World Affairs
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B-2 Bomber Strikes in Yemen and their significance for Australia
Australian territory has been used in supporting US B-2 bombers en route and in return from strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen on October 17, and highlights the profound strategic significance of this event for the future role Australia may play in US strategic bomber operations against China, in the Asia Pacific and beyond. Continue reading »
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Grinding the axis
Axis is a four-letter word that should be banned or at least binned for the time being. The US uses the term in a distinctly hostile way, and now Andrew Shearer, Australia’s chief security adviser, has adopted the same language. Continue reading »
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“The lie in the soul”: True respect on Remembrance Day
While official speeches commonly cite ‘democracy’ among the causes for which Australians and our allies have always fought, we are free to wonder if that is not ‘the lie in the soul’ this Remembrance day. Continue reading »
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Modern slavery in Australia’s diplomatic heart: envoys’ abuse of domestic workers exposed
Court rulings have revealed harrowing stories of abuse and neglect at the hands of envoys operating under diplomatic immunity in Canberra. Continue reading »
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One person’s think tank is another’s propaganda organ
Unlike China’s state-run think tanks and media groups, their Anglo-American counterparts have industry ties and interests whose influences are often far less obvious. Continue reading »
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Trump’s election triggers anxiety – Asian Media Report
In Asian media this week: World must brace ‘for extreme chaos’. Plus: Beijing pivots towards military junta; Yoon now engulfed in political strife; Haggling intensifies to decide on Japan’s leader; Indonesia’s debate over joining BRICS; Anwar Ibrahim always one of the elite. Continue reading »
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Moderates begone: ‘TIS THE AGE OF THE DESPOT
Prabowo Subianto has got his diary right: First overseas handshake from the new President of Indonesia is for his bankers in Beijing, President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang. Trump can wait. Continue reading »
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A five-minute scroll
UNRWA is indispensable and should be defended Palestine tells the UN. Israeli police arrest two French police officers in Jerusalem while Macron asks the EU when will the EU defend Europe. Robert Kennedy Jr unpacks defence and talk that Ukraine is ready for peace talks. Trump announces the Great American Fair while JD Vance speaks Continue reading »
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Does Australia really want to be the “tip of the spear”, projecting Western power?
AUKUS, increasingly seen as a dud deal, though an expensive one, with a $368 billion price tag, stands as the clearest example of the cognitive dissonance besetting the Australian body politic. Continue reading »
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A five-minute scroll
Trump returns to the presidency, while an IDF soldier congratulates the win by shooting at homes in Gaza. Francesca Albanese tells Canada that international laws has no space for excuses and thanks Rabbi’s for joining her in New York. Israel bombs Lebanon’s Baalbek raising concern for UNESCO sites. Chris Hedges speaks to the Democrats loss, Continue reading »
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The China Threat has now become the Chussia Anxiety
The West need not fear a Chussia aligned against it. It instead needs to develop geopolitical strategies to deal with China as the dominant power in Eurasia. For like the United States at the end of the nineteenth century when it consolidated its borders and established hegemony in the Western Hemisphere, China has consolidated its Continue reading »
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Western Democracy is not the only option
We in the West have a propensity noted by the rest of the world, to be rather self-congratulatory about our political and economic systems and our accompanying wish to pressure the rest of the world to try to be more like us. Continue reading »
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Australia votes ‘Yes’ on UN nuclear war effects resolution
Australia has voted ‘yes’ to a UN resolution mandating the establishment of a research panel on the effects of nuclear war. The L39 resolution has been adopted by a massive majority in the First Committee of the UN General Assembly, with 144 governments voting in favour, 30 abstentions (including the US India, Ukraine and Israel), Continue reading »
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The United States empire is almost always at war
The US empire is addicted to a belief in its exceptionalism, grounded in aggression both at home and abroad, and finding it hard to admit mistakes. Continue reading »
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The BRICS Summit should mark the end of neocon delusions
Simply put, the majority of the world does not want or accept U.S. hegemony, and is prepared to face it down rather than submit to its dictates. Continue reading »
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Recall Rudd
The Foreign minister Penny Wong should recall Kevin Rudd as Australia’s ambassador to Washington. Continue reading »
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History cannot excuse the crimes of the present
One of Mark Twain’s more celebrated aphorisms is that ‘history never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme’. Witty, no doubt, but it doesn’t seem quite adequate to Israel’s genocidal destruction of Gaza, its longstanding, settler-led expansion into the West Bank, or the implausible use of history to justify current policy. Continue reading »
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Netanyahu has been leading the United States into disaster after disaster after disaster
This is a US operation being carried out by Israel but with complete complicity by the United States and silence by Europe. Continue reading »
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Remarkable Australian comparative analysis supports BDS
A long line has been drawn between two dots across what looks like a credibility chasm by Barnaby Joyce. But his recent interesting Israel-China comparative analysis implicitly lends robust support to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement directed against Israel. Continue reading »
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Facing an aging population and financial challenges, hospitals in China are converting to senior care facilities
I have always had an interest in reading local official research documents. First, compared with the central level document, it provides a more “grassroots angle” of viewing problems and the way they get things done. Second, it is enriched with cases rather than theories. It’s just more practical. Third, it has a specific format and Continue reading »
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The alpha and omega of tyranny
Voices of dissent or reason are swatted away like annoying flies until the bs that is U.S. and Israeli propaganda dries in the sun and no longer stinks. Continue reading »
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Zionists’ inflammation of antisemitism
The primary focus of the Zionist movement and the Israeli lobby is not combating anti-Semitism but rather combating critics of Israel’s colonial apartheid regime and the crimes it is perpetrating against the Palestinian people. Continue reading »
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“Reshaping the world through internal progress”: Public advice for China’s foreign policy
Leading international relations scholar Wang Jisi from Peking University, who just met Kurt Campbell, urges Beijing not to make new enemies, focus on domestic affairs, & maintain confidence in peaceful reunification. Continue reading »
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A five-minute scroll
UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese speaks out for humanity, Palestine speaks in the UN, the PM of Ireland speaks out for the UNRWA and Bernie Sanders explains the difference between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump on Israel. Overnight continued Israeli attacks decimate lives in Beit Lahia, North Gaza, the US State department gives their perspective. Continue reading »
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Come in now Indonesian democracy, your time is up
It took less than a week for the reality to be exposed. Even Deputy PM Richard Marles must now acknowledge that the nation next door he praises for its moderation and democracy is now a military dictatorship and a serious threat. Continue reading »
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Lessons for Hong Kong from Australia’s remarkable international education sector
One crucial policy initiative outlined by Hong Kong’s chief executive, John Lee Ka-chiu, in his latest annual Policy Address is the project to establish the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region as an international tertiary education hub. Continue reading »
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The banning of UNWRA: The situation could not be grimmer
Let us be abundantly clear. What Israel is intending is against its obligations under international law. What Israel is intending is against its moral obligations as fellow citizens of the human race. Continue reading »
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Kevin is here to help US–China relations
With the United States and China locked in an ongoing battle and no solution in sight, Kevin Rudd from Queensland is here to help. His new book explains President Xi Jinping’s thinking and suggests a way forward. Are people paying attention? If they are, will they learn anything useful? Continue reading »
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Clean slate for prison reform
The Canberra community decided on 19 October to remove from its parliament the two most recent ministers for corrections, Mick Gentleman (Labor) and Emma Davidson (Green). Continue reading »
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Ending Apartheid: Think local, act global
Boycotts, divestments and sanctions are back. Students are urging universities to reveal their investments and connections with Israel, and to end them. Local councils in Victoria and New South Wales have been quick to do the same. Continue reading »
