Alison Broinowski

Dr Alison Broinowski AM is a former Australian diplomat and a member of Australians fr War Powers Reform

Alison's recent articles

ALISON BROINOWSKI. The pact of silence.

The death of Dr David Kelly in 2003 has not been explained to the satisfaction of everyone in Britain. Investigations suggest the Government of Tony Blair still has questions to answer.

Don't ask about the war

John Howard contributed to world events that are still affecting us: invasion, illegality, sycophancy to our allies, refugees, and even Brexit and Trump. Why do Australians not hold him accountable?

ALISON BROINOWSKI. What side are we on in Syria and Iraq?

The mainstream media are agonising about the Syrian governments nearly completed overthrow of rebels and the devastation of Aleppo. But the fog of war is not a sufficient excuse for their utter confusion about who the enemy is. The Australian Government doesnt seem to know either, nor to have any idea what a successful outcome would be. As the latest example of vacuum that is at the core of our defence and foreign policy, we can expect soon to be involved in retaking Fallujah for the Iraqis against whom US and coalition forces led by Australian General Jim Molan fought...

ALISON BROINOWSKI. Trump - Seize the moment. Quo vadis series.

Quo vadis - Australian foreign policy and ANZUS. Summary.We have a unique moment to do something Australia has never done - make a rational distinction between our national interests and our enduring regard for the US.

ALISON BROINOWSKI. Reclaiming Australia

ASIO Director-General is under-reported when he says anti-Islamic groups also threaten Australian security. Incredible is a word over-used in the media when all they mean is very. So when something truly unbelievable happens, we have no description ready for it. In recent days, while American and Australian leaders were debating their various degrees of credibility, a revelation from the Director-General of ASIO, Duncan Lewis, was ignored by the mainstream media except the Guardian online and AAP (Reclaim Australia in Asio's sights, intelligence chief tells senators, 19 October 2016). But what he said was close to incredible, at least for...

ALISON BROINOWSKI. Your laptop is watching you: 'Snowden' the movie.

Before Snowden comes on, theres a short film of Oliver Stone, the director, warning cinema audiences that they can be surveilled, so please turn off their devices. Even as a humourless joke for geeks, it sets the sombre tone of the movie to follow. This is a feature version of Linda PoitrasCitizenfour (2014), that adds political and personal narratives to the story of the young intelligence employee who exposed Americas mass surveillance of the worlds communications.

ALISON BROINOWSKI. What was all that about?

Afghan troops who were trained in Uruzgan until 2013 by Australian soldiers are now reportedly confined to barracks. More for their own safety than the protection of the province, it seems, because the Taliban have waited them out and are progressively taking back control of Uruzgan, just as contending forces have done in Afghanistan for centuries. After 41 Australian deaths and many more of Afghans, Australian military figures are casting about to make their loss seem worthwhile. Former General Peter Leahy, now at ANU, says if Australia had been able to rebuild Uruzgan that would have lent legitimacy to the...

ALISON BROINOWSKI. A Foreign Affairs White Paper. What is there to inquire about?

We have just had a Federal election, so now the inquiry season has begun. The government already has a Royal Commission inquiring into the detention of children in the Northern Territory, it wants a plebiscite on gay marriage, the inquiry into institutional child abuse is still running, and the Opposition wants one on the banks.

ALISON BROINOWSKI. What Chilcot doesn't say.

Comprehensive though the Chilcot report is, and 12 volumes long, its promised revelations about how Britain went to war in Iraq and the lessons to be learnt are incomplete. Whats missing is particularly important for Australia, which has yet to hold such an inquiry, and where public pressure for one is mounting.

ALISON BROINOWSKI. Bush s poodles

There is a sense in Britain that its very foundations are shaking. Just weeks sincethe Brexit decision, the prospect of recession is real, the value of the pound and the price of real estate have dropped out of sight, credible leaders are lacking, and uncertainty threatens the future of Great Britain itself. Piled on top, now, is the Chilcot report on the war in Iraq. Its revelations about the moral failures of government in the UK are so serious that some feel they could bring the whole edifice crashing down. How has it come to this and what does...

ALISON BROINOWSKI. Process or Policy

Three governments are currently consulting their constituents. Two are offering them a significant choice about future foreign policy: one is not. The US asks delegates to decide between a President Donald Trump who would expel Hispanics, bar entry to Muslims, and flatten parts of the Middle East, and a President Hillary Clinton who would take a tougher line against states which challenge the US. The UK has asked citizens to decide if Britain should separate from the European Union and, presumably, tie itself more tightly to the US. Australian leaders are asking voters almost nothing about what foreign policy initiatives...

ALISON BROINOWSKI. The silence is deafening.

We learn belatedly that Prime Minister Abbott tried to persuade the Army to send to the MH17 crash site in Ukraine, were more like 3000, a full brigade! In this long election campaign, the major parties are debating anything and everything that will affect votes. Everything, that is, except refugees, foreign policy, and as if it is a minor matter the war. Australians who havent been paying attention may well be unaware that we have military in Afghanistan (still), Iraq (again), and Syria. In spite of retired generals Peter Leahy and Peter Gration repeatedly questioning the strategy...

ALISON BROINOWSKI; Wisdom in hindsight.

Leaders who have presided over policy disasters typically respond in one of three ways. Some of them leave office and retire to their well-feathered nests, where they hibernate in silence. Others spray the blame around, including at those who advised them against the original folly, refusing to admit responsibility for it, and yet still claiming that the outcome was better than if they had not committed it, and claiming that now, things have changed. Others again adhere to the never apologise, never explain school of public policy, refusing to admit they were wrong, and suggesting they would do the same...

Alison Broinowski. Who decides when we go to war?

Setbacks for democratic reform of war powers. Having taken one step forward, Australias major allies have now taken two steps back from reform of their war powers. In the UK, the Defence Minister has set aside years of bipartisan promises of legislation that would require British governments to consult the Parliament before committing forces to war, and has rejected what he now calls this artificial constraint. http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/18/ministers-abandon-plan-war-powers-law-mps-troops Prime Minister Gordon Brown sought legislation to bring to an end the exercise of the war powers by a prime minister under executive privilege. He hoped to transfer the decision for...

Alison Broinowski. Losing 'our' Uruzgan.

Most Australians live in cities where the only newspapers are owned by Murdoch. So unless they found Fairfax on line, they were spared the sorrowful report on 3 May that Afghan government troops have pulled out of more strongholds in Uruzgan province. http://www.smh.com.au/world/australian-troops-fought-and-died-in-uruzgan-now-afghan-troops-are-pulling-back-20160302-gn7z1i.html To the surprise of no-one who read it, Taliban are back. The withdrawal, Reuters reported mournfully, followed many years of work and much blood shed by Australian troops to maintain peace and stability in the province, before the last Australians left in 2014. After Australians spent thirteen years in Tarin Kowt, 41 died, and many more...

Alison Broinowski. Defence White paper - the China threat.

Strategically timid.   In his final book, which was too little noticed, Malcolm Fraser declared that we must reassess the strategic dependence which has determined our defence policy throughout settler Australian history. We need the United States for defence, he wrote in Dangerous Allies (2014), but we only need defence because of the United States. It is the ANZUS alliance, presented as guaranteeing our security, that poses the greatest threat to Australia, he concluded. The reason most Australians in the security establishment held their noses, rolled their eyes, and looked the other way was that Fraser had said...

Alison Broinowski. . Borderless war

(or when you get in a hole, stop digging) To the sound of approaching drumbeats, first the ever-reliable Jim Molan, then Peter Jennings, and after them Liberal MP Dan Tehan have been wheeled out to tell us in recent days that the RAAF should start bombing in Syria. Right on cue, on 13 August Kevin Andrews said Australians would soon direct drone attacks into Syria, and Tony Abbott said expanded RAAF raids across the border had wait for it been discussed. Always briefed, Greg Sheridan informed us on 14 August that Australia was in discussions with the...

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