World Affairs
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Trump is Ignorant of History and So is His Chump Sean Spicer
This article by Middle East expert, ROBERT FISK, was first published in The Independent on 12 April 2017. Fisk comments ‘Gas, cruise missiles, barrel bombs, Hitler and the American media. Mix them all up and I suppose you get Trump’s new policy in the Middle East.’ Continue reading »
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RICHARD BUTLER. US Missile Attack on Syria
The US missile strike on Syria was an act of aggression the consequences of which could be immense. The facts of what happened at Khan Sheikhun must be established. Continue reading »
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JOHN TULLOH. Turkey – Erdogan’s day of judgment.
Turkey’s voters face a momentous choice: whether they want their president to have the dictatorial power of a potential tyrant or one whose authority remains curbed by parliamentary government. Continue reading »
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RICHARD WOOLCOTT. The importance of better security and trade policies.
The relationship between the United States and China is now the most decisive bilateral relationship in the world. It works on two levels, one public and one private. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL McKINLEY. The Foreign Policy White Paper: A Plea To See Things As They Are
“We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men.” George Orwell. Continue reading »
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JAMES O’NEILL. American missile strikes in Syria raise fresh questions.
Not for the first time, unilateral and illegal actions by the Americans pose a grave threat to the safety of the planet and its inhabitants. Continue reading »
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MASSIMO FAGGIOLI. Are US Catholics too American to stand up to Trump?
It also reveals a much more complex issue – the deep-seated fear of the state within American Catholicism and of the gap between US Catholicism and the global Catholic Church’s view on the state and of political authority. This creates a complicated situation for the Catholic Church in the United States and its role to be Continue reading »
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And Jesus said unto Paul of Ryan …
Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times on March 16, 2017, writes about a ‘discussion’ between Jesus and Paul Ryan, the Republican Speaker of the US House of Representatives. Ryan claims that Catholicism has shaped his political views. Is Nicholas Kristof’s account a parable or a parody. John Menadue. Continue reading »
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ALLAN PATIENCE. Is globalization ending?
It is the fashion to declare that globalization is coming to an end. Evidence for this includes: nationalism being on the rise; protectionist policies making a come-back; borders being slammed shut; populist politicians multiplying at rabbit-like rates. Trump and Brexit, it is said, are the isolationist tips of two vast metaphorical icebergs that both represent Continue reading »
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ROSS BURNS. After Khan Sheikhun
The 4 April attack on Khan Sheikhun using CW (chemical warfare) weapons was almost certainly the work of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. This is the only explanation which ticks off all the boxes—means, motive and opportunity. The hastily assembled US retaliatory attack on the Syrian air base at Shayrat near Homs, however, might not have been Continue reading »
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RAMESH THAKUR. Decoding the Trump strikes on Syria
The use of chemical weapons in Syria and the US air strikes in punishment are part of the continuing descent into lawlessness by various actors with unforeseeable consequences in an already inflamed region. Continue reading »
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JAMES O’NEILL. Verdict First, Evidence Later: How the Australian Media Misrepresent Geopolitical Events
The reporting of the tragedy from Syria is but the latest illustration of an all too common phenomenon: a pre-determined verdict on little or no evidence. Continue reading »
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NICK BISLEY. Learning to live with a nuclear North Korea?
North Korea perceives it is isolated in a world that is hostile to its existence. However loathsome the regime may be and however badly it misallocates resources to bolster the ruling elite, the reason for acquiring nuclear weapons is entirely rational: they are a vital means for North Korea to protect itself. Continue reading »
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ANNETTE BROWNLIE. Keeping Australia out of US wars
It is time we, the people, asserted our sovereignty, took control of our foreign policies and reviewed the presence of U.S. bases and troops in Australia. It is time we started promoting genuine peace and security, human rights, a sustainable environment and our independence. Continue reading »
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EDITORS, EAST ASIA FORUM. The consequences of the Trump-Xi meeting in Florida.
ANU East Asia Forum has posted a new item, ‘The consequences of the Trump–Xi meeting in Florida‘ All eyes will be on Florida this week, where US President Donald Trump will ANU host an inaugural summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Continue reading »
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Building a regional refugee framework.
The Asia Dialogue on Forced Migration (ADFM) expanded its membership, deepened its policy contributions to the Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime (Bali Process) and developed its connection to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at its meeting in Jakarta from 5-7 March 2017. Continue reading »
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RICHARD BUTLER. Fake news?
Trump’s threats against DPRK and May’s against Gibraltar, as reported, are fake news. The US’ stance on nuclear non-proliferation of nuclear weapons is a fake. Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. Alexey Navalny has roused a democratic Russia. Turnbull and Bishop are too busy sleeping to care.
In Australia we conjure Russia through the basest of filters: take your pick of Pauline Hanson expressing her admiration for Russia’s autocrat Vladimir Putin, or of the sometime boxer-sometime- Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s vows to ‘shirtfront’ said autocrat. Continue reading »
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DUNCAN MacLAREN. Article 50 triggered: the farce heats up
Are you ready for another dose of Brexititis? This past week, PM May triggered Article 50, meaning negotiations can begin, after due examination by the 27 remaining states, between the exiting UK (or, at least, the parts that survive) and the EU but only as a body. The EU has forbidden the divide and rule Continue reading »
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RAMESH THAKUR. Nuclear powers and umbrella states must engage with, not obstruct, the international community.
It is time for the so-called realists to get real about the existential dangers of a world brimming with nuclear weapons. Continue reading »
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JAMES O’NEILL. The London Attack: What We Fail to Acknowledge
“The idea”, … “that you can set fire to countries in the Middle East, collapse their societies, and traumatize entire populations sowing carnage on a biblical scale, and not expect any reaction in the form of blowback is utterly insane.” Continue reading »
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PAT POWER. Nuclear disarmament.
I find it incredible that Australia is refusing to be part of the UN negotiations on a new treaty to outlaw nuclear weapons. Continue reading »
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ANDREW FARRAN. Stirring a Witch’s Brew – Selling military equipment to Saudi Arabia.
Australia is busily involved in selling military equipment to Saudi Arabia which is engaged in the civil war in the Yemen whose features exceed in brutality and crimes against humanity those in Syria. Has the government clearly thought through where this might lead, and does the risk of adverse consequences outweigh a few commercial contracts Continue reading »
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FRANK BRENNAN SJ. Let’s amend 18C to say what it means
The debate over section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act (18C) has gone on for far too long. I welcome the Turnbull government’s attempt to amend the provision, while being disappointed yet again at the petty politics played on both sides in Canberra in relation to a matter of principle which needs to be handled Continue reading »
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RICHARD BUTLER. The many risks we run – Trump and the US. (Part 2 of 2)
The deep-seated argument taking place within the US polity, partly but not only because of the mess being presided over by President Trump, makes even more urgent the need for a thorough-going review of Australia’s foreign policy, including how we conduct ourselves within the alliance. Continue reading »
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RICHARD BUTLER. The many risks we run – United Nations (Part 1 of 2)
The United Nations continues to be vital in the humanitarian field, but is failing in its role of maintaining international peace and security. The continuing abuse of their veto power, by the permanent five members of the Security Council, is jeopardizing the UN itself. This must be resisted. Continue reading »
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RAMESH THAKUR. India’s democracy is strained by illiberalism
India continues to be robustly, even chaotically, democratic. But its freedom is under growing threat. Continue reading »
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PHIL ROBERTSON. A new wave of atrocities is being committed against Muslims in Burma’s Rakhine state
The burned-out mosques in Sittwe, the capital of the Rakhine state in western Burma, loom as silent reminders of an atrocity, hiding behind overgrown bushes and cement walls amid the daily port city bustle. Continue reading »
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MACK WILLIAMS. Canberra wrong-footed in our region?
For Ms Bishop to be talking in Singapore about China and democracies, the Japanese “big ship” and rallying the claimants while pleading with the US to remain staunchly committed in the region certainly is risky. We could be exposed as being more hard line than the US might turn out to be and interpreted as Continue reading »
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DUNCAN MacLAREN. ‘Game On’ as UK Split Looms over Brexit
Just as David Cameron’s idiocy in calling for an EU referendum to appease his rabid right-wing has made him the godfather of Brexit, so May, in treating Scotland like a trinket which the UK has to “keep”, to say nothing of her handling of Northern Ireland, could well be the midwife of the break-up of Continue reading »