Writer
Bruce Haigh
Bruce Douglas Haigh is an Australian political commentator and former diplomat.
-
Morrison loathes foreigners and foreign policy
Morrison dislikes any one and any thing he can’t control. It is very fortunate for him that News Corp’s hatreds, prejudices, intolerances and racism correspond to his own. Continue reading »
-
We can be friends of the US without being vassals
A manifesto for a new incoming foreign minister. Continue reading »
-
Hysteria, hyperbole, hubris and denial are driving foreign and defence policy
The US had its moves worked out three years ago. Australia, with the most pro-American government since Holt, has been malleable, fawning, uncritical and easily led. Continue reading »
-
The rot began with John Howard
The Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison does not have qualities of leadership. He is unable to act in a crisis, he fades in the face of fire and flood, he demonstrates poor judgement and when challenged he bullies. Continue reading »
-
Hysteria over China
On the 14 February I had an opinion piece published in the, CPC owned Global Times, which looked at the prospect of an improvement in relations between China and Australia. Continue reading »
-
The US-funded ‘think tank’ pushing Australia towards war
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute is irrationally hostile towards China and has unprecedented influence over Australian defence policy. Continue reading »
-
A quarter century of failure in foreign policy mars Australian credibility
Antagonistic towards China and Asia-Pacific neighbours and in thrall to America, Australian governments have presided over the demise of Australian diplomacy. It has been sidelined by exaggerated defence and security concerns. Continue reading »
-
Mangled by Macron: Morrison’s French farce shows lack of character
Our prime minister is an embarrassment on both the national and the world stage. But few would be surprised at his latest escapade. Continue reading »
-
Australia’s clumsy retreat from Asia will prove costly
The decline in our ties with Asia that began under John Howard has accelerated alarmingly as the Morrison government. Continue reading »
-
Bullying the neighbourhood: the show trial of Bernard Collaery and Witness K
There are echoes of the Dreyfus affair in the Australian government’s pursuit of two Australians who blew the whistle on Canberra’s dealings with East Timor. Continue reading »
-
Where Australian fools rushed in: the Afghan war was always unwinnable
America’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, where it had aimed to bolster international security, will create a new breeding ground for terrorism. Continue reading »
-
Bullies meet their match: Morrison team lurches from farce to disaster
Even though the world is now out from the shadow of Trump, Australia’s representatives are acting as if The Donald is still in the White House. Continue reading »
-
Tony Abbott in a China shop: Former PM’s ham-fisted Taiwan intervention
Former prime minister Tony Abbott’s poorly judged speech in Taiwan last week was inept diplomacy. The question is: who put him up to it? Continue reading »
-
The all-American coercive diplomacy: bullying by any other name
China is repeatedly accused of coercion. But China is a minor player in the coercion game. The US is the grand master. Continue reading »
-
Bruce Haigh: We have been used again by America, this time in Indonesia.
Indonesians wonder why we fear China so much, when they don’t? Continue reading »
-
Crocodile tears by Morrison over plight of Afghans
The Taliban advance was swift; that was the point at which the Australian evacuation of at-risk personnel and their families should have begun. . Hiding behind ‘intelligence’ is a poor excuse. US intelligence relating to Afghanistan has been as bad as their intelligence on Vietnam. Continue reading »
-
The Failure of the American War Machine
The American War Machine (AWM) is big and brassy. Sound and light, chest-thumping, shock and awe. It is an extension of the American psyche. Continue reading »
-
Public service or politics?
Senior public servants are only as good as the leadership provided by politicians working in the national interest. With appropriate checks, balances and protections in place, senior public servants should be able to give the frank and fearless advice required of their position and as set out in law. Continue reading »
-
Afghanistan: An enterprise for the stupid
Viet Nam, Iraq and now Afghanistan demonstrate that our ally, the US, is flaky. Continue reading »
-
Timor-Leste, Witness K, Bernard Collaery, Howard and Downer
This is a tale of greed, denial, delusion, racism, power, loyalty, ethics and courage. Dressed in black are Howard and Downer, in white are Witness K and Collaery. The tale takes place in the subterranean world of spies, spooks, spivs and secret trials. Continue reading »
-
A sinking DFAT has given policy making over to ASPI
Despite the line being spun by recently retired Secretary, Frances Adamson, AC, DFAT appears to be in the process of being scuttled by ASPI. Continue reading »
-
A family from Biloela holds a mirror to unconscionable Government behaviour
For the second time in their lives the two adults of the Murugappan family have been forced to be resilient and brave in the face of confrontation by a government intent on causing them harm. Continue reading »
-
Australian democracy is fading fast
Australian democracy is fading fast, with little care on the part of the Coalition and mainstream media or realisation on the part of Labor. Continue reading »
-
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is done and dusted
There was a time in the sixties through to the 1980s when the Department of Foreign Affairs, (Trade was subsumed into it in 1987) was a powerful department within the Federal bureaucracy. It had Branches that mirrored every major department in Canberra and when it felt necessary it would intervene in policies being developed by Continue reading »
-
ASPI has us trapped in the ice
The philosophy and attitudes underpinning and guiding the direction of the Australian Stategic Policy Institute (ASPI) can be traced to the early years of the Howard government. Since that time there has been a steady erosion of core values that might once have been said to constitute the Australian social fabric. Continue reading »
-
Look at Morrison and see for yourself
The LNP, led by the mendacious Morrison, is in a bad place. Morally bankrupt, it is destructive, by default and design. Many have followed, both blindly and with intent, and now find themselves equally bereft. Continue reading »
-
Biden has a big job on his hands to convince the Chinese that the US has a functioning democracy.
The political systems in China and America are not what their leaders claim them to be. However, Biden has embarked on a campaign to prove American democracy can trump whatever China has on offer. Continue reading »
-
Without leadership, Australia is vulnerable to foreign powers including the US
Having sold and ceded our sovereignty to the US on the international market, all but rendering Australia incapable of making independent decisions, Morrison is now hellbent on squandering domestic sovereignty. He is dividing the nation on the most basic of issues, the rights of women. Continue reading »
-
Australian sovereignty: not in our hands, and not in safe hands
We hitch our wagon to a nation that is bereft of influence and respect, deploys its considerable military arsenal in a display of strength it vainly hopes will broker influence; naked power as a substitute for diplomacy. It has ever been thus. Continue reading »
-
Myanmar: the US howls and seethes from the sidelines but it has no influence
America is calling the military takeover in Myanmar a coup. Not quite. Myanmar’s fragile democracy always existed at the pleasure of the military and the military became displeased when it appeared the people wanted to strengthen democracy. Continue reading »
