USA
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The fruits of American bishops’ failure
Five years ago, J.D. Vance, who is now the vice-president of the United States, received the Sacraments of Initiation at St Gertrude Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Continue reading »
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A five-minute scroll
Concerns over police actions in Germany, proof the British Government knows that Israel is committing genocide and Trump’s suggestion for Gaza is a genocidal act. In Australia we wait for politicians to be equally outraged about attacks on Muslims. Jeffrey Sachs on the US wars of choice. Continue reading »
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Trump’s and Musk’s monopoly board
Christopher Pyne, one-time Australian minister of the crown, gratuitously recommends Greenlanders embrace Trump’s desired purchase of Greenland on the basis they would be financially far better off. Hello, is everything to be valued exclusively in financial terms? Is this what human beings are all about? Continue reading »
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Caligula’s horse and Washington
“Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future, too.” Marcus Aurelius Continue reading »
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Trump and Christianity – Why it matters
Trump has created what he calls a ‘Faith Office’ within the White House and appointed a Pentecostal pastor from Florida, Paula White, to lead it. Ms White, widely described in mainstream Christianity as a heretic, teaches a transactional faith. In other words, faith is demonstrated in prosperity. Continue reading »
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Appeasement in the 21st century
Commentary around Donald Trump tends to gravitate to the delusion that he is the leader of the most powerful country on the planet. Every time we blindly accept that delusion, we reinforce it, we assume that we are powerless in the face of such a powerful country. We forget that America’s power is a product Continue reading »
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Washington drops Ukraine, Israel backs down on Hamas demands
The two big stories in the news today are the Trump administration saying Ukraine is going to have to give up territory and NATO ambitions in order to secure a peace deal, while Israel appears to retreat from its ceasefire standoff with Hamas. Continue reading »
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The Gaza ceasefire is being sabotaged by Israel, by Trump, and by the media
The Gaza ceasefire (if you can even call it that) is already in grave peril. Continue reading »
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The need for Australia to act independently and be freed of the US alliance has never been greater
Never has there been a greater need for Australia to turn away from its military alliance with the United States and forge an independent and peaceful foreign policy. Continue reading »
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The lawless West
The low regard in which the Global West is held is intensifying. The second Trump administration is not the cause of this. It is simply accelerating this ominous process by openly embracing a lawless, imperial contempt for primary international and metropolitan governance rules, norms and conventions in response to the persistent retreat of American global Continue reading »
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China’s digital sputnik moment
DeepSeek was virtually unknown when the year began. It is now shaking global stock markets and being called a “sputnik moment” for the US. Last month, xiao hong shi (Little Red Book) also emerged from seemingly nowhere, as US TikToc users began migrating en masse to this Chinese social media site in anticipation of TikTok Continue reading »
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Trump and foolish old men who redraw maps
It generally ends badly. An old tyrant embarks on an ill-considered project that involves redrawing maps. They are heedless to wise counsel and indifferent to indigenous interests or experience. Before they fail, are killed, deposed or otherwise disposed of, these vicious old men can cause immense harm. Continue reading »
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The real estate mogul
President Donald Trump is not quite the fool or the subjective (or subliminal) genius that pundits make him out to be. However, if there is one trait that his recent pronouncements point to it is that of a quintessential real estate mogul. Continue reading »
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Breaking barriers: The transformative impact of people-to-people exchange
American talk show host Jimmy Fallon humorously remarked, “Americans would literally rather learn Mandarin than use Instagram Reels!” Recently, more than 700,000 users who call themselves “TikTok refugees” from the United States flocked to a popular Chinese social media app named RedNote (or Xiaohongshu). This unexpected “migration” has connected netizens from the two great nations Continue reading »
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A five-minute scroll
Seventy-nine countries sign a letter supporting the International Criminal Court, but not Australia. Biden has laid the plan for what Trump will do next in Gaza. Paul Keating reminds us that life in Australia is comparably better than in the US. The Albanese Government is on track to meet 2030 goals for the renewable energy Continue reading »
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Letter to the leaders of the civilised world
“Take wisdom from the mouths of mad men” is an old Arabic proverb. It sprang to mind a couple of days ago, when I heard the narcissist leader of the “civilised” world, President Donald Trump, openly calling for the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. Continue reading »
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Trump’s Gaza grab shows America is no better than China
Australia’s former top diplomat says Donald Trump may achieve what 75 years of post-war anti-Americanism could not: concede the case for moral equivalence. Continue reading »
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Why Trump 2.0 still can’t win the trade war with China
On the third day after Donald Trump announced the imposition of 25% and 10% tariffs on imported Canadian and Chinese goods respectively, Canada yielded and co-operated with Trump’s demands, in exchange for a one-month suspension of the agreement by the US. Continue reading »
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A five-minute scroll
A Palestinian man describes the horror of his Israeli captivity while the BBC questions the president of Israel about the torture and abuse in their prisons. Jeffrey Sachs explains why the US went to war with Iraq in 2003. ABC Insiders uncovers Trump’s plan for Gaza while the King of Jordan says they will never Continue reading »
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Renewed US-China tensions are trouble for Australia’s economy
Trump 2.0 is in full swing, and tariffs are emerging again as a policy of choice for the president. Trump has imposed or threatened tariffs against all of the US’s top trading partners, including Canada, Mexico, and the European Union. Continue reading »
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Musk – a perfume on the nose
Elon Musk may not have fallen out with Donald Trump just yet, but he is definitely on the nose with the American public. Continue reading »
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An open season on Palestine
Since the inception of the Zionist movement in the late 19th century, its policy towards Palestine has been, still is and will continue to be about land theft, dispossession and the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. Continue reading »
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America and the forgotten memento mori (remember you are mortal)
In recent decades, the West has witnessed a growing trend among increasingly hubristic US leaders to proclaim the United States as “indispensable.” This rhetoric reflects a mindset often seen in declining empires: the belief that their peak is yet to come, despite mounting evidence of decay. Continue reading »
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Media avoid drawing line between Trump’s ‘Gaza plan’ and ethnic cleansing
When Donald Trump proposed recently to “clean out” Gaza of its entire population, you might have thought what you heard was a plan to “ethnically cleanse” Palestinians from their lands – I mean, it’s right there in that word. But not according to most of the media. Continue reading »
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The rules based order – is it over? What’s next?
It is becoming much clearer, if it ever was, that President Donald Trump doesn’t much believe in the “rules based system”. If he does or did, he wouldn’t be firing off salvos of tariffs as if they were missiles intended for another purpose.Which, of course, they are. Continue reading »
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A five-minute scroll
It’s not the first time the Trump administration has imposed sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC). Independent journalist Richard Medhurst has been detained by Austrian police and intelligence services. The late John Pilger reminds us what Julian Assange uncovered about media, while Juice Media pulls the rug from under Dutton’s nuclear plans. Another week Continue reading »
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North-South Korea relations – missed opportunities
While confrontations continue in Seoul between right and left-wing factions over the fate of Yoon Suk Yeol following his ill-conceived declaration of Martial law on 3 December 2024, it is instructive to look back at the many attempts to improve North-South relations when things seemed not quite so hopeless. Can they be revived? Continue reading »
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A five-minute scroll
The world reacts to President Trump’s proposal to take over Palestine. A crime of forced displacement that will create more conflict and bloodshed. UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese and global journalists respond. Continue reading »
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Roaming charges: Manifest Destiny’s child
There was a messianic fervour in Donald Trump’s Second Inaugural speech that wasn’t evident eight years ago. As dark as the 2016 American Carnage diatribe was, there was still the sense that Trump was a salesman pitching a vision he didn’t quite believe in, but thought he needed to sell in order to legitimise himself Continue reading »
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Trump’s decision to withdraw American support for WHO is a huge mistake
It only took a week for Donald Trump to have America looking like Belarus as a dictator, helped by totally subservient politicians, put governing in the hands of unqualified, unintelligent loyalists. As one commentator asked this week “When did brains go out of fashion!” Continue reading »
