World Affairs
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Will Australia always follow the innocent nation into war?
A war in East Asia provoked by American intransigence would be no less disastrous for Australia than one caused by China’s ambitions. While China’s intentions and plans are inaccessible and should generate prudent caution, the well-researched drivers of America’s strategic policy should also produce grave reservations within the Albanese government. Continue reading »
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Xi Jinping in Moscow: A historic partnership in the making
Since 2010, Xi Jinping has met Vladimir Putin on 40 separate occasions, but this last visit may prove to be their most significant meeting yet. The stakes for both have never been higher. Continue reading »
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The International Criminal Court’s hypocrisy on Putin
The International Criminal Court’s conduct in the Ukraine-Russia conflict, characterised by unusual alacrity for an international legal institution, is in stark contrast to the feet dragging on alleged war crimes by Israel against the Palestinians in 2014. Continue reading »
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Here we stand: Twenty years after our first war of aggression
HERE WE STAND: We are standing here, as people were in Melbourne yesterday, to recall one of Australia’s worst days: the start of our first war of aggression. Continue reading »
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The not-so-winding road from Iraq to Ukraine
March 19th marks the 20th anniversary of the U.S. and British invasion of Iraq. This seminal event in the short history of the 21st century not only continues to plague Iraqi society to this day, but it also looms large over the current crisis in Ukraine, making it impossible for most of the Global South to see the war Continue reading »
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Blasts from the past
Wellington 26 January 2035: Ten years ago this week the first nuclear-armed missile landed on Australian soil, remembered as Invasion Day. Duncan Graham recalls what happened. Continue reading »
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Japan’s military build-up met with suspicion, alarm: Asian Media Report
In Asian media this week: Developing world rejects nonsensical Cold War; Japan moves from ‘shield’ to ‘spear’; opinion against military build-up; court asked to review new penal code; vote-buying an investment in graft; and differing views of Xinjiang. Continue reading »
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The biggest threat to Venezuelan democracy is the USA
“The U.S. government believes that the only democratic institution in Venezuela is an assembly that has not met in seven years and whose term has expired,” writes Vijay Prashad, an Indian historian, editor and journalist in a recent article from Consortium News. Continue reading »
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Ukrainian defence lines and what happens when they are breached
Soledar has fallen to Russian troops. Bakhmut (Artymovsk) will follow soon. Continue reading »
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How 20 ratbag Republicans could Trump 200 party loyalists
The farce occurring in the US House of Representatives, where a small group of far-right Republicans are seeking to veto the overwhelming choice of their colleagues for the party’s congressional leadership, may well be resolved by the weekend in the traditional American parliamentary way, with bribes, deals, committee placements and stiff-arming. Continue reading »
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The CIA can’t make make up its mind who to back in Venezuela!
You need to fix your eye on the ball if you want keep up with the frocking and de-frocking of America’s offshore political proteges – especially in Venezuela. Continue reading »
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Best of 2022: Russia-Ukraine: For humanity’s sake, turn down the heat
It’s time we recognise the carnage of this war in Ukraine, and turn to dialogue with Russia. Continue reading »
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Varoufakis details vision for ending ‘Global Empire of Capital’ to avert catastrophe
Creating a new international economic order “sounds like an impossible dream,” said the former Greek finance minister, but “not more impossible than the principle of one person, one vote, or of the end of the divine right of kings once sounded.” Continue reading »
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At protests across America, guns are doing the talking
Armed Americans, often pushing a right-wing agenda, are increasingly using open-carry laws to intimidate opponents and shut down debate. Continue reading »
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DeSantis’ ideology is clearer, darker and more coherent than Trump’s
DeSantis would likely deliver the next staggering blow to liberal democracy in America. He has made his ideology unambiguously clear, and it is darker and more coherent than Trump’s. America’s allies would be well served to monitor closely the political tides as the 2024 presidential election approaches. Continue reading »
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Hung Parliament on the cards in Malaysian election?
Malaysia goes to the polls on Saturday 19 November after two years of political turmoil that has seen two governments and three Prime Ministers fall. Continue reading »
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Is the US serious about negotiations on Ukraine?
The U.S. president’s remarks about territorial compromise could be a sea change, but is the White House serious about negotiations? asks M.K. Bhadrakumar. Continue reading »
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Ideology second best as pragmatic Scholz of Germany leads way on China
The German chancellor has made it clear that ‘decoupling from China is not the answer’, and other European leaders should remember this following his first state visit to Beijing. Continue reading »
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The scourge of hegemony
While it is obvious to most people that geopolitical tension in the Asia-Pacific region is rising, and that there is a real threat of a conflict between the power blocks in the world, much less credence is given to the idea that the problem is inflicted on us by the hitherto dominant economies of the Continue reading »
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We are locked and loaded with our US partners against China
It would require a microscope to discern any difference between this government’s foreign policy priorities and those of the last. The verbiage is cheap and empty. It’s not aligned with actions. Labor has done nothing to change the direction and momentum established by the previous government. Continue reading »
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Stop preparing to participate in a US war against China
Dear Labor MPs, I write to convey my deep disappointment in the Labor Government, of which you are part, specifically in relation to the AuKUS submarine deal but more generally in relation to military strategy and foreign policy. Continue reading »
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The gatekeepers have spoken
Since 1901, the often-self-appointed gatekeepers of Australia’s defence and diplomacy have had the greatest difficulty with the idea of accountability. Continue reading »
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China and the AUKUS submarine deal: unanswered questions
The challenge of 2045 Australia will have access to American nuclear submarines in the early 2030s and by 2045 will have been building its own. But it is not clear what problem will be solved when Australian long-range nuclear submarines are able to traverse the northern Pacific. Continue reading »
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Australia’s paper sea horse
Many a joke telling session starts with “Have you heard the one about …?” The latest joke in the ASEAN region is ‘….the one about AUKUS?” Continue reading »
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Asian languages education: how did we end up in this mess?
How do we end up with an ALP government stupid enough to sign up for the ludicrous AUKUS proposal and the accompanying bogus, China threat scare? Continue reading »
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Japan in diplomatic offensive – Asian Media Report
In Asian Media this week: Japan woos Global South to counter China. Plus: Xi’s Moscow visit – China plays it cool; Would Anglosphere nations welcome others in Aukus?; US Mid-East power waning; Sri Lanka gets aid, with conditions; media present differing views on China. Continue reading »
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Indonesia’s untouchables stay that way
The outcome of a massive police-caused tragedy on Indonesia’s Java Island got less media coverage than a silly white woman’s argument with a brown cop in Bali. Continue reading »
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Guardian Essential Poll: AUKUS support collapses, 3-in-4 oppose
Reflecting the diminishing public support for the AUKUS deal, a new Guardian Essential Poll has found that only one quarter of Australians support paying the $368bn price tag to acquire nuclear submarines. For decades Australians were gung ho about going to war – almost any war. Today – despite the best efforts of the Nine Continue reading »
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The myth of Australian sovereignty
As AUKUS propagandising gathers pace, the Australian public is being softened up to believe that whatever else the arrangement entails (and that still mostly remains a mystery), there will be no compromising of Australia’s sovereignty – none whatsoever. History teaches us that such reassurances can be dangerously hollow. Continue reading »
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Does the ABC regard Palestinians as humans, equal to Ukrainians?
An open letter to the ABC, 22 March 2023. Continue reading »
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Diplomacy in Beijing, war pact in San Diego – who’s the belligerent?
Under the Aukus military accord, Australia and Britain are committing serious self-harm to defend the American empire in the Indo-Pacific. Continue reading »
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Rainbow alert on China
Crikey sets its sights on “human rights abuse” of China’s LGBTQI+ community relying on a single source for its investigation – the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Continue reading »
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Dear reader, are we unwelcome in this white man’s nation?
I am an Australian-born person of Chinese ancestry and have been disturbed by the alarmist fearmongering and drive to war with China from the media and the government. While I have been a faithful public servant and model citizen for many years, once again I am sadly returned to my childhood traumas and anxieties about Continue reading »
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The return of the paranoid American foreign policy
When a severe political cancer returns after a period of remission, we have a recurrence. In serious cases, cells from the original cancer regrow and spread virulently. One of America’s best-known commentators, Fareed Zakaria, recently compared the current grave dysfunctionality and panic-driven decision making in Washington to the worst of the McCarthy era in the Continue reading »
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Imperial power: The Iraq war, 20 years on
Iraq’s trauma is regarded in some quarters as an ill-gotten remnant of the past: something to be air-brushed from history. But not so for those experiencing the ravages of imperial power. On the 20th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq – March, 20, 2023 – the people of Iraq await a historical reckoning. Continue reading »
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Taiwan to the rescue
Regular readers of this journal will be dismayed at the breakneck speed at which Australia is party to the goading of a potentially catastrophic war in our region. With Western mainstream media in anti-China mad dog mode, both sides of the aisle in Canberra sleepwalking, and with nothing at all to win and everything to Continue reading »
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How can it be that Australia has actually gone backwards in knowledge of China?!
At exactly the same time as proclaimed “experts” from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute are telling us to prepare for war with China within three years or so, people who have done proper research on the situation with China studies are saying our record is disappointing, indeed getting worse, not better. Continue reading »
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Championing war with China
In an extraordinary editorial that was labelled as warmongering by former prime minister Paul Keating, the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) called for China to be labelled a clear and present threat, argued for the reintroduction of conscription and for long range missiles armed with nuclear weapons, and urged Australia to prepare for war with China Continue reading »
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China: decoupling from the West and winning the long game
With the re-opening of China and with the ending of Covid restrictions, a new confidence seems to be surging through the country. While the next two years are seen to be a particularly dangerous time, with the real prospect of armed conflict with the US, beyond that it is felt that China’s time will have Continue reading »
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The SMH and Age Red Alert is unwarranted and dangerous
The articles published last week by the SMH and Age under the heading, Red Alert, are deeply flawed. The intent seems to panic us into war. But the many assertions are not supported by evidence or credible argument. Continue reading »
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The Australian retreat from Asia is becoming a rout
Eleven years ago I gave the speech below. I was then pessimistic about our understanding of Asia. The situation has got markedly worse since then, writ large in the unremitting attacks on China stemming from ignorance and parochialism, particularly in our White Man’s Media. Continue reading »
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Why China has passed the United States in science and technology
In recent weeks there have been a multitude of news items and reports emanating from various quarters indicting China has passed the United States in science and technology and this is likely an irreversible trend. Continue reading »
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Lock up your resources, the Aussies are coming
Ignorance and fear can be effective weapons in a manipulative politician’s arsenal. They’re guaranteed to pierce the armour of those least protected by doubt and most susceptible to flannel. Continue reading »
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The betrayers of Julian Assange
I have known Julian Assange since I first interviewed him in London in 2010. I immediately liked his dry, dark sense of humour, often dispensed with an infectious giggle. He is a proud outsider: sharp and thoughtful. We have become friends, and I have sat in many courtrooms listening to the tribunes of the state Continue reading »
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In an unprecedented way, Australia’s government has now risked both… - Guardian Essential Poll: AUKUS support collapses,…
Reflecting the diminishing public support for the AUKUS deal, a… - Strategists admit West is goading China into war
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