National security 'experts' go ga-ga over China
Gregory Clark

National security 'experts' go ga-ga over China

There was a time when Australian writings on China were first-class.

Evans gobsmacked by ANU change plan
Gareth Evans

Evans gobsmacked by ANU change plan

Former ANU Chancellor and Federal Minister Gareth Evans has expressed 'acute concern' at proposed changes in humanities and social sciences at ANU. In a letter delivered to the Vice-Chancellor and Chancellor this week, he says the university's distinctive national mission is being 'ignored or gravely under-valued'.

Change proposals risk relegating ANU to middle-ranking regional uni
Frank Bongiorno

Change proposals risk relegating ANU to middle-ranking regional uni

Well known historian and long-time ANU staff member, Frank Bongiorno, says he has never seen, such a lack of vision, such a vacuum of ideas, such general disorganisation, nor such cavalier decision-making about institutions and programs built up through hard work over decades in all his years at ANU. He outlined his concerns in this submission to ANU management.


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Famine expert: Israel's starvation of Gaza most 'Minutely designed and controlled' since WWII
Brett Wilkins

Famine expert: Israel's starvation of Gaza most 'Minutely designed and controlled' since WWII

This is preventable starvation, said Alex de Waal. It is entirely man-made.

Economic reform must included industrial transformation - Part 1
Roy Green

Economic reform must included industrial transformation - Part 1

For a while it looked like federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ Economic Reform Roundtable would turn into a tax summit, such was the clamour to revisit missed opportunities. And we have an abundance of those in Australia.

Albanese’s China trip shows ‘stiffening of Canberra’s spine’ in face of US pressure
Laura Zhou

Albanese’s China trip shows ‘stiffening of Canberra’s spine’ in face of US pressure

Beijing rolled out the red carpet for the Australian leader this week and the two sides appeared to keep a lid on tensions.

Cutting HECS debt is the least Albanese could do for young Australians. He should do more
Ross Gittins

Cutting HECS debt is the least Albanese could do for young Australians. He should do more

It may seem an age since the federal election, but the new parliament has just convened for the first time. Anthony Albanese will be giving top priority to enacting his election commitments – “an honest politician? Really?” – and starting with his promise to cut uni graduates’ HECS debt by 20 per cent.

The woman everyone loves to hate: Erin Patterson and the danger of certainty
Mary Garden

The woman everyone loves to hate: Erin Patterson and the danger of certainty

Like Lindy Chamberlain before her, Erin Patterson has become the woman everyone loves to hate.

Prabowo’s economic agenda faces a fiscal stress test
Manggi Habir,  Siwage Dharma Negara

Prabowo’s economic agenda faces a fiscal stress test

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s first 100 days have seen a shift towards initiatives driven by national security and ambitious populism, most notably the Free Nutritious Meals program, along with rice and fuel subsidies and tax breaks, all aimed at stimulating consumption and achieving self-sufficiency. Yet slowing growth, weak tax revenues and efforts to limit VAT increases are tightening the budget. Meanwhile, the creation of new ministries and the Danantara sovereign wealth fund have added overhead costs and off-budget spending. Together, these measures strain Indonesia’s fiscal space and raise concerns about the long-term sustainability of Prabowo’s security-focused agenda.

Will Labor take Australia further from the global core?
Stewart Sweeney

Will Labor take Australia further from the global core?

As Anthony Albanese opens a new term and Treasurer Jim Chalmers signals a renewed focus on “abundance,” Australia stands at a pivotal juncture. Will Labor seize the opportunity to lead the nation into a high-value, sovereign economic future—or simply double down on the market-led path that has kept us stranded in the semiperiphery?

Australia and Japan cannot accept America’s war on China
Mike Gilligan

Australia and Japan cannot accept America’s war on China

china politics usa world

Japan and Australia together must induce the US to face the reality of what it is asking.

Latest on Palestine and Israel

Famine expert: Israel's starvation of Gaza most 'Minutely designed and controlled' since WWII
Brett Wilkins

Famine expert: Israel's starvation of Gaza most 'Minutely designed and controlled' since WWII

This is preventable starvation, said Alex de Waal. It is entirely man-made.

It's clear – Israel now has a plan for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza
Gideon Levy

It's clear – Israel now has a plan for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza

Adolf Eichmann began his Nazi career as the head of the Central Agency for Jewish Emigration at the security agency charged with protecting the Reich. Joseph Brunner, the father of Mossad chief David Barnea, was three years old when he fled Nazi Germany with his parents, before the evacuation plan was implemented.

Yousef Aljamal: The war on memory and writing through a genocide
Eugene Doyle

Yousef Aljamal: The war on memory and writing through a genocide

Sitting opposite me in my black leather captain’s chair, looking more like a bouncer than a writer, was Yousef Aljamal, co-author of Displaced in Gaza – stories from the Gaza Genocide.

Israel kills three in Gaza Catholic church sheltering elderly, children
Al Jazeera Staff

Israel kills three in Gaza Catholic church sheltering elderly, children

At least three people were killed and 10 others wounded, including a priest, in Israel’s attack on the church.

Let’s combat antisemitism, not use it to dehumanise others - Part 1
Stephanie Dowrick

Let’s combat antisemitism, not use it to dehumanise others - Part 1

The state of Israel’s heinous conduct must not be seen solely as a Jewish problem”.

Vive la resistance! The heroes who oppose genocide
Eugene Doyle

Vive la resistance! The heroes who oppose genocide

Nobody has a bad word to say about the French Resistance in World War II, right? Who would criticise a group confronting fascism, right?

Orientalism and casus belli in the Middle East
Peter Blunt

Orientalism and casus belli in the Middle East

There can surely have been few times in recent history when Edward Said’s seminal notion of Orientalism has had more tragic and pointed immediacy and relevance than now.

An open letter from the presidents of Gaza universities
Ayman Sobh,  Omar Milad,  Asad Asaad

An open letter from the presidents of Gaza universities

Our campuses may have been razed, but our universities continue to exist.


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

National security 'experts' go ga-ga over China
Gregory Clark

National security 'experts' go ga-ga over China

There was a time when Australian writings on China were first-class.

Albanese’s China trip shows ‘stiffening of Canberra’s spine’ in face of US pressure
Laura Zhou

Albanese’s China trip shows ‘stiffening of Canberra’s spine’ in face of US pressure

Beijing rolled out the red carpet for the Australian leader this week and the two sides appeared to keep a lid on tensions.

Australia and Japan cannot accept America’s war on China
Mike Gilligan

Australia and Japan cannot accept America’s war on China

china politics usa world

Japan and Australia together must induce the US to face the reality of what it is asking.


John Menadue

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More from Pearls and Irritations


Latest letters to the editor

Imperilling ourselves in Service to the US

Les Macdonald — Balmain NSW 2041

Every war-game the US has undertaken regarding their desire to invade China has resulted in US defeat. Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio have both acknowledged that on several occasions. Making these never-never Subs subject to US control whenever they might just arrive won't affect that outcome in any way at all. The obvious observation that never appears to occur to our strategically illiterate politicians, is that we are talking about the invasion of the second largest population on the planet. Their technological competence vastly outmatches the US, Japan and Australia combined and would be defending their homeland. Whilst we would...
Seeds of hope

Bernard Corden — Spring Hill, Brisbane

Further to Eugene Doyle's recent article regarding French Resistance in WWII, and the heroes who oppose genocide, there are seeds of hope with several legal precedents in the United Kingdom. Back in 1996, the Ploughshare Four were found not guilty of criminal damage to a Hawk warplane bound for East Timor at the Warton aerodrome in Lancashire. Their actions were considered reasonable under the Genocide Act 1969 More recently in January 2017, the Reverend Dan Woodhouse, a Methodist minister in Leeds and Sam Walton, a Quaker, were arrested at the same site attempting to disarm warplanes bound for...
A life largely unmourned

Les Macdonald — Balmain NSW 2041

Stone was one of the last utterly committed Neo-Liberals to occupy the head of Treasury position. Maybe it was his interest in physics that taught him to think in binary terms and without any civilisational sense. Sufficient to say his intellectual arrogance, and conviction that only he perceived reality, were sufficient to make his rejection of a modern, relevant economics a hallmark of Treasury during his leadership. His Senatorial role simply re-enforced that intellectually reactionary persona.
The Dodgy Brothers and AUKUS

Les Macdonald — Balmain NSW 2041

Pithy and succinct is the best description of the article from Geoff. In admirably few words he summarises the geo-strategic infantilism of this dodgy-brothers deal, set up by the devious, imbecilic rodent Scott Morrison. Were this to proceed, which seems increasingly unlikely, the US seems intent on proving the accuracy of Kissinger's aphorism that being a friend of the US can be fatal. To continue with a deal with a disintegrating empire that has, for more than a century, shown itself as having no permanent friends or enemies, only interests, as Kissinger also said, reeks of political cowardice and strategic...



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