William Briggs
Dr William Briggs is a political economist. His special areas of interest lie in political theory and international political economy. He has been, variously, a teacher, journalist and political activist.
William's recent articles
17 September 2023
Growing the anti-war movement
Is war inevitable? The short answer, for any peace activist or anyone wanting to inhabit a world that can sustain life must be no! Is war an imminent possibility, then the short answer is, regardless of the hopes, wishes and desires of the people, an unfortunate yes.
24 August 2023
US economic policy and a great march backwards
There is a spectre haunting the world. It is the spectre of economic crisis. How the world responds will shape all of our futures. To borrow from Carl Clausewitz; war is the continuation of politics by other means. The famous military theorist might have added that economics is politics which is war by other means.
13 August 2023
ASPIs call for a militia a step to military madness
The Australian economy is increasingly becoming a war economy. The PM talks of the economic benefits of weapons manufacture, and of how the military and a growing military-industrial-complex is almost a job creation scheme. The media works diligently to build and sustain a sense of fear. But even so, the warmongers of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) and their stablemate, Strategic Analysis Australia (SAA) are not satisfied.
24 July 2023
Hiroshima, Nagasaki and the Korean War lest we forget
The atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The end of the Korean War. Two anniversaries that almost intersect. At the end of WWII, a new order was imposed on the world. Today, as those anniversaries are marked, there is little to celebrate.
13 June 2023
Propaganda, the drive to war, and the battle for the mind
A battle of ideas is being fought in Australia. And the front line is the drive to war and the demonisation of China. There is a battle but it is a one-sided affair.
4 June 2023
The US drive to war with China and the battle of ideas
Somewhere, somehow, China became the number one enemy of the world, or at least to the world that is run by the USA. For many the reason has been the challenge that China poses to US economic hegemony, but might not Americas fear of China be based on ideological causes; a battle of ideas?
22 May 2023
G7 resorts to China bashing to distract from economic woes
Just months before the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997, an old Hongkonger was interviewed. He was squatting next to a bundle of goods that he was hawking in the street. When asked about how he felt about the Chinese taking control again, he paused, drew on his cigarette and said, maybe they will give me a pension. A picture, they say, is worth a thousand words.
10 May 2023
How Biden is weaponising the media
In December, The New York Times ran a headline reminding the world that publishing is not a crime. The paper urged President Biden to move to have the charges against Julian Assange dropped. The response was silence.
19 March 2023
The threat of war and the role of the propaganda machine
The relentless drive to war against China goes on. There is no longer any pretence that China is in the US sights and so Australia is prepared to spend whatever it takes to prove its fealty to Washington. No military outlay is too much, no threat to our economic future too risky for the Australian government. Warmongers, experts such as the infamous Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a few too many academics, and a pompous and self-righteous media all work to ensure that the imagined threat becomes reality.
18 March 2023
When a war economy became an industry policy
Anthony Albaneses photo opportunity with president Biden and prime minister Sunak in San Diego must rank as one of the more grotesque and expensive the world has seen. The submarine deal, glowingly described as his moon shot with its $368 billion price-tag is an act of pillage of public money. It might allow him to bask in the warm embrace of the American and British leaders but threatens the sovereignty of Australia, the peace and stability of the region, and the economic well-being of this and future generations.
6 March 2023
Ukraine and Western media: The death of free thought
Wars are started by political forces. They are promoted by propagandists, fought by soldiers and it is always the ordinary people that suffer. Wars are almost never about principle and almost always about profit in one form or another. The war in Ukraine, like all other wars has been sold to us as a struggle between the forces of good and evil. A simple message is repeated and in Goebels world, a lie, if big enough and if repeated loudly enough will be believed.
23 February 2023
Ukraine, the war and a Chinese hope for settlement
The anniversary of the war in Ukraine was accompanied by high level visits to both Moscow and Kviv.
19 February 2023
Child poverty, $3.5 billion for tanks, and a government that does not care
The childs face in the Smith Family ad sums up all that is wrong with Australia. In this rich, first world nation, the Smith Family call us to sponsor a child so that she might go to school. A basic human right is being denied and in that denial our state and government stands condemned.
6 February 2023
The US drive to war against China just got worse
General Mike Minahan, head of the United States Air Forces Air Mobility Command has sent a message to the world. It is blunt, threatening and sinister. My gut tells me we will fight in 2025. The General sent his message as a memorandum to the leadership of the 110,000 strong USAF, with the unambiguous title, February 2023 Orders in Preparation for The Next Fight.
3 October 2022
Learning to hate China how well have we learned the lessons
Toward the end of 2019, an article titled Lessons in how to hate China was published in Pearls and Irritations. Those lessons have been learned and learned well. Three years is a short time but the collective memory is also short. China is now the accepted enemy and the likelihood of war is spoken of more openly.
8 January 2022
A cold war that just keeps on keeping on
It is now 30 years since the USSR ceased to be. The end of the Cold War was to herald an era of peace, harmony and the end of history. Instead, we have wars, inequality, economic crisis, climate catastrophe and pandemic.
15 December 2021
Government chooses 'jobs and growth' over peace with defence spending
Militarisation has become a means of promoting economic welfare, and the 'defence industry hub' in Geelong is just the latest such project.
4 December 2021
Curing the climate: with 'can-do' capitalism, what possibly can go wrong?
Just 100 corporations account for 70 per cent of global carbon emissions. Time their contribution to the climate crisis was given greater prominence.
5 September 2021
Afghanistan, 'anarchy' and confecting a China threat
Readers of The Age and Sydney Morning Herald were recently treated to a lesson in international relations theory.
29 August 2021
Biden's summit for democracy: China-bashing and the economics of human rights
The US President has announced that he will be issuing invitations to world leaders to talk about democracy, authoritarianism, and human rights, at a Summit to be held in early December. The Summit for Democracy, as the US State Department has titled the gathering, is aimed at shoring up fading support for the USA and to up the ante on its anti-China rhetoric. Democracies and what are described as emerging democracies are to be invited, although the guest list will be an arbitrary affair and very much in the hands of the host.
15 August 2021
The China push for a cleaner and cooler planet
Not a day passes without our media damning China for some imagined infamy or other. So many stories, so many column inches, and nothing positive to be found. At the same time, our television screens are full of other images; real images of a disaster that is enveloping us all.
20 July 2021
The Cuban protest and the sixty year illegal US blockade
The US and its allies talk loudly about maintaining a rules based order but in a recent UN General Assembly deliberation there was a vote of 184 to 2 (US and Israel) demanding an end to the illegal 60 year economic boycott of Cuba. The US will ignore the UN vote.The US cherry picks the 'rules based order' when it suits it. Australia does the same.
16 June 2021
The G7, NATO and the demonisation of China
The G7 and NATO summits have made it abundantly clear that the global economic and military focus will remain on China. The demonisation of China has taken a serious step forward as Bidens mantra-like statement that America is back begins to sound even more ominous.
1 June 2021
Militarism the winner in Biden's budget
The Biden budget of $6 trillion dollars is being sold as a turn to liberal reform, but the media has largely neglected one significant fact. The budget allows for $1.52 trillion that is discretionary spending. Half of that figure will be devoted to the military. It is a record figure. The US has an economy to restore and a pandemic to fight, but the bottomless pit of military spending just continues to rise.
27 April 2021
Taiwan: the trigger point for America's next war
It is becoming a case of when, not if, there will be a war between the US and China. Nobody wants war and yet the public is being persuaded that it might happen, and if it does, it will be a necessary evil to counter a threat.
11 April 2021
Not sleepwalking but marching with eyes wide open to war with China
A lie told often enough can become accepted, but it can never be the truth. China has been declared a threat to all that we hold dear, but it is just not so. China, for all its faults, is not a threat and nor is it practising genocide!
20 January 2021
CIA, the USA and a poor night's sleep for the world
Joe Biden's appointment of William Burns as CIA director shows how the US, of whatever stripe, views the world. It sees things in absolute black and white. Peace and security can only be assured if we remain dominant.
17 December 2020
China 'bullies'; US engages in 'robust diplomacy'
As 2020 becomes 2021, one thing remains certain. The Australia-US alliance will continue to threaten the peace of the region and Australia's economic security. Australia seems prepared to gamble on the US maintaining its supremacy.
16 December 2020
Australia, China and the weaponising of trade
The conflict between Australia and China worsens with each passing day. The latest piece of news, Chinas indefinite pause in coal imports from Australia shows just how dangerous is the game that Australia is playing.
16 November 2020
The Biden Presidency and China: past, present, and future danger
The global sigh of relief that marked the end of the Trump era is hardly surprising. But Bidens ascendancy warrants scrutiny, especially when we look at US-Sino relations and the potential for regional and global conflict.
30 August 2020
The China threat: turning myth into reality
We have been told that China poses a real and present danger to Australia and, regardless of the truth, it has become a 'truth.'
25 August 2020
China: a manufactured threat
Is China a threat? Presidents, Prime Ministers, governments and opposition parties all tell us that it is. There is barely a day passes without the media finding new and more expansive ways to prove the existence of this threat. And while all this goes on, the voices of dissent become marginalised.
14 August 2020
The witch-hunting of Moslemane and Zhang
Australias foreign interference laws were criticised by many as a step towards domestic authoritarian politics with a pronounced anti-China flavour. NSW politician Shaoqett Moselmane and staffer John Zhang have since been attacked by the Attorney-General, the PM, and vilified by the media; all in the cause of witch-hunting China. Now both Moselmane and Zhang are fighting back, although against insuperable odds.
9 August 2020
The United States moving a step closer to the brink
Kevin Rudds most recent article in Foreign Affairs, warns us to beware the guns of August. His allusion to the early days of WWI is apt, but the world is by no means sleepwalking to war but rather rushing, with eyes wide open, toward the precipice.
1 August 2020
America's drive to war with Australia as a willing participant.
The world has moved a step closer to war. US secretary of state Mike Pompeos latest outrageous speech has signalled a change of policy and Australia has once again willingly agreed to aid and abet the USA in its provocative and dangerous actions.
7 July 2020
Lincoln's second assassination
And so, the statues topple. History is revised and historical figures, deserving of homage are lumped together with those who deserve condemnation. There is a madness upon the earth. Somehow, symbols of slave-owning society, and those who fought against slavery have been mixed, amalgamated, and history has been turned upon its head.
4 July 2020
Morrison beating the drums of war
Scott Morrisons most recent statements regarding defence and security are chilling reminders that a war with China is no longer merely a possibility, but that real plans are being made in real time.
10 June 2020
US-Chinese relations: why things just keep getting sharper
President Trumps press conference on the 29th May has set the scene for even more dangerous US-Sino relations. He claimed that China was effectively responsible for the 100,000 American COVID-19 deaths, has ripped off the US economy and stolen jobs.
4 June 2020
WILLIAM BRIGGS. Tear gas - only fit for civilians
Television cameras show streets filled with angry men and women. The air is thick with tear gas. There are batons, armoured police, and pepper spray. For some a symbol of resistance. For others fearful scenes of anarchy. For many more a sign that something is terribly wrong.
11 May 2020
WILLIAM BRIGGS. A Trade War is Announced
A new cold war has been announced. While some will have it that COVID 19 is at the root of the deteriorating relations between the US and China, the pandemic is but a symptom of a deeper and potentially far more deadly problem; how the US responds to its perceived China threat.
4 May 2020
WILLIAM BRIGGS. What Drives Peter Hartcher
Peter Hartcher, the Sydney Morning Heralds international editor, maintains an indefatigable but entirely unedifying assault on China. He is by no means alone in vitriolic attacks.
23 April 2020
WILLIAM BRIGGS. ANZAC Day 2020: why they died and for what?
It is now 105 years since Gallipoli. We have had more than a century to reflect and possibly learn the odd lesson or two. But it seems that nothing has been learned.
24 February 2020
WILLIAM BRIGGS. Assange when telling the truth becomes a crime
The campaign by Julian Assangess lawyers to stop his extradition and the support that his campaign has won and is winning across the globe shows just how torn the fabric of our democracies has become.
3 December 2019
WILLIAM BRIGGS Lessons in how to hate China
In an often-confused world, some things have a ring of certainty. The steady rise in anti-Chinese rhetoric is an example. It is disturbing, and largely baseless, but is becoming one of lifes truisms. This is not to suggest that China is beyond criticism or that its internal politics are in any way defensible. A country that can treat its working class in so poor a fashion, that can ride roughshod over human rights, is difficult to defend. But then, Australia has allowed for a massive casualisation of the workforce and has been more than once criticised by the UN Human...
19 September 2019
WILLIAM BRIGGS. How Australia became a racist country
Is Australia a racist country? Are Australians racist? The questions crop up with unfortunate regularity. There is another question. How did Australia become a racist country? An accident of birth cannot be a reason for what has become an entrenched fear of the other, and yet there is a deeply rooted xenophobia in Australia. How did we get to this point? After all waves of migration have marked the development of Australia since Europeans first arrived.
20 May 2019
WILLIAM BRIGGS And So Unto Dust ...
Amid all the hand-wringing, wailing and gnashing of teeth in the aftermath of the election, it might be wise to reflect on some possibly painful little truths pertaining to the process and indeed legitimacy of the entire electoral system.
8 May 2019
WILLIAM BRIGGS Julian Assange and the Australian Election the issue that must not speak its name
Julian Assange was arrested and taken from the Ecuadorean embassy just one day after the Federal election was called. Coincidences, or accidents of chance can, just occasionally, present political opportunities. This particular coincidence offered a chance for the arrest, and the whole saga of his years in the Ecuadorean embassy to figure, if only in a minor capacity, in the election process, but on the contrary the players in the election, quickly drew a line under the entire affair.
23 April 2019
WILLIAM BRIGGS ANZAC Day: lest we forget the militarisation of the Australian economy
ANZAC Day is once more upon us. We are told that it is a time for reflection. And, so it is. The sad truth is that we engage in little actual or meaningful contemplation of the date or of its deeper meaning. There are, of course, exhortations, there are reminders (lest we forget), there are nationalistic refrains, there are figurative and literal calls to arms, but very little by way of real or objective consideration. If we were encouraged to a deeper thoughtfulness then we would not hear school-children repeat, and sincerely mean, the nonsense that the ANZACS went to...
3 February 2019
WILLIAM BRIGGS-The US, walls, and the paradox of a globally integrated capitalist economy
Two significant events are being played out on the US-Mexican border. They appear at first to be unrelated and yet show the paradoxes and contradictions surrounding the economic structures that dominate our lives.