Writer
Howard Debenham
Howard Debenham is a former diplomat with a long list of postings including as High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Consul-General in Bangkok, Tokyo and Washington DC, and State Director for Queensland. He authored ‘Waiting ‘round the Bend – a life in Australia’s foreign service’.
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The plight of the Iranian people
Given the growing likelihood of the Gaza maelstrom moving on to a direct military confrontation between the US and Iran, the epic plight of the Iranian people should not be overlooked – a plight which Britain and the Americans instigated back in the 1950s with the removal of their democratic rights and in which hopes Continue reading »
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Labor’s cowardice on the world stage
Labor’s cowardice on the world stage stems from a deep-rooted fear that to do anything other than slavishly follow American policy would be to hand government over to a Coalition which has always done exactly that. Continue reading »
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Trump the felon or Trump the saviour?
The stunning conviction in New York of Donald Trump on 34 felony counts is more likely to encourage his legion of supporters than otherwise. Continue reading »
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Americans don’t understand: China is not afraid of the US
China knows that, if it has to, it can stand alone and that it can defend itself. It knows, too, that most nations of the world, other than America (which is, despite itself, somewhat conflicted), want to do business with it; to connect with its growing confidence and with its strengthening brand of non-threatening, non-coercive, Continue reading »
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The emerging spectre of American fragility: A reckoning
The United States, having learnt nothing from the 20th Century, is, quite characteristically, spoiling for a fight with one of the great success stories of our time, China, on the basis of nothing more than a doltishly unfounded fear of this success and an ever so faintly emerging spectre of American fragility. A fragility across Continue reading »
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Everyone, particularly the Chinese are supposed to yield to the Americans.
The idea of China representing some real and present military threat doesn’t really stack up. But never mind, as a great many Americans and their followers can still be relied upon to believe what they are told to believe. Their political leaders understand very well that Americans are least at war with themselves when they Continue reading »
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The West can accept China’s wealth but not its power
China is challenging the fractured world order of the West — and the pushback from the imperial powers of yesterday is mired in hypocrisy. Continue reading »
