Israel’s response to the International Court of Justice
Paul Heywood-Smith

Israel’s response to the International Court of Justice

The ceasefire plan in Gaza has dominated our news in recent days and weeks. One aspect of the plan is the obligation of Israel in the first phase to release a number — a large number — of Palestinian prisoners.

Takaichi’s victory will only accelerate the LDP’s decline
Gerald Curtis

Takaichi’s victory will only accelerate the LDP’s decline

If the Liberal Democratic Party’s leaders thought that dumping Shigeru Ishiba as party president and prime minister would lead to greater party unity and make the LDP more popular with the general public, they were sorely mistaken.

How Israel lost a war by not deserving to win
Jack Waterford

How Israel lost a war by not deserving to win

It is ultimately futile and probably wicked to calculate winners and losers in a war against civilians, least of all on any sort of balance sheet weighing and measuring the value of dead bodies.

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Disarming extremism in the algorithmic age
Amelie Szczecinski

YOUNG GLOBAL LEADERS

Disarming extremism in the algorithmic age

Amelie Szczecinski is one of six talented young Australians who will travel to the UN General Assembly in New York next week as part of the Global Voices project.

Keating welcomes changes to taxation of super
Paul Keating

Keating welcomes changes to taxation of super

Yesterday the Government made some key changes to its superannuation tax scheme, after struggling to get the plan through the Senate. Paul Keating says the changes restore confidence in the retirement savings system.

Trump’s sham peace plan
Chris Hedges

Trump’s sham peace plan

There will be no peace in Gaza. Only the temporary absence of war.

Japan's LDP coalition splits – what does this mean?
Gregory Clark

Japan's LDP coalition splits – what does this mean?

So, finally there is some room for principles in Japanese politics after all! Not much, but when it comes to the point of white having to embrace black something has to give.

The half-life of humiliation and the hunger for revenge
Peter Blunt

The half-life of humiliation and the hunger for revenge

The trauma, humiliation and rage of those that survive are concomitants of the indiscriminate killing with impunity and the deracination of innocent men, women and children by the invaders and occupiers of a country.

Time for a 'just peace' for all peoples in Palestine
Peter Slezak

Time for a 'just peace' for all peoples in Palestine

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong took a long time just to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. And their belated declaration of Palestinian statehood is an empty gesture when we are still sending F-35 jet components to Israel.

The West’s crucial strategic failures
Les MacDonald

The West’s crucial strategic failures

The Earth is littered with the ruins of empires that once believed they were eternal. Camille Paglia.

Lack of China capability can only do harm to society: Our current situation is a disgrace
Colin Mackerras

Lack of China capability can only do harm to society: Our current situation is a disgrace

In March 2023, the Australian Academy of the Humanities sounded the alarm on the decline in our understanding and knowledge of China through a report on “Australia’s China Knowledge Capability”.

Latest on Palestine and Israel

Israel’s response to the International Court of Justice
Paul Heywood-Smith

Israel’s response to the International Court of Justice

The ceasefire plan in Gaza has dominated our news in recent days and weeks. One aspect of the plan is the obligation of Israel in the first phase to release a number — a large number — of Palestinian prisoners.

How Israel lost a war by not deserving to win
Jack Waterford

How Israel lost a war by not deserving to win

It is ultimately futile and probably wicked to calculate winners and losers in a war against civilians, least of all on any sort of balance sheet weighing and measuring the value of dead bodies.

Trump’s sham peace plan
Chris Hedges

Trump’s sham peace plan

There will be no peace in Gaza. Only the temporary absence of war.

Time for a 'just peace' for all peoples in Palestine
Peter Slezak

Time for a 'just peace' for all peoples in Palestine

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong took a long time just to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. And their belated declaration of Palestinian statehood is an empty gesture when we are still sending F-35 jet components to Israel.

Childhood on hold: Growing up too soon in Gaza and beyond
Meg Schwarz

Childhood on hold: Growing up too soon in Gaza and beyond

UNICEF has called Gaza the “most dangerous place in the world to be a child.” It estimates every single child in Gaza will need mental health support.

Celebrate the ceasefire, but don’t forget: Gaza survived on its own
Ahmad Ibsais

Celebrate the ceasefire, but don’t forget: Gaza survived on its own

Western leaders now claim credit for peace, but Gaza’s survival belongs to its people alone.

‘We must keep the pressure on’: Humanitarians say ceasefire doesn’t erase Gaza genocide
Stephen Prager

‘We must keep the pressure on’: Humanitarians say ceasefire doesn’t erase Gaza genocide

“This much-needed and welcomed ceasefire does not change the simple fact that Israel has just committed a genocide in Gaza,” wrote the co-founder of European Jews for Palestine.

Van Jones and the moral vacancy of American commentary on Gaza
Ziyad Motala

Van Jones and the moral vacancy of American commentary on Gaza

The US pundit’s dead Gaza baby joke was not a slip of the tongue, but a window into a media culture that trivialises Palestinian suffering and deflects responsibility.

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

The West’s crucial strategic failures
Les MacDonald

The West’s crucial strategic failures

The Earth is littered with the ruins of empires that once believed they were eternal. Camille Paglia.

Lack of China capability can only do harm to society: Our current situation is a disgrace
Colin Mackerras

Lack of China capability can only do harm to society: Our current situation is a disgrace

In March 2023, the Australian Academy of the Humanities sounded the alarm on the decline in our understanding and knowledge of China through a report on “Australia’s China Knowledge Capability”.

How anti-China witch hunts in Canada and the UK ruin lives
Alex Lo

How anti-China witch hunts in Canada and the UK ruin lives

Security services such as London’s MI5 and Ottawa’s RCMP appear to be going after individuals and organisations out of pure antagonism and distrust against Beijing rather than having actual evidence.

John Menadue

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Pearls and Irritations leads the way in raising and analysing vital issues often neglected in mainstream media. Your contribution supports our independence and quality commentary on matters importance to Australia and our region.

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Message from the editor
Catriona Jackson

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These are fighting words
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Ignorance is complicity: Australia must end its arms trade with those committing crimes
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How anti-China witch hunts in Canada and the UK ruin lives
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Dying in prison
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Childhood on hold: Growing up too soon in Gaza and beyond
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Latest letters to the editor

Will Katz or Trump prevail?

Geoff Taylor — Borlu (Perth)

Ziyad Motala deserves congratulation on his article, as a key piece of American commentary right now is from Donald Trump: “The war is over. But, sad to say, then we have Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz just now in a tweet: “Israel’s great challenge after the phase of returning the hostages will be the destruction of all of Hamas’s terror tunnels in Gaza, directly by the IDF and through the international mechanism to be established under the leadership and supervision of the United States. This is the primary significance of implementing the agreed-upon principle of demilitarising Gaza and...
Trump should never get the Nobel Peace Prize

Jenny Goldie — Cooma NSW

Jeff McMullen eloquently presents the case that Donald Trump runs a violent country and is strongly inclined to violence himself. Thus, it is abhorrent that he should even be considered for the Nobel Peace Prize, whatever his involvement in the Israeli/Hamas peace deal. By all means, give credit where credit is due — and some is probably warranted in this case — but a Nobel Peace Prize recipient should be a person of peace, not a warmonger. The fact that Trump renamed the Department of Defence as the Department of War says it all. McMullen spells it out....
Global collapse

Mark Mcdonald — drysdale

The Julian Cribb article made for an interesting read. I think there is one more factor he has left out. This is the potential loss of antibiotics in the future. This will mean a natural increase in the death rate unless alternatives are found. Everyday common diseases and surgery will become increasingly dangerous. If the world can get over the population peak later this century without major collapse, then there is still hope.
The Lord of the Flies revisited

Les Macdonald — Balmain NSW 2041

The sheer racial infantilism of the Anglo-Saxon elites and their security service underlings put me in mind of Golding's Lord of the Flies. Maybe there is a beast… Maybe it's only us!, seems to summarise the childish brutishness of our so-called security services. They seem to spend their entire lives projecting their own vacuous and depraved predispositions onto racially less worthy opponents, that they have confected in their fevered imaginings. Their lives seem to reflect the barbarity of the playground as they look all around them and see themselves reflected back to them in all their childish fantasising. ...

Catch up on other sections

Arts 130 China 1204 Climate 1424 Commendations 19 Defence 2452 Economy 2835 Education 710
Employment 37 Finance 4 Health 1534 History 58 Immigration 964 Indigenous Affairs 382 Israel Palestine 1379
Media 1860 Podcast 43 Policy 204 Politics 18289 Racism 16 Religion 1232 Review 33
The Human Future 62 Our Top Five Each Week 2170 USA 560 World 1422

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