Writer
Bruce Haigh
Bruce Douglas Haigh is an Australian political commentator and former diplomat.
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The Defence Strategic Review: The insiders will just tinker around the edges
The Defence Strategic Review will tinker around the edges, but will not push back on negative game changers such as AUKUS and all it represents in casting China as the enemy. Continue reading »
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The Rajapaksas – rotten to the core
Australian foreign policy and morality sunk to a very low point over its dealings with the Rajapaksa regime and demonisation of Tamil asylum seekers. Continue reading »
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AUKUS – contrived to foster the unrealistic and unattainable aims of American foreign policy
In all of my experience, AUKUS is the worst example of abuse within the so-called American alliance. Continue reading »
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A word on war with China
Professor Hugh White argues, in an essay, ’If growing US-China rivalry leads to ‘the worst war ever’, what should Australia do?’ published in Pearls and Irritations on 26 June, that, ‘..the very real possibility that a war with China launched to preserve the US’s position in Asia might end up destroying it, just as the Continue reading »
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ASPI – a bastard child
Foreign Minister Penny Wong in two forays into the Pacific over the same number of weeks has shown both ASPI and the Chinese how diplomacy should be conducted. No megaphone and no presumption. Continue reading »
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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 »
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We can be friends of the US without being vassals
A manifesto for a new incoming foreign minister. Continue reading »
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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 »
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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 »
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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 »
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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 »
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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 »
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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 »
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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 »
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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 »
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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 »
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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 »
