International relations
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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 »
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What kind of Republic? Who will campaign for it?
The passing of the Queen has reawakened the Republic issue. A quite varied number of responses appeared in the media recently. That is a most heartening by-product of a sad event. Continue reading »
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Zionism, anti-semitism and the British Labour Party
Last week Ali Kazak re-published an article, The article was said to be by Yvonne Ridley and dated 23.12.2021. It addressed the prospect of “(o)ne 82-year-old woman in Britain…(being) expelled from the Labour Party having been accused of posting “anti-Semitic” views on social networks”. “Diana Neslen, though, is Jewish”. The ‘views’ essentially questioned Zionism, asserting Continue reading »
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The great game in Ukraine is spinning out of control
Former US National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski famously described Ukraine as a “geopolitical pivot” of Eurasia, central to both US and Russian power. Since Russia views its vital security interests to be at stake in the current conflict, the war in Ukraine is rapidly escalating to a nuclear showdown. It’s urgent for both the US and Continue reading »
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Opportunistic interests: The US-Pacific Island declaration
If ever there was a blatant statement of realpolitik masquerading as friendliness, the latest US-Pacific Island declaration must count as one of them. The Biden administration has been busy of late, wooing Pacific Island states in an effort to discourage increasingly sharp tilt towards China. It has been spurred on, in no small way, by Continue reading »
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PM attending controversial Abe State funeral a diplomatic mis-step
Mr Albanese is coming to Tokyo for the September 27 state funeral of former Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe. Does our PM know or care about Abe’s background? Two thirds of Japanese people oppose the state funeral. Continue reading »
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No guts, no glory in deposing the King
Right thinking Australians ought to want their nation to be a republic led by a president rather than by a protestant King or Queen of England. Even the local self-effacing should want it if only for international and national self-respect. Continue reading »
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The origin of monarchy is violence: Can Australia choose a new path?
The concept of monarchy began as an antidote to human violence. Continue reading »
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Biden keeps pledging direct US war with China over Taiwan
The president of the United States has once again committed the US military to direct hot war with China in the event of an attack on Taiwan, a commitment that was once again walked back by his White House handlers. Continue reading »
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The Monarchy is facing a legitimation crisis
In monarchical systems there is always a legitimation challenge when the crown passes from one generation to the next. Whether it becomes a legitimation crisis depends on a number of factors. Continue reading »
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The Defence Strategic Review: Rehash of US influenced orthodoxy?
Prime Minister Albanese is to be commended for announcing, so quickly after his election, the Defence Strategic Review but its real objective is too narrow, its timeline too short and its membership hardly “independent” as claimed. Continue reading »
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The incautious, entitled, ‘meddling’ King Charles III of Australia: Can he stay out of politics?
When, according to the self-appointed guardians of public decency and royal decorum, is it ever ‘appropriate’ to speak about the future of the monarchy let alone, dare I say it, a republic? Not while the Queen was alive – because, disrespect. And not now that the Queen is dead – because, also disrespect. And of Continue reading »
