Richard Llewellyn

Richard Llewellyn was Registrar at the Australian War Memorial from 1986 to 1995.

Recent articles by Richard Llewellyn

Dutton unplugged? Bolt for the long grass... More Dutton stuff-ups!

Dutton unplugged? Bolt for the long grass... More Dutton stuff-ups!

The next federal election looms ahead menacingly. This is when the metal hits the meat and we have to make hard decisions or become just the burnt bits on the edge of the Democracy Sausage Sizzle.

Dutton’s perennial stupidity of undirected public service cuts

Dutton’s perennial stupidity of undirected public service cuts

One of the seminal characteristics of political populist idiocy is the trumpeting of an intention to carve up the population of public servants. The underlying assumption is that the majority of electors will be greatly in favour of this, as they surely believe that all their ills with interaction with the PS are the result of intransigent, malicious, lazy, overpaid, valueless members of the PS.

How can civilised people countenance genocide?

How can civilised people countenance genocide?

Relatively few people alive would have experienced the rise of fascism in the early C20 but most people understand the crucial role that manipulation of information played in the ascent to power in what were democratic’ countries. Mussolini evolved from a journalist/publishing background; Goebbels and ‘the big lie’ trope are a frequently quoted feature of the rise of the Nazis.

October 7: One year later, are we any closer to truth?

October 7: One year later, are we any closer to truth?

07/10/2023 has assumed much of the gravitas and the horror of 09/11/2001. In the aftermath of each, the world has/had viewed the potential for international warfare with extreme trepidation and with good reason.

Australian targets from AUKUS participation

In Gareth Evans' article, he posits: The conversion of Stirling into a major base for a US Indian Ocean fleet will mean Perth now joining Pine Gap and the North West Cape, and probably the B-52 base at Tindal, as a potential nuclear target. In the early-mid 1970s, I studied the strategic situation of potential nuclear conflict, with occasional guest tutorials given by Des Ball, an acknowledged world expert on the subject – his analysis is credited with the (nearly!) deceased POTUS Jimmy Carter as having prevented WWIII. At one stage, he asked the tutorial class: What is the...

A foul formula: Zionism x Appeasement = Genocide

A foul formula: Zionism x Appeasement = Genocide

The capitulation by seemingly intelligent and decent-minded national leaders to the Holocaust Industry’s relentless campaign to validate any action by Israel in the current conflict in Palestine is seriously affecting the political landscape. It seems that the leaders of the Western World have learned nothing from nearly a century of calamitous events.

Lucky you didn't bet the farm on it, Malcolm

Malcolm Fraser stepped on a rainbow a while ago, but this reminder of his faith in the US' honesty with its allies is both quaint and germane to the whole AUKUS idiocy. At the AWM, I occasionally chatted with some of the chiefs of each branch of the ADF. During one such chat, a chief (who shall remain nameless) confided in me that shortly after being promoted to that position, he randomly, and without prior warning, would visit the various establishments under his command. On one visit to a base situated in the numerically lower latitudes of Australia,...

Grate unexpectations

Given this morning's (27 August) release of polling figures showing Albanese at -10% approval and extremely likely to plunge headlong far further, Jack Waterford's article is totally apposite. I will be concise. When we elected the Albanese Government, we did not expect Albanese to be another Gough Whitlam (for whom I voted). Gough had a statesman's vision. But we did not expect Albanese to have no breadth nor depth of vision beyond getting elected again. We did not expect Albanese, and much less Richard Marles, Pat Conroy and Matt Keogh to be defence strategy policy nerds, but...

Declaiming antisemitism: tribal solipsism or linguistic imperialism?

Declaiming antisemitism: tribal solipsism or linguistic imperialism?

Claims of antisemitism are currently the pejorative de jour, an all-purpose prosecution intended to condemn any who engage in criticism of rampaging genocidal Zionist activity to instant and unchallengeable perdition.

USA materiel supply to Israel’s genocide paused

USA materiel supply to Israel’s genocide paused

President Biden has, at long last, halted the immediate supply of large bombs and other heavy munitions to Israel and acknowledged that these same munitions have been used in the Israeli attack on Palestine previously. At least one shipment of these munitions was paused last week: 1,800 2,000lb bombs and 1,700 500lb bombs ‘that might be used in Rafah’.

"Malicious government": One Israeli citizen’s journey after 7 October

"Malicious government": One Israeli citizen’s journey after 7 October

What follows is the end of a journey by one citizen of Israel - a retired high-ranking IDF officer - who has had his view of the world vastly altered by events since October 7.

ANZAC Day 2024: Better balanced assimilation or war reports fatigue?

ANZAC Day 2024: Better balanced assimilation or war reports fatigue?

Perhaps it is my imagination, but in the days immediately preceding Anzac Day 2024, there seems to be less media exhortation to observance than has been usual in recent years.

The Holocaust Cloak

The Holocaust Cloak

In Australia, the Anzac Cloak is appropriated, proselytised, prostituted and promoted far too often for perfidious reasons: to lend some dubious activity gravitas and shield it from criticism.

Bidens plan for sea-borne aid to Gaza is incredibly stupid

Bidens plan for sea-borne aid to Gaza is incredibly stupid

March 7, Evening, Washington D.C. : Joe Biden announces an incredible plan to provide a route for aid into Gaza, with no American boots on the ground.

Penny in Thunderland: Through the lurking glass

Penny in Thunderland: Through the lurking glass

Like many APS officers I had dealings with ASIO on occasion. Following Mike Burgess's playbook I cannot name specifics in the interest of National Security, but almost without exception I found ASIO activities to be conducted by a mob of arse-clowns; the old TV cartoon comedy of Spy-vs-Spy rang terrifyingly true.

Decoding bloviation: Pat Conroy and the rule of war

Decoding bloviation: Pat Conroy and the rule of war

Stuart Rees has provided us with a penetrating look at the hyper-masculinity of recent utterances by the government Minister Pat Conroy. As is now de rigueur for most of the MSM (including, sadly, the ABC) these utterances are focussed on justification for AUKUS and naturally, implicit demonisation of China.

Australian War Memorial Leave those kids alone

Australian War Memorial Leave those kids alone

Any activity trying to create an inherent goodness about engaging in warfare is in no way an admirable activity. Creating game-play interactives of real-life devastation of civilians that invite children to compete is reprehensible. Doing so with no realistic acknowledgement of the human cost is utterly, deeply contemptible.

AUKUS and the Titanic mistake

AUKUS and the Titanic mistake

AUKUS submarines will be highly detectable and therefore strategically useless.

Shattered Idol, synchronised drowning

Shattered Idol, synchronised drowning

The judgement on Ben Roberts-Smiths defamation case delivered a heavily damning summary of conduct. That would have come as little surprise to many; rumour abounded for a decade or more.

The dangerous idiocy of current Red Menace Journalism

The dangerous idiocy of current Red Menace Journalism

Many contributors have exposed the blatant ethical corruption of recent journalism that presages combat with a rampaging China. Just as before, now again, there are interested parties more than happy to be the beneficiaries of the click-bait journalism on display. Eisenhower cautioned against complacency towards the military-industrial complex. To this we can nowadays add too much of the mainstream media (MSM) and the advertising industry.

Time to accept the truth about the legend of Anzac

Time to accept the truth about the legend of Anzac

The Anzac Cloak smothering any matter of opinion that does not adorn the Anzac Spirit has become pervasive. Too often, this appropriation of one facet of development of a uniquely Australian character - rooted by the establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia - has at least one of two perverted purposes: political or commercial.

Pernicious paradox: outsourcing our national security to the United States

Pernicious paradox: outsourcing our national security to the United States

In a recent article, the Hon. P.J. Keating berated the wretched Greg Sheridan for manifold errors in a typical The Australian Newsrag opinion piece. Only a fool provokes PJK on spurious grounds.

For richer, not better: the prostitution of the Australian War Memorial

For richer, not better: the prostitution of the Australian War Memorial

There has been a flurry of mention of the Australian War Memorial (AWM) concerning the removal of Chinese-made security cameras from Government buildings . The new Chair of the AWM, Kim Beazley AO, announced that it would so do, out of an abundance of caution (codespeak for this is complete BS but we will do it to shut you up).

Depicting the Frontier Wars at the Australian War Memorial: perception is the critical factor

Depicting the Frontier Wars at the Australian War Memorial: perception is the critical factor

While history per se is (or should be) a statement of facts, the impact of history on its audience is the creation or modification of perception. That the ANZAC Cloak has come to be as pervasive as it has and equally the fact that it is only in very recent times that the Frontier Wars have come to be appreciated in any depth, are both expressions of perception.

Depicting the Frontier Wars at the Australian War Memorial: why it is a bad idea

Depicting the Frontier Wars at the Australian War Memorial: why it is a bad idea

The issue of recognition, exhibition, explanation and duly respectful commemoration of the conflict between invading colonial forces and this country's First Nations peoples at the Australian War Memorial has had growing exposure of late.

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