Joseph Camilleri
Joseph Camilleri is Emeritus Professor at La Trobe University in Melbourne, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences, Convener of Conversation at the Crossroads, and Co-Convener of SHAPE (Saving Humanity and Planet Earth)
Joseph's recent articles
25 September 2025
UN at 80: Gaza – the deep stain on the UN’s collective conscience - Part 3
The deadly Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 provided the Netanyahu government with the pretext it needed to unleash a vicious war on the land and people of Gaza.
22 September 2025
UN at 80: Transformation holds the key to its future - Part 2
To say the UN is at breaking point may be an overstatement, but there is no denying that only sustained and transformative reform can secure its future. Without such reform, its strengths will dissipate, and its weaknesses will reach new depths.
19 September 2025
UN at 80 – Rome is burning, governments are fiddling and the UN is ailing - Part 1
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the signing of the UN Charter. During these eight decades, much has been accomplished that calls for celebration. Yet, there is no denying that the United Nations is facing perhaps the greatest crisis of its 80-year history.
18 August 2025
The Ukraine war after the Alaska summit
The Trump-Putin encounter in Anchorage has angered some, disappointed others and baffled many more. Yet it has told us much about the state of the war in Ukraine, and the obstacles to the ending of hostilities.
30 July 2025
Silencing the mandate: US sanctions on Francesca Albanese a symbol of international law’s twilight
Imagine a scene worthy of Orwell’s worst nightmare: a United Nations envoy, appointed to report on human rights violations, excellently performing in her job despite formidable difficulties, and met with sanctions by one of the world’s most powerful nations. But this isn’t satire; it’s July 2025.
21 June 2025
A new cold war is sweeping across Europe – with global repercussions
The last three and more years have seen the bloodiest war on European soil for the better part of 80 years.
30 May 2025
In the name of humanity, the barbarism in Gaza must stop
Over the last 18 months, the world has witnessed undiluted militarised cruelty targeting the entire population and the supportive natural habitat of Gaza – with not so much as an ounce of mercy or compassion, let alone justice, or sensitivity to issues of ecological viability.
5 May 2025
Election 2025: the Labor-Liberal waltz of irrelevance
Another federal election. Another Labor Government with a much enhanced majority. A campaign with no great convulsions, except for the Liberal debacle. An Opposition Leader conceding defeat with proper decorum. All must be well in the land of Oz. But all is not quite as it seems.
12 April 2025
Australia’s fading democracy calls for radical rethinking
Donald Trump has declared a global trade war and unsurprisingly America’s most faithful ally has not been spared.
9 March 2025
Joseph Camilleri and Allan Patience: Beyond the crises – How can we inspire people and institutions to take action?
Allan Patience and Joseph Camilleri discuss global crises — climate change, war, the mental health epidemic, and human rights violations — highlighting the lack of leadership across politics, business, media, education, and religion. The discussion encourages us to ask not only why we’re in this state, but how we can create a better future and overcome the obstacles in our path.
22 December 2024
Unholiness reigns in the Holy Land, but its reign is faltering
Over the last fifteen months the world has watched in disbelief Israel’s horrifying military assault on the people of Gaza and its escalating use of force in the West Bank, Lebanon, and now Syria.
13 November 2024
Trump’s America: ecstasy or agony?
Trump’s election victory is not the momentous or unexpected event many have made it out to be. It is, however, a sure sign of a slowly decaying society where frustration, anger and bewilderment are at epidemic proportions.
27 June 2024
The sun sets on the American empire: the perils of containment
Much water has flown under the bridge since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the breakup of the Soviet Union, the collapse of communism, and America’s triumphalist proclamation of a new world order. Three decades later America’s global dominance is under challenge as never before.
26 June 2024
The Sun sets on the American empire: Dead-end in Ukraine
Like Gaza, Ukraine is one of the great tragedies of the post-Cold War period. Like Gaza, it is the result of a deadly game pursued by great powers intent on inflicting maximum damage on each other, seemingly oblivious of the costs.
25 June 2024
The sun sets on the American empire: the Gaza debacle
The mayhem of the last eight months suggests that the United States remains ascendant in the Middle East, and its global hegemonic presence undiminished. Reality points in a different direction. In this series, Joseph Camilleri explains how, despite its global military reach and expanding alliances in Europe and Asia, America today stands adrift and diminished. Gaza, Ukraine and the China obsession tell the story.
9 June 2024
Australia's handling of the war in Gaza
A catastrophe is unfolding in Gaza right now – with terrible ramifications for Australia. It’s an issue no citizen of this country can ignore.
23 May 2024
The bleak picture of Australian politics: this is how we change
We are confronting a deep structural crisis in our society. We have confused the idea of democracy with the institutions of political parties and representative democracies. The major parties have become structures representing economic and security elites to which only second rate personalities flock, incapable of navigating the huge challenges we face globally. Meanwhile, the under resourced education system has become an iron cage, captured by industry, that we have been imprisoning young minds into, and from which they are now breaking free.
5 March 2024
Night Falls in the Evening Lands: The extradition of Julian Assange
As we await the UK High Court decision on Julian Assange’s extradition to the US, the implications of Assange’s persecution and the repercussions for human rights, journalism, peace and justice will be explored at the conference Night Falls in the Evening Lands: the Assange epic, which will be held in Melbourne on March 9.
20 February 2024
Arab governments fiddle while Palestine burns
The Arab response to the unfolding Palestinian catastrophe has been underwhelming. Palestinian intellectuals, journalists, activists, and the wider Palestinian public have had no illusions as to what to expect of the US political and military elites. They did, however, expect more of Arab governments.
6 February 2024
A looming China-US collision – can détente come to the rescue?
The call issued by Bob Carr and Gareth Evans for a ‘comprehensive détente between the US and China is timely and constructive. But as with all things to do with peace and war, the issues are complex and the way forward strewn with difficulties.
16 January 2024
The barbaric conduct of the Israeli state must be stopped. The dignity and freedom of the Palestinian people must be upheld
The genocidal violence unleashed by Israel in Occupied Palestine since October 7 has produced unspeakable tragedy and suffering for the Palestinian people. Such barbaric behaviour places the State of Israel outside the bounds of a civilized world. Israel has become a pariah state, and must be treated as such by the international community.
18 December 2023
An annus horribilis and Australia’s conduct less than distinguished
For those who had hoped Australia might bring a more constructive approach to issues of peace and security, year’s end cannot come soon enough.
17 October 2023
Palestine’s unending torment: A stain on the world’s conscience
Mainstream Western coverage of the recent Hamas foray into Israel and its aftermath has been marked by sensationalism, lack of historical context, and superficial moralising.
4 July 2023
Globalising NATO to preserve US dominance
The containment policy pursued by the United States during the Cold War years is back with a vengeance.
20 April 2023
Australia adrift and a foreign minister all at sea
On Monday, Penny Wong delivered her much awaited address to the National Press Club. What a disappointment! So many words, and so little substance. One could dismiss the episode as just another case of a minister who’s not up to the task. Unfortunately, the speech points to a deeper ailment – a government oblivious to the dangers ahead, and incapable of steering the ship to safer waters.
25 March 2023
Xi Jinping in Moscow: A historic partnership in the making
Since 2010, Xi Jinping has met Vladimir Putin on 40 separate occasions, but this last visit may prove to be their most significant meeting yet. The stakes for both have never been higher.
20 March 2023
To all who care about humanity’s and the planet’s future
Humanity has reached a tipping point. It is time for governments, international institutions and people everywhere to take stock and act with renewed urgency.
14 February 2023
Foreign policy under Labor: beholden, bereft and befuddled
Labor came to office last May, replacing a government that had steered Australia’s relationship with the United States to new heights of servility. Our ties with China were in tatters. Many had hoped that the change of government would usher in a shift to a more imaginative and less subservient foreign policy. Nine months later such hopes are little more than idle fantasy.
2 February 2023
2023: a make-or-break year for the global order
Many of the accounts we hear of the current Russia-NATO conflict are deeply flawed. and risk degenerating into pure farce – a crude melodrama, in which an upright, democratic Ukrainian government headed by hero Zelensky is pitted against a corrupt and brutal autocracy led by the deluded ogre, Putin. What is really in question, is the unsustainable global security framework.
8 November 2022
War with China looms: Questions that need answers
We now have a clearer picture of how deeply entangled with US strategic priorities and war preparations Australia has become. We also know that China is viewed as the principal adversary, and that US military planners and their Australian counterparts are busily planning for a major military confrontation with China, most likely over Taiwan.
21 October 2022
China policy: A casualty of Australia’s addiction to imperial power
It’s now close to five months since Labor came to office, but little has changed in the government’s position on China or the dangerous escalation in great power tensions.
29 September 2022
To all who care about humanity’s and the planet’s future
Humanity has reached a tipping point. It is time for governments, international institutions and people everywhere to take stock and act with renewed urgency.
10 September 2022
The Defence Strategic Review: Will it question the China phobia that currently holds sway?
Hardly a day goes by without an Australian politician, commentator, or member of the security establishment reminding us that China poses ‘a clear and present danger’. The messaging, consistent and unrelenting, provides the backdrop to the Defence Strategic Review recently announced by the Albanese Government.
28 July 2022
The Ukraine conflict calls for sharper vision and bolder action
The Ukraine conflict is a sign of our dire predicament, potentially a taste of worse to come.
20 July 2022
The tragic obsession with the Chinese threat
Seven weeks in government, and still no sign that Labor in office is prepared to rethink the relationship with either China or the United States. The two are not unconnected. The link is their common addiction to the China threat thesis.
25 February 2022
The best of times, the worst of times
The best of times, the worst of times. Few words better describe the contradictions of our world precariously poised between noble aspirations and sordid politics. Three questions immediately arise: Are the contradictions deepening? If so, why? Can anything be done about it?
4 November 2021
In Glasgow, a historic tragedy may reach its climax. Where to from here?
The Glasgow climate summit may end long on rhetoric and short on substance. Among the sobering questions: are our institutions fit for purpose?
6 October 2021
Australia adrift: how to be a good society Part 2
There is no denying it. Australia is at the crossroads. If a reminder were needed, the pandemic has obliged. COVID-19 has exposed the fragility of life, the uncertainties of the future, and the shortcomings of our institutions.
5 October 2021
Australia adrift and uneasy; time to set a new course. Part 1
A pall of unease hangs over Australia, yet it's hardly acknowledged. The government's failings and the implications of ill-judged policies preoccupy more insightful commentators. But it may be time to consider the ills of society as a whole.
20 September 2021
AUKUS security pact: a story of recklessness and delusion
The AUKUS security pact is another provocative alliance that can only end in blood and tears. And for no good reason other than a nostalgic addiction to imperial power.
18 August 2021
Afghanistan debacle exposes the limits to Empire
The chaotic scenes at Kabul airport are symbolic of a military intervention that has brought the people of Afghanistan nothing but loss and destruction. The United States and its allies, not least Australia, have a great deal to answer for. This twenty-year war has been an unmitigated disaster from beginning to end. And what an ignominious end it is, especially for the United States.
21 June 2021
Biden's strategy exposed - tempestuous times ahead
It is safe to conclude that neither China nor Russia will be intimidated by shows of US strength or alliance solidarity. They will keep on strengthening their military capabilities and continue to use every bit of soft and hard power to advance their vision of a multi-centric world.
5 May 2021
Time to silence the drums of war
For many familiar with the excesses of Cold War rhetoric and the hyped-up fears used to justify our ill-fated interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan, the current China bashing is a case of déjà-vu. But the latest bout of politically contrived anti-China hysteria is especially troubling.
20 April 2021
America's place in the world under Biden: the omens betide no good
The only way to manage the emerging pluralist world order at all safely is to cultivate international institutions and mindsets that are genuinely inclusive and conducive to a respectful and sustained dialogue. Are the United States and its allies, Australia included, open to this sobering thought?
28 December 2020
A post pandemic world: glimmers of hope amid the bleak reality
With much of the world engulfed by the first, second or third waves of Covid-19 transmission, predicting when or how the post-pandemic future will emerge remains a hazardous occupation. One assumption, though, seems safe enough. When the spread of the virus eventually subsides, we will face a grim social, economic, environmental, and political landscape.
30 November 2020
Why the Biden victory is not the answer to our prayers
Much of America is breathing a sigh of relief that, gracefully or otherwise, Trump will soon vacate the White House. Allies of the United States – not just governments but much of the commentariat – are expecting a less turbulent and more predictable international environment. That may be wishful thinking.
2 November 2020
Australia and the World <i>after Trump</i>? The moment of decision is fast approaching
Much of the commentary on the US election has focused on the personalities, the contest, the likely result. Will it be Biden or Trump again? But is this the nub of the question?
24 August 2020
The parlous state of our security policies – thinking through the hard questions
In Australia security policy is made largely behind closed doors, and subject to remarkably little scrutiny by parliament or our mainstream media. It has at best a fleeting presence in our political and public discourse.
7 July 2020
It’s time to strip ‘national security’ of its sacred cow status. Part 2
On closer inspection, the immense financial, institutional, and rhetorical investment in this elaborate security edifice rests on questionable assumptions. The costs may far outweigh any likely benefits.
6 July 2020
It’s time to strip ‘national security’ of its sacred cow status. Part 1
The Prime Minister has just announced the most hawkish turn in Australia’s defence policy since the end of the Cold War. All in the name of national security, the mantra of governments intent on justifying sprawling, costly and often unaccountable security establishments.
Showing 50 of 67 articles