Never again – so the world pledged
George Browning

Never again – so the world pledged

For 80 years the world has sympathised with and supported Israel through the prism of the indescribably brutal Holocaust.

Ditch AUKUS Pillar One. It involves Australia too much in US strategy
Michael Keating,  Jon Stanford

Ditch AUKUS Pillar One. It involves Australia too much in US strategy

Defence Minister Richard Marles said in June that if war broke out between the US and China, Australia would inevitably be involved.

Furious Modi rejects Trump’s phone calls – Asian Media Report
David Armstrong

Furious Modi rejects Trump’s phone calls – Asian Media Report

In Asian media this week: India turns its attention to Japan and China. Plus: Trump wants US to own land used for bases in Korea; Despair turning young refugees to armed insurrection; Beijing pushing AI as next growth-engine; Manila ramps up its anti-China stance; The wounds that time cannot heal.


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What the UN could do now on Gaza
Mark Seddon

What the UN could do now on Gaza

The UN has options, now, in Gaza, as long as members states support it, says Mark Seddon, director, Centre for UN Studies, University of Buckingham.

'It is time to end this spiral of violence' - Greek Orthodox and Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem
Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem,  Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem

'It is time to end this spiral of violence' - Greek Orthodox and Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem

A joint statement by the Greek Orthodox and Latin Patriarchates of Jerusalem has called for an end to the killing.

Time to dial back the Australia-US alliance
Jaron Sutton

Time to dial back the Australia-US alliance

There’s a concept in political analysis known as the Overton Window. The concept holds that at any given time within mainstream society there is a range (i.e. window) of accepted political topics and arguments for discussion.

Israel’s assassination of memory
Chris Hedges

Israel’s assassination of memory

The razing of Gaza is not a crime only against the Palestinian people but against our cultural and historical heritage. We can’t understand the present, especially when reporting on Palestine and Israel, if we don’t understand the past.

I fear ignorance about China
Daryl Guppy

I fear ignorance about China

The United States and its allies like Australia, have become terrified by the prospect of their citizens learning more about China through the exchange of ideas and people. They apparently do not trust their citizens to assess information from multiple competing sources and reach an acceptable conclusion.

Albanese is expelling the wrong embassy
Sara Cheikh Husain

Albanese is expelling the wrong embassy

Two days after hundreds of thousands of Australians joined nationwide protests against Israel’s assault on Gaza, the Albanese Government abruptly announced that it would expel Iranian diplomats.

ASEAN unity cracks under Trump tariff pressure
William J Jones

ASEAN unity cracks under Trump tariff pressure

US President Donald Trump’s return to office is generating a major reshuffle in the Unites States’ foreign relations, including the imposition of tariffs on nearly every trading partner.

Jeffrey Sachs: Ending the genocide now
Jeffrey D. Sachs,  Sybil Fares

Jeffrey Sachs: Ending the genocide now

A UN Security Council vote to grant Palestine permanent UN membership would end Israel’s zealous delusions of permanent control over Palestine, write Jeffrey Sachs and Sybil Fares. But the US stands in the way.

Latest on Palestine and Israel

Never again – so the world pledged
George Browning

Never again – so the world pledged

For 80 years the world has sympathised with and supported Israel through the prism of the indescribably brutal Holocaust.

What the UN could do now on Gaza
Mark Seddon

What the UN could do now on Gaza

The UN has options, now, in Gaza, as long as members states support it, says Mark Seddon, director, Centre for UN Studies, University of Buckingham.

'It is time to end this spiral of violence' - Greek Orthodox and Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem
Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem,  Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem

'It is time to end this spiral of violence' - Greek Orthodox and Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem

A joint statement by the Greek Orthodox and Latin Patriarchates of Jerusalem has called for an end to the killing.

Israel’s assassination of memory
Chris Hedges

Israel’s assassination of memory

The razing of Gaza is not a crime only against the Palestinian people but against our cultural and historical heritage. We can’t understand the present, especially when reporting on Palestine and Israel, if we don’t understand the past.

Albanese is expelling the wrong embassy
Sara Cheikh Husain

Albanese is expelling the wrong embassy

Two days after hundreds of thousands of Australians joined nationwide protests against Israel’s assault on Gaza, the Albanese Government abruptly announced that it would expel Iranian diplomats.

Washington and the Gaza war: How the US uses its support for Israel to assert global dominance
Refaat Ibrahim

Washington and the Gaza war: How the US uses its support for Israel to assert global dominance

Since the outbreak of the Gaza war on 7 October 2023, Washington has made its position clear: full and unconditional support for Israel.

The murder of journalists as an act of censorship
Quentin Dempster

The murder of journalists as an act of censorship

Western reporters should by now know almost all journalists, doctors, nurses and teachers in Gaza are Hamas members, just as some UN employees are Hamas militants. - Chris Mitchell, The Australian, 18 August 2025.

Carbon bootprints: How war is fuelling climate catastrophe
Chandran Nair

Carbon bootprints: How war is fuelling climate catastrophe

The military-industrial complex’s vast carbon footprint is deliberately hidden from public view, while we get gaslit into using paper straws.


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

I fear ignorance about China
Daryl Guppy

I fear ignorance about China

The United States and its allies like Australia, have become terrified by the prospect of their citizens learning more about China through the exchange of ideas and people. They apparently do not trust their citizens to assess information from multiple competing sources and reach an acceptable conclusion.

Australia is one trade deal away from backing authoritarians, says Taiwan
Fred Zhang

Anti-China Media Watch

Australia is one trade deal away from backing authoritarians, says Taiwan

In the grand tradition of diplomatic overreach, Taiwan's deputy foreign minister recently offered some sweet and spicy talking points to our media: semiconductors are tanks, China is akin to WWII Germany, and if Australia doesn't fast-track Taiwan into the CPTPP, we might all wake up speaking Mandarin under a fascist AI regime, as reported by News Corp and 7 News.

MAGA 2.0: Making China great again
Dean Baker

MAGA 2.0: Making China great again

In Donald Trump’s make-believe world prices are falling, the economy is booming, he is bringing peace all around the world, and gas costs less than US$2 a gallon.


John Menadue

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More from Pearls and Irritations


Latest letters to the editor

Led by the nose, again

Hal Duell — Alice Springs

Based on nothing more than unsubstantiated claims presumedly made by someone with their own agenda, Australia has sent the Iranians home. This was a mistake with possible long-lasting consequences. While it was easy to send the Iranians packing, it might prove more difficult to get them back, providing they would even want to return. The idea that Iran, with troubles aplenty on its home front, would bother to send saboteurs all the way to Australia to set fire to a couple of synagogues doesn't make sense. Iran would gain nothing from such a foolish move, even if they did...
Coincidence? I think not

Alyssa Aleksanian — Hazelbrook

It beggars belief that the Australian Government has just expelled the Iranian ambassador based on intelligence provided by the Israeli intelligence services. Unbelievable. This expulsion happened at the same time that Defence Minister Richard Marles flew to the US for the meeting that was not a meeting, then suddenly validated as a meeting by US gaslighters, by a photo opportunity, posted on our government’s social media. Coincidence anyone?
Ambassador's expulsion

David Hind — North Sydney

I have to object to the thrust and tone of Cameron Leckie’s opinion piece “Gaslighting the electorate, virtue signalling to our partners”. Nothing happens in a vacuum. However there is credible evidence that Iran has paid criminal gangs to attack property in Australia. This requires a diplomatic response. It would be inappropriate to banish an ambassador for what another country is doing to its neighbours outside Australia, terrible though it is. We have not banished the Russian ambassador for its invasion of Ukraine, terrible though it is. I participated in the Sydney Harbour bridge walk, along with...
Ambassador's expulsion warranted

Simon Tatz — Melbourne

I understand the public outrage at the government of Israel, but Cameron Leckie — who presumes Israel provided the intelligence without seeing it, or revealing any direct knowledge of the ASIO secret briefing to the government and Opposition — takes this one step further by conflating the war in Gaza with attacks on Australia’s Jewish community. Just because someone is of the Jewish religion, it doesn’t make them responsible or even associated with the actions of the Israeli Government. Yet Leckie, without access to classified intelligence briefings, reduces a firebombing of a synagogue to, “No one killed. No...



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