Writer
Brian Toohey
Brian Toohey is author of Secret: The Making of Australia’s Security State.
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Who are the war criminals?
One of the few heartening things to come out of Russia’s war against Ukraine is the renewed emphasis on how it’s a crime for national leaders to start a war of aggression. Putin is not the only one who can reasonably be accused of committing war crimes. Most US president since World War II have Continue reading »
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The Defence Strategic Review – we need to urgently reduce conflicts and global warming
Cabinet needs to insist Marles’ return to Labor’s previous support for an independent foreign policy and recognise there is no guarantee an arms build-up won’t lead to a calamitous war. Crucially, the Albanese government needs to give a clear priority to helping reduce conflicts and global warming that cause horrendous suffering to innocent people around Continue reading »
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The terrible reputation and performance of intelligence agencies
At some stage Albanese may need to re-examine Shearer’s role as head of the Office of National Intelligence. Continue reading »
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What is Anthony Albanese up to!
Anthony Albanese has shown during his recent trip to Europe that he is a prime minister addicted to hyperbole and oblivious to how countries can change in unexpected ways. Continue reading »
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The United States-the Pacific bully
The US dominates the Pacific Islands to an extent China can never hope to achieve. With Australia’s support, the US is now engaged in an arms build-up in its Pacific territories and de-facto colonies in a little known boost to its containment of China. Continue reading »
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If Penny Wong becomes foreign minister will she repeat the numerous blunders Australia and the US have made in the Pacific?
The discussion of foreign policy is one of the low points in the election. It is hard to be otherwise when both major parties are committed to integrating Australia’s military forces with those of the US. This severely curtails the scope for proposing independent policies and raises expectations ensuring the Government and Opposition contribute forces Continue reading »
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War crimes and the traps in sanctions
Vladimir Putin would seem to fit the bill for war crimes in Ukraine. But what about the illegal 2003 invasion of Iraq? Continue reading »
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No liberal democracy, including Australia, should have a Magnitsky Act
The law gives the foreign minister the power to punish foreigners without going to court. The accused are given no chance to provide a defence. Continue reading »
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Quad queers its pitch: champions of democracy fail to walk the talk
The much-touted alliance designed to provide a counterweight to China is backsliding on its professed liberal principles, writes Brian Toohey. Continue reading »
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Relax Mr Dutton, China is not an invading power (like US and us)
The defence minister fails to acknowledge the superpowers’ efforts to calm tensions, or that the US has jumped in to claim some of our former markets. Continue reading »
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AUKUS nuclear submarines deal must be abandoned
Australia doesn’t need nuclear powered submarines, especially given the Australia’s long-standing support for the world’s nuclear non-proliferation goals. Continue reading »
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Brian Toohey: Australia’s nuclear submarine deal won’t make us any safer
Despite what some commentators say, China does not pose a nuclear threat to Australia: its submarines and other nuclear weapons systems are much inferior to those of the US. Continue reading »
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Protracted timeline shows the folly of Australia’s nuclear submarine deal
Buying ludicrously expensive nuclear submarines upsets our neighbours, inflates the defence spending budget, unbalances our military forces and does nothing to address the bigger security threat of global warming and species extinction. Continue reading »
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Economists’ proposals show responsible welfare reform is possible
The next election is likely to continue the grim outlook for welfare beneficiaries regardless of whether the Coalition or Labor wins. A healthy democracy should do a lot better than this. There is no shortage of good ideas. Continue reading »
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Morrison’s QUAD ally with shared values; India’s despot, Modi
Scott Morrison loves to praise India as a wonderful democracy. The reality is that India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party is a horror story. Continue reading »
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On the bandwagon: Australian media helps government peddle disinformation
There has, quite rightly, been criticism in the mainstream media of authoritarian states and their use of disinformation campaigns and cyber attacks. However, the US and its democratic allies decades ago pioneered the use of disinformation in their huge propaganda campaigns. China is just a beginner. Continue reading »
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Group of Eight universities concede to ASIO, restrict vital research engagement with China
China is provoking every country in its region. But that is no reason to cut off all contact, including scientific engagement, especially if we want to avoid war. Brian Toohey investigates another sphere in which academic freedom is being restricted by government. Continue reading »
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Exporting hydrogen the last throw of the dice for brown coal
Federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor’s backing for the Victorian-based hydrogen export plan, which he described as a “significant project”, defies financial credibility. Continue reading »
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Australia’s plans for a $2 billion airstrip in the Antarctic is environmental vandalism
While Australia criticises other countries for their supposed expansionist policies, Australia is the most brazen of any country in asserting ownership of territory that doesn’t belong to it. And while Australia claims to be staunchly committed to the environmental protection of the Antarctic, its actions belie such a claim, with its proposal to build a Continue reading »
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“Mind-boggling” waste revealed in the record rise in weapons spending (MWM Nov 30, 2020)
Australian governments and their defence leaders, with help from lobbyists, choose immensely complex, overpriced and overmanned weaponry. Wasteful spending has to end, writes Brian Toohey. Continue reading »
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One Good Thing: Trump first president since Carter not to drag America into foreign wars
The seeds of civil war may be growing but one good thing to come out of Donald Trump’s four years in power is that he has not sent America into war overseas, joining the Democrats’ Jimmy Carter as the only other president since 1950 to show such restraint. Brian Toohey reports. Continue reading »
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Our ‘extended’ state’s most powerful mandarin (SMH Oct 30, 2020)
Michael Pezzullo is by far the most powerful public servant in Australia. He created and runs the ever-expanding Home Affairs Department, he oversees a ceaseless avalanche of draconian new laws and he gives public speeches about what he sees as the global ‘‘duality of good and evil’’. Continue reading »
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Australian submarines operating in the South China Sea is a very provocative and very bad idea.
In responding to my post (19 October) about the Morrison government’s plan to spend at least $90 billion on large submarines, Jon Stanford’s post (21 October ) argues that we should do what the Commander of the US Submarine Force wants with our submarines. Continue reading »
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In for a penny, in for a pound: $90 billion for an obsolete submarine fleet
So much for Australian sovereignty. We are locked out of repairing key US components of our subs’ computer systems, and the Coalition has committed our submarine fleet to the extraordinarily dangerous role of helping the US conduct surveillance in the South China Sea. Continue reading »
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Problems with new F-35 fighter planes shouldn’t fly under the radar (Canberra Times Sep 1, 2020)
Defence gives an average price of less than $126 million for Australia’s 72 F-35s when fully delivered. But the Australian Strategy Policy Institute estimates the sustainment costs to be triple those of the F-18 fighters it replaces. Continue reading »
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ASIO and AFP have questions to answer
ASIO and the AFP have questions to answer in the wake of reported raids on the homes and offices of Chinese journalists and a Labor backbencher. Continue reading »
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Australia’s national security laws leave us on a similar path to Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s new national security laws are attracting well-deserved condemnation. It’s a pity that there hasn’t been greater recognition that Australia’s own national security laws share some common features with those in Hong Kong. Continue reading »
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Folly of following the Five Eyes Anglo-Saxon relic
The main countries comprising this electronic espionage group have made an abysmal hash of responding to the economic and health impacts of Covid-19. Yet the Australian government has chosen them to develop a “strategic” economic response to the Covid 19 crisis. Continue reading »
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BRIAN TOOHEY. Reports of China spies and takeover plots are fanciful (SMH 5.12.2019)
Wildly exaggerated intelligence warnings about communist influence are not new in Australia. A US naval intelligence officer who was posted as an attache to the American embassy in the late 1940s, Stephen Jurika, reported back to Washington that communism was “rife in the highest governing circles” in Australia. Continue reading »
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BRIAN TOOHEY. The man who thought he owned a Prime Minister
‘This is the gravest risk to the nation’s security there has ever been.’Sir Arthur Tange, 6 November 19751. Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, the son of a former solicitor-general, was initially attracted to the notion that Arthur Tange was a dedicated public servant. He later discovered that this public servant presumed he was entitled to withhold Continue reading »
