James's articles (48 total)
18 October 2022
In Ukraine, Australia has forgotten the lessons of Iraq, Afghanistan
When a new Labor government was elected in May of this year there was a degree of optimism that their reform agenda would extend to foreign policy. Those hopes were not to be realised. The last Labor government to show a measure of independence in its foreign policy was the Whitlam government that ruled from 1972 to 1975. Among its brave foreign policy initiatives was to withdraw Australian troops from the Vietnam war.
13 September 2022
A new world order is emerging and Australia has some decisions to make
Australia's world is changing. With the decline of US hegemony, a new world order is emerging led by the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the BRICS and the Eurasian Economic Union. Will the Albanese government choose to realign with this new world order, or will it maintain its alliance with the fading hegemon of North America?
22 December 2020
The China shock may provide a much-needed catalyst for change
In an opinion poll published in the Guardian online an astonishing 2/3 of voters either approved or strongly approved of the Prime Minister’s conduct of the nation’s affairs.
7 December 2020
Australian voting in the United Nations on Israel reveals unpleasant realities
One of Australia’s best kept secrets by our media is our voting record in the United Nations on resolutions condemning the occupation of Palestinian land and human rights abuses by the State of Israel.
3 September 2020
The Australian Government is pursuing economic suicide
The prime objective of a country is to maximise the interests of its inhabitants. That objective is met in trade by selling its goods at the best possible price. What the countries leaders may think of the politics of their trading partners is an irrelevant consideration.
15 July 2020
The MH17 tragedy continues to unfold where geopolitics outranks truth
“The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow lively debate within that spectrum.”
2 July 2020
The mainstream media fails on Australia’s foreign policy
Our media avoids any discussion or analysis of the literally hundreds of United States military bases that are situated in proximity to China, and similarly the hundreds of military bases aimed at “containing” Russia.
20 March 2020
JAMES O'NEILL.-Four Corners Program on Australian Alleged War Crimes in Afghanistan Raises Wider Questions
Australia is still waiting for an honest appraisal of its involvement in other countries wars of choice, almost invariably carried out for other than the officially professed reasons.
26 February 2020
JAMES O'NEILL. Assange Case Reveals True Colours of the So-Called Western Democracies
One is tempted to suggest that all Australians travelling abroad should have a warning attached to their passports: “if you do anything to upset the Americans, don’t expect our help.”
8 November 2019
JAMES O'NEILL. The Rhetoric and the Reality: Australia, the United States and the World in the 21st Century.
Henry Wotton is perhaps best remembered as the author of the phrase that an ambassador was an honest gentleman sent abroad to lie for the good of his country.
16 October 2019
JAMES O'NEILL. Iran: Ancient History, New Modern Role
“Iran has an ancient history but a very modern present and future. Despite the best (or worst) of some European nations and others such as the United States and Australia, Iran has powerful friends and bright prospects.”
13 March 2019
JAMES O'NEILL. The Douma "chemical attack": still waiting for an apology.
On 7 April 2018 an alleged chemical attack took place in the city of Douma in the Syrian Arab Republic. Dramatic footage of the “victims” was widely broadcast throughout the western mainstream media. Particularly prominent were images of children foaming at the mouth and being hosed down. The footage for these dramatic depictions was almost entirely sourced from a group known as the White Helmets. They are invariably depicted in the western media as a form of civil defence organisation. They are in fact an arm of Britain’s MI6, trained by the British and financed by the UK and in the...
30 November 2018
New revelations about Australia and the Iraq War
A new ABC report, quoting from a previously classified document, reveals that the Australian government decided in early 2002 to join the American led Iraq War, but failed to disclose that to Parliament or the public.
28 November 2018
America's permanent war complex: a comment on Porter's argument
A recent article by US commentator Gareth Porter raises many issues that should be of concern to Australians. That they will in all probability be ignored points to some wider changes needed in our society.
28 August 2018
JAMES O’NEILL. Julie Bishop’s Unmemorable Tenure as Foreign Minister
The departure of Julie Bishop as Foreign Minister is no cause for regret. Her tenure was marked by hypocrisy, selective application of international law, and blindness to geopolitical realities.
18 August 2018
JAMES O’NEILL. Caspian Sea Agreement Symptomatic of Wider Geopolitical Changes.
On 12 August 2018, the five littoral states to the Caspian Sea (Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan) signed a historic agreement governing the use of the Caspian Sea.
31 July 2018
JAMES ONEILL. Australia’s Foreign Policy: the Rhetoric and the Reality.
A recent article on the ABC website by Andrew Probyn and Andrew Green suggested that Australia may be poised to play a role in a threatened United States attack on Iran. That role would, it was suggested, be played by the United States controlled spy facility at Pine Gap in the Northern Territory. The prospect of a US attack on Iran has increased in recent weeks, mainly because of a series of moves by the United States and some typically exaggerated rhetoric from United States President Donald Trump. In a tweet from Trump last week, directed at Iran’s President Rouhani,...
19 July 2018
JAMES O'NEILL. Australian Government silent on OPCW Report
On 7th April 2018 an incident occurred in the Syrian city of Douma, 10 km North east of the capital Damascus. It was alleged, initially by the jihadi extremists occupying the city that a nerve gas attack had been carried out by Syrian government forces.
29 June 2018
JAMES O'NEILL. AUSTRALIA AND THE BRI: WHY SO RELUCTANT?
The Sydney Morning Herald has recently published a series of articles (18-23 June 2018) on China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The articles come at a time when relations between China and Australia are getting distinctly cooler.
2 February 2018
JAMES O'NEILL. When will the Australian Opposition and Parliament actually do its job over the Syrian war?
The US Secretary of Defence, General Mattis, recently announced that the US was intending to create a 30,000 strong “border force” to occupy a portion of northern Syria. This is territory in which the largest group are ethnic Kurds who in the past have been supported by the US, not on any principled basis but because they represented a group that may assist US geopolitical objectives. Those objectives are neither singular nor necessarily consistent. They include the often reiterated claim that the “Assad government must go”, a view echoed until recently by the Australian government; although the latter’s statements on anything...
7 December 2017
JAMES O’NEILL. The North Korean situation requires a different policy
It is said that one definition of insanity is to repeat the same process over and over again and expect a different result. That axiom was never truer than when it is applied to United States and Australian policy towards North Korea.
22 November 2017
JAMES O’NEILL. The Syrian Denouement nears despite Australia’s unwanted and illegal presence
The Australian government is a regular citer of what it calls the “rules based international order.” When it calls on other countries to desist from behaviour of which it disapproves. The recitation is frequently applied to the South China Sea where the Australian government disapproves of what it calls “Chinese assertiveness” in the region.
17 October 2017
JAMES O’NEILL: Requiem for a democracy
The Australian Security agencies have asked again for further powers to enable them to prevent terrorist attacks. Among the requests made are for extended detention powers, increasing the time a “terror suspect” can be detained without charge from 14 to 28 days.
19 September 2017
JAMES O'NEILL. The South China Sea and the risk of war: a summary.
It is self-evident that the risk of war is not confined to the South China Sea. In fact, the risk of war there is probably less than in other significant flash points around the world.
28 August 2017
JAMES O'NEILL. American blueprints for war pose an existential threat to Australia.
The recent statement by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to the effect that on defence issues Australia and the United States were “joined at the hip” raises the serious question of how far Australia will actually go in support of the United States as it embarks on one foreign policy misadventure after another? A possible change of government in Australia after the next election will not make any appreciable difference. The Labor leadership is always quick to ensure minimum daylight between themselves and the Coalition whenever yet another pledge of fealty to the Americans is made.
15 August 2017
JAMES O'NEILL. Australia and North Korea: Dangerous Illusions Place Australia at Risk
The war of words between North Korea and the United states reached new heights last week. US President trump pledged to meet any further threats by North Korea to the US “with fire and fury like the world has never seen”. North Korea’s response was a threat to vaporize Guam, a US colony and important military base in the Pacific.
26 July 2017
JAMES O'NEILL. Germany’s Ostpolitik in the Modern Era
Germany recognises that there is a fundamental shift in the economic, political and military balance of power to the east. It is now flexing its political muscle to match its economic might.
21 July 2017
JAMES O'NEILL. Lessons from Mosul: Double Standards, War Crimes and Lack of Accountability
Lest week the Iraqi government announced that Mosul has been ‘liberated ‘ from the control of ISIS. The major campaign for Mosul’s liberation began in October 2016 when the US led coalition massively increased both bombing raids and artillery attacks that had in fact been going on since ISIS captured the city in 2014.
5 July 2017
JAMES O'NEILL. The Belt and Road Initiative and Australian Foreign Policy: A Golden Opportunity
The Australian Cabinet recently turned down an opportunity to join the world’s greatest infrastructure project. The rhetoric and the approach disclose much about how Australia is failing to adjust to the realities of the 21st Century.
1 June 2017
JAMES O'NEILL. More to the Manchester Attack than the Media Would Have us Believe
The terrorist attack in Manchester where 22 people, including children, were killed and scores were injured, many critically, provoked an understandable sense of outrage into how and why this could happen. The answer to that question unfortunately has been to repeat the half-truths and stereotypes that have followed each of the terrorist attacks in western cities in recent years.
16 May 2017
JAMES O’NEILL. The Ongoing Disaster of Australia’s Policy in Afghanistan
According to a recent news report Australia is “open” to a request from the United States for more troops to be sent to Afghanistan. According to the report, Australian troops “mostly work in a training and support role aimed at strengthening the Afghan force’s ability to protect their own country.” “It is important,” said Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, “that we work together to build up the capacity of Afghanistan’s own security forces so that they can keep that country secure from the threat of terrorism.” (1)
24 April 2017
JAMES O'NEILL. Just Who Does Pose the Greater Threat in Korea?
The election of Donald Trump as US President has seen the ramping up of US rhetoric about North Korea. Trump recently demanded that China should use its influence with the North Koreans and if China did not intervene, then, according to an interview Trump gave to the UK Financial Times, the “US would act alone.”
17 April 2017
JAMES O'NEILL. Scientific evidence exposes the falsity of US government claims about Syrian gas attack.
The irresistible conclusion is that those same senior politicians know that the White House claims are false and misleading and therefore highly dangerous to Australia’s national security. That they should maintain their silence on this while continuing to perpetuate a barrage of lies and half-truths about the ongoing Syrian tragedy raises serious questions about their fitness to govern.
11 April 2017
JAMES O'NEILL. American missile strikes in Syria raise fresh questions.
Not for the first time, unilateral and illegal actions by the Americans pose a grave threat to the safety of the planet and its inhabitants.
7 April 2017
JAMES O'NEILL. Verdict First, Evidence Later: How the Australian Media Misrepresent Geopolitical Events
The reporting of the tragedy from Syria is but the latest illustration of an all too common phenomenon: a pre-determined verdict on little or no evidence.
30 March 2017
JAMES O'NEILL. The London Attack: What We Fail to Acknowledge
“The idea”, ... “that you can set fire to countries in the Middle East, collapse their societies, and traumatize entire populations sowing carnage on a biblical scale, and not expect any reaction in the form of blowback is utterly insane.”
24 March 2017
JAMES O'NEILL. A tale of two cities: Aleppo and Mosul.
The double standards of the western media are clearly demonstrated in the different treatment accorded the liberation of Aleppo by Syrian and Russian forces and the ongoing battle for the liberation of Mosul by ‘coalition’ (i.e. US) forces in northern Iraq. Also completely missing from western accounts is the fact that prior to the March 2003 invasion of Iraq by the US, UK, Australia and others, there was no al Qaeda or ISIS in either Iraq or Syria. That illegal invasion was based on a series of massive lies and has caused the deaths of well over one million Iraqis...
16 March 2017
JAMES O'NEILL. Further developments in MH17 case ignored by our media.
In January 2017 Ukraine issued proceedings against Russia in the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands. The claim has barely been covered in the international media and not at all in the Australian media.
5 March 2017
Australian foreign policy and Israel: an enduring disgrace
The recent visit to Australia by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the forthcoming foreign policy White Paper should provide an opportunity for Australia to re-examine its support for the State of Israel. There is however, every indication that the current and past levels of support will endure. The most puzzling question is: why is this the case?
2 March 2017
JAMES O'NEILL. Iran and the new multipolar world.
During the last Presidential campaign, the Republican nominee Donald Trump made a variety of statements that suggested a changing focus in US foreign policy. He promised, inter alia, no more attempts at regime change, an effective fight against the terrorist organisation ISIS, and better relationships with Russia. Fine words, but as has been said before, “don’t listen to what we say, watch what we do.”
1 March 2017
JAMES O'NEILL. Australia and the Iraq War: some new revelations.
“It is difficult not to conclude that Howard’s statement to Parliament on 18 March 2003 following his telephone conversation with Bush was a political statement designed to bolster what was an untenable decision to commit Australia to yet another foreign war on behalf of the Americans.”
17 February 2017
JAMES O'NEILL. General Flynn's resignation raises fresh dangers.
As is now customarily the case, the mainstream media both failed to put Flynn’s actions in their proper context, and even more seriously failed to understand the significance of this week’s events.
10 February 2017
Ukraine, Crimea and the push for war
Instead of recognizing the historical and geopolitical realities, including that Ukraine is now a failed state ruled by neo-fascists, Western governments continue to parrot the tired cliché that the Russians are to blame. Upon such fatal ignorance are wars often started.
7 February 2017
JAMES O'NEILL. Just whose news is fake?
The term “fake news” has gained a certain currency in recent months, perhaps reaching its apogee with the Washington Post’s notorious list of alleged fake news sites.
31 January 2017
JAMES O'NEILL. 'One belt one road' (OBOR) - a new geopolitical paradigm.
The scale of the projects (OBOR) is astonishing. As of July 2016 China had more than 900 contracts in place or under negotiation with a propose investment value of over $900 billion dollars. This was in addition to a separate contract worth over $400 billion signed with Russia for the supply of natural gas.
17 January 2017
JAMES O'NEILL. More alarm bells ring for Australia in the South China Sea.
President-elect Trump’s nominee for Secretary of state had his confirmation hearings in Washington last week. A number of his reported statements should have raised alarm among Australian politicians and foreign affairs bureaucrats. With the exception of former Prime Minister Paul Keating however, the response was largely asinine.
7 January 2017
JAMES O'NEILL. Lessons from the Iraq War: a reappraisal.
The release of the Chilcott Report into the circumstances under which the United Kingdom (UK) became a party to the invasion and occupation of Iraq in March 2003 has raised fresh questions about the circumstances surrounding Australia’s involvement in that same war.
19 December 2016
JAMES O'NEILL. Dangerous delusions in Australian foreign policy.
Our media just does not get it. It is not disputed that there are significant US military bases in Japan (Okinawa), the Philippines, Guam, South Korea, Afghanistan and Australia, among other places. ... Strategic planners are unable to point to a single instance of China interfering in the freedom of navigation of civilian shipping.