Defence and Security
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We are being led to war with China to satisfy American hegemonic interests
As the American Empire is attempting to open up another war front with China and dragging us into it, the Doomsday clock is now 10 seconds to midnight. Can we resist? Continue reading »
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Attack of the “Pro-Ukrainian Group”: notes from The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix
The latest New York Times report on the Nord Stream pipeline bombing is something else. According to NYT’s anonymous US government sources, the pipelines were blown up by a “pro-Ukrainian group” who had no known connections to any military or intelligence agency, but somehow had all the information, skills, diving equipment and military explosives necessary to Continue reading »
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For Australia, horror of war over Taiwan is not inevitable
Contributors to the “War with China over Taiwan” horror show which began in the Nine newspapers this week assume that a war between China and the United States is likely, and some of them then explicitly say that Australia would be involved. Australia should instead regard the Taiwan issue as one for us to “sit Continue reading »
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Understanding the Austral-Americans
Embedded within the foreign policy debate in Australia is the claim that an epochal shift of Copernican significance is underway. So disturbing is this transformation in world politics – seemingly from light to darkness, from joy to woe – that its troubling possibilities have dissolved the sense of national self. Continue reading »
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Red Alert? Follow the money instead: ASPI is a front for US propaganda
What is the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), what are its sources of funding, and why does it so consistently advocate for positions favourable to the United States and the weapons industry? Follow the money trail. Continue reading »
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If only our current PM said this…
Today’s Sydney Morning Herald and The Age front page stories on Australia’s supposed war risk with China represents the most egregious and provocative news presentation of any newspaper I have witnessed in over fifty years of active public life. Continue reading »
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The defence establishment and Fairfax take on China
Hysteria over a supposed immediate China threat is being peddled by the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age in the first of a series of three reports titled Red Alert. Not since Menzies’s days, have we seen anything like the papers’ dramatic image of an air force fleet emerging from a supersized China to dominate Continue reading »
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No, Australia does not actually need to prepare for war with China
In the latest instance of the Australian media’s deluge of propaganda geared toward manufacturing consent for war with China, Nine Entertainment-owned newspapers The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have brought together a panel of “experts” to assess how well-prepared Australia is for a hot war with its primary trading partner. The question of if Continue reading »
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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. Continue reading »
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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 Continue reading »
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Ukraine anniversary
The anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine war gives us pause to reflect on recent global shifts which affect our security. Continue reading »
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SSNs: a second-best solution for defence?
Defence’s defeat on the French Submarine was an extraordinary victory for a small group of dedicated professionals. Defence’s counterattack with the nuclear submarines under the aegis of AUKUS reeks of the same old problems. Continue reading »
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Why should Australian submarines prowl off the coast of China?
Jon Stanford’s response to Brian Toohey’s criticism of his promotion of nuclear submarines for Australia deserves a response. Continue reading »
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US Ambassador to China: “we’re the leader” of the Indo-Pacific
A recent US Chamber of Commerce InSTEP program hosted three empire managers to talk about Washington’s top three enemies, with the US ambassador to China Nicholas Burns discussing the PRC, the odious Victoria Nuland discussing Russia, and the US ambassador to Israel Tom Nides talking about Iran. Continue reading »
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China’s peace plan for Ukraine
Recent Chinese Government peace proposals offer new hope for political settlement of the Ukraine crisis. Continue reading »
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Western leaders privately say Ukraine can’t win the war
The German and French leaders have told Ukraine they must seek peace with Russia in exchange for a post-war defence pact, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. Continue reading »
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It Is the mass media’s job to help suppress anti-war movements
In a new article titled “European antiwar protests gain strength as NATO’s Ukraine proxy war escalates,,” The Grayzone’s Stavroula Pabst and Max Blumenthal document the many large demonstrations that have been occurring in France, the UK, Germany, Greece, Spain, the Czech Republic, Austria, Belgium and elsewhere opposing the western empire’s brinkmanship with Russia and proxy Continue reading »
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The ninth anniversary of the Ukraine war
We are not at the 1-year anniversary of the war, as the Western governments and media claim. This is the 9-year anniversary of the war. And that makes a big difference. Continue reading »
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Beyond words: Labor’s betrayal of Australia
From our Minister for Foreign Affairs Australians must expect ever more duplicity, more smoothing the path to war orchestrated by America, for America’s ends. It’s a struggle for words to convey the enormity of what we face. It is beyond our politicians. Australia is being dragged into war. No doubt. Continue reading »
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China threat: Australia kowtows to US masters over pilot’s degrading treatment
The treatment of former US marine Daniel Edmund Duggan by Australian authorities in the service of their US masters has again shown that the Australian passport is not quite worth the material it’s printed on. Continue reading »
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Discarding article 9 of the Japanese constitution is not inducive to peace in Asia Pacific
Those service personnel who died in WWII fighting against the Japanese would turn in their grave if they knew that their descendants were rearming Japan. There is no reason for any accelerated arm race or nuclear proliferation in the East Pacific. Why are we creating one? Continue reading »
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The cost of the nation’s endless wars
“Autocrats only understand one word: no, no, no. No you will not take my country, no you will not take my freedom, no you will not take my future… A dictator bent on rebuilding an empire will never be able to ease the people’s love of liberty. Brutality will never grind down the will of Continue reading »
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Ukraine conflict: China promotes peaceful solutions over warmongering
Sir Winston Churchill, Britain’s wartime leader, said that “jaw-jaw is better than war-war”, and he should know. Continue reading »
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‘Dealers’, ‘bleeders’, and a negotiated peace in Ukraine
After a catastrophic year of war, there is talk of a negotiated peace in Ukraine. But those suggesting that it should be explored are often instantly slapped down. Familiar rhetoric is deployed. A negotiated peace is supposedly impossible – or dishonourable. Continue reading »
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“The gift of bombs”: Wandering thoughts of a Hanoi sojourner
I sit in Hanoi, Vietnam, a friend’s 10th floor unit, from which the lights of the city gyrate before me. My mind wanders, ponders many things, my formative years having been enmeshed with the events of this country. Continue reading »
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Aukus fallout: as US-China tensions grow, Australians reveal mixed feelings about nuclear submarine pact
Surveys reveal concerns that Aukus won’t make Australia safer, while fears grow of ‘secretive policymaking and little government accountability’. Some observers have also questioned the high cost of Aukus to taxpayers, suggesting there are other, less expensive ways to ‘deter China’. Continue reading »
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Ukraine: Is it almost over?
Despite celebrating 12 months of surviving the Russian onslaught, promises of more money and military equipment (including tanks) from the West, and a chorus of support for the courage and resilience of the people, the war appears almost over for Ukraine. Continue reading »
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All over bar the shouting: the inevitability of a submarine farce
The AUKUS submarine fetish has colonised the minds of the Labor ministers and ejected practical commonsense. Continue reading »
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Nuclear armament is a lose-lose-lose for South Korea
The path toward acquiring nuclear weapons could jeopardise Korea’s survival, endanger its prosperity, and damage its prestige in the international community. Continue reading »
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Time for the West to rethink goal of total defeat for Russia in Ukraine
As the war drags on, sympathy is growing for Russia as the underdog fighting the behemoth North American and EU economies. The West would get more support for its cause in Ukraine if it is seen to be pushing for either a peace proposal or a fair compromise on Ukraine. Continue reading »