Writer
Alison Broinowski
Dr Alison Broinowski AM is a former Australian diplomat and a member of Australians fr War Powers Reform
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Don’t ask the government about the next war
This is war protest month, with more to follow. Will efforts against the Iraq war, that failed twenty years ago this week, succeed in heading off the next one? Continue reading »
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Wong surrenders to Canberra hawks, rejects war powers reform
Australia’s Foreign Minister, who advocates international law and better relations with Asian countries, has surrendered to the hawks in Canberra. Continue reading »
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Australia’s ‘optimal pathway’ on AUKUS
Just in time, the fundamental faults of AUKUS are being exposed in Canberra and Washington. Continue reading »
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Expect epiphanies on Australian defence policy this March
In 2023, announcements from Canberra on foreign affairs, defence, and trade will come thick and fast. They can be expected to be regressive, in contrast to the Albanese government’s positive domestic agenda. Continue reading »
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Enough is enough for Albanese on Assange: our allies may respect us if we say this more
The Prime Minister’s surprise revelation that he has raised the case against Julian Assange with US officials and urged that charges of espionage and conspiracy be dropped opens up many questions. Continue reading »
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2022: Democracy takes a gap year, US hegemony is over
Nations holding their breath for democracy may suffocate. If the US is still the leader of the free world, its followers are dwindling, as several summits in November will show. Continue reading »
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Familiar and surreptitious ways to war
We have recently learned that Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton secretly installed senior US military officers in Australia’s Defence Department, at taxpayers’ vast expense, and it appears that the present Government is complicit in perpetuating this arrangement. Continue reading »
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Ukraine military instructor decision echoes the lead up to Australia’s deployment in Vietnam
It would be no great surprise if Australians were to join British military instructors in training Ukrainians to fight. Defence Minister Richard Marles hinted at that when he visited the UK in September. The Australian personnel would join others from New Zealand, Sweden, the Netherlands and elsewhere who have been supporting Ukraine’s side in the Continue reading »
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A decade in the making, an inquiry into how Australia goes to war
After years of public efforts to get politicians to concentrate on changing how Australia goes to war, the Albanese government has now responded by taking the first step. Continue reading »
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The Defence Strategic Review: National strategy or weapons shopping list?
Governments don’t hold inquiries to get unwelcome answers. The Defence Strategic Review is no exception. So what does the Albanese government want it to achieve? Continue reading »
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Trust in the powers that be
Remember the Cold War I years, when Capital Hill in Canberra became a huge hole, at the bottom of which was a space designated as a bomb shelter? Continue reading »
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Truth, lies, and pandemics
Are we being lied to about the origins of the pandemic? Continue reading »
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Independence day postponed, again
If Australians thought a new government would independently seek better relations with our regional neighbours, the Albanese team is already giving us reasons to be disappointed. Continue reading »
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Subcontracting war
In the year since last July, the Morrison Government spent almost $3.8 billion on consultancies. This paid to the big end of consulting town for more than 8400 contracts with Accenture, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PwC. Other consultancies are small but aspirational, often run by recently retired public servants. Where is the accountability, Continue reading »
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The US / China blame-game
All wars are avoidable, not just the war in Ukraine, but a future war with China too. Most of Australia’s wars have been unnecessary, as historian Henry Reynolds has shown. A war with China would be both: avoidable and unnecessary. It would be more catastrophic for Australia than any we have fought. Continue reading »
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New voices for a new parliament
At first, the 2022 election looked like being another fake contest between two major parties which offered voters little new, and little choice, particularly on foreign affairs and defence. Continue reading »
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If America really is ‘back’, it needs to set an example on human rights and charity in Afghanistan
Over it’s 20 year war in Afghanistan the US inflicted untold death and destruction.Now with sanctions and boycotts it is inflicting even more suffering. Yet it continues to preach about human rights abuses by China and others. Continue reading »
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The hypocrisy behind Biden’s rallying call for democracy
The US president has urged the “free world” to guard against authoritarian threats to democracy, ignoring America’s own history. Continue reading »
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Australia diplomacy: how to lose friends and influence no one
Australia’s diplomatic missteps and lack of independence in foreign affairs and defence have brought a damaging loss of international trust. Continue reading »
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The origins of COVID-19: why we are still in the dark
The attempts to discover the truth about the origins of the pandemic have been undermined by secrecy, vested interests, suspicion, accusations and politics. Continue reading »
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The media hides the information we need about Julian Assange
Our mainstream media have treated Julian Assange as the bad guy for over a decade. Which is where the virus again raises its ugly head. Continue reading »
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What really happened — not just in Wuhan — to spark the COVID-19 pandemic
After months of advance publicity, book extracts and a Sky News documentary, most of us already know where Sharri Markson and News Corp believe the COVID-19 pandemic began. Continue reading »
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Losing Paul Barratt
Just before his major surgery in April, Paul Barratt emailed his friends and colleagues, quoting Captain Lawrence Oates: “I am just going outside and it may be some time.” Continue reading »
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White Man’s Media-Why cleaning up the government and media is women’s work
We let powerful global institutions control the narrative, and it’s up to women to put a stop to it. Continue reading »
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Best we don’t ask why we go to war.
Australia seems to hold more inquiries into itself than almost any other country. We inquire into everything, from Indigenous deaths in custody, child sexual abuse, and same sex marriage to bank misdemeanours, casino operations, pandemic responses, and alleged war crimes. There’s one exception to our obsession with self-scrutiny: Australia’s wars. Continue reading »
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Is cleaning up government and media women’s work?
Most of those who brought us this Anthropocene age are white, grey, male, and stale. It is now the virocene, the envirocene, and the pyrocene age too, thanks to the younger and even richer men who are taking over from them. Continue reading »
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What are hostilities if not war?
Rarely is the United States not at war. Trump didn’t start any wars, but he didn’t end any either. Biden is keeping America’s enemies and adding new ones. Congressional control over how the US goes to war and what it’s called has again become a pressing issue. Continue reading »
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Virtuous and vicious virology
If virologists are independent seekers after scientific truth, dedicated to advancing human wellbeing, recent revelations about their profession make it look more like mud-wrestling. Continue reading »
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The Stench of COVID Coverups.
Most of us who read Pearls and Irritations are not virologists, mainstream media journalists, Americans, or Chinese. As the nasty details about the pandemic emerge, that’s just as well, if we want the truth. Continue reading »
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Banging on about war. What for?
War used to be regarded as a failure of diplomacy. Now in Australia, we are being told to prepare for it. Why? Continue reading »