Defence and Security
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Distracted by the submarine bauble, Labor and the media miss the point
Australia is about to become home to American bases, and potentially a nuclear target, and this seems to have escaped the attention of the Opposition and the media. Continue reading »
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Submarines. Gross mismanagement, confusion and waste: Part 1
Australia’s submarines deal is a lesson in how to offend one country after another: Japan, Germany and now France. Continue reading »
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AUKUS: A new acronym, an old story
Imagine this. A $US65 billion contract to build submarines. A dollar value more than the GDP of Croatia and 135 other countries. An agreement to have one of Australia’s allies to build those instruments of war torn up five years into the deal. Continue reading »
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Review: The shock, horror and rage of Mark Willacy’s Rogue Forces
Respected journalist Mark Willacy’s Rogue Forces is imperative reading for its detonating exposé of Australian SAS war crimes in Afghanistan and the systematic cover-ups at varying levels of the Australian Defence Force operations. Continue reading »
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Crying wolf: How to stop talk of war with China
How might it be possible to stop talk of war with China? Are our civil and military leaders, and their loyal press simply “crying wolf”? Or is there a real and present threat that might justify war talk? Continue reading »
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How deep was the Saudi government’s involvement in 9/11?
The FBI is still coy on the Saudi government’s involvement in the 9/11 terrorist attacks but there’s enough in its latest document release to suggest that Saudi government officials assisted with hijacker logistics. Continue reading »
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AUKUS ruffles Australia-France-South-East Asia relations
In one of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s first foreign policy speeches, he boldy asserted that regarding the struggle between the US and China for regional dominance, “Australia doesn’t have to choose”. Continue reading »
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With AUKUS, Australian nationhood is dead in the water
Joe Biden’s new “pal”, the “uh, fella down under” has dramatically outdone all previous attempts to sabotage Australia becoming a real nation state. Continue reading »
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Scott Morrison’s giant nuclear election ploy that will put us in the front line against China
Australia’s decision to join with the United States and the United Kingdom to build Australian long-range nuclear-powered submarines (SSNs) has little to do with the defence of Australia. Continue reading »
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The AUKUS pact: ‘If you want peace, prepare for war’
Australia’s nuclear-power submarines will greatly enhance Australia’s ability to provide for its own self-reliant defence. Nevertheless, the new strategic approach confronts us with a number of almighty challenges. Continue reading »
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Australia’s nuclear-powered submarines will risk opening a Pandora’s box of proliferation
The AUKUS decision to equip Australia with SSNs not only is a fool’s errand but also could pose a grave threat to regional and international security. Continue reading »
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Protracted timeline shows the folly of Australia’s nuclear submarine deal
Buying ludicrously expensive nuclear submarines upsets our neighbours, inflates the defence spending budget, unbalances our military forces and does nothing to address the bigger security threat of global warming and species extinction. Continue reading »
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Anxious white men look to bonds of ‘blood and history’ in AUKUS
Apprehensive of loss, the leaders of white men’s countries are invoking pride of race to spruik the AUKUS alliance to secure their primacy of place over China in a fast-changing world. Continue reading »
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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. Continue reading »
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History is repeating itself: Billy Hughes on Japan and now Scott Morrison on China
In today’s Australia, our leaders are uneducated on the history of Australia’s foreign and defence policies. They’re repeating mistakes that had catastrophic consequences for Australia in the Pacific in the 20th century. Continue reading »
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The deputy sheriff rides again with AUKUS
The AUKUS deal will cost us a lot of money, a substantial loss of sovereignty, a lowering of our reputation in the world and the potential to get dragged into a war we should avoid. But we will get our tummy tickled by our great white fathers. Continue reading »
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Mike Scrafton: Nuclear-powered submarines are just bad defence policy
Australian governments are now certain to be bedevilled by submarines for generations. Continue reading »
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The ‘forever submarines’ go nuclear
The nuclear submarine deal intensifies Australia’s military cooperation with the US. It will be up to our regional neighbours to decide whether, as Scott Morrison says, the deal will help and not hinder them. Continue reading »
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Cavan Hogue: Chile coup was another example of Australian support for US interests
National Archives documents released last week revealed how closely Australia’s overseas spy agency worked with the CIA in the lead-up to the 1973 coup in Chile. Former diplomat Cavan Hogue reflects on the political and social environment at the time. Continue reading »
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Five Eyes intelligence failure in Afghanistan, or something worse?
If corruption was central to the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, and US intelligence ignored it, what should become of the Five Eyes alliance? Continue reading »
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America’s wars in revenge for 9/11 caused nearly a million deaths
Countless innocent people died in the 20 years of war the United States launched in the name of its 9/11 dead. Tens of millions of innocent people were displaced. Continue reading »
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Coalition’s game of chicken with China for political advantage
Does Australia continue to provoke and insult China not so much to hurt our biggest trading partner as to motivate our most important ally – the United States – to maintain a strong economic and military presence in the area? Continue reading »
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ASPI complicit in US and Australia’s Afghanistan deceit
The Taliban victory in Afghanistan and the ensuing debacle of the Western withdrawal from Kabul was always going to test the conscience of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI). Continue reading »
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Australian government’s secrecy obsession and the role of ASIS in the overthrow of Chile’s Allende
Freshly declassified National Archives documents show just how closely the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) worked with the CIA in the lead-up to the coup-d’état in Chile in September 1973. Continue reading »
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Afghanistan intervention marks the beginning of the US’ decline
It is time to forget the idea that the whole world should conform to the principles and values for which America alone stands, no matter how admirable they may appear to be. It was never feasible and it is conducive of conflict. Continue reading »
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‘Fortress USA’: How the September 11 terror attacks produced a military industrial juggernaut
The best chance to reverse the militarisation of the US state is policy guided by the radical proposal that life is indeed precious. Continue reading »
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Five Eyes on the Afghan collapse-one eyed or blind?
The catastrophic failure of US and coalition intelligence in Afghanistan offers serious food for thought about the extent to which Australia relies on the vaunted Five Eyes arrangements. Continue reading »
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Afghanistan, the aftermath: Recognition or engagement?
What are the options for states, including Australia, in their dealings with Afghanistan following the retreat of the previous government and the assumption of power by the Taliban? Continue reading »
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Australia’s government scares me more than the Saudi government
I left Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s most oppressive regimes. But the Australian government’s recent draconian rules remind me so much of home. Continue reading »
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Dungeons and dragons: The China threat fiction
China is an increasingly authoritarian state, actively asserting its will regionally and within its own borders giving rise to a dangerous fiction. Continue reading »
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