International relations
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The United States of America: The great satan or beacon of democracy?
Since Australia has mortgaged its future to this nation it is worth debating the matter. Continue reading »
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Coexistence: The only realist path to peace
The United States and its Asian partners want to maintain a balance of power in the Indo-Pacific, ostensibly to prevent China from becoming a “regional hegemon” there. They worry that Beijing will gradually persuade its neighbours to distance themselves from the United States, accept Chinese primacy, and defer to Beijing’s wishes on key foreign policy Continue reading »
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Culture and Religion, Defence and Security, Government, International relations, Politics, Religion and Faith, Top 5
The case for recognising Palestine
Since a United Nations General Assembly Resolution vote in November 2012, Palestine has had the status of a state within the UN system. It is not a full member state but, like the Holy See, a non-member observer state. Australia – after a heady debate within the Gillard cabinet – abstained on that vote. Continue reading »
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Australia’s international strategy
America is no longer the dominant hegemon in our region. In its place Australia can and should play an important role in establishing a true multipolar system of governance. But that will first require Australia to resolve the present contradiction between our foreign and defence policies. Continue reading »
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Indonesia pledges military observers to a ceasefire in Ukraine war
I take this opportunity to urge, to recommend with utmost urgency for our brothers in Ukraine and in Russia to come as soon as possible to a secession of hostilities. And I would like to declare at this present moment that Indonesia is prepared to contribute military observers and military units under the peacekeeping auspices Continue reading »
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AUKUS Coming to dinner
With billions of dollars on the banquet table, Australia should choose its dinner guests wisely. Continue reading »
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Australia preparing for war- can it stop the rot?
As the new Australian Labor government took power following the 2022 election, its China policy barely changed and the “China threat” narrative continued unabated. I did not vote for the Labor party to see Australia’s government channelling the ousted Morrison Government! Continue reading »
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Our greatest blunders
Ten years ago Anthony King and Ivor Crewe published their book – The Blunders of Our Governments. Continue reading »
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War crimes? Don’t forget Jeju
Admitting guilt for war crimes doesn’t come easily to many nations, as Australia knows from our extended investigations of the activities of some ADF soldiers in Afghanistan more than a decade ago. Continue reading »
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In Australia, reality bites back
Australia is fast approaching a reckoning with its past, its present and the state of the nation’s soul. And if the last month is any indication to go by, we will be found wanting. Continue reading »
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Hong Kong: living on the fault line
A multipolar world is being forged by the Global South. Tectonic shifts are taking place between the “collective West” led by the United States and the “Global South” with China in this camp. Hong Kong’s predicament is that it lies on a fault line of the geopolitical plates. Continue reading »
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Gareth Evans: Truth of US fault in Jeju massacre must be conveyed
Gareth Evans, the former foreign minister of Australia received the fifth annual Jeju 4.3 Peace Prize presented by the Jeju 4.3 Peace Foundation. Continue reading »
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China and US power in Southeast Asia
China’s power has replaced the United States’ in the eyes of most of our Asian neighbours, according to the latest Lowy Institute Asia Power Snapshot. What are the implications for Australia? Continue reading »
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The zealot, the disrupter, and the ideologue: America’s presidential choices
Biden, Trump, or DeSantis; the zealot, the disrupter, or the ideologue are the choices confronting American voters. Individuals matter. Trump’s mercurial and transactional approach to foreign policy and his isolationist tendencies are well known. Back in the Whitehouse he would again be a disrupter, and perhaps worse. But an uncompromising Biden or empowered DeSantis present Continue reading »
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The ‘Status Quo’ and Taiwan
Mainstream media frequently describes Taiwan as “an island that the PRC claims, but has never ruled”. This has given rise to an increasing perception of Taiwan as a separate sovereign entity. Continue reading »
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The Spark
Maybe it’s a quirk in my character that in times of calamity I always look for the silver lining. It doesn’t often appear, but in this darkest hour of despair, when nothing seemed possible and the collapse of hope was profound, I found it. The spark. Continue reading »
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Australia’s real test
A few days after coming to power in 1972 Gough Whitlam declared that ‘Australia’s real test as far as the rest of the world is concerned is the role we create for our own Aborigines’. More than foreign aid programmes, more than any role the country plays in agreements or alliances, treatment of the Aborigines Continue reading »
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Israeli Defence Force shoots and kills a 3-year-old
Most people can focus to see if they’re looking at a bird, a car or a person. Throw in a military scope and the sharp eyes of youth and ask yourself if you would spot the difference before you pulled the trigger. Continue reading »
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Ugly situation in Kosovo has parallels with Ukraine
The ugly situation developing in Kosovo, formerly a province of Serbia, has parallels with Ukraine. The result could be just as bloody. But is anyone listening? Continue reading »
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U.S. allies look for their place in the emerging global order
America and the West are more isolated from the rest of the world than at any time since WWII. Continue reading »
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Aukus leaders prefer posturing and provocation over dialogue
Shangri-La Dialogue was a missed opportunity for talks as defence chiefs Austin and Marles insisted on belligerence and doublespeak. Continue reading »
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Four nuclear myths
The hubris and arrogance of the nuclear-armed states leaves the world exposed to the risk of sleepwalking into a nuclear disaster. The case for nuclear weapons rests on a superstitious magical Realism that puts faith in the utility of the bomb and the theory of deterrence. Here are four myths about the utility of nuclear Continue reading »
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China places country dangerously close to US warship
The US military has released video footage of a Chinese navy ship cutting across the path of an American Destroyer in the Taiwan Strait over the weekend, reportedly forcing the US vessel to slow down to avoid a collision. Continue reading »
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Australia catching up with the Asian century at last?
Every word of Anthony Albanese’s address to the Shangri-La dialogue on 2 June was chosen with care. It was a balancing act, with the Prime Minister poised between peace and war, defence and diplomacy, the US and China, in a high-wire performance his Coalition predecessors wouldn’t have attempted. Continue reading »
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Shangri-la Dialogue: some Americans just don’t get China
Prime Minister Albanese spoke moderately and positively at the Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore last weekend, although his address didn’t really live up to its prior publicity. However the main impression from the exchanges at the Dialogue was of the differences between the US and China. Amazingly, the American Secretary of Defence didn’t seem to realise Continue reading »
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The Shangri-La dialogue and aUStralian strategic thinking
Interpretations are being offered about prime minister Albanese’s speech to the so-called Shangri La Dialogue in Singapore. This sounds like an Asian event but is hosted each year by the International Institute for Strategic Studies of London, an august and AUKUSian institution of such eminence that I was once invited to join. I declined. Life Continue reading »
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Australian Government is MIA for World Environment Day 2023
Monday 5 June 2023 was World Environment Day. The campaign this year is for action to eradicate plastics in all its forms which pollute and destroy. The campaign is led by the United Nations Environment Protection agency (UNEP) with the title and hashtag of #BeatPlasticPollution. Continue reading »
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Australia, little country lost
You could hear, when Biden squibbed the Quad, the Austral-Americans deflate. Continue reading »
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The US drive to war with China and the battle of ideas
Somewhere, somehow, China became the number one enemy of the world, or at least to the world that is run by the USA. For many the ‘reason’ has been the challenge that China poses to US economic hegemony, but might not America’s fear of China be based on ideological causes; a battle of ideas? Continue reading »
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China – The Middle Kingdom
The Chinese character for China, denotes China as the middle kingdom and understandably so: Continue reading »
