World Affairs
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ED PILKINGTON. Trump’s ‘cruel’ measures pushing US inequality to dangerous level, UN warns.
Scorching report on poverty finds ‘systematic attack on welfare program’ will leave millions deprived of food and healthcare. Continue reading »
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ROBYN WHITAKER. Christians in Australia are not persecuted, and it is insulting to argue they are.
As Australians wait to hear the government’s response to the Ruddock review of religious freedom (and indeed, the content of the report itself), it is worth considering exactly how the two intersect in this largely secular society. Australia has neither a bill nor charter of rights, leaving us with complex and diverse laws governing these Continue reading »
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GEORGE EATON. Italy’s new hard-right government is the biggest threat the EU has faced.
The country’s most right-wing government since Mussolini is determined to test the euro’s limits. Continue reading »
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LUCY BERAUD-SUDREAU. Asia’s defence budgets dispel ‘arms race’ myth.
Asian defence spending has not grown faster than the region’s economies – and the share of defence budgets allocated to procurement and R&D has held steady over time. Continue reading »
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GEORGE PERKOVICH. What Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un Don’t Know About Their Own Standoff
If the Cuban Missile Crisis is any indication, today’s leaders may be dangerously misinformed about the nuclear crisis. Continue reading »
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YANIS VAROUFAKIS. Merkel reaps with Quitaly what she sowed with Greek austerity
By crushing us Europeanist Greeks in 2015, Germany sowed the seeds of a bitter harvest: an Italy that might leave the EU. One of the most common mistakes European leaders make in interpreting US President Donald Trump’s hostility toward America’s traditional allies, or the alacrity of his administration’s efforts to blow up the international order, is Continue reading »
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BEH LIH YI. Malaysia’s new deputy PM aims to be a role model for women.
PUTRAJAYA: Wan Azizah Wan Ismail’s childhood ambition was to become a doctor and cure disease. Now that she is Malaysia’s most powerful female politician, she says her mission is to improve women’s rights. Continue reading »
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RYAN DAGUR. Indonesia won’t revoke list of approved Islamic preachers.
Indonesia’s Ministry of Religious Affairs has ignored the protests of Muslim groups and continues to list and publish the names of preachers who are qualified to give religious instruction, in a bid to counter rising radicalism. Mastuki, the ministry’s spokesman, told ucanews.com on May 29 that they would not change their policy as it was designed Continue reading »
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STEPHEN FITZGERALD AND LINDA JAKOBSON. Is there a problem with Australia’s China narrative?
Australia’s China policy is flawed. Diplomatic relations between Canberra and Beijing are strained, to the extent that Australia’s prime minister and foreign minister have not been welcome to visit the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Yet at a time when Australian leaders have been frozen out, leaders from countries experiencing far more serious issues with Continue reading »
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ALLAN PATIENCE: The serious under-development of Papua New Guinea’s university system
There is a crisis in Papua New Guinea’s university system. Universities are devastatingly under-resourced and under-performing. The bizarre persecution of PNG University of Technology’s Vice-Chancellor, Dr Albert Schram, also points to a disastrous governance breakdown at university council level. Can the Australian university sector do anything to help? Yes it can. Continue reading »
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JAMES FALLOWS. America Is Fumbling Its Most Important Relationship.
The United States has a China problem—and pundits and politicians are making it worse. China is an increasing problem for the United States. But the latest reactions and assumptions about China among America’s political-media leadership class hold every prospect of making China-related problems much worse. How can this be? It involves the familiar tension between short-term Continue reading »
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GEOFF MILLER. The US-North Korea Negotiations: Death to Forecasters!
The “pre-negotiation process” going on between the US and North Korea is volatile and opaque, but a few points seem to have emerged. James Bond novels used to feature a sinister Soviet organisation called SMERSH—short for “Death to Spies” in Russian. The twists and reversals in the process that may lead to a Trump-Kim summit Continue reading »
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Chinese, Russian firms look to exploit Europe’s retreat from Iran (Asian Times Staff)
Iranian president to be hosted in Qingdao next month as Beijing and Moscow-led bloc looks to protect business interests. As European companies react with trepidation to the Trump administration’s efforts to blow up the Iran nuclear deal, pulling out of business deals in the face of looming sanctions, Chinese and Russian firms wait in the wings. Continue reading »
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MELVIN GOODMAN. A Major Win for Trump’s War Cabinet.
President Donald Trump’s abrupt decision to run away from a summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un should not be a surprise to anyone. The White House is encouraging the notion that China’s Xi Jinping is to blame for souring the notion of a U.S.-North Korean summit and for toughening Kim Jong Un’s Continue reading »
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ANDREW PESCE. Another School Shooting.
Our understanding that the Mayans and other civilizations once used human sacrifice in their ritual observances sits and contrasts uncomfortably with our sense of civilization. Apart from written history, we have access to more visceral experience of the horror: Mel Gibson’s “Apocalypto” depicts both the individual impact, and the larger scale trauma of the practice. Continue reading »
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WANNING SUN. Megaphone diplomacy is good for selling papers, but harmful for Australia-China relations.
The issue of China’s influence in Australia is complex. It ranges from worries about national security, political donations and media infiltration to concerns about scientific collaborations, Confucius Institutes, the patriotism of Chinese students, and allegiance of the Chinese community. The most recent trope is China’s so-called “debt trap” diplomacy with Australia’s neighbours in the Pacific. Continue reading »
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MAX HAYTON. NZ’s government looks towards investing in better lives.
The New Zealand Labour-led Government’s first budget has been judged to be conservative, cautious, restrained. It was the first step in an innovative way to reverse trends that have been souring New Zealand society. The aim is to invest in the wellbeing of the nation and improve lives, not just the economy. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL EASSON. Israel, Gaza and Australia.
There is neither joy nor bright prospects from any of the recent violence and suffering in Gaza. The tragic loss of life in May naturally focuses attention on Australia’s policy concerning the Israel-Palestine conflict. Continue reading »
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MASHA GESSEN. In the Trump Era, We Are Losing the Ability to Distinguish Reality from Vacuum.
The Trump Presidency is an age of unanswerable questions and lose-lose propositions. How is one to maintain sanity, decency, and a measure of moral courage? In a pair of thoughtful essays in Slate, Dahlia Lithwick tackles the problems of dealing with the everyday nature of our current political disaster and of deciding on the best Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. Who is in charge of Australia’s relations with China? The Australian Prime Minister or ASIO?
ASIO is on a roll in co-ordinating the attack on China and its alleged covert operations in Australia. Only last Friday we learnt that super patriot Andrew Hastie, formerly an officer in SAS and currently Chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, cleared his parliamentary speech with ASIO but not his own Continue reading »
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MUNGO MacCALLUM. For Hastie to drop the bomb without warning his leader was unpardonable.
Andrew Hastie’s use of parliamentary privilege to out the billionaire political donor Chau Chak Wing for being an unindicted (and thus uncharged) “co-conspirator” in the United States was always going to be controversial. Continue reading »
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DER SPIEGEL STAFF. Italy’s New Goverment Is Bad News for the Euro.
Two populist parties are set to take over the government reins in Italy and about the only thing they seem to agree on is their desire to spend huge amounts of money. That’s bad news for Italian finances and terrible news for the eurozone. Continue reading »
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QUENTIN DEMPSTER. Australia’s sledge hammer to crack foreign influence pedlars.
New laws to protect Australia’s democratic governance and economy are about to be determined, now with heightened fear about Chinese influence. Draft bills before federal parliament cover electoral funding, cybersecurity and espionage and a new enforceable regime of self-registration for transparency of foreign influence. Continue reading »
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RICHARD BROINOWSKI. Demonising Iran.
It was the hope of all observers around the world wanting peace in the Middle East that President Donald Trump would revalidate the nuclear deal with Iran on 12 May. Not only did he not do so, but later that month his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo launched an inflammatory and inaccurate attack on Iran Continue reading »
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RAMESH THAKUR. What Sank the Kim-Trump Summit?
The abrupt cancellation of next month’s planned meeting between the North Korean and US leaders should surprise no one. Developments in recent weeks exposed three factors that doomed the initiative to collapse. Continue reading »
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PANKAJ MISHRA. A Gandhian Stand Against the Culture of Cruelty
The bomb that killed Rajiv Gandhi on May 21, 1991, blew his face off. India’s former prime minister, and scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, was identified by his sneakers as he lay spread-eagled on the ground. Some Indian newspapers, refusing dignity to the dead and his survivors, published a picture of Gandhi’s half-dismembered body. I Continue reading »
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CAVAN HOGUE. Korea: the Hermit Kingdom rises again?
The peace negotiations on the Korean Peninsula remain fragile and neither the USA or the DPRK trusts the other. Neither side has been specific about what they will accept and the question remains what it has always been. What does Kim want in return for what he is willing to give and what is Trump Continue reading »
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RICHARD BUTLER. US Ultimatum to Iran: A Classic or a Fake?
Secretary of State Pompeo’s speech to roll out the US Plan B on Iran’s nuclear programme was an ultimatum and, a plan for regime change in Iran. The ultimatum will be rejected but without the classic follow up; in this case, an attack on Iran. It will be proven to be an undeliverable fake. Continue reading »
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CLIVE KESSLER Mahathir, Anwar and the Islamic threat.
Malaysia’s recent national elections either announced a new dawn or they simply mark the beginning of another dark and difficult time in the country’s much-contested political story. Continue reading »
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Australia must position itself in Asia (ABC radio interview with Hugh White)
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/australia-must-position-itself-in-asia-expert-says/9794492 Continue reading »