Writer
John Menadue
John Menadue is the publisher of Pearls & Irritations. He has had a distinguished career both in the private sector and in the Public Service.
-
What does the ALP stand for?
Apart from Paul Keating and a few others I do not know what the Australian Labor Party (ALP) now stands for on key issues. Continue reading »
-
John Menadue: Our democracy is decaying from within
We need a summit of community leaders to help chart democratic renewal. Continue reading »
-
Blessed are the rich in securing vaccines
Australia is among the rich, western countries siding with Big Pharma to thwart the widespread manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines. Continue reading »
-
White Man’s Media: Legacy media in the US and UK frames and conditions our thinking and actions.
Most political colonies have come to an end. But a colonial mind set continues in the media .That colonial media mind set in turn promotes a ‘colonisation of the mind’. Continue reading »
-
White Man’s Media or the Western Media Hegemony: a series commencing next week
Fearful of our region, Australia has clung to remote imperial powers, first the UK and now the US. Similarly our derivative main stream media clings to the legacy media of the UK and the US. We have a White Man’s Media in which the hegemony of the UK and particularly the US is entrenched. This Continue reading »
-
Afghanistan: the graveyard of empires and the opium poppy (Repost from May 9, 2018)
They have all failed to conquer Afghanistan – the Greeks, Indians and more recently, the British in the mid 19th Century and the Soviets in the late 20th Century. And now the US empire is failing to subdue the tribes of Afghanistan despite enormous cost of people and treasure. What has not received much attention is Continue reading »
-
The US: Almost always at war. (an updated repost)
The US empire is addicted to a belief in its ‘exceptionalism’ ,’manifest destiny’ and being the ‘indispensable nation’ It is grounded in aggression both at home and abroad. ‘Chosen people’ find it hard to admit mistakes or change. Continue reading »
-
Privatise for efficiency, or not at all
Privatising assets without allowing for competition or regulation creates private monopolies that raise prices, reduce efficiency and harm the economy. Continue reading »
-
Australia and the White Man’s Media. A repost from 2015
I have said many times that a person from Mars who read and listened to Australian media would conclude that we are an island parked off London or New York with little relationship to Asia. Our news and media coverage is so derivative, relying heavily on the BBC, CNN and other news and entertainment houses Continue reading »
-
Human rights in Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel to be examined.
President of Human Rights Council appoints Members of Commission of Inquiry Continue reading »
-
Gareth Evans versus the Surveillance State: application of the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme
See below a letter exchange between Assistant Secretary, Integrity and Security Division Attorney-General’s Department and ANU Professor Gareth Evans and former Foreign Minister regarding the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme. Gareth Evans did not give his response to the media but did copy his reply to a number of former Cabinet, diplomatic and ANU colleagues, from Continue reading »
-
Militarism has become the norm. We now even have an Army Lieutenant General heading the vaccine roll out
What a reflection this is on the standing of the Australian Public Service and the Morrison Governments lack of interest in a robust and well functioning civil society. We invariably turn to the military. Continue reading »
-
Our failure in Asia as viewed nine years ago. The situation is now far worse.
Nine years ago, in the speech below, I was pessimistic about our understanding of Asia and our future. The situation has got markedly worse since then. Continue reading »
-
Moral bankruptcy and cruelty in the treatment of the Biloela Family.
The government is hiding behind legislation as a reason for not doing anything. This is truly a morally bankrupt position as anyone who understands Immigration law knows. Continue reading »
-
What has the US done that China hasn’t?
It might be the right time to make a list a list of things China did not do. Continue reading »
-
The French submarine boondoggle is Australia’s biggest defence blunder. Our tame corporate media hardly noticed.
For the first time in over five years of delay and evasion the Secretary of Defence has at last told us that the Government is looking at an alternative to the French submarine. Our corporate media has failed to hold the government to account in its scandalous handling of the $90 billion French submarine purchase. Continue reading »
-
Intelligence agencies have helped precipitate the crisis in our relations with China (An updated post)
In Max Suich’s outstanding series in the Australian Financial Review, on 16, 17 and 18 May, on how we got into the pointless confrontation with China there is no doubt that much of the ‘intelligence’ came from US sources and that our naive and China ignorant intelligence agencies tagged along and served up US intelligence dressed up as their own. Continue reading »
-
Israeli deceit and US complicity in attacks on Palestinians
‘We are the only people on Earth asked to guarantee the security of our occupier.’..Hanan Ashrawi ‘America is behind this war and I am ashamed to be an American’…Anthony Hopkins. Continue reading »
-
The Anzac myth and the Frontier Wars we wilfully ignore.
Conservatives and militarists want us to cling to a disastrous imperial war. They encourage us to focus on how our soldiers fought in order to avoid the central issue of why we fought. We fought in WW1 for Britain’s imperial interests not our own.The AIF was the Australian Imperial Force. It could not be clearer. Continue reading »
-
U.S. Foreign Policy Flow Chart
Here’s a handy U.S. foreign policy flow chart. Continue reading »
-
Melissa Parke successfully settles defamation case against pro-Israeli commentator
Melissa Parke has successfully settled defamation legal proceedings with pro-Israeli commentator Colin Rubenstein over his claims that Parke had been anti-Semitic in her remarks on Israeli treatment of Palestinians. Continue reading »
-
Lobby Land. The power of the health lobby. Health ministers may be in office but they are not in power. An update.
The major barrier to health reform is the power of providers- the health lobby. A succession of Australian health ministers Liberal and Labor for three decades have failed in any serious health reform. We have been going around in circles. It is very depressing. The new shadow minister Mark Butler could succeed as Minister if Continue reading »
-
Why has there been a spike in anti-asian hate? The NY Times answers their own questions
A collage of panic-inducing anti-China headlines from the New York Times and other major publications can be seen as a factor in the rise of anti-Asian hate seen in western countries. Continue reading »
-
Marise Payne and Kurt Campbell believe their own propaganda about economic coercion by China
The Australian Government and our tame media complain continually about China’s ‘economic coercion of Australia. But the conflict with China has in many cases been provoked by Australia. The US has not looked at the facts and stumbles in blindly. Continue reading »
-
Will the Alaska meeting ease tensions or worsen relations between the US and China?
There is an important face to face meeting between the US and China on Thursday in Alaska. But our media seems disinterested. Continue reading »
-
QUAD: A public relations exercise to disguise Big Pharma’s obstruction and to combat Chinese vaccine successes
QUAD (US, Japan, India and Australia) was regarded as a strategic bloc to contain China. However, the recent virtual meeting between President Biden and Prime Ministers Suga, Modhi and Morrison ,whilst highlighting the provision vaccines to the region was really about curbing Chinese vaccine successes- an expression of soft power. Continue reading »
-
Abbott and Morrison did not stop the boats, but the media collaborated in the spin
Our corporate media will not acknowledge that Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison did not stop the boats. Despite clear evidence, the Canberra Press Gallery fell for the spin. With a tame media and cooperation by the military, the big lie was repeated time and time again and became accepted as fact. This was all before Continue reading »
-
The Iraq War, the Murdoch War and media culpability
The media here thought the terrorism in Australia fell from the deep blue sky and had no relationship to the help John Howard gave to George Bush in the illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq. The Australian media continue to fail us badly over its coverage of the Middle East wars, terrorism and the continuing Continue reading »
