Australian foreign policy
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Australia poised to enter another US-led Middle East war
With less than two months to go, voters may go to the American polls while their nation is at war. If they do, there is a significant chance that Australia will be dragged in, and in accordance with imperial tradition be sent to fight in the Middle East. Continue reading »
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Gaza one year on: lessons for Australia
A few days after the Hamas breakout from Gaza last October 7, I raised the question of how far Israel might be permitted to advance along the road to moral turpitude. After almost a year now, there is no doubt that the answer is: a very long way indeed. Continue reading »
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Lowy’s dangerous fantasy of a stable bipolar Asia
Lowy’s fudge doesn’t work – Australia has to choose between peace with China or following the US towards war. Continue reading »
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Do we need universities?
Australian universities are starved of funds and forced to operate as commercial entities focused on profit, not the pursuit of knowledge. Continue reading »
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Jeffrey Sachs describes US as a menace to world peace
Jeffrey Sachs says the US is the main barrier to peace. In an interview from the UN, he said: “There’s a lot of frustration in this place today which is that the world leaders are here, everyone calls for peace and peace does not occur and diplomacy does not succeed..The Administration doesn’t know how to Continue reading »
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What has happened to Australia’s commitment to the United Nations?
On the eve on the UN International Day of Peace, I searched ministerial websites for media statements that might reflect the Australian Government’s commitment to this year’s theme “Building a Culture of Peace” but I found no indication that the Albanese Government has a vision of its role as a middle power working to support Continue reading »
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Dependency or protectorate?
It is understandable that people around the world obsess about US elections given the cultural and political impact the country has on the rest of us. Continue reading »
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Australian wheat and the BRI: The economic geography of the world’s grain trading
The global wheat trade is undergoing a transformation, shaped by geopolitical shifts, strategic investments, and historical legacies. Central to this evolution is China’s Belt and Road Initiative and its expected impact on traditional trade relationships, including those with Australia. Continue reading »
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The deputy sheriff rides again
In recent days, Australia’s ‘”deputy Sheriff” role has been on full display again in our foreign policy. The prime minister’s extraordinary gaff at the Pacific Islands Leaders Forum, when caught out joshing along with US Deputy Secretary of State, Kurt Campbell, would have been noted not just among Pacific Island leaders, who would be entitled Continue reading »
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Forked tongue foreign policy
Asia posturing. At least the Americans discern no contradiction in Australian strategic policy, but the government continues to contort its messaging. Continue reading »
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We are avoiding the truths set out on Gaza by the International Court of Justice
Our World gets worse and worse, reflected in inhumane, racist, behaviour. And what for us – Australians – is really bad is that we, as represented by our political leaders, and our media, are totally complicit in genocide. Continue reading »
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‘They will tell me.’ Malcolm Fraser’s Cold War nuclear heterodoxy and Labor’s willed ignorance today
The United States Government doctrine of neither confirming nor denying the presence or absence of nuclear weapons on board US aircraft has been virtually unchanged in almost 70 years, with a very small number of exceptions. Continue reading »
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Keating was wrong. Australia is already the 51st state of the US
Paul Keating is wrong when he says that Anthony Albanese risked making Australia the 51st State of the United States of America. Not so! Australia is already the 51st State of America, in all but name. Continue reading »
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AUKUS: Submarines afloat in — and perhaps causing — a sea of troubles
In the wording of the Ministerial Statement after the recent AUSMIN meeting between Australian and US Ministers of Defence and Foreign Affairs, and in a subsequent on-the-record conversation, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles strongly endorsed both AUKUS and a greater US defence presence in Australia. Unfortunately there are questions about AUKUS which the Government has Continue reading »
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Australia – the indentured state
At primary schools in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Australian children were prescribed textbooks with titles such as New Worlds to Conquer, and taught to admire the British Empire as a gift to the world. Continue reading »
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What will our US alliance get us into from November?
A Trump administration, and even a Harris one, will pose new challenges for Australia: sycophancy or independence? Non-alignment or more complicity in US wars? Continue reading »
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Greens blast new conditions set by US and UK for AUKUS deal
The revelation that the US and UK have imposed additional conditions for their being part of the tripartite AUKUS deal with Australia has not gone down well in some quarters. Continue reading »
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The potential US withdrawal from AUKUS must be an election issue
Resolution of the tension between President Biden’s policy of strengthening America’s position through allies and partners, and the US Navy’s (USN) mission requirements, will come to a head in the next president’s term. The AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines will be at the centre. Continue reading »
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History will judge us harshly
Australia’s foreign policy elite has held a romantic view of Israel which extends back to its birth in 1948. By internalising Zionist mythology, Canberra has afforded the Jewish state a latitude it rarely extends to others: the freedom to attack its enemies without mercy and in violation of international law. It does this by casting Continue reading »
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Politicians browbeaten and brainwashed by Zionism
Duly browbeaten by Zionists and Zionism, many Australian politicians fear to question Israeli terror. Evidence for that assertion has accumulated over years but was displayed last week in the lukewarm regrets expressed when an estimated 100 Palestinians were killed by Israeli bombs dropped on a school in northern Gaza. Continue reading »
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The military control of Australia
The Albanese government with their policy is likely to turn Australia into the 51st state of the United States, writes former Prime Minister of Australia, Paul Keating. Continue reading »
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On Palestine, history shows the way: a comparison of Labor Foreign Policies
In handling the Israel-Palestine problem, the Albanese Government could learn much from how the Chifley Government navigated the Netherlands’ dispute with the Indonesian Republic in the 1940s. Continue reading »
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Beyond the stockade – is Australia ready for US isolationism?
A Republican administration under Donald Trump would bring a fundamental change to America’s engagement with the world, necessitating a radical reassessment and reformulation of Australia’s foreign, trade, and defence policies. Falling back on the faithful ally tactic would not suffice to buffer the prosperity and security of Australians. Continue reading »
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Australia’s Palestine problem
Labor’s insistence that Australia will only recognise a Palestinian state as part of a “peace process” leading to a two-state solution wilfully dodges one very basic question – how can you negotiate a two-state solution, or any solution for that matter, without the participation of two states? Continue reading »
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Where Olive Trees Weep – Australia must recognise Palestine
An open letter to Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister of Australia, Mr Dutton, Senator Wong, Senator Birmingham and Senator Patterson. Yesterday you, or your party, opposed a motion which would have encouraged Australia to join a growing majority of the world’s countries that recognise Palestine. Why did you do that? Continue reading »
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Labor’s cowardice on the world stage
Labor’s cowardice on the world stage stems from a deep-rooted fear that to do anything other than slavishly follow American policy would be to hand government over to a Coalition which has always done exactly that. Continue reading »
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Why has the Australian Parliament failed to debate the tragedy of Gaza?
A majority of Australians want a ceasefire in Gaza, but the Australian Parliament seems more preoccupied with political brinkmanship than recognition of this tragedy. Continue reading »
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Walking into war with China: an American trap hidden in plain sight
There is no question that the path to war has been set against Russia and China. Nor is there doubt that the brunt will be borne by US allies, as the US has repeatedly proclaimed its “gratitude” to allies without which its geostrategy would be impossible. The question remaining is when war will require allies Continue reading »
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AUKUS and the Nuclear Agenda: the challenge for the labour movement
AUKUS is fundamentally part of a global program to reassert US dominance as its power fades. That is what AUKUS is about; it’s about tying Australia to that slowly sinking ship, the United States Empire. The Labor Government has been captured by this militaristic ideology, and it is our job to shake them out of Continue reading »
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After a low, China-Australia ties can aim high
When I think of Australia, the first things that pop into my mind are koalas and kangaroos. Those adorable marsupials are wooing travellers worldwide every year to the beautiful land. Continue reading »
