Writer
Bruce Haigh
Bruce Douglas Haigh is an Australian political commentator and former diplomat.
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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 »
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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 »
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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 »
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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 »
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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 »
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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 »
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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 »
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Afghanistan: An enterprise for the stupid
Viet Nam, Iraq and now Afghanistan demonstrate that our ally, the US, is flaky. Continue reading »
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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 »
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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 »
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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 »
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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 »
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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 »
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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 »
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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 »
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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 »
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China wins on points in Alaska – making a change in international relations?
At Anchorage the Chinese drew a line telling the US the old dialogue is finished. They are no longer prepared to be bullied. Either future dialogue is conducted with mutual respect or it will not be conducted at all. Continue reading »
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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 »
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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 »
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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 »
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Australia, Sovereignty: the long and short of it
Projections on Australia’s future are bleak if it maintains it’s hostility to China and cloying dependence on America, particularly when coupled with a corrupt and incompetent LNP government. Continue reading »
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We have already ceded our sovereignty, not to China but to America for no good reason.
Racism, fear and lack of moral courage sees Australia tied to a declining America, suffering, as a result, a lack of self-respect, independence and a viable and progressive relationship with our largest trading partner. Continue reading »
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Remember the Stasi who ran East Germany’s government
The question taxing many, and one to be answered, is why are our security services and not the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade running our relationship with China? Continue reading »
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Does Australia need some 20th-century spying?
There is, or there should be, more to spying than high-tech electronics. As we have seen, it can get agencies into trouble. It can lead up the wrong paths, to dead ends and bear pits. We need to get back to basics, feet on the ground. Continue reading »
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China policy – the children are in charge
Is the Australian Government serious about restoring the relationship with China? There are disturbing indications that it is not. Continue reading »
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The militarisation of Australia
The military in Australia has been played into a key role in the national narrative. Its achievements have been woven into myth. External threat has long been part of the political fabric. Continue reading »
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The unexceptional exceptionalism of America
There is nothing very exceptional about American Exceptionalism other than many Americans find themselves exceptional and demand that others do likewise. Australian Exceptionalism is risible. Continue reading »
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Trump has a problem with China – but what is Australia doing?
Since Trump became President the relationship between the US and China has deteriorated to the point that some observers talk of war. Why is this and what should Australia’s role be? Continue reading »
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Balance the boat
Morrison and Dutton fail to understand the United States and China and what ought to be the nature of our relationship with them. LNP ideology rules. It is out of date and proving harmful. Continue reading »
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A Wake-Up Call
With the world in the grip of the Covid19 virus, there are lessons to be learnt and changes to consider. The pandemic has brought nations together who were eschewing the value of international co-operation. It has highlighted the need for reform. Continue reading »
