Cameron Leckie
Cameron Leckie served as an officer in the Australian Army for 24 years. An agricultural engineer, he is currently a PhD candidate.
Cameron's recent articles
11 January 2025
Hotel California: Time to check out
The Eagles classic “Hotel California” could be considered an allegory for membership in the imperial system of the United States. At least to this point, that appears to be the mindset prevalent in Australia’s political, defence and security class, regardless of the harm that membership causes. It is time to check out.
29 October 2024
At the altar of the rules-based order
It is time to abandon Australia’s fanatical commitment to the ‘rules-based order’ and embrace emerging realities for a prosperous and secure future.
18 September 2024
AUKUS: defending the indefensible
The proponents of AUKUS appear to be rattled. Their defence of the worst deal of the century is threadbare.
4 September 2024
Will Australia be off to war in the Middle East again?
There is a disturbing void in Australian political debate about the prospects of another regional war in the Middle East.
31 May 2024
Collision course: the National Defence Strategy and the China – Russia Joint Statement
Australia is on a collision course with the major source of our prosperity. The collision is not yet a fait accompli. To avoid the collision will require breaking the shackles of the Rules-Based Order. Australia faces a geopolitical conundrum of major, if not epic, proportions.
1 May 2024
Australia’s National Defence Strategy: Where ideology trumps strategy
The ‘National Defence Strategy’ is not a strategy. It is an ideology. An ideology that firmly ties Australia’s future to that of the United States. A horrifying thought.
17 April 2024
Australia’s leadership is destroying the very fabric of this country
Some days I wake up and don’t recognise the country we have become. It is not the country I grew up in. It is not a country I can be proud of. It is not a country that has a bright future under current leadership.
31 January 2024
The Empire is in free fall
By 2021 it was apparent that we were witnessing the accelerating but creeping collapse of the American Empire. That collapse has passed an inflection point the Empire is now in free fall.
17 January 2024
Australia: A rogue state?
To initiate a war of aggression has been described as the supreme international crime. If a regional war breaks out in the Middle East, triggered by the illegal recent strikes by the USA and UK against the Houthis, Australia could well be complicit in the commission of the supreme international crime.
19 December 2023
Ukraine: what did the government know and when?
As Australias expands its support to the NATO proxy war against Russia it is critical that the Parliament plays a role in determining when we become involved in overseas conflicts.
30 October 2023
A price paid in blood: Australia secretly deploys to another Middle East war
Will Australia involve itself in another war in the Middle East? One that promises to be far more destructive and damaging to Australia than our previous misadventures.
16 June 2023
Ukraine: Taking leave of our senses
My first article published here at Pearls and Irritations, titled Built on a tower of lies, described how positive feedback loops have created at a societal level an enormous tower of lies that guide public discourse. I further warned that if we failed to dismantle this tower the consequences would be traumatic. Unfortunately, the horrifically traumatic war in Ukraine has driven these positive feedback loops into overdrive. The inability for us in the collective West to unwind these lies, or in other words to be honest with ourselves, is a major reason why I believe we are witnessing the demise...
9 April 2023
Is Australia currently at war?
Historically, it used to be clear when one country was at war with another. Not so today. Indeed, that is one of the Department of Defences objections to war powers reform, where it stated in its submission to the Armed Overseas Conflict Inquiry that the growth of grey-zone activities and offensive operations in the space and cyber domains [challenge] traditional concepts of conflict.
7 April 2023
The United States is in decline, with AUKUS, so too is Australia
It is all but finalised. Australia has handcuffed itself, essentially in perpetuity, to the United States. As a result, Australias future is inextricably intertwined with the future of the United States.
27 January 2023
Ukraine: The ignominious unravelling of the West has begun
Western powers appear to have no viable strategy to bring the Ukraine war to an end. The best they can do is keep Ukraine on life support. But, as Sun Tzu put it, tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.
31 October 2022
An open letter on Australia training Ukrainian Troops
An open letter to Prime Minister Albanese, Defence Minister Marles and Foreign Minister Wong on Australias decision to train Ukrainian troops.
13 October 2022
The Defence Strategic Review: Three dangerous assumptions underlying our defence planning
To navigate the rapidly changing international system, we must replace three dangerous assumptions underpinning Australias defence planning.
10 September 2022
The Defence Strategic Review and the decline of the US led western world
It is time to take the path less travelled. The Defence Strategic Review must recommend an independent defence and foreign policy if Australia is to successfully navigate the emergence of a multi-polar world.
7 July 2022
Ukraine: The demise of the West
The more events proved them to be wrong, the stronger their defences became against admitting this to be the case' Norman Dixon (On the Psychology of Military Incompetence)
29 March 2022
The Ukraine - a decisive transfer of the balance of power from west to east
The 2022 Russo-Ukraine is also a proxy war between Russia and the Western world. We should be prepared for a decisive transfer of the balance of power from West to East...The bulk of the fighting is in the Donbas where there are few or no Western journalists.
30 January 2022
Ukraine crisis is a pivotal moment in history for the US, not Russia
While the media focus on the Russian 'invasion' narrative, we are actually witnessing the end to Washington's unipolar moment.
26 November 2021
Why Australia's electric vehicle strategy is going nowhere
The soaring cost of raw materials for batteries and production challenges mean rising prices will push electric vehicles out of the reach of most Australians for many years.
13 October 2021
AUKUS alliance highlights US decline and Australian humiliation
By joining Australia and the UK in the AUKUS agreement, the US has highlighted its decline. And if that decline continues, Australia will find itself increasingly isolated.
22 August 2021
Shock and Awful - The Collapse of the Empire
We are witnessing the accelerating collapse of the United States' imperial system. Yet despite the potentially awful consequences Australia remains wilfully blind.
22 July 2021
Australia's alliance with the United States: passed its use by date
Australia's alliance with the United States has become an unthinking custom and practice. It has already cost us dearly in both blood and treasure with little to show for it. It is time to look at the alternatives.
19 May 2021
ASPI: The Tabloid Think Tank
Is it true? Or did you hear it from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute?
17 April 2021
Australia is playing in the international greyzone: it is time to get out of our unthinking alliance with the US
Unbeknownst to most of the population, Australia is a willing player in a global game of Risk. The risks are great, the rewards less so. We do not need to play this game.
3 April 2021
Government refuses to address Australia's future liquid fuel risks
$90 billion for submarines that may never be used in conflict. Only $200 million for Future Fuels that every Australian depends upon every day. There is something seriously awry with the Government's priorities.
27 January 2021
And then there were three - Australia's dwindling oil exports
With a growing dependence on imports, Australia will become more vulnerable to disruptions to supply. It will not be easy to quantify the disadvantages. And it will be extremely difficult for governments to decide what level of insurance against disruption would be appropriate.
13 October 2020
Electric Vehicles, A Partial Solution At Best
Claims have been made that Electric Vehicles can largely replace oil fuelled vehicles. These claims overlook critical factors that indicate that Electric Vehicles are a partial solution at best to Australias liquid fuel predicament.
13 September 2020
Oil, our sword of Damocles
Eighty percent of global oil production needs to be replaced by 2040 to meet projected demand. It is increasingly likely, particularly post COVID, that much of this oil production will not be replaced. There is an urgent and existential need to structurally reduce Australias oil dependence.
26 August 2020
The opportunity cost of the new cold war.
Australia, perhaps unwittingly and with very little in the way of public debate, has unnecessarily involved itself in a new cold war between the United States and its allies on one side and Russia and China on the other.
9 July 2020
Avoiding a century of humiliation for ourselves.
The Century of Humiliation is indelibly imprinted in the psyche of modern China. Australias current position towards China is inviting our own century of humiliation as we ratchet up tensions alongside a United States whose hegemonic power is rapidly collapsing.
20 April 2020
CAMERON LECKIE. Fear mongering by a think tank funded by arms manufacturers.
Having a strategic policy think tank co-funded by some of the worlds largest arms manufacturers is inconsistent with providing sound policy advice that is in the broader national interest. Peter Jennings recent Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) Strategist article is a desperate attempt to wrangle more taxpayers dollars for unnecessary defence expenditure.
8 April 2020
CAMERON LECKIE. False Assumptions a Threat to National Security
Crucial assumptions underpinning Australias defence posture have now been proven false. The Australian Defence Force is also becoming too expensive to operate and changes are required in the interest of national security.
30 March 2020
CAMERON LECKIE. Catabolic Collapse: Round 2
COVID-19 is far from being the end of the world, but it does signify the start of the second cycle of a process known as catabolic collapse.
8 March 2020
CAMERON LECKIE. The Real China - Russia Threat
The real threat posed by China and Russia to the Western world is not a military one.
12 January 2020
CAMERON LECKIE. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute is mired in the past.
The latest fearmongering by ASPI on the military threat posed by the Russia China partnership is not helpful to either our future security or prosperity.
1 January 2020
CAMERON LECKIE. The Australian Mainstream Media: Propagandists on Chemical Weapons
One of the most effective tools of the propagandist is the power of leaving out.
28 November 2019
CAMERON LECKIE. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons: Corrupted!
Two whistle-blowers from the worlds chemical weapon watchdog raise serious concerns about the impartiality of the OPCW. The whistle-blowers indicate that the findings of the OPCWs report into the alleged 2018 Douma chemical weapons incident do not align with the evidence/analysis compiled by the investigation team. The Australian Government should seek a formal investigation into these matters at next weeks OPCW Conference to maintain the credibility of this important international institution.
30 October 2019
CAMERON LECKIE. Government Myopia and Liquid Fuel (In)security
Without water we humans die within days. Without oil our society, as currently organised, will follow a similar path. Given the obvious importance of liquid fuels to society, a realistic appraisal of future availability is essential. Unfortunately the Department of the Environment and Energys interim Liquid Fuel Security Review provides a myopic and misleading view of the future.
20 June 2019
CAMERON LECKIE. Here we go again! Yet another false flag incident?
Sun Tzu in the Art of War stated that All war is based on deception. We should keep this in mind whenever a major international incident occurs. The application of Occams Razor, keeping an open mind and considering a range of possibilities suggests that many of these incidents may have been false flag operations, including the recent attacks on oil tankers in the Persian Gulf.
14 May 2019
CAMERON LECKIE. The global war of terror and the demise of the empire
As a young Army officer, watching Prime Minister John Howards announcement of the deployment of Australian military forces to Afghanistan in late 2001, I remember the extreme disappointment from both my soldiers and I that we would not be going to fight what would become known as the Global War on Terror.
3 April 2019
CAMERON LECKIE. Built on a tower of lies.
The world is going, or perhaps has gone, crazy. How else can we explain Trump, BREXIT, the Gilets Jaunes (yellow jackets) in France, new weather records becoming a regular event, or an ever intensifying Cold War between the Russia, China and the United States? Many commentators attempt to provide an explanation for these events and others in isolation. Few link them in an overarching narrative. They can however be linked. That link is a great big teetering tower of lies.