World Affairs
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How the West destroyed Syria – Interview with Former UK Ambassador to Syria
Peter Ford served in the UK Foreign Ministry for many years including being UK Ambassador to Bahrain (1999-2003) and then Syria (2003-2006). Following that, he was representative to the Arab world for the Commissioner General of United Nations Relief and Works Agency. He was interviewed by Rick Sterling on Jan 6, 2025 Continue reading »
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Entering the ‘Pyrocene’: Devastation in California is the harbinger of the apocalypse
Wildfires in California replicate the massive fire storms in the boreal forest in Canada and Siberia, the lungs of the earth. Our addiction to fossil fuel has ignited an age of fire. Continue reading »
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The US war on terror strikes home
Americans were shocked by two fatal events in the United States on New Year’s day 2025, and one was quickly called ‘Islamist terrorism’. Yet the US supports Muslim terrorist groups in Syria. Continue reading »
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Bill Sullivan and Iran – missed opportunities then and now
The last American Ambassador to Iran was William Sullivan, a debonair silver-haired Irish-American with much wisdom and diplomatic experience. If President Jimmy Carter and Secretary of State Cyrus Vance had followed his advice, Iran would probably not be US enemy number one as it is today. Maybe even an ally. Continue reading »
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European deportation of Syrian refugees – a sign of the times
Millions of Myanmar refugees could be next if Junta falls Continue reading »
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Independent journalist Richard Medhurst on the so-called ‘Syrian Revolution’
Medhurst was born in Damascus, Syria. His father is English and mother is Syrian. Both his parents served in United Nations Peacekeeping and Observer missions and were among the UN Peacekeepers awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1988. Continue reading »
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A five-minute scroll
What were you expecting asks Bisan Owda of the situation in Syria, where Israel has now launched air raids overnight. Jonathon Cooke calls out the BBC on their selective reporting while Prof, Seyed Marandi tells George Galloway it is clear who is behind these groups. Craig Murray reports that it’s not a revolution in Syria, Continue reading »
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A five-minute scroll
In 24 hours the Middle East has changed. Craig Murray gives the perspective of distances and the significance of the change, Netanyahu speaks to the opportunities and challenges while Wikileaks reminds us of notable moments. Peter Cronau reveals the lopsided outrage over the Melbourne Synagogue fire, and a former Chief Adviser to the British Prime Continue reading »
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The end of pluralism in the Middle East
A truly seismic change in the Middle East appears to be happening very fast. At its heart is a devil’s bargain – Turkey and the Gulf States accept the annihilation of the Palestinian nation and creation of a Greater Israel, in return for the annihilation of the Shia minorities of Syria and Lebanon and the Continue reading »
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Assad is out, woke Al-Qaeda is in
Well it looks like the government of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad is on its way out, likely to be replaced by one or more US puppet regimes depending on whether the nation maintains its current borders or is carved up into separate states. The empire notches another win. Continue reading »
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Al-Tanf: The US stronghold in Syria and how it safeguards Israel
The US coalition’s mission against ISIS quickly transformed into a broader strategy to occupy parts of Syria, with the Al-Tanf base being crucial for securing influence and supporting Israeli interests amidst increasing local resistance. Continue reading »
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“WHY are we doing Netanyahu’s bidding?” Jeffrey Sachs on Syria, Assad and Putin
Professor Jeffrey Sachs, having become a staple of the disruptive discourse that is so valued on Uncensored, joins Piers Morgan yet again for a one-to-one interview on the state of the world. The most shocking development over recent days has been the rapid advance of Syrian rebel troops and their capture of the City of Continue reading »
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Thorpe’s genocide case against Netanyahu’s Australian advisor as back in court
Mark Regev is “an Australian citizen and he’s advocating for genocide,” Uncle Robbie Thorpe explained last week. Continue reading »
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A five-minute scroll
Trump announces the head of NASA and the USA’s future among the stars. Barbara Pocock speaks out on nuclear waste in our own backyard. An Israeli professor speaks out on the genocide, while Israel has continued attacks in Gaza overnight. On the anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s death we are reminded of his views of the Continue reading »
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The continuing ‘struggle for Syria’
The dramatic ‘rebel’ advance into Aleppo dominates the headlines. In history rather than headlines, however, the importance of current events shrinks into relativity, as the ‘West’ and its regional allies have been tearing apart, or trying to tear apart, Syria for more than a century. This is what the journalist and historian Patrick Seale called Continue reading »
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Strategic space in a bounded global order: China, Russia and America
Geoff Raby AO, former Australian ambassador to China, discusses with Michael Lester the remaking of the global order in his book Great Game On: The Contest for Central Asia and Global Supremacy (Melbourne University Press, 2024). Continue reading »
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A five-minute scroll
Jeffrey Sachs speaks of the covert war operation that underpins the fight in Syria. Lidia Thorpe speaks to a nation that needs to grow up. Activists in London speak to Middle Eastern Eye about their favourite journalists in Palestine in response to David Lammy. Images of the damaged sacred site of Apostle Simon Peter. Author Continue reading »
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A ceasefire in Lebanon – Gaza next?
Third party intervention led by the US and France has achieved a ceasefire in Lebanon. The US now needs to push for a settlement in Gaza where the combatants withdraw, and an external force is charged with maintaining the peace. Continue reading »
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Another unwelcome ICC arrest warrant?
On November 27, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced that he is seeking an arrest warrant against Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the head of Myanmar’s military junta, for his role in the commission of crimes against humanity against his country’s Rohingya minority. Continue reading »
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The US is upset China wants to be self-reliant in producing chips
Having denied Chinese firms access to advanced foreign semiconductors, Washington is launching probe into ‘subsidised’ domestic production. Continue reading »
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Seven truths on why Taiwan always will be China’s
Some Australian media recently provided a platform for false Taiwanese views about the one-China policy. Here are the reasons they are wrong. Continue reading »
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Can Korea avoid another war?
In the current edition of the prestigious publication Foreign Affairs Robert E. Kelly and Min-Hyung Kim argue a strong case for South Korea to build nuclear weapons to counter the military threat from North Korea. “Assembling even a limited arsenal would give South Korea greater strategic independence and reduce its constant anxiety over the shifts Continue reading »
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Lunar New Year predictions for Xi and Trump
The Year of the Snake begins on 29 January. Over the next couple of weeks, fortune tellers will flood the press with their views, each with as much weight and reliability as the mottos in fortune cookies. Continue reading »
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“Nothing like before” — China is out-competing the West on EVs
The West is accusing China of “overcapacity” to blame it for its own industrial demise. Continue reading »
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The US sees China through the dark mirror of its own unbridled aggression
As China grows and prospers many in the US want us to believe that China will follow the same path that the US itself pursued – global military aggression, the overthrow of numerous governments around the world and persecution of minorities at home. (A repost from February 2023.) Continue reading »
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Best of 2024: Why do Chinese EVs meet so much resistance?
There was a time when the world looked to China to reduce its emissions. China was, they quite rightly pointed out, one of the globe’s worst polluters. Continue reading »
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US cyber weapon can ‘frame other countries’ for its own espionage operations
China’s National Computer Virus Emergency Response Centre on Monday released its latest report on Volt Typhoon, once again exposing cyber espionage and disinformation operations conducted by US government agencies, including a US cyber weapon that can mislead investigation and frame other countries for its own cyber espionage activities. Continue reading »
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Western tourists rediscover Chinese mainland, HK
Fifty years ago, I enjoyed an overnight stay in Hong Kong while on my way from Melbourne to visit the United Kingdom for the first time. Hong Kong was already established as a “tourist and shopping paradise” by then. I remember being somewhat bewildered by the crowds of people everywhere I went. But it was Continue reading »
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Trump has been Beijing’s most effective science talent recruiter
Many fear the supposedly defunct ‘China Initiative’ – a racial profiling programme targeting Chinese-born scientists in the US – could return with a vengeance. Continue reading »
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Western Media: an echo chamber for the US “Uighur Genocide” narrative
Let me directly address the narrative pushed by the United States and its allies regarding the alleged “genocide” of Uighurs in China’s Xinjiang province. This narrative is not only riddled with inconsistencies but reeks of the same imperialist strategies the U.S. has employed for decades to destabilise dozens of nations and advance its own geopolitical Continue reading »
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The US is about to launch an open attack on global trade stability. Can China defend the existing order?
The threat by president-elect Trump to place 100% tariffs on any country that backs any other currency to replace the US dollar is an open attack on global trade stability. Continue reading »
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‘China’s Pearl’: Macao 25 years after return to China
Zhongshan, where I live, is only about 40 kilometres as the crow flies from the Special Administrative Region of Macao, described as “China’s Pearl” by Xi Jinping. The name is apt, Macao sits at the entry of the Pearl River opposite Hong Kong and has, in recent years, shown both robust growth and remarkable stability. Continue reading »
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Decriminalising drugs: “Open secret that most of the NSW Cabinet now support major drug law reform”
As Francis Hodgson Burnett said more than a century ago “at first people refuse to believe that strange new thing can be done, then they begin to hope it can be done, then they see it can be done – then it is done and all the world wonders why it was not done centuries Continue reading »
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Caste divisions among Indian diaspora remain in Australia
Australian politicians’ inability to understand the complexity of the Indian diaspora is, in part, fostering division among these migrants, the Guardian Australia claims in analysis published on Sunday (December 8). Continue reading »
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‘Many die and are turned into body parts, their limbs mixed together and lost.’ Mass graves are a violation of human dignity
For Palestinians in Gaza, there is no room for death, as there is no room for life, due to Zionist crimes and Israeli savagery, writes Refaat Ibrahim from occupied Gaza. “Many die and are turned into body parts, their limbs mixed together and lost… They transport them into Israel, subject them to examination, sometimes steal Continue reading »
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Uyghur separatists claimed to be key player in Assad’s fall
Wait, aren’t these the very same Uyghur separatists that the US State Department said they had “no credible evidence” existed, and that Mike Pompeo decided to remove from the US’s list of terrorist organisations in 2020? Continue reading »
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Taiwan’s former parliamentary speaker proposes “separate jurisdictions, one sovereignty”
Wang Jin-pyng says not to abandon “the opportunity for people on both sides to jointly pursue the well-being of the Chinese nation,” and respect the separate jurisdictions across the Strait. If world peace really hinges on, as many claim, what happens across the Taiwan Strait, you’ll have to bear with me for more posts on Continue reading »
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Is Trump’s long shadow a chance for the Australia-China relationship?
China has recently praised Australia’s independent foreign policy, with Xi Jinping and Anthony Albanese holding friendly talks at the G20 and planning a future meeting in China. This highlights Beijing’s effort to court traditional US allies amid concerns over a potential second Donald Trump term in the White House. Continue reading »
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South Korea’s martial law fiasco: legitimation crisis in the imperial vassal state
In the wake of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s 6-hour coup, Western pundits have opined that this was an affirmation of South Korean democracy’s robustness and resilience, its institutional maturity and strength. Continue reading »
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Before 1770, produced, written and directed by Sheikh Wesam Charkawi
In 2019, I was Australia’s Consul-General in Makassar, and I remember meeting a group of Muslim Australians from western Sydney: they were planning to make a film about the Makassar-Northern Australia relationship. Their leader was Sheikh Wesam Charkawi, a tall, bearded man of middle-age, in haji cap and long white robes. Continue reading »
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A five-minute scroll
The world voted to support the mandate of the UNRWA in Palestine, while Israel continues to ignore international law in Syria. Syrian born British journalists advises that the media has been lying about Syria while Francesca Albanese puts Gaza back on the table as it disappears from the news. Continue reading »
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AUKUS is an intergenerational disaster. It will cause long term detriment to Australia’s security
Australia is a part of a hostile military alliance directed at China. “Interoperability” or “interchangeability” means we’re now a US pawn, tied to its coattails. So that’s the job of every Australian: push for more information, keep talking about why AUKUS is an utter disaster and why it commits us to a costly and dangerous Continue reading »
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History repeats in the most chilling of ways
Earlier this month, the Sydney Morning Herald published a cartoon by the irrepressible Cathy Wilcox. I gazed at the image for a long time. My first thought was that she’ll pay a price for this, and so might the Herald. And, true to form, there was indeed a strong reaction in some quarters. Continue reading »
