World Affairs
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It’s high noon on the roof of the world
The territorial standoff in the Himalayas is a lose-lose proposition for both India and China. Continue reading »
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DOUGLAS NEWTON. The Centenary of the Third Battle of Ypres
On 31 July 1917, one hundred years ago, Britain launched the Third Battle of Ypres on the Western Front. It would climax in the Battle of Passchendaele in November. During this centenary, will the Australian people be showered with stories of special valour? Or will there be more clear-eyed commentary? The catastrophe that unfolded in Continue reading »
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JOHN TULLOH. “Hell on earth” lies just across the Indian Ocean
If you travelled from Western Australia north-west across the Indian Ocean, the first country you would encounter has been described as ‘Hell on Earth’. You will find there civil war, famine, drought, refugees, destruction and a blockade for starters. Now it has a cholera epidemic. No wonder it has been called the worst story Continue reading »
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SPENCER ZIFCAK. What’s Wrong with Peter Dutton’s New Super Ministry? The Preparation, the Institution, and the Politician Perhaps?
Peter Dutton is to be given a fiefdom – the new, massive Department of Home Affairs. Peta Credlin responded immediately by saying that the creation of the new department had the ‘stink of a prime minister who’s under pressure and has to be seen as doing something.’ That’s unfair. Continue reading »
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GREG LOCKHART. What were we fighting for at Gallipoli, in Palestine and on the Western Front? (Part 5 of 5)
Part 5: Narrative Overview and Conclusion The emphasis in our military history and remembrance on asking how we fought does not inherently preclude an interest in what we were fighting for. The two narratives could co-exist and interact. But not effectively in our culture – yet. We still lose sight of what our remembrance confirms: Continue reading »
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TED TRAINER. Terrorism and Our Empire: Some Neglected Questions.
There is a very strong tendency to avoid asking some key questions about terrorism, thereby maintaining various myths and delusions that prevent a number of unpleasant realities from being faced up to. Continue reading »
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TIM LINDSEY. Jokowi’s dilemma: turning Islamists into civil rights heroes?
Indonesia’s emergency law, enacted in response to the growing disruptive influence of Islamist hard-liners, could be a blow to the open, liberal democracy that Indonesian reformers have been trying to build ever since the fall of Soeharto in 1998. And it has the ironic result of forcing civil society groups that are usually against the Continue reading »
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GREG LOCKHART. What were we fighting for at Gallipoli, in Palestine and on the Western Front? (Part 4 of 5)
Part 4. A race strategy to save ‘White Australia’ Political manipulation of the society’s racially inflected anxieties was a major factor in the imperial ascendency over national defence policy in the Commonwealth in 1911. The secret implementation of a race strategy then determined our entry into the Great War. This information was not available to Continue reading »
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GREG LOCKHART. What were we fighting for at Gallipoli, in Palestine and on the Western Front? (Part 3 of 5)
Part 3. Empire over nation. In 1914-18, the fight for Empire against Asia minimised independent Australian national interests. Ambiguous, interchangeable use of the terms ‘empire’ and ‘nation’ also protected that ‘imperial’ bias in our political culture. Continue reading »
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LOUIS COOPER. President Trump’s 17-page list of changes to the North American Free Trade agreement [NAFTA] are causing some political problems for Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau.
NAFTA came into force on January 1 1994. It replaced the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement. NAFTA’s basic premise was to ignore the international borders and reduce or eliminate tariffs for much of the trade between Canada, the United States and Mexico. For the most part, it has been beneficial to the North American economies Continue reading »
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JAMES O’NEILL. Germany’s Ostpolitik in the Modern Era
Germany recognises that there is a fundamental shift in the economic, political and military balance of power to the east. It is now flexing its political muscle to match its economic might. Continue reading »
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GREG LOCKHART. What were we fighting for at Gallipoli, in Palestine and on the Western Front? (Part 2 of 5)
Part 2. Empire against Asia The ‘imperial’ nature of Australia’s involvement in the Great War was distinctively Australian and, it should be said, a sign of the doubt white settler society had about its survival as a remote outpost of the British Empire in Austral-Asia. Continue reading »
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RICHARD WOOLCOTT. Government policies have made us less safe.
The establishment of an enlarged Department of Home Affairs under the ministerial control of Peter Dutton is an unnecessary mistaken policy. Continue reading »
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What were we fighting for at Gallipoli, in Palestine and on the Western Front? Part 1 of 5-part series.
To find out what we were fighting for in the Great War we must get past the usual fig-leaf explanation, which is as remarkably effective as it is short on cover in Australian culture. Continue reading »
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CESAR JARAMILLO. Canada’s opposition to the nuclear weapons ban treaty has degraded its reputation on disarmament, at home and abroad. An open letter to Justin Trudeau on the banning of nuclear weapons
Dear Mr. Trudeau, You recently dismissed this year’s multilateral process to negotiate a legal prohibition of nuclear weapons as “useless.” I’m afraid you were misinformed: it was anything but. Continue reading »
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JAMES O’NEILL. Lessons from Mosul: Double Standards, War Crimes and Lack of Accountability
Lest week the Iraqi government announced that Mosul has been ‘liberated ‘ from the control of ISIS. The major campaign for Mosul’s liberation began in October 2016 when the US led coalition massively increased both bombing raids and artillery attacks that had in fact been going on since ISIS captured the city in 2014. Continue reading »
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Aleppo and Fallujah. (Repost from 30 December 2016)
In light of the civilian disaster unfolding presently in Aleppo, it is timely to revisit the uncontradicted claims unwarranted action against civilians in Fallujah supervised by Australian military commander, Jim Molan. This piece was first published in 2008. If correct, the claims are an indictment on Australia’s military presence back then in Fallujah. What now Continue reading »
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ANDREW FARRAN. The Fall of Mosul and Raqqa opens the door for Australia’s exit from the Middle East
Now that ISIS has for all intents and purposes been driven out of Mosul and Raqqa the time has come for the Australian government to step back and review its diplomatic policies, and military commitments, in that region and focus back on the region of primary concern: East and Southeast Asia and the Southern Pacific. Continue reading »
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ALISON BROINOWSKI. Beware, armed response.
If Turnbull’s plan becomes law – and the prospects of the Opposition stopping anything to do with ‘fighting terrorism’ are remote – we can expect a terrorist attack to trigger an emergency response from the Special Operations Command, whose officers will have to be trained to shoot to kill other Australians. Continue reading »
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GREG AUSTIN. Australians have little to fear from terrorism at home – here’s why. (Repost from 24 October 2016)
According to an ANU poll, more than half of the country’s adults are concerned Australia will be a target for terrorism at home and strongly believe the government needs to introduce greater preventive measures to combat it. But the reality is less alarming. More Australians have died at the hands of police (lawfully or unlawfully) Continue reading »
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JOHN TULLOH. Fear, paranoia and anxiety in Turkey one year on from the failed coup attempt.
As one opposition MP noted: ‘Turkey has been wrapped in a cloak of fear and anxiety’. Paranoia as well, he might have added. Continue reading »
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TONY KEVIN. Australia has been enlisted by Trump’s Washington opponents
Australia has now been enlisted in Trump’s war against the Washington elite. There are costs and risks to Australia in this development. Continue reading »
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GEORGE YANCY AND NOAM CHOMSKY (INTERVIEW). On Trump and the State of the Union
Is Russian hacking really more significant than, for example, the Republican campaign to destroy the conditions for organized social existence, in defiance of the entire world? Continue reading »
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Japan on the wrong side of nuclear weapons ban treaty
Many nations that previously championed their nuclear disarmament credentials have now been outed as part of the problem Continue reading »
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RICHARD BROINOWSKI. Matching Colonial Wars
The record of British colonial history proves that what occurred to Aboriginal Australian communities at the hands of white settlers and British military forces was not a unique event. The same thing occurred with as much inhumanity and ferocity in other parts of the Empire, notably in South Africa against the Khoi, the Xhosa and Continue reading »
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Modi’s actions fail to live up to his words
Three years on, it’s hard for even the most ardent Indophile to remain optimistic about the nation’s future. Continue reading »
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MACK WILLIAMS. North Korea ICBM threat to Australia.
The DPRK’s recent ICBM test raises some extremely serious concerns for Australia which will need to be carefully considered by the Australian Government before it rushes off into decision making on the run as has been the case in the past week of hyperventilation. Any attraction of the DPRK to include Australia as a target Continue reading »
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TONY KEVIN. Hamburg G20 : Much was achieved
Angela Merkel’s firm and statesmanlike chairmanship steered the Hamburg G20 to a content-rich, global economics and climate change-dominated leaders’ declaration https://www.g20.org/gipfeldokumente/G20-leaders-declaration.pdf. Continue reading »
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GEOFF MILLER. Kim Jong Un – Forcing the pace, or forging a peace?
Kim Jong Un’s continual provocation of the United States can probably be best explained as a considered strategy to bring about negotiations between the two. Continue reading »
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Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump: The godfathers of the UN treaty to ban the bomb
With a protector-in-chief like Donald Trump, who needs enemies like Kim Jong-un? Clearly, history does irony: the president with the least previous foreign policy interest and experience could end up having the biggest impact on global affairs in a century. Continue reading »