World Affairs
-
JOHN MENADUE. The international press at Panmunjom for the KIm-Moon Summit were much more impressed than the Australian press.
I was struck by the response, amazement and obvious excitement of the international press at Panmunjom, near Seoul last Friday. See link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw8mROuQs44 But the media interest in Australia seemed remarkably low key and almost disinterested. At least our media was not as sulky and cynical as the Japanese media, Continue reading »
-
EMIRZA ADI SYAILENDRA. Indonesia’s elite divided on China
The diffuse nature of policymaking in Indonesia discourages its leaders from departing from the country’s status quo policy towards Beijing. The status quo aims to allow Jakarta to have its cake and eat it too — that is, enjoy close relations with Beijing while preserving its strategic autonomy in ASEAN. Continue reading »
-
ROGER COHEN. The insanity along the Gaza fence
Israel has the right to defend its borders, but not use lethal force against unarmed protesters. Continue reading »
-
SAM BATEMAN. South China Sea Encounters
Australian and Chinese warships recently had what has been called a robust but polite encounter in the South China Sea. This was always likely and the Australian Government has been correct in not over-reacting. Rather than unnecessarily confronting China, Australia should be sensitive to the views of its Southeast Asian neighbours. Continue reading »
-
LINDSAY MURDOCH. Former Islamic cleric could be Malaysia’s kingmaker.
Unlikely election alliance between PAS and UMNO could result in the country taking a stronger Islamic direction. Continue reading »
-
MARGARET O’CONNOR. Institutional reform following the Royal Commission on child sex abuse is women’s work.
Women – from those who quietly brought pressure on parliamentarians through to the Prime Minister and Governor General – brought about the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Yet the response to the Commission is being handled as if it is all blokes’ business. Continue reading »
-
RICHARD BUTLER. Admiral Harris is not coming: does it matter?
The decision by incoming US Secretary of State Pompeo, to withdraw the nomination of Admiral Harry Harris as US Ambassador to Australia, is something within his gift. Julie Bishop and Malcolm Turnbull had fervently welcomed the proposed appointment. Presumably she and Malcolm Turnbull will now formulate ways in which to suggest that it’s of no Continue reading »
-
MACK WILLIAMS. North Korea – it’s summit time!
The pace of developments on the Korean peninsular in the past month or so has been breathtaking matched by the plethora of pundits who have sought to interpret what it all means and where we may be headed. Not surprisingly given the history and geography and the stakeholders involved much of coverage has been confusing Continue reading »
-
ELIZA BERLAGE. Our flailing aid created a Pacific problem.
The report by Fairfax’s David Wroe of a potential Chinese military presence on Vanuatu sent alarm bells ringing for many. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said a Chinese military base in the region would be ‘of great concern’ and Australian diplomats met with Vanuatu officials last week to find out more details. Continue reading »
-
Anzacs fought and died at Gallipoli for Britain, not Australia
Conservatives and militarists want us to cling to a disastrous imperial war. Such a war could never be ‘nation building’ as the apologists for empire suggest. It was quite the reverse.The Anzac myth makers encourage us to focus on how our soldiers fought in order to avoid the central issue of why we fought. We Continue reading »
-
HENRY REYNOLDS. Remembrance Day in New York: Anzac Day in Tasmania.
I was in New York during May last year. At the end of the month, there was a public holiday. It was their Remembrance Day. Not that much happened in New York. There were no flags, no marches or processions. Apparently, it is a tradition for a naval ship to come into port for the Continue reading »
-
DAVID JAMES. The big, bad business of America’s war industry.
The spread of militarism does not just involve creating the specific apparatus of war. As the Western allies flirt with starting World War III in Syria, it is worth examining some of the financial and business dynamics behind the United States’ ‘military industrial complex.’ Continue reading »
-
RICHARD FLANAGAN. Freedom means Australia facing up to the truth of its past. (Part 2 of 2)
We should, of course, question these things more. We could ask why – if we were actually genuine about remembering patriots who have died for this country – why would we not first spend $100m on a museum honouring the at least 65,000 estimated Indigenous dead who so tragically lost their lives defending their country Continue reading »
-
RICHARD FLANAGAN. Australians in WWI didn’t die for Australia. They died for Britain. (Part 1 of 2)
And so, the Monash Centre, for all its good intentions, for all the honour it does the dead, is at heart a centre for forgetting. It leads us to forget that the 62,000 young men who died in world war one died far from their country in service of one distant empire fighting other distant Continue reading »
-
MICHAEL PASCOE. The reality of our ‘scary’ China confrontation.
Fresh on the heels of the Chinese invasion of Vanuatu that wasn’t, febrile minds have been seized by the headline-grabbing story of a Chinese navy “confrontation” with the Royal Australian Navy. The Prime Minister was quickly ready in London to assert Australia’s right to freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. Well, I suppose that’s more fun for Continue reading »
-
ERIC WALSH. Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un.
The highly- important upcoming meeting between North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un and America’s Donald Trump could hopefully settle one of the world’s red-hot trouble spots. Continue reading »
-
GARRY EVERETT. Importance of seeing the ‘big picture’.
Failing to see or accept the big picture is a condition that is currently affecting many organisations in our world, says Garry Everett, and four particular organisations stand out as having significant problems in this regard. Continue reading »
-
ALISON BROINOWSKI. War on demand
The UK and the US moved closer this week to enabling their governments to bypass legal and democratic processes in committing forces to war, virtually anywhere, at any time and continuously. Australian politicians and the mainstream media seem to assume that this has nothing to do with Australia and we are not interested. Continue reading »
-
‘We know where your kids live’ – John Bolton to OPCW DG José Bustani, March 2002
In justifying her decision to commit the UK to joining the US and France in the unilateral air strikes on Syria on 14 April, PM Theresa May said in Parliament on 16 April that a requirement for UN authorisation would effectively give Russia a veto on British foreign policy. Opposition Leader Jeremy Corbyn called for Continue reading »
-
Syria a symptom of a broken international order
Last Saturday US, British and French forces bombed three chemical weapons facilities in Damascus in retaliation for the alleged use of chemical weapons by Syrian forces in Douma on 6–8 April that killed around 70 people. Continue reading »
-
SCOTT BURCHILL. What The West Really Thinks About Chemical Weapons Attacks.
How genuine is the West’s concern about the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria last week? Did they constitute a “line in the sand”, a crime so egregious that military strikes by Washington, London and Paris were necessary and morally justified? The historical record would suggest exactly the opposite. Continue reading »
-
ROBERT FISK. The search for truth in the rubble of Douma – and one doctor’s doubts over the chemical attack
This is the story of a town called Douma, a ravaged, stinking place of smashed apartment blocks – and of an underground clinic whose images of suffering allowed three of the Western world’s most powerful nations to bomb Syria last week. There’s even a friendly doctor in a green coat who, when I track him down Continue reading »
-
ANDREW FARRAN. Stalemate and Lawlessness over Syria.
On ABC News Radio (Monday 16th April) Paul Barrett, a former Deputy Secretary of DFAT and former Secretary of the Department of Defence was asked in an interview whether the military actions over the past weekend in Syria by the United States, the UK and France were legal in both international and domestic law. He Continue reading »
-
RICHARD BUTLER. Hypocrisy and Sanctimony: a Poisonous Brew.
The arguments advanced to justify the illegal US/French/UK attack upon Syrian CW related facilities incorporated buckets of sanctimony and numbing hypocrisy. There has been no serious discussion of the justification given by the three; because it was known to be patently false. And, worse, by setting themselves above the law, these three permanent members of Continue reading »
-
MORTON HALPERIN, PETER HAYES, LEON SIGAL. Options for denuclearising the Korean peninsular
A critically important part of assembling the Korean peninsula-wide denuclearization jigsaw puzzle is the institutional and legal form of North Korean commitments on the one hand, and the nuclear negative security assurances by the NPT-Nuclear Weapons States (NWSs), especially the United States, on the other. In Nautilus Institute there is a special report ‘A Korean Continue reading »
-
Was DT Mouse-Trapped Into Attacking Syria?
Those of us of a certain age will remember the phrase ‘DTs’, short for delirium tremens: a rapid onset of confusion caused by an alcoholic’s immediate abstinence. Is the world suffering from a different set of DTs: the rapid-fire onset of domestic and global crises by a confused president revelling in his role as the Continue reading »
-
DAN MCGARRY. Want to lead in the Pacific? Try listening first
The average Australian’s conception of Pacific island nations is so limited it makes some of us wonder if they even want to understand. Our voices—and our reality—have been pointedly and repeatedly ignored in the media, and in the corridors of power. Continue reading »
-
Downer leaps into British political fray with gratuitous advice
There was a time, back in the days of childhood, when everything that was modern and power about Britain seemed to begin with a “V”: Vanguard and Vauxhall cars, Vickers Viscount aircraft, the Victor, Vulcan and Valiant bombers…Alexander Downer wants to build back those days when Brits and Aussies were brothers together. Continue reading »
-
JOCELYN CHEY. China Watchers Are Not China Stooges.
Australia needs informed and balanced study and reporting on China more than ever before. Informed opinion depends on the ability to see both sides of the picture and to avoid over-simplification. Continue reading »
-
SCOTT BURCHILL. The attack on Syria
There are seven points to consider after the US, UK and French attacks on Syria last week. Continue reading »