Defence and Security
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Campbell’s AUKUS appointment did not meet standards of public service
There are solid grounds for suspecting that the appointment of Ms Kathryn Campbell, of Robodebt notoriety, to the Department of Defence’s AUKUS division did not meet the normal standards required for other appointments in the public service. Those responsible for the appointment of Ms Campbell and the suspension of her salary have got little to Continue reading »
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Self-destructive stupidity, New Zealand style
‘Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad’ What a pity it is that we no longer believe in capricious gods because that would offer a good explanation for the otherwise quite perplexing habit of governments, with intelligent and informed people theoretically at their disposal, to embrace policies which are manifestly an example of Continue reading »
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Australia’s biggest AUKUS risk? America, our dangerous ally
The biggest enemy of AUKUS is not the resistance of ALP branches and unions but its own over-engineered grandiosity, its naive ambition. Continue reading »
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AUKUS gets embedded but no clear rationale
Labor has its political fix on national security. But what has been deferred once more is a fully developed explanation of the policy in real defence and strategic terms. Continue reading »
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The AUKUS folly: Albanese and the US presidential election
There never was a chance of overturning the AUKUS folly at the Labor conference. As unpalatable as it might be, the only possibility of extracting Australia from America’s war planning now lies in the bizarre milieu of American politics. And it’s not forlorn. Continue reading »
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Anthony Albanese is paralysed and failing to grasp the moment
A good many people who worked hard for a Labor government are now astonished at its lack of ambition. More nagging for those who have dreamed of Labor in action has been the complete refusal to countenance any shift in national security policy, in human rights law, in planning aggression against China, and in a Continue reading »
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The edifice of the consultancy-military-industrial complex is crumbling
The consultancy-military-industrial complex continues to reveal its sinister nature as serious questions are raised over conflicts of interest in the tender process for KPMG’s $46 million REDSPICE contract with the Australian Signals Directorate. Continue reading »
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Japan’s dangerous demonisation of North Korea
Japan is a member of the Quad – the grouping that claims it is working for a free, open, prosperous and inclusive Indo-Pacific region. But in its relations with North Korea, Tokyo is not working for anything free, open, prosperous and inclusive. Continue reading »
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New Zealand risks perilous pivot
Wellington’s shift in defence policy abandons long-held neutrality, follows US’ anti-China stance. Continue reading »
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Albanese and the ALP, running scared
Hard core supporters of Australia’s alliance with America – in Australia, the USA, and in the UK – were no doubt thrilled by Anthony Albanese’s full-throated defence of the AUKUS deal at the ALP’s national conference in Brisbane. It was as much playing to them that his speech was directed as it was to the Continue reading »
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AUKUS tensions surface at Labor’s national conference as Albanese’s ambitions for the party become clear. An empty vessel
On one side of the discussion there was a disparate collection of people expressing concerns about a profound policy shift which has a multitude of troubling — and unanswered — questions attached to it. Continue reading »
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The ALP can improve democratic representation
The need for major governance system change in Australia is becoming more obvious daily but this is not obvious to the party in power federally and in five states, the ALP. Therefore, it is useful to reflect on this so that more ALP members begin to encourage their politicians to act accordingly. A preparedness to Continue reading »
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Support an Independent Inquiry into AUKUS
Since the Labor government endorsed Scott Morrison’s AUKUS Defence Policy, many former Labor leaders, diplomats and academics have questioned whether there has been adequate assessment of the many risks associated with this secret deal that has not been formally assessed for its impact on Australians. Continue reading »
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Australia, alliances and deterrence: AUKUS will not make us safer
By entering the AUKUS Partnership in 2021, Australia has undertaken to co-operate with the United States and the United Kingdom, two nuclear-weapon states, with objectives that include acquiring nuclear-powered submarines that would be armed with conventional weapons. This has the potential to weaken both the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), by setting a Continue reading »
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Oppenheimer and the “forever” wars: Have we learnt nothing?
For the first time since the US achieved global domination economically and militarily after WWII, the military industrial complex and Biden administration fear the rise of China. They have decided that it must be crushed. The US, NATO and its compliant states have whipped up a frenzy of fear and loathing for the Chinese. This Continue reading »
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The United States has troops operating inside China
There’s a lot of controversy over what China is doing in the South China Sea, but there seems to be very little in the way of perspective. The recent “water attack” on Philippines vessels was not a hostile act by a military nation, it was a Chinese Coastguard ship deterring another nation from building on Continue reading »
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AUKUS a cover for the Coalition’s nuclear power agenda
The federal Coalition’s dissenting report on a Senate inquiry into nuclear power claims that Australia’s “national security” would be put at risk by retaining federal legislation banning nuclear power and that the “decision to purchase nuclear submarines makes it imperative for Australia to drop its ban on nuclear energy.” Continue reading »
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AUKUS and the star-spangled kangaroo
How ever did it come to this! Continue reading »
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US-dominated unipolar world order encounters more resistance from its victims
The United States has been going all-out to sanction and isolate Russia ever since the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out in February last year. This, however, did not deter 49 of the 54 African countries from attending the Russia-Africa Summit on July 27. Continue reading »
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Albo cannot be both a reasoned diplomat and a subservient ally
Australia’s leader Anthony Albanese is responsible for much more than window dressing at the ALP National Conference. As our elected leader he is required to speak for the nation about how Australia will meet its international obligations to peace and security in our region. In order to re-assert an Australian independent middle power foreign policy Continue reading »
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“Our government is about to redefine us as willing backers of US militarism” – Anthony Albanese in earlier days
“At the height of the Cold War, Prime Minister Menzies agreed to the British request for a permanent site to test nuclear weapons… This was a political decision by a government that was subservient to the British government, and today there are parallels, with the Australian government being once again subservient to the decisions of Continue reading »
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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. Continue reading »
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The ALP is selling our Sovereignty to the United States: Will ALP delegates resist?
The Government’s abandonment of Australian sovereignty to the US through AUKUS and the Force Posture Agreement (FPA) enmeshes Australia in US war plans and endangers the peace in our region on which our national prosperity relies. It is up to the ALP rank and file members attending the National Conference, 17-19 August, to stand up Continue reading »
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Containment of China will only lead to US being isolated in the world: Kishore Mahbubani
The main contest between the US and China will play out in the economic arena. At the end of the day, the winner will be seen to be the country with a bigger economy. Continue reading »
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Post-strategic ambiguity and Australia’s Taiwan problem
“What will Australia do in the event of a US-PRC war over Taiwan?” is now a question that must be openly and deliberately addressed. Across nine presidential administrations, “strategic ambiguity” promoted regional stability. The flip-flops of the current Biden Administration have cast doubt on the efficacy of “strategic ambiguity”, as the means of deterring war Continue reading »
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Clearing the fog of ‘Unprovoked’ War
For the record: I was born in Ukraine, studied in Russia, and worked in America as a laser fusion researcher and Professor of Mathematics and Physics. I have relatives and friends in all three countries, and for the last 35 years, I have been trying to do my best to make them friends, partners, or even allies. Continue reading »
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Australian foreign policy is traditionally hitched to the US – but the rise of China requires a middle path for a middle power
Few nation-states have been shaped by their underlying physical geography and location in the world quite as much as Australia. Continue reading »
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The US fails to recruit Taiwan’s neighbours to a proxy war
If we learn anything from history it should be that the many efforts to destabilise countries by the USA have had very limited success. Taiwan is no different, it is being misread, misinterpreted and consequently, the “international community” are being misled. Having failed to recruit Taiwan’s neighbours to a proxy war against China, this leaves Continue reading »
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The relentless march of militarism: When will it stop?
We are under constant bombardment. Hardly a day goes by without some news of a military nature. If it is not about sending more equipment to prolong the war in Ukraine, it is about Australian minerals being domesticated to serve Americas military interests. Continue reading »
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Target China: US plans to goad Beijing into Taiwan war
The Biden Administration is implementing a plan to draw Taiwan into a direct military confrontation with the People’s Republic of China. Continue reading »
