World Affairs
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WALTER HAMILTON. When Nothing Happened in Japan
After Sunday’s election, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would be entitled to quote Mark Twain: ‘Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated’. Political death, that is. His ruling coalition threw back all challengers and retained the crucial two-thirds majority in the lower house required for a constitutional amendment. Continue reading »
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MUNGO MacCALLUM. Malcolm Turnbull and Daniel Andrews.
The success of Victoria’s Labor government in passing its Assisted Dying legislation through the lower house is surely an object lesson in how to handle a sensitive and contentious subject. Continue reading »
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STUART HARRIS. The US and North Korea: the importance of history.
North Korea’s belligerent missile tests have given rise to fears that the hardening rhetoric on both sides will lead to military conflict involving nuclear weapons. These fears have resulted in moves to moderate this tension by some of the players, with US Secretary of State Tillerson seeking to communicate with the North, and South Korea’s Continue reading »
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MAX HAYTON. NZ election finally produces a government.
A stunning election outcome has given New Zealand a new government with the potential to transform the country’s economy and society. Risen star and youngest ever New Zealand woman Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, aged 37, leads a coalition that ends the nine-year reign of the conservative, centre-Right National Party under former money dealer John Key Continue reading »
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PETER RODGERS. Australia and capital punishment – rhetoric and reality
In pursuing Australia’s ultimately successful bid for election to the UN Human Rights Council, Foreign Minister Bishop declared that Australia would be ‘unrelenting’ in its efforts to abolish capital punishment globally. But Australia’s track record of selective outrage gives little hope for an energetic, universalist approach that goes beyond the rhetorical. Continue reading »
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JULIE BISHOP. Foreign policy in an uncertain world.
“We have an independent foreign policy and we do not outsource our decisions to other countries.” Julie Bishop Yesterday, we posted a speech by Shadow Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, ‘Engaging with China’. Today we post a presentation by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to the Australian Institute of International Affairs, 2017 National Conference in Canberra. Continue reading »
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MERRIDEN VARRALL. Chinese student furore reveals Australia’s poor integration strategy
Why does Australia encourage international — including Chinese — students to study within its borders? Australian universities are about teaching and learning, but they need to be properly resourced to do so, so one reason for encouraging foreign students is the funding they bring to Australian universities. Another more important aspect is the potential to Continue reading »
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PENNY WONG. FutureAsia – Engaging with China (A speech to the Australian Institute of International Affairs, Canberra, 16 October 2017)
Last month, my friend and colleague Chris Bowen, the Shadow Treasurer, delivered a major speech to the Asia Society in Sydney. In it he outlined Labor’s approach to Asia. FutureAsia will be a whole-of-government framework underpinning our efforts to deepen and broaden our engagement. As the Shadow Treasurer said, Asian economies are changing, and Australia isn’t keeping Continue reading »
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JAMES O’NEILL: Requiem for a democracy
The Australian Security agencies have asked again for further powers to enable them to prevent terrorist attacks. Among the requests made are for extended detention powers, increasing the time a “terror suspect” can be detained without charge from 14 to 28 days. Continue reading »
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ANDREW FARRAN. Trump is being reckless with the Iranian nuclear deal
President Trump’s decision this past weekend to de-certify the nuclear deal with Iran displays a recklessness almost on a par with his apparent readiness to vaporise North Korea with nuclear bombs. He is in error in citing non-nuclear aspects of the Iranian government as bearing on the agreement. Continue reading »
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RICHARD BROINOWSKI. Trump’s foolishness over Iran
Those with short memories forget what a gem of non-proliferation the Iran Framework Agreement of July 2015 is. Trump wants to trash it. If he succeeds it will create regional uncertainty and the likelihood of nuclear proliferation that the Framework currently postpones. Along with his posture towards North Korea, Trump’s contempt for Iran makes him Continue reading »
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IAN MACPHEE. In Defence of Aung San Suu Kyi.
The Rohingya crisis in Rakhine state in Myanmar (formerly Burma), one of the most unknown situations in the world, is now dominating daily news worldwide. Many commentators have rushed to judgment about the leadership of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi without understanding the challenges she faces. Continue reading »
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RAMESH THAKUR. Five Steps to Peace in Myanmar
The bloodshed in Myanmar has uprooted hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohingya, eroded the prestige of government leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and damaged the credibility of ASEAN and the United Nations. The crisis can be resolved, but not without international intervention. Continue reading »
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WALTER HAMILTON. Big changes mean more of the same in Japanese election
Early signs of trouble for the Abe government in Japan have seemingly evaporated under the more intense heat of election campaigning, and “more of the same” is now the likely outcome of the 22 October poll. Continue reading »
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WE ARE ALSO READING AND LISTENING TO …
Pearls and Irritations provides the following links for weekend reading: Continue reading »
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SUE WAREHAM. Open letter: Parliament, not ministers, must decide Australia’s response to a Korean war
The possibility of war between the United States and North Korea – particularly a war triggered by one too many provocative moves by an unpredictable leader, leading to miscalculation or misinterpretation – continues to threaten millions of people. The consequences of any such war, even a “conventional” one, would be dire. Continue reading »
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SUSAN RYAN. Postcard from Ireland, a resilient democracy
It is heartening to see Ireland, so recently condemned as an economic basket case with social attitudes belonging in the middle ages effectively renew and redirect its democracy Continue reading »
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PAUL FRIJTERS. EU plans for VAT taxation are doomed to fail. Again.
Taxation is the potential downfall of the EU as an institution. The reason is that within the EU, several member states are making money from the tax evasion in other member states, a situation akin to having a wife slowly murdering her husband with poison. Unless this stops, a divorce becomes inevitable. Continue reading »
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JOHN TULLOH. The paranoia of the US/Iran relationship.
If North Korea were willing to sign much the same kind of nuclear agreement as Iran did in 2015, President Donald Trump would exult in the ultimate deal and there would be international relief far and wide. Yet now there is talk that he wants to ‘decertify’ the arrangement and thus risk giving Iran the Continue reading »
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ARTHUR STOCKWIN. Developments in Japan including threats to press freedom
Most international attention on East Asia today is sharply focused on North Korea’s nuclear and missile developments. But this does not mean that we can neglect the significant developments taking place in Japan’s domestic political landscape. Since winning the December 2012 elections, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government has maintained a commanding majority in the national Continue reading »
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MUNGO MACCALLUM. Welcome to Malcolm’s brave new world.
Malcolm Turnbull began last week with the regular ritual of re-announcing that, yet again, he had solved the gas crisis. Continue reading »
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PAUL FRIJTERS. Observations, lessons, and predictions for the Catalan situation
I make the following observations about the Catalan situation:What might happen! Continue reading »
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TONY SMITH. Australia’s worst threat from terrorism lies in the home.
The recent shooting in Las Vegas is a reminder that massacres are not the preserve of international terrorists. While the US Ambassador in Canberra has suggested Australia’s firearms laws could be a useful model for the USA, we cannot feel complacent while we tolerate domestic violence. Yet, politicians seem not to appreciate that cultural change Continue reading »
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JOHN CARMODY. Same-sex marriage survey is All Over, Red Rover.
Newspapers and the electronic media seem to flourish on controversy, novelty and scandal; the temptation is to expand and prolong their coverage unduly. The current postal survey on “same-sex marriage” seems to be a classic instance. Continue reading »
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LEONID PETROV. Imagining the catastrophic consequences of a new war in Korea.
The 1953 Armistice Agreement brought a sustainable halt to the Korean War, but has never ended it. Nor did it transform into a peace regime. During the last sixty four years the North and South Koreans have lived in conditions of neither war nor peace, which has certain advantages and downsides for both regimes separated by Continue reading »
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DUNCAN MACLAREN. Catalonia is not Scotland and Vice Versa
Scotland’s independence referendum campaign, described by an academic, objective source as one of the best examples of participative democracy in Europe, was completely peaceful apart from triumphant Unionists who were followers of the Orange Lodge attacking forlorn “Yes” voters on the day after the referendum which the ‘pro-indy’ side narrowly lost. In Catalonia, before and Continue reading »
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WE ARE ALSO READING AND LISTENING TO …
Pearls and Irritations provides the following links for weekend reading and listening: Continue reading »
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RAMESH THAKUR. Incorrigible Optimist by Gareth Evans – review-Part 2 of 2
At a time when the world’s political landscape seems starved of good policy-making, Gareth Evans’ political memoirs are a reflection on the pursuit of good leadership in Australia and the world, Ramesh Thakur writes. Continue reading »
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SHAUN KING. The White Privilege of the “Lone Wolf” Shooter
White killers are invariably ‘lone wolves’ and not terrorists.Muslim and African-Americans killers are treated differently Continue reading »
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DAVID STEPHENS. Who’s Schlesinger now? Something that may have happened in the Nixon era could be relevant today.
It is said that, when President Richard Nixon, assailed by Watergate, drunk and psychotic, wandered the corridors of the White House in the dead of night, talking to portraits of his predecessors, members of his administration put measures in place to keep the President’s hands away from ‘the football’, the briefcase that always accompanied him, Continue reading »