Defence and Security
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RAMESH THAKUR. The Trump effect and Japan
Japan has an exceptional opportunity, while maneuvering to remain close to Washington, to reduce its unhealthy security and economic dependency on the United States, and to educate the U.S. administration on the merits and benefits of the key planks of a rules-based global order and international cooperation. Continue reading »
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RICHARD WOOLCOTT. The US has ‘wasted $6 trillion’ in the Middle East without achieving any success.
In a statement on 27 February President Trump said that the United States had spent $ 6 trillion in the Middle East and had ” got nowhere “. It had produced a “mess” and a ” hornet’s nest “. In a conflict United States must always be “winning ,or not fighting at all”. Continue reading »
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JAMES O’NEILL. Iran and the new multipolar world.
During the last Presidential campaign, the Republican nominee Donald Trump made a variety of statements that suggested a changing focus in US foreign policy. He promised, inter alia, no more attempts at regime change, an effective fight against the terrorist organisation ISIS, and better relationships with Russia. Fine words, but as has been said before, “don’t Continue reading »
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JAMES O’NEILL. Australia and the Iraq War: some new revelations.
“It is difficult not to conclude that Howard’s statement to Parliament on 18 March 2003 following his telephone conversation with Bush was a political statement designed to bolster what was an untenable decision to commit Australia to yet another foreign war on behalf of the Americans.” Continue reading »
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TIM LINDSEY. Jokowi Lite: The Indonesian president’s non-visit
The relationship between our two countries is now back on a more normal diplomatic footing for the moment but we need to do better than that if we are to make the most of our proximity to this gigantic nation of 270 million that considers itself now ‘rising’. Continue reading »
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Trump’s assault on the liberal international order
There is considerable skepticism about U.S. President Donald Trump’s commitment to uphold the post-1945 liberal international order crafted under American leadership and underwritten by U.S. military power, economic heft and geopolitical clout. Trump’s pre-election statements on trade, immigration, alliances and nuclear policy in particular seemed to question these four critical pillars of established U.S. policy. Continue reading »
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RICHARD WOOLCOTT. Policy for now and the future.
The United States has led Australia into one lost war ( Viet Nam),two ongoing losing wars ( the second invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan ) and,most recently, into the dubious operations in Syria opposing Assard . Russia ,China and Iran will not allow Assard to be removed and,as Ross Burns has so well argued,Australia would Continue reading »
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CAVAN HOGUE. Ukraine – a pox on both your houses?
A solution to the fighting in Ukraine will require agreement and cooperation by three parties without undue interference from outsiders. The three parties are the Russian Government, the Ukrainian Government and the Eastern Ukrainian rebels. The outsiders are NATO and the USA. Australia is not a player. Continue reading »
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GREGORY CLARK. Amazing 1964 Hasluck request to Moscow for help over Vietnam
In 1964, I was witness to another independent Canberra initiative over Vietnam. It was a bizarre attempt by then External Affairs minister, Paul Hasluck, to persuade Moscow to join with the West in Vietnam to stop alleged Chinese aggression. Continue reading »
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RAMESH THAKUR. The nuclear deal with Iran was a triumph of global diplomacy, not a success of US sanctions
The deal (with Iran) is worth defending for three reasons: it is a good accommodation of each side’s bottom lines; sanctions may not have been as decisive as the hawks seem to believe in explaining Iran’s signature; and unilateral US sanctions will prove even less effectual. Continue reading »
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TONY KEVIN. Update on Trump impeachment possibilities, and reaction in Moscow
The US liberal media onslaught on Donald Trump’s claimed absolute unsuitability for the US presidency continues. In every possibly way, Trump is being dissected forensically and brutally. Continue reading »
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JAMES O’NEILL. General Flynn’s resignation raises fresh dangers.
As is now customarily the case, the mainstream media both failed to put Flynn’s actions in their proper context, and even more seriously failed to understand the significance of this week’s events. Continue reading »
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RAMESH THAKUR. Australia needs to wake up, grow up.
Without abandoning ANZUS but downsizing it considerably, Australia must chart an independent foreign policy according to a Canberra-based calculation of national values and interests. Or does Australia really want to make the transition to aligning with Trump’s view that if only the West had confiscated Iraq’s oil and wealth after the 2003 invasion, there would Continue reading »
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CAVAN HOGUE. Australia did say no to the US on Vietnam in 1954.
“Australia’s destiny was not so completely wrapped up with the United States as to support them in action which Australia regarded as wrong”. (R.G.Casey) Continue reading »
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ALISON BROINOWSKI. If Australia has switched enemies in Syria, who and why are we fighting?
If Australia has switched enemies in Syria, as our allies apparently have done, the Turnbull Government owes us at least an explanation about who and why we are fighting. Continue reading »
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Ukraine, Crimea and the push for war
Instead of recognizing the historical and geopolitical realities, including that Ukraine is now a failed state ruled by neo-fascists, Western governments continue to parrot the tired cliché that the Russians are to blame. Upon such fatal ignorance are wars often started. Continue reading »
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CHRISTIAN DOWNIE. The security threat from climate change
The Turnbull Government’s decision to continue to back coal is not just bad economics, it also makes no sense from a national security perspective as the worsening impacts of climate change threaten international stability. Continue reading »
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RAMESH THAKUR. Will Donald Trump’s persona destroy his administration?
Donald Trump swept through the primary and election campaigns like a disruptive force of nature to a victory that unsettled almost all conventional wisdom about modern American politics. A shocked Democratic Party and city-based cultural elites are still in denial about his victory. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL McKINLEY. Trump, Australia, Iran, and a Question For Australia
For all of the radical change promised by Donald Trump when he was campaigning, at least one area of continuity is abundantly clear: the preoccupation with, and a distorted understanding of Islam in general and Iran in particular. His appointment of those he refers to as “my generals” to National Security Adviser (Mike Flynn), and Continue reading »
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JAMES O’NEILL. Just whose news is fake?
The term “fake news” has gained a certain currency in recent months, perhaps reaching its apogee with the Washington Post’s notorious list of alleged fake news sites. Continue reading »
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ALISON BROINOWSKI. The pact of silence.
The death of Dr David Kelly in 2003 has not been explained to the satisfaction of everyone in Britain. Investigations suggest the Government of Tony Blair still has questions to answer. Continue reading »
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DENNIS ARGALL. The complexity of saying no to the Americans.
The degree of ‘interoperability’ with US forces shapes the minds of Australian service personnel from top to bottom as also it shapes procurement planning and justification. … Any review by us of the Alliance relationship would run-up against a deep history. It would require a radical shift in the pattern of power within Australian strategic policy-making Continue reading »
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TONY KEVIN. Trump, Putin and the priming of the impeachment trigger.
A game plan is now evident for the possible expulsion of Donald Trump from the US presidency by impeachment, unless he toes the line of Washington’s established bipartisan national security agenda. Putinophobia is central to this dark Shakespearean drama. Trump is increasingly friendless and bereft of the respect normally due to a US President. Recent Continue reading »
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DENNIS ARGALL Korea, China, US and Trump
It has not helped that senior military people have been inclined to simply call the North Koreans crazy, any more than it helps now to simply call Trump crazy. Continue reading »
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RICHARD BUTLER. Australia and the US: Truth Time.
There is an extraordinary amount of deception and lying around current US policy. The Republican establishment will need to work out where it stands on Trump’s agenda. This is precisely the time for truthful discourse in Australia about our relationship with the US. Continue reading »
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RICHARD WOOLCOTT. A foreign policy for Australia.
Our Prime Minister and Foreign Minister often refer to the “rules based world order.” This “order”, of course, was established primarily by the United States after the end of World War 2. The “rules” have been disregarded by the US itself when it has suited it to do so. As a result It is not accepted by some Continue reading »
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ROBERT MANNE. The Muscovian candidate? Donald Trump and Russia.
This article was first published by The Monthly in December 2016. To uncover the truth about the relations between Trump and Russia, therefore now requires not only painstaking investigation but, even more, political courage from members of the Republican Party in the Senate, the US intelligence services and the American mainstream media. The future of Continue reading »
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WALTER HAMILTON. Bad hombres.
Donald J. Trump likes to sound off about ‘bad hombres’ sneaking into the United States to spread terror and crime. Bad hombres come in many shapes and disguises, not only as bad people but also bad ideas. Continue reading »
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JAMES O’NEILL. ‘One belt one road’ (OBOR) – a new geopolitical paradigm.
The scale of the projects (OBOR) is astonishing. As of July 2016 China had more than 900 contracts in place or under negotiation with a propose investment value of over $900 billion dollars. This was in addition to a separate contract worth over $400 billion signed with Russia for the supply of natural gas. Continue reading »
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JOHN TULLOH. The simplistic naivete of Donald Trump
We certainly live in far more interesting, if not astonishing, news times now that a Manhattan real estate developer occupies the White House. We wake up each day wondering what was the latest personal whim Donald Trump chose to exercise while we slept. Continue reading »