International relations
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Are the people of Israel really the chosen people?
What is the point of the International rule book of law and order? What is the point of UN treaties and conventions if justice is only dealt out to the chosen few? Why are they chosen and who chooses them? Continue reading »
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The democracy metanarrative
In its strategic competition with Russia and China, the United States has constructed a metanarrative based on democracy versus authoritarianism (i.e. good versus evil). Continue reading »
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UN expert says impunity for Israel must end as ‘Genocidal Violence’ spreads to West Bank
“Apartheid Israel is targeting Gaza and the West Bank simultaneously, as part of an overall process of elimination, replacement, and territorial expansion,” said United Nations special rapporteur Francesca Albanese. Continue reading »
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The US made the Dutch an offer they couldn’t refuse
Hold on to your mobile phones, civilians, this is gonna get rough. If you thought the Sopranos and Corleones were intimidating, check this out. Continue reading »
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Pope takes refugee concerns on the road
Pope Francis’ milestone tour from 2-13 September includes Papua New Guinea, the nation that has long hosted the largest number of refugees in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as Indonesia, the country from which those asylum seekers fled. Continue reading »
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AUKUS could be the biggest Ponzi scheme in history
Much of the angst being generated by the worst foreign policy decision since joining the American invasion of Vietnam may well be misplaced. Continue reading »
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Gaza happened because we forgot Korea
History didn’t start on 7 October. True that. To get a deeper sense of why the shocking destruction in Gaza is happening, we have to revive the forgotten war that the US waged against North Korea in the 1950s. In many ways, it was the template for all that followed. Continue reading »
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PNG’s sustainability rests on funding people, not elites
Political and economic pressures are rising in Papua New Guinea (PNG), with escalating social tensions suggesting a need for focused regional support. Critics argue that given ongoing civil unrest, political instability with Rainbo Paita’s challenge to Prime Minister James Marape and substantial economic challenges such as a stagnating minimum wage and increasing poverty, financial aid Continue reading »
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Rewriting history will not serve Australia well
China has never expressed aggressive intentions towards Taiwan, it has repeatedly maintained it is prepared to wait, but will never rule out force to defend Taiwan Continue reading »
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Indonesia: going for gold
Australia and Indonesia are to have new defence cooperation agreement. A big deal for a government whose foreign policy is repeatedly trumped by defence; less of a deal for our northern neighbour which, like us, looks north for its prosperity and security. Continue reading »
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The plight of the Iranian people
Given the growing likelihood of the Gaza maelstrom moving on to a direct military confrontation between the US and Iran, the epic plight of the Iranian people should not be overlooked – a plight which Britain and the Americans instigated back in the 1950s with the removal of their democratic rights and in which hopes Continue reading »
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What happened to the surfers in Gaza?
Sometime in 2016 , soon after I’d joined the Northern Beaches Committee for Palestine, a group of us visited the then premier of New South Wales in his Manly electorate office. Continue reading »
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Advocates for nuclear power should heed the lessons from Kursk
On 22 August, Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, warned of the deadly effect a military attack on Russia’s nuclear power complex at Kursk would have on civilian communities in Russia, Ukraine and potentially across Europe. He had previously warned of the consequences of such attacks on Ukraine’s nuclear reactors at Zaporizhzhia. Continue reading »
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Ukraine, Russia and the West
It would be fairly uncontroversial to describe Ukraine’s recent military advance into Russia’s Kursk region as a deliberate provocation. Kyiv’s claim that it was intended chiefly to prod Moscow towards a negotiated peace, if true, appears to ignore Vladimir Putin’s tendency to stick to his guns in the face of embarrassments. Continue reading »
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AUKUS: Submarines afloat in — and perhaps causing — a sea of troubles
In the wording of the Ministerial Statement after the recent AUSMIN meeting between Australian and US Ministers of Defence and Foreign Affairs, and in a subsequent on-the-record conversation, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles strongly endorsed both AUKUS and a greater US defence presence in Australia. Unfortunately there are questions about AUKUS which the Government has Continue reading »
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Malaysia needs ASEAN to navigate a pathway between ‘the West’ and ‘the rest’
Malaysia’s 2025 ASEAN Chairmanship is an opportunity to provide clear regional leadership amid shifting geopolitics, but the country’s strategic goals remain uncertain despite a growing perception of closer alignment with China. Malaysia should focus on enhancing ASEAN centrality, balancing local sentiment against global interests, and sustaining ties with all major regional powers including the US, Continue reading »
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Israel’s perilous decay
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Stephen M Walt, Professor of International Relations at Harvard University, in “The Dangerous Decline in Israeli Strategy”, argues that Israel, the US and their supporters are wedded to long-honed, conspicuously bad policies. Continue reading » -
Dutton’s psychological projection
I write as a child of Holocaust survivors because I am disturbed by the demagoguery engaged by the leader of the Opposition, Peter Dutton, labelling hapless Palestinian refugees as potential terrorists. Continue reading »
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Engaging Pillar 2 of AUKUS: losing self-respect and encouraging self-harm
Pillar 2 is a thing that AUKUS created: it appears at different times and with different meanings and possibilities and yet is not entirely, or even at all, predictable because the initial conditions and predicate logic on which it depends are themselves illusions or fabrications of the collective mind of those who constructed it in Continue reading »
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Wars and the interests served
A recent article by Michael MacKinley provides an accurate reflection on the (lack of) value placed on human life by those who propagate war. It brings to mind a statement of the past that, to paraphrase, states “a bayonette is a weapon with a working man on either end.” Continue reading »
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Carbon budget blown, only 50% chance 1.5 degrees
As greenhouse emissions accumulate each year and linger for decades in the atmosphere, effectively adding another layer of climate warming ‘blankets’ on the globe, it chews up our carbon ‘budget’ available to reach the Paris 2015 agreement target of 1.5 degree warming. I discuss this with David McKewan, director, adaptive capability, net zero program and Continue reading »
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Why organised crime puts its money on online gambling
Illegal online casinos are used by criminal gangs to launder billions in profit garnered from transnational crime. Continue reading »
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The Kursk offensive: a foolish move
Ukraine’s invasion (of Kursk) was a major strategic blunder, which will accelerate its defeat. Continue reading »
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A new western war against Iran?
Iran made two attempts to free its oil fields from Western domination. Since the Islamic revolution of Ayatollah Komeini in 1979, Iran has kept Western companies out. They paid a huge price, a trade embargo lasting some 40 years. Is a new attack on Iran in the offing [read more] Continue reading »
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Nagasaki, the forgotten bomb
At 11am Japanese time on 9 August 1945, the second, often forgotten, atomic bomb to be dropped from US B-29 ‘Bockscar’, on a Japanese city exploded in the Urakami Valley, an extension of the city of Nagasaki. The bomb was to have been dropped over downtown Nagasaki, but aim was poor. Continue reading »
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Israel’s Australian ‘hostages’
Hundreds of Australians’ family members holding valid Australian visas are being prevented from fleeing devastated Gaza – by the Israeli military, and the impotence of the Australian government. Continue reading »
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America is the most violent, aggressive country in the world
Of the international intelligence information that comes to Australian agencies from the Five Eyes, 90% comes from the CIA and related US intelligence agencies. So in effect we have the colonisation of our intelligence agencies These agencies dominate the advice to Ministers writes John Menadue. Continue reading »
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Zionism, Zionists and Jews
Understanding the complex relationship between Zionism, Zionists and Jews seems to defeat many of Israel’s critics in articles and opinion pieces. This article explores Zion and its connection to land and to Judaism and its more modern day forms. Continue reading »
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Australia’s to-do list: stop supporting war, avoid becoming US satrap
Gathering in New York in September 2024, the world’s nations will be challenged to ‘end the scourge of war’, before it’s too late. All of them know that a nuclear cataclysm has never been so close. Continue reading »
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Team genocide walks out on Nagasaki commemorations
In an astonishing “Fuck you” to the survivors of the 1945 US nuclear bombing of Nagasaki, several Western countries including the US, Australia, Canada, France, Italy and the UK have just dropped a bombshell: reportedly announcing their ambassadors are shunning this week’s commemorations in solidarity with Israel. Continue reading »
