Richard Broinowski
Richard Broinowski AO is a former Australian diplomat, general manager of Radio Australia and adjunct professor at the Universities of Canberra and Sydney. He has published eight books, the latest being an expansion of his 2003 book Fact or Fission – the truth about Australia’ nuclear ambitions. The later edition includes extra chapters on Australia’s intention to acquire nuclear-powered submarines. (Scribe 2022).
Richard's recent articles
7 February 2025
North-South Korea relations – missed opportunities
While confrontations continue in Seoul between right and left-wing factions over the fate of Yoon Suk Yeol following his ill-conceived declaration of Martial law on 3 December 2024, it is instructive to look back at the many attempts to improve North-South relations when things seemed not quite so hopeless. Can they be revived?
23 January 2025
Whitewashing a dictator
Informed observers are amazed that the blackened legacy of Ferdinand E. Marcos has been sanitised to such an extent that his only son Bong Bong Marcos could become the 17th elected president of the Philippines in June 2022. Who on earth can take the Philippines seriously ever again?
18 January 2025
The fragility of South Korean democracy
South Korea is in a dangerous political mess. President Yoon Suk-yeol has been arrested, but his dismissal and imprisonment are far from certain. His toxic ambition to eliminate ‘despicable pro-North Korean and anti-state forces’ has numerous supporters. As have his hostility towards China and his plans to develop nuclear weapons.
28 December 2024
Bill Sullivan and Iran - missed opportunities then and now
The last American Ambassador to Iran was William Sullivan, a debonair silver-haired Irish-American with much wisdom and diplomatic experience. If President Jimmy Carter and Secretary of State Cyrus Vance had followed his advice, Iran would probably not be US enemy number one as it is today. Maybe even an ally.
23 November 2024
Australia’s Israel Policy at the Crossroads: How much worse can it get before Australia takes a principled stand?
The horrific situation in the Middle East has landed Foreign Minister Penny Wong with a difficult and frustrating job. She is wedged between a so-far unacknowledged obligation to honour Australia’s legal commitments to condemn Israeli genocide and apartheid on the one hand, and on the other, a vociferous campaign by local Zionists and their supporters to back Israel’s military actions in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon.
30 September 2024
How civilisation could end – an all-too-possible nuclear scenario
On 12 September, Vladimir Putin threatened retaliation, not excluding nuclear, against NATO countries if Washington allows Ukraine to attack targets inside Russia with US missiles. President Joe Biden backed off – for the moment. But the doomsday clock of the Atomic Scientists now stands at 90 seconds to midnight, the closest it has ever been to signalling Armageddon.
29 August 2024
Advocates for nuclear power should heed the lessons from Kursk
On 22 August, Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, warned of the deadly effect a military attack on Russia’s nuclear power complex at Kursk would have on civilian communities in Russia, Ukraine and potentially across Europe. He had previously warned of the consequences of such attacks on Ukraine’s nuclear reactors at Zaporizhzhia.
4 August 2024
The Astana Declaration - a challenge to US world power
The 24th summit of heads of state of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) concluded on 4 July 2024 in Astana, Kazakhstan. Its communique emphasised the group's determination to enhance its role in influencing world events, an unmistakable challenge to US world leadership.
6 July 2024
Australia supplies Israel with weapons of genocide, breaches law
The Australian Government has at last grudgingly admitted that Australian-based companies are supplying parts and components to Israel for its F-35 Lightning jets which are systematically destroying human life and buildings in Gaza. But it has not yet admitted that the supply of such components contravenes the Arms Trade Treaty of 2014, which Australia has ratified.
10 March 2024
Peter Dutton sprinkles nuclear stardust into the climate policy vacuum
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is nailing nuclear energy for Australia to his economic renaissance mast. His earlier thought was that the electricity generating transition should be confined to SMRs (small modular reactors) conveniently placed in the basements of factories around Australia. He then expanded his concept to include the construction of large industrial reactors of 600 MW capacity and more built on sites occupied by former coal-fired generators.
15 January 2024
Secretive ADF Middle East deployments are putting Australia at risk
On Friday, 5 January 2024, Iraqs Prime Minister Shia al-Sudani said he wanted all remaining US Coalition troops out of Iraq. He was speaking on the fourth anniversary of the US drone assassination of Iraqi and Iranian generals Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Qassem Soleimani at Baghdad Airport in January 2020.
6 December 2023
Henry Kissinger the Caligari of the American Empire?
Bloody subverter of world peace, or its champion? Since his death on 29 November 2023, Henry Kissinger has been excoriated and praised in almost equal measure. His critics are more focused and vehement.
25 November 2023
Who are the Five Eyes loyal to?
American intelligence personnel are predominant at Pine Gap and throughout the Five Eyes network. This ensures that American views prevail about threats to world security, which become threats to Australias security. The mind-set of our intelligence community is constantly reinforced by independent second-tier policy assessment outfits such as ASPI in Australia, CSIS (Centre for Strategic and International studies) and CNAS (the Centre for a New American Security) in the United States. All have solid military-industrial backing.
5 September 2023
Ukraine: Who is winning?
How is the war going? Two expert observers add to the confusion. Former British soldier Richard Iron, reflects on what he sees as the brittleness of Putins situation, thinks Putin could fall in a coup and predicts that Ukraine has a good chance of turfing Russians out of Ukraine altogether. American Professor John Mearsheimer, a professor at Chicago University and adherent of the so-called School of Realism thinks Ukraine has already lost the war.
15 August 2023
US concern over Chinese navy an exercise in double speak
The double standard continues. Russian collaboration with China in naval exercises in the north Pacific are presented in United States media as creating a dangerous world. But far larger military exercises in the south Pacific by free countries are presented as promoting peace, security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
28 July 2023
Australia an international nuclear wasteland?
The spectre of an international nuclear waste dump in Australia hangs over AUKUS and what this secretive agreement commits Australia to. Does it oblige us simply to dispose of spent nuclear reactors from our submarines if and when we get them? Or is there a hidden agenda whereby we also take the expired nuclear reactors from US and British submarines? If so, could it lead to Australia becoming a dump for high-level waste from civil nuclear reactors around the world?
26 July 2023
Seven deadly sins in the Defence industry
If previous defence acquisitions are any guide, the enormous cost of nuclear-powered submarines for the Royal Australian Navy will almost certainly escalate well beyond the estimated but un-itemised initial price of $A368 billion. The record of corruption of the two US submarine builders suggests that the project will also probably suffer from mismanagement. The final bill is likely to be astronomical.
11 July 2023
American cluster bombs in Ukraine
According to the UN Human Rights Office, 9,083 civilians have been killed in 500 days of fighting in Ukraine, and 15,779 wounded. These figures are likely to increase dramatically once American cluster munitions are deployed.
7 July 2023
More fallout from Fukushima
The International Atomic Energy Agency has just concluded that the proposed release over the next 30 years of over 1.3 million metric tonnes of cooling water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear reactors into the Pacific is safe. Many international experts and officials, and the fishing communities from surrounding countries disagree.
22 June 2023
Chasing shadows in Cuba
Why does Washington believe they have the right to conduct joint military exercises off the Chinese Pacific coast, but will not tolerate even the barest hint of those activities by China and Cuba in 'their' maritime neighbourhood?
13 April 2023
Depleted Ukrainians
Fighting in Ukraine continues, sometimes fiercely, sometimes spasmodically. So do the unending appeals from Vladimir Zelensky for more and better weapons from the West. He is now to get from Britain anti-tank shells made from depleted uranium, which will increase radiation and chemical pollution where they are used.
25 March 2023
How safe are nuclear powered submarines?
The acquisition of nuclear-propelled submarines has been enthusiastically embraced by Albanese, Dutton, most of their benches, and their collective military-industrial backing chorus. In considering where the submarines will be based, questions about radiation leaks and accidents have been shunted to a back burner.
15 March 2023
What happens when our nuclear subs retire?
Among the breathless press announcements coming out of San Diego on 14 March was that the spent nuclear fuel reactor cells for our submarines would have to be stored in Australia. This on top of the unexplained escalating costs of the subs, estimated delivery not until 2042, and three hand-me-down stop-gap Virginias possibly available around 2033. A dare to embrace greatness, trumpeted Greg Sheridan. A dare to embrace poverty and long-term environmental pollution more likely.
3 December 2022
Modular nuclear reactors: snake oil from the nuclear lobby propagandists
Nuclear lobby propaganda in favour of small modular reactors ignores Australias terrible nuclear history and plays fast and loose with the facts. Many forensic enquiries have already recommended against the introduction of nuclear power into Australia on the grounds of proliferation risk, cost, safety, and the environment.
17 August 2022
Anti-Chinese press vitriol in press gallery
From 2004 to 2014, I ran a program on behalf of Sydney University to send highly-motivated Australian media students to English-language newspapers around Asia. They were to work as professional journalists, researching and publishing their own stories about local events. On return to Australia, their experience was designed to equip those who joined Australian media outfits with a sophisticated insight of their host countries. Funding came from the Myer Foundation, then DFAT.
1 August 2022
Nuclear submarines - disaster impending
Australias decision to acquire nuclear-propelled submarines will be staggeringly expensive and is unfit for the purpose of defending the country. It is prone to reinforce Chinese suspicions that we are determined on joining the United States in containing it.
13 February 2022
AUKUS exposes Australia's incoherent defence policy
Environmentally, the submarine acquisition could be a disaster. Where in Australia are the submarines to be based? Could their home ports become contaminated? Where do we dispose of their reactors at the end-of-service life?
7 August 2021
Ships in the Night: A Vietnam war story, by Greg Dodds
Greg Dodds career began as a professional Australian soldier who served as an intelligence officer with the Australian Task Force in Vietnam in the late 1960s. In this racy 200-page monograph, Dodds disposes with scholarly requirements no footnotes, no glossary, no reading list or sources. To appreciate its full context, the reader should have some knowledge of the war, its causes, its leading characters and its aftermath. Even without such background, however, this is a captivating memoir.
6 December 2020
Iran's Nuclear Ambitions
The assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh is immensely provocative to all Iranians, and may be the tipping point towards a full Iranian nuclear weapons program.
29 June 2020
Australian Soaps to the Pacific - Good Diplomacy?
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade launched an initiative to send commercial (soaps) Australian television programs to stations in the South Pacific. This will do little to enhance vigorous and discerning projection of Australian news and values in the region.
17 February 2020
RICHARD BROINOWSKI. American delusions about the Philippines
When someone pointed out that President Duterte had just abrogated the bilateral Visiting Forces Agreement, Admiral Davidson conceded the point, but said it was up to 'agile Australian diplomats' among others to get it re-instated.
3 September 2019
MARK DIESENDORF and RICHARD BROINOWSKI - A Push for Nuclear Weapons?
A recent push for nuclear power in Australia has been promoted by the usual public advocates and amplified by the Murdoch press.
2 September 2019
RICHARD BROINOWSKI. Pernicious Secrets
Brian Toohey begins his new book Secret with a deliciously revealing quote from Harold Thorby, Australian Minister for Defence in 1938: 'We the Government have vital information which we cannot disclose. It is upon this knowledge that we make decisions. You, who are merely private citizens, have no access to this information. Any criticism you make of our policy, any controversy about it which you may indulge, will therefore be uninformed and valueless. If, in spite of your ignorance, you persist in questioning our policy, we can only conclude that you are disloyal.'
18 July 2019
RICHARD BROINOWSKI. Can Australia Defend Itself?
Since the advent of Donald Trump as United States president, the certainties that are said to underpin Australia's defence doctrine are less than ever convincing. Trump's cynicism about alliances underlines the fact that ANZUS is no longer (if it ever was) a guarantee of American military assistance. Neither Prime Minister Morrison posing on the deck of the USS Ronald Reagan during the latest Exercise Talisman Sabre in July 2019, nor the promise of a state dinner in Washington dispel the uncertainty, although they do increase pressure on Morrison to commit the ADF to join the US in a war against...
17 June 2019
RICHARD BROINOWSKI. Inverting Reality in Persian Gulf
US assertions that Iran mined two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman on 13 June is as unconvincing as blaming Iran for attacks on three tankers in the same area on 12 May. Iran has no apparent motive, but the United States and its regional allies, Israel and Saudi Arabia, clearly seek to portray it as an aggressive nation and the world's greatest terrorist threat.
15 May 2019
RICHARD BROINOWSKI. War Drums Over Iran
In a tweet to President Rouhani in July 2018, President Trump warned: Never, ever threaten the United States again or you will suffer consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before. Similar threats to Kim Jong-un in 2018 did not result in war with North Korea. Could they now, in Iran?
8 April 2019
RICHARD BROINOWSKI. The Competence of our Intelligence Agencies
On 6 April, the ABC's Geraldine Doogue interviewed Nick Warner, head of the Office of National Intelligence (ONI), which coordinates the activities of Australia's intelligence agencies. During the interview, Warner ventured the opinion that President Trump did the 'right thing' in walking away from Kim Jong-un at the US-North Korean Summit in Hanoi at the end of February 2019. Coming from someone whose job is to tell the government 'how we see the world', this value-judgement observation casts doubt on the objectivity of the information he gives ministers.
7 April 2019
RICHARD BROINOWSKI Trump's wall- bordering on chaos
Trump threat to cut off aid to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, will be counter-productive. The refugee 'caravans' will not stop, but increase. He will also further alienate the Mexicans, who refuse to pay for the wall along their border with the United States, but who also want to discourage Central American asylum seekers. Can Mexico's new left-wing president stand up to Trump?
20 March 2019
RICHARD BROINOWSKI The ADF in the Middle East
President Trump wants to get US troops out of Syria, and probably out of Iraq as well, and soon. The Pentagon however has said US forces will be out of Afghanistan in five years, a period estimated to allow successful negotiations with the Taliban, while reserving to themselves the right to initiate drone strikes. Five years will take the withdrawal into the next administration, which might decide against it.
17 March 2019
RICHARD BROINOWSKI. Growth of Tribal Hatred
Hotel Mumbai, currently screening in Australia, tells the harrowing story of attacks by the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba across the Indian city of Mumbai in November 2008. Indoctrinated to believe that non-Muslims are not human, 10 young men armed with grenades and AK-47s go on an orgy of destruction. Urged on through their earpieces by a faceless fanatic in Pakistan who promises riches for their families and paradise for them, they slaughter 160 defenceless Indians and foreigners in 24 hours, including many guests and staff at the luxurious Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, before all but one of them are killed...
3 March 2019
RICHARD BROINOWSKI. Ambiguity in Hanoi
The Trump-Kim summit began and ended in Hanoi on 28 February with Donald Trump peremptorily terminating his discussions with Kim Jong-un. According to media reports, Trump claims Kim demanded the lifting of all US-imposed sanctions in exchange for closing the nuclear complex at Yongpyon. Kim claims he only asked for a partial lifting of sanctions in exchange for closing Yongpyon. Speculation about all this is running hot among informed commentators.
7 February 2019
RICHARD BROINOWSKI. Cognitive Dissonance in Canberra
At the annual conferences of the Australian Institute of International Affairs in 2017 and 2018, at least two retired senior public servants strongly asserted their faith in the United States as guarantor of Australia's security. They did so with varying degrees of asperity in response to questions from the floor suggesting that American power was slipping, and with it Washington's inclination, even its ability, to defend Australia in the event of an attack.
10 January 2019
RICHARD BROINOWSKI. The US-Mexican Border Paradox
President Trump's characterisation of asylum seekers from Mexico as illegal criminals and rapists threatening American citizens is a cynical distortion of reality. Drug runners and criminals both from Mexico into the United States and vice versa represent a tiny fraction of the flow of one million people who legally cross between the two countries every day to work, shop or visit relatives. A much larger proportion of criminals, from many origins, enter the United States by air.
31 December 2018
RICHARD BROINOWSKI. Trump and Syria
While Prime Minister Morrison was visiting Australian troops in Iraq this month (but not Afghanistan -' too dangerous'), President Trump was preparing to pull US ground forces out of Syria. Nothing Morrison said indicated that he or Joe Hockey, our Ambassador to the United States , who is supposed to have special access inside the Washington beltway, appeared to know that this was going to happen. Once again, Australia was treated with the lack of respect that our subservience to American military policy deserves.
14 November 2018
RICHARD BROINOWSKI. Will Japan's Love Affair with Nuclear Power be Resurrected?
On Friday 11 March 2011, a tsunami knocked out emergency generators at Fukushima Dai-Ichi, resulting in melt-downs in three of six reactors, covering the countryside in eastern Honshu with radiation. Some isotopes were short-lived, others will be around much longer. Seven and a half years later, an endless torrent of sea water continues to be pumped into the damaged cores to try to keep them cool with no safe options for disposal or preventing leakage into the biosphere. Some of Japan's most productive pastoral land around the reactors has been permanently poisoned against future use.
24 July 2018
RICHARD BROINOWSKI. Defence Plan B.
Canberra's foreign and defence bureaucracy is appalled by Donald Trump's monstering of the Anglo allies and of NATO, his enthusiasm for Kim Jong-un and his appeasement of Vladimir Putin. Where to without the comfort of a great, powerful and reliable friend, it asks? To Plan B, say some analysts - a more capable and self-contained defence force that can protect Australia without recourse to an increasingly unreliable United States.
20 June 2018
RICHARD BROINOWSKI. North Korea and the Trump Bashers
President Trump declared at his post-Summit press conference in Singapore on 12 June that US-ROK war games were expensive and provocative and he would abolish them, starting with 'Ulchi Freedom Guardian' next August. His decision has drawn some surprising reactions.
27 May 2018
RICHARD BROINOWSKI. Demonising Iran.
It was the hope of all observers around the world wanting peace in the Middle East that President Donald Trump would revalidate the nuclear deal with Iran on 12 May. Not only did he not do so, but later that month his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo launched an inflammatory and inaccurate attack on Iran and its leaders, impugning them with the worst possible motives. Hopes for a nuclear-free Middle East have faded as a result. So has the United States' erratic record for honouring its international undertakings. This has, in turn, reduced hopes for a successful outcome to a...
1 May 2018
RICHARD BROINOWSKI. Iran on the ground
Iran continues to be stereotyped in western media as a rogue state full of corrupt mullahs ,an abuser of human rights, an exporter of Islamic terrorism to Syria, Iraq, the Gaza Strip and Yemen, and an extremist theocracy with territorial and nuclear ambitions on a collision course with Saudi Arabia, Israel and their backer, the United States . A three-week tour of the country in April 2018 by the Australian Institute of International Affairs provided a much needed reality check, and an update on a country first observed by this writer as a young Australian diplomat during the...