?
Why are Australian political leaders so insecure about our capacity to be independent and create a peacebuilding role for our nation when so many Australian military and police personnel have already demonstrated their capacity for strong leadership as peacekeepers? Continue reading »
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A climate of betrayal
“All grimly true, but they can be sure that they won’t be recorded for their crimes in history – because there won’t be any history” (Noam Chomsky) Continue reading »
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Chinese tourists turn their backs on Oz
The evidence is now in – Chinese tourists are largely boycotting Australia. Continue reading »
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The G7 is copying China’s homework
Many of the G7’s hopes and wants for the world appear to have been lifted directly from official documents of the Communist Party of China (CPC). There’s no real benefit to debating whether the G7 is copying the CPC’s policy program, although it smells of plagiarism. China is pleased that more countries are willing to Continue reading »
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China places country dangerously close to US warship
The US military has released video footage of a Chinese navy ship cutting across the path of an American Destroyer in the Taiwan Strait over the weekend, reportedly forcing the US vessel to slow down to avoid a collision. Continue reading »
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Australia catching up with the Asian century at last?
Every word of Anthony Albanese’s address to the Shangri-La dialogue on 2 June was chosen with care. It was a balancing act, with the Prime Minister poised between peace and war, defence and diplomacy, the US and China, in a high-wire performance his Coalition predecessors wouldn’t have attempted. Continue reading »
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Shangri-la Dialogue: some Americans just don’t get China
Prime Minister Albanese spoke moderately and positively at the Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore last weekend, although his address didn’t really live up to its prior publicity. However the main impression from the exchanges at the Dialogue was of the differences between the US and China. Amazingly, the American Secretary of Defence didn’t seem to realise Continue reading »
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How serious is the Australian propaganda infection?
Propaganda is a potent weapon used by politicians and rival nations to wage a war of words, especially those abetted by a biased media. Continue reading »
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The real world shatters the myth of personal choice
When a government proposes a policy to improve our diet, it can trigger a gag reflex. Some people feel that deciding what to eat is purely a personal choice, and the ‘nanny state’ should stay out of the way. No-one wants to be lectured, shamed, or forced to eat their greens. Perhaps it goes all Continue reading »
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Big business cries poor on wages even as profits mount
Don’t believe anyone – not even a governor of the Reserve Bank – trying to tell you the Fair Work Commission’s decision to increase minimum award wages by 5.75 per cent is anything other than good news for the lowest-paid quarter of wage earners. Continue reading »
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American security establishment continues the persecution of Assange
News that the FBI continues its investigation into the case around Assange appears to have taken both supporters and the Attorney-General, Mark Dreyfus by surprise. Continue reading »
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How psy-ops warriors fooled me about Tiananmen Square: a warning
The myth of the “Tiananmen Square massacre” is arguably the most successful disinformation campaign of modern times, according to western and eastern sources—so much so that proud psychological warfare specialists recently used it to ADVERTISE their news manipulation skills. We’ll get to that below. Continue reading »
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Shirtfronting Australia
Australians are more used to pointing the accusing finger at other countries than having it pointed at us. Continue reading »
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The Shangri-La dialogue and aUStralian strategic thinking
Interpretations are being offered about prime minister Albanese’s speech to the so-called Shangri La Dialogue in Singapore. This sounds like an Asian event but is hosted each year by the International Institute for Strategic Studies of London, an august and AUKUSian institution of such eminence that I was once invited to join. I declined. Life Continue reading »
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Be a man, consume till it kills. It will
The World Health Organisation’s No Tobacco Day last month had Australia announcing tough new ways to get smokers to quit. Next door the fag makers were doing the opposite. Continue reading »
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Catholics should go where the government isn’t
I do hope that the Catholic Church remains closely involved in providing health care to Canberra citizens, particularly the poorer ones, after the takeover by the government of Calvary public hospital. Indeed I suspect it could be making for itself, and Canberra citizens, greater treasure in heaven if it got entirely out of the provision Continue reading »
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Australian Government is MIA for World Environment Day 2023
Monday 5 June 2023 was World Environment Day. The campaign this year is for action to eradicate plastics in all its forms which pollute and destroy. The campaign is led by the United Nations Environment Protection agency (UNEP) with the title and hashtag of #BeatPlasticPollution. Continue reading »
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