International relations
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China and AUKUS: growing tensions ahead
Given Beijing’s grave concerns and strong actions against AUKUS thus far, one can expect significant tensions between China and the AUKUS countries ahead. Continue reading »
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Australia’s China threat industry led by Sydney Morning Herald takes a hit
Above a picture of a tired looking Xi Jinping – taken at the G20 – the Sydney Morning Herald ran the headline: The Face of Capitulation. It was as banal as it was predictable. It was for a Peter Hartcher story that crowed at having slayed the dragon (sub-text: this was Hartcher’s personal victory). Continue reading »
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Xi and Albanese: Can we again seize the opportunity?
The meeting between President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Albanese could result in an overdue improvement in relations between our two countries. But real improvements will take time and a lot of goodwill. Will Richard Marles be a stumbling block?? Continue reading »
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Xi is no longer Dr Fu Manchu?
After the meeting between Xi and Albanese, we will need patient diplomacy well away from the megaphone and from vested interests in defence industries. China is here to stay and love it or hate it we must learn to live with it. The present government is looking more like it understands this. Continue reading »
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Australia’s path forward: 50 years of relations with China
Cooperate where we can, disagree where we must. It’s time to start the next 50 years of the Australia-China relationship on a more positive footing. Exactly as our predecessors did in December 1972. Continue reading »
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Pivotal Moment: Albanese and Xi in 2022 mirror Whitlam and Zhou in 1971
The meeting between Anthony Albanese and Xi Jinping put me in mind of the public reaction in Australia when Whitlam met Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in 1971. Continue reading »
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Abuse of Australia’s asylum system grinds on
While we await a government decision on the 31,000 legacy boat arrivals in Australia, asylum applications from people arriving by air continued an inexorable rise to 1,448 in October 2022. Continue reading »
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Ukraine and Russia’s second front is a propaganda war. But who is winning?
Since Russia launched its “special military operation” into neighbouring Ukraine, media, political organisations and researchers in Ukrainian allied countries have accused Moscow of launching a propaganda blitzkrieg meant to justify the invasion. Continue reading »
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China has neither the intent nor the capability to attack us
We are being led in our anti-China hysteria by the United States which is not concerned that China will attack us, or even the United States, but is concerned that its world hegemony is being challenged. Continue reading »
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Labor brings Israel-Palestine policy back to the middle: will it matter?
The announcement of the Albanese Government’s decision to reverse Australia’s recognition of “West” Jerusalem was sloppily handled. That was the only surprise in it. Continue reading »
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US National Defence Strategy reveals Australia’s nuclear deterrence role
The obvious problem with Australia’s defence policy is the confusion between defence of Australia and fighting wars far from Australia. The argument for pursuing the former is incontestable; this is a key obligation government has towards taxpaying citizens. The latter is of questionable justification. Continue reading »
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The PM gushes enthusiasm for closer military ties with Japan. China sees it differently
From the start there was little in PM Albanese’s CV to suggest familiarity with foreign policy, Thanks to a recent interview with him in The Australian we discover he knows even less. Continue reading »
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Marles has a bob each way, backing PNG on Bougainville but not China on Taiwan
The angry reaction to Richard Marles’ comments should be a warning to Canberra about the need to settle past grievances. Continue reading »
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What’s next for Xi’s China?
The Western media have done Xi a great favour: they have bestowed upon him low expectations. Many Western observers, including thoughtful ones, believe that the great China growth story is over, because China is now ruled by an incompetent and isolated leader. Xi will shatter their expectations. Continue reading »
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Familiar and surreptitious ways to war
We have recently learned that Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton secretly installed senior US military officers in Australia’s Defence Department, at taxpayers’ vast expense, and it appears that the present Government is complicit in perpetuating this arrangement. Continue reading »
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Secrecy and empire
Under the guise of protecting the national interest, Australia’s security establishment acts in secret to uphold the global US-led imperial order. Continue reading »
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A promise of violence: The AFP supplies the Solomon Islands
The Solomon Islands has become a regular feature in the defence and security news of Australia’s media sphere. Continue reading »
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The costs of cruelty: Egypt profits, Israel colludes, Gazans pay
To enter the large open prison known as the Gaza Strip, hundreds of Palestinians travel daily from Cairo to Rafah on the Egyptian Gaza border. A car journey of 450 kms through the Sinai desert, in summer temperatures hovering around 40C, takes at best seven hours and must negotiate numerous Egyptian military checkpoints. Continue reading »
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Sinophobia, Russophobia, mutations of the same political virus
There is no doubt that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a serious war crime regardless of several provocations, including NATO’s eastward expansion and the role of the United States in the 2014 Maidan coup. Even so, the West is in no position to lecture Russia on sovereignty violations. Continue reading »
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National Endowment for Democracy supports US aggression in Taiwan
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) does not have the democratic rights of the people in the 100 plus countries in which it operates at heart. It is solely interested in the maintenance of US power. Continue reading »
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Australia’s fear of China: renewed trust a matter of dialogue and respect
Fear of China is currently dominant in Australia’s public discourse, as reflected in recent opinion polls, surveys, and mainstream media. Fear of China is of course not new in Australia. It was a driver of Federation at the end of the 19th Century and the first act of the new Federal Parliament was long recognised Continue reading »
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Australia’s anti-China obsession
Sinophobia is embedded in the Australian DNA. Canberra’s Vietnam War follies were an early proof. Continue reading »
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Australia should rid itself of the persistent fear of China
Australia must overcome Sinophobia and rejoice in a future in the Asian region. Continue reading »
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Nuclear testing and colonisation explain Pacific Island Nations’ alignment with China
Pacific Island Nations encompass many countries in regions we know as Melanesia, literally, the Black Islands, from Papua New Guinea to New Caledonia, apparently so named because the inhabitants were darker skinned! Micronesia, which extends from the Philippines to Hawaii and Polynesia, geographically further south and extending to New Zealand. Continue reading »
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United States and Russia: Dangerous export of democracy and dictatorship
Earlier this month, the Department of State circulated to our embassies around the world its report on Russian efforts to sway elections and exert political influence in more than two dozen countries over the past ten years. According to the study, Russia has covertly given at least $300 million to political parties and politicians in Continue reading »
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Integrity commission: Will Australia avoid US, UK drift to illiberalism?
The UK and the US stand on the brink of something unthinkable a decade ago. Australians must fight to ensure that the proposed National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) resists the radicalised right and protects democracy against Competitive Authoritarianism. Continue reading »
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How to become a republic: Lessons from the Republic of Ireland
There are likely to be many obstacles on the long road to Australia inevitably becoming a republic but the biggest will be finding agreement on how we choose our new head of state. For the 1999 republic referendum, the then Prime Minister John Howard, an avowed monarchist, was well aware of this obstacle, using it Continue reading »
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A century of humiliation left profound legacies of trauma
Grenville Cross’s “Britain’s opium era strategy to deal with China” (Pearls and Irritation, 28/09/2022) touched a cord in many Chinese, regardless of where they come from. It explains why many of us described as “Overseas Chinese” feel the need to explain when we are affronted by unjust comments about China and the Chinese people. Continue reading »
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Death penalty: Singapore’s ongoing killing spree
Singapore continues to risk its reputation as leader in arbitration in the region through its use of the death penalty, primarily, for minor drug offences. This goes against the overwhelming global trend towards abolition of the death penalty and tarnishes Singapore’s reputation as a jurisdiction committed to upholding fair trial guarantees. Continue reading »
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The drumbeat of history sounds for the Monarchy
Australia is at an inflection point. The illusion of Pax Britannia is just that. The time for a historical reckoning has arrived. The gruesome facts of colonial violence and the heroism of past and ongoing Indigenous resistance can no longer be denied. Continue reading »
