Top 5
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Hamas, Gaza and the continuing Zionist project
Hamas is the excuse for the Israeli attack on Gaza. It is not the reason. Continue reading »
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Agreeing and disagreeing: Australia’s critical deficit in China knowledge
The recent Beyond the Mainstream Media essay series spells out the urgency for Australia to come to grips with our deficit in China knowledge. China is not going to decline or disappear, and the frictions and problems that remain in our bilateral relationship impact all of us in many different ways. We must find ways Continue reading »
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COP28 a “tragedy for the planet” as Stockholm Syndrome took hold
Up to 100,000 people — most of whom derive their professional status and income from climate-related politics, advocacy and business — flew into Dubai for the COP28 annual global climate policy-making event, the Conference of the Parties under the United Nations’ climate convention. And the result? Continue reading »
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An annus horribilis and Australia’s conduct less than distinguished
For those who had hoped Australia might bring a more constructive approach to issues of peace and security, year’s end cannot come soon enough. Continue reading »
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COP out: apocalypse next
Without a large and rapid change in politics, not much in evidence, it now seems unlikely we can avoid climate apocalypse. Continue reading »
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Death and destruction in Gaza
I do not believe that anything I say about what is happening in Gaza will affect Israeli or American policy in that conflict. But I want to be on record so that when historians look back on this moral calamity, they will see that some Americans were on the right side of history. Continue reading »
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The greedy jaws of national security
With some honourable exceptions, most of the media and the parliament enthusiastically support almost everything the Director General of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Mike Burgess has to say. Although Burgess is not an extreme hardliner in the Australian intelligence world, many of his statements should not go unchallenged. Continue reading »
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Burnt files, lost files and denial of public access: censoring archives and the falsification of history
From the destruction of Gough Whitlam’s ASIO file, Sir John Kerr’s burnt Royal letters of support reduced to ash in the Yarralumla incinerator, to the missing 1975 Government House guest books, these lost archives raise serious concerns about the care with which our vice-regal records are maintained, and our capacity to write a full and Continue reading »
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UN honour, US shame
The nearly unanimous vote in the UN Security Council on Friday calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza is a moment of honour for the United Nations and shame for the United States. By voting to stop Israel’s war on Gaza by a vote of 13 yes, 1 no (US), and 1 abstention (UK), the Continue reading »
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Australia’s China knowledge capability: gratitude, dismay, hope
A visceral emphasis on fear over engagement has marked Australia’s approach to China since 2015. Only 17 Australians graduated with Honours degrees in China Studies between 2017 and 2021 across the entire country. This year no grants were awarded by the Australian Research Council for China-related research or collaborative research involving Chinese institutions. Will the Continue reading »
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Rebuilding Employment Services will take more than a few virtuous words
Pearls and Irritations’ weekly roundup this week commented on the paucity of analysis regarding the House of Representatives Select Committee’s report Rebuilding Employment Services. This is not surprising given the number and complexity of its recommendations. However, it is hard to pin down many specifics in the report other than the current system is useless. Continue reading »
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“It is vital for us not to look away”: Louise Adler on the place of politics in the arts
“The world looked away during the World War, and Jews, 6 million of our people, were murdered in that looking away… It is incumbent upon humanity to look at what is happening in Gaza now and to say we will not accept this. We will say no. Not in our name.” – Louise Adler Continue reading »
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Why Australia can’t rely on the US to save it from China
While there is a measure of agreement among Australian policymakers, and those who influence them, about the severity of regional security challenges we will face in the years ahead, serious divisions persist between Government and Opposition, within the wider think tank, academic and media policy community, and to some extent within the Albanese Government. They Continue reading »
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Is this what Australia has become?
On the eve of International Human Rights Day when invited to support the existing international rules-based order the United States’ leadership failed. Not only did their veto prevent a cease-fire in Gaza, but this powerful nation could not even offer an alternative path to protect humanity. Does the United Nations matter to the Australian Government? Continue reading »
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Australia has abandoned international law
Two months have passed since the events of October 7. Publicly, Australia has done nothing except perhaps indicate that it desires a two-state solution, and expects Israel to only take action which has regard to the need to protect civilians. Is this enough? The answer is no. Continue reading »
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A different kind of climate movement: the Kaldor Centre Principles on Climate Mobility
Every second, someone is displaced by a disaster. Each year, nearly three times as many people are displaced within their own countries by disasters than by conflict – the vast majority in the Asia-Pacific region. Climate change will amplify the problem as worsening cyclones, floods, bushfires, droughts and food insecurity force millions from their homes. Continue reading »
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Australians need to know what lies beneath the new era of US-Australia strategic cooperation
Euphemistically, the Prime Minister recently announced that he and President Biden have “inaugurated a new era of US-Australia strategic cooperation”. Presumably he meant to say he’d found new ways to surrender Australia’s sovereignty. Continue reading »
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“Singing from the Songsheet”: Media uncritically parrots ASPI’s anti-China propaganda
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) have once again proven they should be re-named the American Strategic Policy Institute. They have produced a new report based on errors, misunderstandings, speculation and offered no proof whatsoever to make China, and people who support China, look bad; all while being funded by the US State Department. At Continue reading »
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There’s nothing you can say to make me accept the murder of thousands of children
I promise there is nothing you can say to me that will cause me to cease opposing the murder of thousands of children in Gaza. There is no name you can call me, no accusation you can scream at me, no talking point you can regurgitate at me that will ever make me shut up Continue reading »
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The Paris Agreement is dead. Australia must change its strategic priorities
As COP28 flounders, the Paris Agreement is dead, and the imperative for emergency action has never been greater. This demands a fundamental change to Australia’s strategic priorities. Continue reading »
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The Elders call for urgent review of foreign military assistance to Israel over Gaza atrocities
The Elders today call for governments providing military assistance to Israel to review their approach, and set conditions for any future provision. They warn that Israel’s renewed military campaign in Gaza risks fuelling an escalating cycle of mass atrocities. Continue reading »
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Russia has learned not to trust America’s false peace overtures
Western capitals now openly acknowledge the reality that their proxy war in Ukraine has run out of steam. Desperate new policy directions are being discussed in NATO circles. But a decision to end the war will be taken only by Moscow. Continue reading »
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Humanity declares war on its children
After WWII, a good many people wondered why nobody had put a stop to either Hitler or Stalin, the two greatest butchers of history prior to the modern era, before they could accomplish their wicked designs. Continue reading »
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Appointment of Home Affairs Secretary Foster not merit-based
On 1 November 2023 the Minister for the Public Service, Senator Gallagher said “in the next stage of reforms” to the public service the government would introduce “requirements for the Prime Minister and Cabinet Secretary to conduct merit-based appointment processes for Secretary roles to build rigor into the advice provided to the Prime Minister on Continue reading »
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The death of Henry Kissinger: Statement by Paul Keating
Henry Kissinger’s death draws to a close the epoch of intellectualism in foreign policy to which he was committed following his early study of and belief in a system of organised strategic balance and restraint of the kind that emerged from the Treaty of Westphalia in the 17th century. Continue reading »
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Suffer the little children to come unto me…
Well, not so if they are Palestinian children that Israelis keep killing time and time again. It is part of what Israelis calls ‘mowing the grass’. Continue reading »
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Why ASIS should be abolished
The Australian Secret Intelligence Service was established in 1950 to conduct spying overseas and morally repulsive covert operations. It had a slow start, but in the 1970s it sent three staff to Chile to help the CIA overthrow the democratically elected government of President Salvador Allende. Continue reading »
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Ten key steps towards 21st century health reform
Australians place great value on their health and their health system. They believe that, with some exceptions, the health system is ‘gold medal’ winner by world standards – on access, equity and quality. In its core values, it is a system of which we should all be proud. But, 40 years after the introduction of Continue reading »
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A sinister, quiet, silencing of dissent
This brief temporary ceasefire has given people in Gaza a small reprieve from the ferocious carpet bombing, murdering and destruction unleashed by Israel since Oct 7th. But in spite of the millions and millions of people taking to the streets across the world in protest at Israel’s war crimes, the killing of women and children Continue reading »
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ASIO and the KGB: New information on Hawke v. Combe
Although ASIO dropped the intercept on Labor’s former national secretary David Combe’s phone after alleged KGB officer Valeriy Ivanov left Australia, Prime Minister Bob “Hawke’s interest in what had already transpired, increased dramatically”. Hawke suddenly asked to listen to the Combe-Ivanov tapes. After Hawke had listened for an hour and a half, “The Prime Minister Continue reading »