World Affairs
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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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War with China looms: Questions that need answers
We now have a clearer picture of how deeply entangled with US strategic priorities and war preparations Australia has become. We also know that China is viewed as the principal adversary, and that US military planners and their Australian counterparts are busily planning for a major military confrontation with China, most likely over Taiwan. Continue reading »
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The mystery of the Nord Stream pipeline explosions
On 26 September, the Nordstream 1 and 2 pipelines were badly damaged in a deliberate act of sabotage that released huge amounts of methane gas. Almost all the Western media has pointed the finger at Russia but Moscow blames actors hostile to it. There are four plausible suspects: Russia, the US, Poland and Ukraine. Given Continue reading »
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What about the Taiwanese?
What you think of the story in the Indo-Pacific, connecting the US, Australia, China and Taiwan, depends on how you start telling it. Try the top line of both international human rights covenants: on civil and political rights, and economic, social and cultural rights, respectively. “All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of Continue reading »
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Nord Stream: Urgent need for international investigations into crimes against the environment
The explosions at the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines on September 26 in the Baltic Sea have been deemed an act of sabotage – but which nations or actors are responsible is yet to be known. Given the scale of the environmental crime, why are we not demanding the truth? What explains Western silence? Continue reading »
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Sinophobia, Russophobia, mutations of the same political virus
There is no doubt that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a serious war crime regardless of several provocations, including NATO’s eastward expansion and the role of the United States in the 2014 Maidan coup. Even so, the West is in no position to lecture Russia on sovereignty violations. Continue reading »
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Four Corners: Australia becomes US nuclear spear carrier in Asia
Four Corners last night showed how Australia is becoming ‘a proxy’ or is it ‘a patsy’ for the US in a possible conflict with China. Our actions invite a Chinese response. Sometimes I wonder why the Chinese bother about a reset in relations when we behave so foolishly at the behest of the US. China Continue reading »
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One country, two systems: Judiciary upholds Hong Kong’s legal system and way of life
Since Hong Kong was reunified with the motherland in 1997, its fortunes have been guided by the Basic Law, its mini-constitution. This guarantees that its capitalist system and way of life will remain unchanged for 50 years, and that it enjoys a “high degree of autonomy”. Continue reading »
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The party decides: review of the CCP National Congress
More of the same. That’s the outcome of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which concluded at the weekend. The implication for Australia is that we had better get used to it. Continue reading »
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US Asia Policy seems to be in disarray
The China-bashing broadside delivered by US Vice President Kamala Harris at the end of September in Japan raises questions of who is in charge of China and Asia policy and what it is. Continue reading »
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Ukraine military instructor decision echoes the lead up to Australia’s deployment in Vietnam
It would be no great surprise if Australians were to join British military instructors in training Ukrainians to fight. Defence Minister Richard Marles hinted at that when he visited the UK in September. The Australian personnel would join others from New Zealand, Sweden, the Netherlands and elsewhere who have been supporting Ukraine’s side in the Continue reading »
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The War in Ukraine: A report from Moscow
At last count there was only one English speaker reporting the war from the Russian side. For this recent visitor to Moscow, Mr Putin’s war hardly seemed to exist. No soldiers are marching the streets. The TV featured endless food shows. Continue reading »
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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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US revives Monroe Doctrine to provoke China, defend hegemonism
After the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, visited Taiwan on August 2, 2022, her compatriots continued to stoke regional tensions. They have sought to provoke China at every opportunity, hoping to trigger a response. Whereas their rhetoric has been inflammatory, their hypocrisy has been blatant. Continue reading »
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Indonesia bans sex outside marriage amid sweeping law changes
Lock your bedroom: The state is perving. The G20 in Bali last month was a splendid success – and not just because world leaders talked to each other proving differences can sometimes be understood, if not always accepted. Continue reading »
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Challenging the “Uyghur genocide narrative”
The “Uyghur genocide narrative” is falling apart and Jaq James, an Australian socio-legal research consultant is one of the main architects of the collapse. Continue reading »
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The US is focussed on its own interests, not the people of Taiwan
Taiwan’s politics is tied to that of mainland China because of the unfinished business of the Chinese civil war between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Kuomintang (KMT). Continue reading »
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Australia and the suspended U.N. Inspection
It always helps to have your own house in order before criticising another’s. With other nations, Australia has in recent times been a constant critic of the human rights record of numerous nations, particularly that of China. However, it was Australia itself who last month was subject to a critical report from the U.N. Committee Continue reading »
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Last week, a NSW court jailed me for 15 months for a peaceful climate protest. Hear my story
If you are reading this, then I have been sentenced to prison for peaceful environmental protest. I do not want to break the law. But when regular political procedure has proven incapable of enacting justice, it falls to ordinary people taking a stand to bring about change. Continue reading »
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Australia excoriated over refusal to allow UN torture committee to visit places of detention
Australia is a party to the United Nations Convention Against Torture. Pursuant to the terms of the Convention, the UN has established a Sub-Committee for the Prevention of Torture (SPT). The Committee’s mandate is to prevent torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. It pursues that mandate through visits to member states. Member states are obliged Continue reading »
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Infatuated with US politics, does the media remember the third-largest democracy in the world: Indonesia?
Americans will get to the ballot box in late 2024. Such is our infatuation with US politics that by Guy Fawkes’ night we’ll have absorbed enough minutia to know more about their electoral system than ours. Does anyone in the media remember Indonesia? Continue reading »
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The Guardian could help Assange by retracting all the lies it published about him
The Guardian has joined The New York Times, Le Monde, Der Spiegel and El País in signing a letter from the five papers which collaborated with WikiLeaks twelve years ago in the publication of the Chelsea Manning leaks to call for the Biden administration to drop all charges against Julian Assange. This sudden jolt of mainstream Continue reading »
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Enough is enough for Albanese on Assange: our allies may respect us if we say this more
The Prime Minister’s surprise revelation that he has raised the case against Julian Assange with US officials and urged that charges of espionage and conspiracy be dropped opens up many questions. Continue reading »
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Women on Death Row in Singapore: how gender discriminations create a ‘double punishment’
Women on death row in Singapore face a stark reality of isolation, harassment and intimidation. Singapore’s enthusiastic application of the death penalty, particularly, for minor drug offences, has recently garnered the spotlight after Singapore have executed at least 11 men since March 2022. Continue reading »
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Divisive China-threat politics deliver defeat in Taiwan
In 2019, President Tsai Ing-wen led the DPP to record-setting election victories in Taiwan by megaphoning the China-Threat. This same approach has crashed badly for the DPP in the recent local elections in what can only be read as a rebuke to US China baiting and a win for regional peace. Continue reading »
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China keeps aggressively surrounding itself with US bases: notes from the edge of The Narrative Matrix
It still amazes me how many people who fancy themselves anti-establishment critical thinkers will spend all day mindlessly regurgitating mainstream media lines about China. Continue reading »
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Taiwan backs Chiang Kai-shek’s great grandson in push for peace with Beijing
Defeated in 1949 in its civil war against China’s pro-Communist forces, the Nationalist KMT, or Kuo Min-tang, party has had a victory. But it had to wait till last Sunday’s Taiwan mayoral elections, where it won 13 of Taiwan’s 23 district electorates. Continue reading »
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Yes, the Chinese protests are about politics and freedom. But they are also about what COVID might do if it is let loose now
While a lot of attention has been given to the unprecedented protests in China about the “dynamic zero COVID” policy, not much has been written about the wider political context, and particularly the young people leading the protests. Continue reading »
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Should WeChat be banned? Australian users say no
Banning WeChat/Weixin would mean cutting Australian users’ “lifeline” to China; it would risk further alienating an already alienated community amid the anti-Chinese sentiment in Australia. For non-Chinese WeChat users in Australia, banning the platform would deprive them of individual choice and agency. Continue reading »
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Taiwan voters consider President Tsai’s hostile relationship with China to be fool hardy
Those vested in the ‘the coming war with China’ may need to rethink. Continue reading »
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Taiwan reunification: US benefits from cross-straits divisions
Although the United States often expresses concerns over the possibility of Taiwan being reunified with its motherland by force, it claims to support consensual reunification. This, however, could not be further from the truth, and its own national interests dictate otherwise. It benefits enormously from cross-Straits divisions, and the last thing it wants to see Continue reading »
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The case of the wolf and the sheep in Hong Kong
Recently, a correspondent on Australia’s national broadcaster casually referred to Hong Kong as a “police state”. This ignores that the courts operate under common law rules. The role of the judge is key. They are not mouth-pieces of the central government. In HKSAR v Lai Man-ling & 4 Others, Hong Kong’s image overseas has been Continue reading »
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Anwar new PM – but how long will new Malaysian Government survive?
“Yah, man … but how long laaa?” A Malaysian friend told me yesterday when I asked him about the news that Anwar Ibrahim had been sworn in as Malaysia’s 10th Prime Minister. Continue reading »
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The central importance of China’s common prosperity
Nikkei diplomatic correspondent Ken Moriyasu debunks the notion that Xi Jinping has been set up as some sort of President-for-life, stressing that Xi’s tenure is conspicuously dependent on maintaining overall performance legitimacy at a time when head winds look set to dominate. Continue reading »
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The coming Sinophobic calamity
Neither the red wave nor the blue one materialised in the latest election, which removes some of the impetus for the coming congressional Sinophobic rampage. Continue reading »
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What caused the Anthony Albanese China change? Better advisors?
To say that the Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, has been poorly advised would be an understatement. For reasons best known to himself he picked up and ran with a posse of advisers from the corrupt and inept Morrison regime. A big mistake. Continue reading »
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Joy and a troubled conscience at the Qatar World Cup
I will be watching some games – but I will do so with a bad conscience! Continue reading »
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Albanese’s China reset leaves national security establishment in the cold
We should all welcome a bilateral decision between Australia and China to tone down the language, lower the temperature and to resume discussions of mutual interests. Continue reading »
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To understand the rise of China examine what we have in common
One hundred years ago in China the May 4th Movement announced that “Science and Socialism” would save the nation. In Australia, thirteen years prior, a workers party has already taken national government for the first time in history. Continue reading »
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Sending a 13-year-old Indonesian child to an Australian adult prison
Sentencing 13 year old children to adult jail is injustice of the highest order. On some lists Australians are world leaders in shame. Like locking up and brutalising children as Four Corners has shown – and not only our own. We’ve treated Indonesian kiddies just as badly. Continue reading »
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What Kevin Rudd got wrong on China: Taiwan and the great rejuvenation twenty five years ago
The renowned China hand mistook Beijing’s linking of Taiwan and the “great rejuvenation” as a recent development and failed to trace the origin of the “great rejuvenation” of the Chinese nation back to at least 1997. Continue reading »
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