John Menadue
John Menadue is the Founder and Editor in Chief of Pearls and Irritations. He was formerly Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet under Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser, Ambassador to Japan, Secretary of the Department of Immigration and CEO of Qantas.
John's recent articles
17 April 2022
Matt Robson: Sleepwalking to war: NZ is back under the nuclear umbrella
As Minister for Disarmament in the 1999-2002 Labour-Alliance Coalition I was authorised to state that we would pursue an independent foreign policy and we would not march off to almost every war launched by Great Britain and then the United States our traditional allies.
17 April 2022
Brett Wilkins: The US arms industry, Ukraine and the media
The people who have the most interest in influencing the direction of the media coverage of the Ukraine War are weapons-makers.
16 April 2022
Philip Huggins: Easter and the universality of forgiveness at a pivotal moment in our nation's history
Forgiveness from the heart is profoundly beneficial and very demanding. That is why the Cross is such an enduring symbol. Both on Good Friday and then, thankfully, the Easter Sunday Cross, garlanded with flowers.
16 April 2022
Eric Hunter: What's God's answer?
The world watches as an extremely distraught Ukrainian man sobs in front of a camera after seeing his daughter and young granddaughter killed in the Russian missile assault on the city of Mauripol, God, why have you visited this on me? A good question and tragically ironic!
15 April 2022
Erik Paul: Australia beating the war drums
Given Australias strategic alliance with the US and the militarisation of the continent in preparation for war against China, Australians should decide whether they want to go to war against China.
15 April 2022
Brett Wilkins: Jimmy Carter says that the US is the 'Most warlike nation in the history of the world'
The only US president to complete his term without war, military attack or occupation has called the United States the most warlike nation in the history of the world.
14 April 2022
Our democracy is decaying from within. A repost from 16 September 2021
We need a summit of community leaders to help chart democratic renewal.
13 April 2022
Johnny Mok: Is Hong Kongs rule of law in decline?
Hong Kongs global ranking on the rule of law is close to the UKs and has changed little since 2015
10 April 2022
Keith Mitchelson: The perfect rort...gas-guzzling SUVs and utility trucks and more
The Morrison Government is nothing if not inventive. If you need to rort votes there is always a danger that people will notice. How to devise the perfect rort that is the question? Free vehicles for anyone!
9 April 2022
Margaret Beavis: What really makes Australians more secure?
We are assured nuclear powered submarines and missiles will make us more secure, but with hospitals chronically underfunded and poverty and homelessness on the rise, are they the actually the right choice?
9 April 2022
The Saudi involvement in 9/11
The FBI has quietly revealed further evidence of Saudi government complicity in the September 11 attacks. But the full story is yet to be told.
9 April 2022
William Xu and Li Bingcun: Three senior Australian judges show confidence in HK's legal system
Three Australian judgesWilliam Gummow, Anthony Gleeson and Robert Frenchstated in an email to the South China Morning Post that they support the judges of the Court of Final Appeal in their commitment to judicial independence. The Canadian judge, Beverley McLachlin, also intends to stay on, according to media reports.
8 April 2022
Admiral Prune: Defending Australia Part 4 of 4:People and Process
After thirty years of hand wringing about our deteriorating strategic circumstances, Australians have a right to know from the new government how it will fix Australias military weakness, without waiting decades. They must start with The System.
7 April 2022
Admiral Prune: Defending Australia Part 3 of 4:What sort of ADF do we need?
Commentators suggest that the Morrison Government is attempting to frame a khaki election. It would be far better were it a blue election - sea and sky blue.
7 April 2022
Jonathan Holmes: In real terms the ABC is still going backwards
Dave Sharma, the Liberal federal member for Wentworth in Sydneys Eastern Suburbs, is fighting for his political survival against independent candidate Allegra Spender, who supports a well-funded ABC.
7 April 2022
Charles Pierson: Biden promised to stop supporting Saudi aggression in Yemen.He lied
Will Biden betray Yemen once again in return for cheaper gas for suburban moms SUVs and victory at the polls in November?
6 April 2022
Admiral Prune: Defending Australia Part 2 of 4:Are we delivering the ADF we need?
There will probably be more grand announcements in the lead up to the Morrison Governments attempt to frame a khaki election. What we are doing, as opposed to talking about doing, is not reassuring.
6 April 2022
Herbert Wulf: Double standards
War criminals must be held accountable. But this rule of law is universal. And it is precisely those who emphasise the rules-based international order that should strictly adhere to these rules themselves.
6 April 2022
Olayinka Ajala: Russias war with Ukraine: Five reasons why many African countries choose to beneutral
In early March the United Nations General Assembly votedon a resolution demanding Russia immediately stop its military operations in Ukraine.
5 April 2022
Ray Edmondson: Coalition jobs for the boys and girls before the "Caretaker Period" start with the AAT!
Public institutions need the guidance of expert boards, and appointments to them should be well considered, transparent, merit-based and non-political. In many countries thats normative and taken for granted. But not in Australia. Under the Coalition government the boards of some of our great institutions have been thoroughly politicised.
4 April 2022
David Van Deusen: No love for Putin: No guns for Nazis in Ukraine
Ukraine in fact has a serious Nazi problem.
2 April 2022
Greg Wilesmith: Who Needs the ABC? A book review
Why taking the ABC for granted is no longer an option.
2 April 2022
Kathy Kelly: The people of Yemen suffer at the hands of the US, UAE and Saudi Arabia...377,000 dead
The United Nationsestimated last fall that the Yemen death toll would top 377,000 people by the end of 2021. Compare that to the deaths in Ukraine! Our media shows no interest or concern.
1 April 2022
Christopher Sheil: widening fault lines: Covid-19s effect on wealth inequality
Wickedly, it may seem, over six million people have so far perished from the pandemic, including more than 5000 Australians. Meanwhile, the rich have become much richer.
26 March 2022
Keith Mitchelson - Oligarchs in Australia
The world is awash with Russian oligarchs these days. Some have even washed up in Australias gas-and mining-fields. But one wonders, are there other oligarchs floating around under the radar?
26 March 2022
Julia Conley - the Afghan humanitarian disaster is caused by the United States
'This suffering is on the US government'
26 March 2022
Amnesty International: Israel is committing apartheid
The Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories(OPT), Michael Lynk, has submitted a reportto the Human Rights Council, concluding that the situation in the OPT amounts to apartheid.
25 March 2022
Neve Gordon and Nicola Perugini - Ukraine, international law and the history of hospital bombings
From the war in Afghanistan and the US-backed Saudi intervention in Yemen to the Israeli campaigns in Gaza and the Syrian civil war, in recent years hospitals have constantly been bombed by military forces under the guise of counterterrorism.
23 March 2022
M K Bhadrakumar : Zelensky rubbishes Biden's war on Russia
What was the need for all that happened in the period since mid-December when Russia transmitted to Washington its demands for security guarantees? This question will haunt US President Joe Biden long after he retires from public life.
19 March 2022
Bridget Brennan and Kirstie Wellauer - More evidence of 'genocidal killings' of Aboriginal people in frontier times
A pattern of brutal reprisals began to emerge in the late 19th and the 20th centuries as thousands of Aboriginal people were murdered in colonial times, new research suggests.
17 March 2022
Jake Johnson-Ukraine, Russia reportedly making 'Significant progress" on a 15-Point peace deal
Our position at the negotiations is quite specificlegally verified security guarantees; ceasefire; withdrawal of Russian troops, said an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
17 March 2022
Tobias Debiel and Herbert Wulf: Escalation and de-escalation in the Ukraine War-A German perspective
Demonization and humiliation do not pave the way to the negotiating table.
16 March 2022
Jim Green-Nuclear facilities targeted in Russia's war on Ukraine
Several nuclear facilities in Ukraine have been attacked by the Russian military over the past fortnight: a nuclear research facility at Kharkiv; two radioactive waste storage sites; the Chernobyl nuclear site (which no longer has operating reactors); and the operating Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
15 March 2022
A tale of two hospitals in Iraq and Ukraine
Until lions have their own historians, their history will be that of the hunters
13 March 2022
Jim McKay - How good is sport rorts? The Morrison government's betrayal of quiet Australians who 'have a go'
At Scott Morrison's first media conference of the 2019 election campaign, he reiterated one of his conservative-populist slogans about personal responsibility: I believe in a fair go for those who have a go.
12 March 2022
Keith Mitchelson - Reconceiving self-interest to reverse global warming
Humanity faces a self-interest choice destruction of our economies, societies and environment with unfettered global warming, or a massive transformation that eliminates man-made carbon outputs.
12 March 2022
Ryan King. History tells us that an 'Asian Nato' is destined to fail
The unique situation in which NATO was formed, and the failure to build similar alliances in Asia, suggest that the expansion of the Quad and AUKUS into a formal military alliance is both unlikely to happen and ill-advised.
11 March 2022
Alex Sundakov - Ukraine. We wait with sadness and horror
But with every day I am seeing signs of Ukraine not just doing better than expected, but actually positioning itself for the post-war future.
8 March 2022
Ross Tapsell - Australia's Anglo-focussed Covid news coverage
Australian media continues to see itself as overwhelmingly tied to the events, policies and fortunes of those in the United States and the United Kingdom.
7 March 2022
Shyam Saran. Implications of the Russia-Ukraine conflict for India
The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the continuing war have confronted India with difficult choices given its longstanding and important relationship with Russia.
5 March 2022
John Cleese - Alert levels in response to the Russian threat
The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent Russian threats and have therefore raised their security level from Miffed to Peeved.
5 March 2022
Erarings 2025 exit and Mike Cannon-Brookes/Brookfield AGL takeover could reduce power bills
The closure of Eraring power station and AGLs takeover bid are likely to reduce electricity prices for consumers as low-cost renewable energy and additional storage replace the retiring coal generators.
4 March 2022
Going to private school won't make a difference to your kid's academic scores
Research showsparents believeprivate schools will provide a better education for their children, and better set them up forsuccess in life. But the evidence on whether this perception is correct is not conclusive.
4 March 2022
US hypocrisy and the role of Victoria Newland in the Maidan Coup.
There is an abundance of outrage in the United States about Russias alleged meddlingin the 2016 presidential election.
3 March 2022
UKRAINE: Open Letter from Russian international relations staff and students
Belowis the text of an open letter to President Putin protesting the invasion of Ukraine from students, alumni and staff of Moscow State University of International Relations (MGIMO), Russias elite institution specialising in international relations.
2 March 2022
New IPCC report shows Australia is at real risk from climate change, with impacts worsening, future risks high, and wide-ranging adaptation needed
Climatic trends, extreme conditions and sea level rise are already hitting many of Australias ecosystems, industries and cities hard.
2 March 2022
Ivan Katchanovski.The hidden origin of the escalating Ukraine-Russian conflict-The Maidan massacre
The Ukraine-Russia conflict is now in its most dangerous phase since it began in 2014 after the Western-backed overthrow of the Ukrainian government.
2 March 2022
Jeff Cohen So this is what it looks like when the Corporate Media opposes a war
Major American media outlets oppose military aggression... unless the United States is doing it.
25 February 2022
Robert Reich: Only the right has become more extreme over the last 50 years.
Like in the early 1970s, the left is still against the war machine, still pushing for civil and voting rights, and still fighting the power of big corporations. But the right has moved far, far rightward.