Go-ahead for new carbon bomb marks Australia as enemy of the region
Julian Cribb

Australia in Our Region

Go-ahead for new carbon bomb marks Australia as enemy of the region

In planning its future release of up to 80 billion tonnes of planet-heating carbon, Australia has committed itself to the destruction of nations and wrecking of big cities throughout the Indo-Pacific Region.

Palestine and the gravitational politics of erasure
Ghaith Krayem

Palestine and the gravitational politics of erasure

What we are witnessing in Gaza is not only a genocide of lives, but a systematic campaign to obliterate a people’s cultural identity, memory and future.

Is the US on the path to becoming a failed state?
Jesse MacKinnon

Is the US on the path to becoming a failed state?

The deliberate undermining of democratic norms and the conflation of personal power with national interest are consistent with patterns seen in states that have tipped into authoritarian rule.


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Trump’s attacks on Harvard: Cardinal Wolsey and the prologue to an Australian encounter? Part 1 of 2
Michael McKinley

Trump’s attacks on Harvard: Cardinal Wolsey and the prologue to an Australian encounter? Part 1 of 2

The White House is now more accurately described as an Imperial War Room: from it, President Trump directs indiscriminate attacks on whatever is enraging him.

Award for Morrison an insult to the truth
David O'Halloran

Award for Morrison an insult to the truth

Scott Morrison’s award is not just a political misjudgment – it is an affront to decency.

Chinese flotilla fallout still has some attempting a beat-up
Michael Callanan

Chinese flotilla fallout still has some attempting a beat-up

There is little or no evidence that China poses a direct military threat to Australia. However, the Sinophobes among political ranks and the commentariat are trying to ensure that Beijing will treat Canberra as a hostile entity.

Australia and Japan must link energy and emissions strategies
Moksha Watts,  Manik Mahajan

Australia and Japan must link energy and emissions strategies

As the US retreats into industrial protectionism, Australia faces a sobering truth: our most reliable ally may now be our biggest source of volatility.

Australia’s latest emissions data shows a giant fossil fuel problem
Emma Lovell,  Jessica Allen

Australia’s latest emissions data shows a giant fossil fuel problem

Without accounting for land use, Australia’s emissions have only decreased 3% since 2005, not 27%.

As Keating advised, it's time for Australia to seek its security in Asia
Duncan Graham

Australia in Our Region

As Keating advised, it's time for Australia to seek its security in Asia

The world America made for us is passing away. Its place is being taken by a new and harder post-American world, and we are at a loss to know what to make of it.

Six more giant gas projects could join Labor's latest carbon bomb
Samantha Hepburn

Six more giant gas projects could join Labor's latest carbon bomb

While Woodside's North West Shelf gas plant approval has led to a chorus of protest, there are at least half a dozen more projects in the pipeline that could add to Australia's emissions.

Political parties are failing to attract new members. Not only women
Jack Waterford

Political parties are failing to attract new members. Not only women

Government is getting more difficult. Many voters have turned off. They are scathing of politicians and deeply cynical about their honesty and motives.

Latest on Palestine and Israel

Palestine and the gravitational politics of erasure
Ghaith Krayem

Palestine and the gravitational politics of erasure

What we are witnessing in Gaza is not only a genocide of lives, but a systematic campaign to obliterate a people’s cultural identity, memory and future.

Palestinian genocide gets some big-screen time
Hall Greenland

Palestinian genocide gets some big-screen time

Films and the internet are proving to be a valuable way for the message of the Palestinian struggle to be publicised.

Gaza conditions 'worse than hell on Earth': Red Cross chief
Julia Conley

Gaza conditions 'worse than hell on Earth': Red Cross chief

We cannot continue to watch what is happening, said Mirjana Spoljaric. It's surpassing any acceptable legal, moral, and humane standard.

Talk of a two-state solution may not go much further
Andrew Thomas

Talk of a two-state solution may not go much further

A two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian problem has not been mentioned for ages, but was revived recently. However, it may end with just that – talk.

Media shortcomings in covering terrorist Netanyahu’s daily Gaza mass murders
Ralph Nader

Media shortcomings in covering terrorist Netanyahu’s daily Gaza mass murders

Opposition by former high officials in Israeli’s military and national security establishment and Israeli allies – France, England, and Germany – to the aimless killing of civilian families in Gaza is increasing.

Ali Kazak and the transformation of the politics of Palestine in Australia
David Spratt

Ali Kazak and the transformation of the politics of Palestine in Australia

It was with great sadness that we learned of the passing on 17 May of Ali Kazak, at the age of 78. Over five decades, Ali dedicated his enormous energy to building understanding and support for Palestine, the land of his birth.

Bogus charges of antisemitism are the new McCarthyism
Jeremy Rose

Bogus charges of antisemitism are the new McCarthyism

The word antisemitism has become so debased that depending on who is using it, I might well take it as a sign that the accused is worth listening to.

'These could be our children': Israeli women opposing the war, an interview
Ibrahim Quraishi

'These could be our children': Israeli women opposing the war, an interview

Not only abroad, but also within his own country, Israel's Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu is finally facing growing and substantial protests against his war in Gaza.


John Menadue's book on Israel's war against Gaza

Israel's war against Gaza

Media coverage of the war in Gaza since October 2023 has spread a series of lies propagated by Israel and the United States. This publication presents information, analysis, clarification, views and perspectives largely unavailable in mainstream media in Australia and elsewhere.

Download the PDF

Latest on China

US unlikely to be able to hold its own against China
Les MacDonald

US unlikely to be able to hold its own against China

Were the US to come up against China in a war in the Pacific, indications are that Washington would have the worse of the exchanges.

China takes a softly-softly approach to diplomacy in the US
Shi Jiangtao

China takes a softly-softly approach to diplomacy in the US

China’s ambassador to Washington, Xie Feng has adopted a less assertive approach than some of his predecessors.

‘Strategic clarity’ over Taiwan is just so much American bombast
Alex Lo

‘Strategic clarity’ over Taiwan is just so much American bombast

china politics usa world

Ally or not, no one with a decent sense of self-preservation can afford to take a security guarantee by the United States at face value nowadays.


John Menadue

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More from Pearls and Irritations


Latest letters to the editor

War with China

Richard Broinowski — Paddington

Les McDonald makes a valid point in saying that the US no longer has the naval or merchant fleet strength to invade China. But I suggest that's not in the Pentagon's war plans. If they have a coherent thought on the matter, Washington's military leaders want to deter China from invading Taiwan, or punishing it if it does. That involves massive bombing from the air, as Curtis LeMay did in North Koreas in 1952-3. No land combat. The danger, of course, is that bombing could escalate to include the use by either side of nukes. Let us hope...
The two-state solution is a chimera

Hal Duell — Alice Springs

Once again the chimera of a two-state solution is raising its head in Palestine. And as usual, Israeli approval is deemed essential. The current configuration of the state of Israel has, or so is my understanding, neither a constitution nor declared national boundaries. The lack of a constitution may not be a problem since Israel already has diplomatic relations with many countries. The lack of declared national boundaries may be another matter. How can a state without boundaries cut away a portion of the land it occupies and claims and declare it a sovereign state belonging to another?...
It's commentary on the evidence, not conspiracy

Margaret Callinan — Hawthorn VIC 3122

Your correspondent has two problems: (i) the IHRA definition which falsely declares criticism of Israel is antisemitic, trashing the memory of the Holocaust (imagine if we couldn't criticise Germany because it's anti-Germanic) and (ii) the abundance of evidence of genocide that's available pretty much in real time. We see the dead bodies, the razed homes, farms and infrastructure, hear evidence from humanitarian aid workers, hear Israel's leaders, civilians, settlers urging the continuation of the slaughter. Most recently, aid getting in is negligible, roads to aid stations have been declared combat zones, aid stations have become IDF targets. Why...
Childhood learnings

Judith Gamper — Kambah ACT 2902

Oh! Patricia Edgar, how I hope that Mr Albanese has a skerrick of what he learnt as a child still in his brain to help him come to his senses now. He has a son. What on earth are he and his team thinking? That it's all too hard – not like the brave little engine. Thank you.



Latest from Al Jazeera

Iran warns against IAEA pressure, Israel attack as more US talks loom
Iran says intelligence documents taken from Israel better prepare it to respond to any potential Israeli air strikes.
Pakistan ramps up defence spending by 20 percent after India conflict
Defence spending surges in Islamabad's new budget, even as overall expenditures shrink.
UK and allies to sanction far-right Israeli ministers Ben-Gvir, Smotrich
The countries will freeze assets and impose travel bans over 'incitement of violence against Palestinian communities'.
UK and allies will sanction far-right Israeli ministers Ben-Gvir, Smotrich
The countries will freeze assets and impose travel bans over 'incitement of violence against Palestinian communities'.
Money not infertility, UN report says: Why birth rates are plummeting
'Lack of choice, not desire' is reason for global fertility crisis, UN says in a global report.
Areas near Sudan’s Khartoum at risk of famine, says UN agency
Severe levels of 'hunger, destitution and desperation' found in the town of Jabal Awliya, south of Khartoum.