International relations
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Wong’s two card trick on Australians
Minister Wong’s speech to the National Press Club demonstrates that when she lays her cards on the table they do not present truly. A mathematician would advise to multiply her claims by minus one. Australia is well along on a path to make, not avert, war with China. Peace holds no weight with this government. Continue reading »
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Thaksin party spurns coup-makers – Asian Media Report April 22
In Asian Media this week: Shinawatra daughter aims to follow father and aunt. Plus: Rare diplomatic success on Taiwan; meet the new word for US bosses its allies; Indian government and court in same-sex showdown; EV rules block foreign competitors; estimates of big cat survival numbers. Continue reading »
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The Asia-Pacific: strategic equilibrium, not primacy
When there has been so much loose talk about what would be a catastrophic war between the world’s two major powers, it is both significant and welcome that Foreign Minister Penny Wong has authoritatively stated her position that the Asia-Pacific is a multipolar region, and that this is Australia’s national policy at this time. Continue reading »
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Racial discrimination and imperialistic standards of power: my experience at the Commission on the Status of Women
When I first visited New York last September, I did not anticipate being physically assaulted in broad daylight within my first 24 hours in the country. Continue reading »
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The troubled States of America
The two biggest television events of the year so far in the United States have been the all-cable-all-streaming-live-chopper-coverage of Donald Trump’s motorcade from Mar-a-Lago to the courtroom in Manhattan where he became the first former president to be indicted. And, in Succession, the death of media mogul Logan Roy on his plane en route to Continue reading »
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The derangement of the American mind
The world, we have a problem. It is Houston. Continue reading »
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Anti-China witch hunt intensifies with Csergo arrest
In the Csergo case the big question is: does the prosecution have any evidence of a real crime and not just a breach of the ridiculous Reckless Foreign Interference law? Continue reading »
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A tainted Defence Strategic Review
P&I Editorial: Conflicts of interest at the heart of AUKUS and the Defence Strategic Review (DSR) – including the principal author of the DSR benefitting from US State Department funding designed to build support for AUKUS and the US alliance – demand independent investigation. Continue reading »
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Safe travels in no-go zones
The countries where it’s not safe for Australians to travel have multiplied, but not because of COVID. They include the places where we fought the war on terror. Continue reading »
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The lessons from America are stark
From his stronghold at Princeton University, Sheldon Wolin watched his political system collapse. In the latter days of his life, Wolin erupted into utter despair. His final testimony was heartbreaking: America had become ‘the showcase of how democracy can be managed without appearing to be suppressed.’ No opinion critical of the set-up is in any Continue reading »
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In thy God I don’t trust
I don’t indulge in religion, but in this instance and at this particular time of the year, I feel I must. Let us agree from the start that we are all accidents of birth. None of us had a choice as to our parents, in what country we were born or into what religion. This, Continue reading »
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The dangerous one is the U.S.
The implication of AUKUS is that China constitutes a danger to Australian security. It borders on official Australian policy that China is an aggressive power bent on domination. But the history of the People’s Republic suggests its military is for defence, not aggression and that the cases where it has used external military force are Continue reading »
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Japan-North Korea top secret negotiations
In East West relations it has become something of a habit. First you reach an agreement promising flowers and chocolates. The other side reacts with concessions and hopes for a brighter future. Then your hawks move in. They say you should never have made those promises. The agreement is forgotten or denied, but only after Continue reading »
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We are being groomed for war with China
Orchestrated components are coming together to enable the US to recruit Australia in future wars of choice. Our media must begin to ask questions about the crude but successful ways the Australian people are being groomed to provide passive or enthusiastic consent. Continue reading »
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Depleted Ukrainians
Fighting in Ukraine continues, sometimes fiercely, sometimes spasmodically. So do the unending appeals from Vladimir Zelensky for more and better weapons from the West. He is now to get from Britain anti-tank shells made from depleted uranium, which will increase radiation and chemical pollution where they are used. Continue reading »
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NATO and Australia: vital partners in a new world war?
Two recent news stories say it all. On the 4th of April the Sydney Morning Herald carried a report of an interview with Jens Stoltenberg, the Secretary General of NATO, in which he claimed that Australia was a vital partner in the organisation’s campaign to confront the security challenges posed by China and in particular Continue reading »
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President Biden resorts to extortion
President Biden has resorted to extortion to destroy one of China’s leading digital companies ByteDance, the owner of the highly successful social media group, TikTok. Continue reading »
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Indonesian politics scores an own goal
It’s the biggest story next door but barged offside by the Australian media for the Trump indictment and the ‘No’. There’s another factor: Soccer’s not our national game. Continue reading »
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NATO’s mission creep remains a threat to European and world peace
In September 2014, in the aftermath of the Maidan coup that saw yet another in the distressingly long list of US-engineered regime change coups in foreign lands where the government proved insufficiently deferential to the ruling Washington foreign policy elite, I argued that NATO’s mission creep had become a threat to European and world peace. Continue reading »
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Australia prepares legal case for war over ‘non-sovereign nation’ Taiwan
Australia is inventing an unheard-of way to go to war at the invitation of a ‘non-sovereign nation’ – an obvious reference to Taiwan. The Government’s intent seems to be to have it ready for the conflict with China that US Generals keep telling us is coming. Continue reading »
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Nihilism in Israel, what possible response?
April 5, in Jerusalem, Israeli police using stun grenades and firing rubber coated steel bullets invade the Al Aqsa Mosque. Hundreds of worshippers are arrested. Fourteen Palestinians are wounded by bullets, beatings and tear gas inhalation. Continue reading »
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A fizzled campaign to muzzle free speech
Antisemitism, like all forms of racism, is a scourge and Australia has not been immune to it. Traditional antisemitism is not hard to identify or call out whether it is in graffiti, slogans or slurs. However, when it comes to debate over Israel and Palestine, what is or is not antisemitic is a highly political Continue reading »
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AUKUS and Aotearoa New Zealand: the costs of attraction and repulsion
When the ALP Government led by Anthony Albanese came to power in 2022 it was confronted by the AUKUS minefield laid by its predecessor, the LNC Government led by Scott Morrison. Continue reading »
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The negative consequences of the Philippines’ choice of the US over China
The Philippines has clearly chosen the U.S. over China in their struggle for regional hegemony. The Marcos Jnr administration says that it is in its national interest to do so. But there will be significant negative consequences as well. Continue reading »
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Will China bring peace to Ukraine?
China will bring peace to Ukraine when it decides that a war that carries the danger of international escalation goes against its commercial interests. Continue reading »
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A boom-gate falls across the highway to reform
Reform has its limits. Even as the Labor Government makes good several of its promised changes in economic and social policy, the boom-gate has dropped on defence and foreign affairs. Continue reading »
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Penny Wong’s double standards
Why is Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong vocal about Australian-Chinese journalist Cheng Lei, jailed in China, but silent on Australian journalist Julian Assange, jailed in the UK? Continue reading »
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Australia isn’t a real nation, it’s a US military base with kangaroos
One of the many, many signs that Australia is nothing more than a US military and intelligence asset is the way its government has consistently refused to intervene to protect Australian citizen Julian Assange from political persecution at the hands of the US empire. Continue reading »
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Despite US pundits, the Taiwanese do not want war
By some strange reasoning NATO, the US and the pundits seem to think the current war between Russia – Ukraine is a precursor to hostilities they expect to see between Taiwan and China. Continue reading »
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The US wants TikTok banned or sold
The United States’ issue with TikTok is uncannily reflective of its ongoing problem with China. It grew too fast for their comfort, is too economically and technologically successful and so deeply enmeshed in their lives that they felt the impulse to disengage. Continue reading »
