World
-
While Australia votes, India-Pakistan cricket is downstream of politics
On 14 October, my attention will wander between three unconnected stories as they unfold in real time. I will be in New Zealand on that general election date. Polls indicate the Labour government will be replaced by a centre-right coalition. But the peculiarities of the electoral system make election results and the outcome of post-election Continue reading »
-
The one word Israel is desperate you not define – terrorism
Terrorism: “(adjective) unlawfully using violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in pursuit of political aims.” Has any term more fully captured what the state of Israel inflicts on Palestinians? Continue reading »
-
Another brick laid building the new order
The recently concluded summit of the five member states of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) agreed to expand membership to include from next January Saudi Arabia, Iran, Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the UAE. Western media and commentators’ responses have been a farrago of sneering at the unlikely hodgepodge of countries that Continue reading »
-
Culture and Religion, Defence and Security, International relations, Politics, Religion and Faith, World
Israel can’t imprison two million Gazans without paying a cruel price
Behind all this lies Israeli arrogance; the idea that we can do whatever we like, that we’ll never pay the price and be punished for it. We’ll carry on undisturbed. Continue reading »
-
Jailbreak from prison Gaza
Since when do we praise Occupiers for brutal oppression? Words are used to confuse, obfuscate and detract from the truth of Palestine-Israel. Words such as terrorist, enemy, militants and murderous are often used to describe Palestinians who are, in essence, victims, freedom fighters, oppressed, occupied and ignored. Continue reading »
-
Nine ‘planetary boundaries’ set the limits of global economic freedom
One of the most important developments in economics is something in which economists had no hand: the identification of the environmental limits which humans, busily producing and consuming, cross at their peril. Continue reading »
-
“Inhumanity in its vilest form”: There’s no time to lose for crisis-hit Myanmar
Each day the people are enduring horrifying attacks and flagrant human rights violations by a genocidal, criminal regime. Continue reading »
-
The brave man
There was a time not so long ago, especially after the Vietnam War, when leaders in the advanced countries such as the United States, Britain, France and Germany gave us hope that the mistakes of the past had been learnt and that we were heading for a fairer and more ethical system: when Nelson Mandela Continue reading »
-
Beyond the neocon debacle to peace in Ukraine
We are entering the end stage of the 30-year US neocon debacle in Ukraine. The neocon plan to surround Russia in the Black Sea region by NATO has failed. Decisions now by the US and Russia will matter enormously for peace, security, and wellbeing for the entire world. Continue reading »
-
Facing existential threats, raging wars highlight our failure to co-exist
The world recently saw the hottest day in 120 thousand years, mainly driven by climate change arising from our addiction to fossil fuels – sustaining economic growth and maintaining our lifestyles. We are consuming more oil than ever before in human history – enough to fill 6,500 Olympic swimming pools every day. Continue reading »
-
The future will be decided by economic influence, not military dominance
America is falling into a trap. It thinks the future will be decided by military dominance, despite losing one war after another. China, on the other hand, recognises that the future will be decided by economics. Continue reading »
-
Planned degrowth is needed to stop the collapse of civilisation
An opinion piece (‘Degrowth approach is disastrous’, Canberra Times, 9 September, p.38) by authors from the Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) attacked the concept of degrowth to a steady-state economy (SSE) and defended the notion of continuing economic growth on a finite planet. Continue reading »
-
A divided US needs an ‘enemy’ like Beijing more than it ever did
When something becomes too complicated, psychologists say we go for ‘rules of thumb’. In Washington today, that rule is ‘the China threat’. Continue reading »
-
Rethinking China and the new world order
The world is now experiencing a new era of multilateralism. The Quad (India, US, Japan, Australia) now sits alongside the G20, the G7, and has been joined by AUKUS (Australia, UK, US), and the great new vision of the Indo Pacific. BRICS, around for almost two decades, looks like it might expand to become a Continue reading »
-
How has the Belt and Road Initiative changed the world?
The ten years of the Belt and Road Initiative has proven that the rise of China has not brought colonialism, disaster, war, refugees, and crises. Instead, it brought the world trade, commodities, tourists, infrastructure, economic growth and civilisation. No matter how Western politicians, media, and think tanks vilify the BRI, they cannot cover up a Continue reading »
-
The news has nothing to do with newsworthiness
I don’t mention it often but I actually have a degree in journalism. I graduated with distinction from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 2003, and while it would be another 13 years before I’d ever put my degree to any use, the experience played a massive role in forming my opinions about the Continue reading »
-
Militarising exclusive maritime zones – a new global US security doctrine?
International law of the sea is set to be subverted as America seeks to exercise extraterritorial defence claims over foreign exclusive economic zones beyond those of three Pacific island states. Continue reading »
-
Why China is not a threat: Sinophobia Unites Americans
Hatred of China is now the single issue that unites Democrats and Republicans. Having a perceived foe helps unite a deeply divided America internally, unless, of course, it becomes a losing cause. This three-part series explores how US narratives on the ‘China threat’ have become entrenched in the West, and why China is not a Continue reading »
-
Did Penny Wong really just suggest China is an ‘existential’ threat?
The Australian Government has a big problem with its security narrative. Preparing for a putative war with China is the nation’s top security priority, while the government’s knowledge of the growing existential threat of climate disruption and their security consequences remains a closely-guarded secret. Continue reading »
-
The west destroyed Africa, Eurasia will revive it
Africa’s renaissance is already underway through partnerships with Eurasian powers Russia and China, whose significant contributions are already visible in security, economic, and institutional sectors throughout the continent. Continue reading »
-
Why Rupert Murdoch came to New York
With the announcement that Rupert Murdoch is stepping down from the board of FoxNews and Newscorp, I thought was it an apt moment to reprint one of the most detailed portraits ever written of the press mogul: Alexander Cockburn’s 1976 profile and interview with Murdoch published in the Village Voice in 1976, shortly after Murdoch had acquired Continue reading »
-
On Nord Stream anniversary, Ukraine war at a turning point
Tuesday 26 September is the anniversary of the Biden administration’s destruction of three of the four pipelines of Nord Stream 1 and 2. There is more I have to say about it, but it will have to wait. Why? Because the war between Russia and Ukraine, with the White House continuing to reject any talk Continue reading »
-
America can’t stop China’s rise
There’s little doubt that the American government has decided to slow China’s economic rise, most notably in the fields of technological development. To be sure, the Biden administration denies that these are its goals. Janet Yellen said on April 20, 2023, “China’s economic growth need not be incompatible with U.S. economic leadership. The United States remains the Continue reading »
-
Health impacts of sanctions deleted from UN declaration on universal health coverage (with Australian support)
In the lead up to the high-level UN meeting on universal health coverage (UHC) Australia has joined the US, UK and the EU in blocking any acknowledgement that ‘unilateral coercive measures’ (sanctions) can have negative impacts on the achievement of universal health coverage. Continue reading »
-
Earth Systems Treaty: John Hewson calls for action on ‘mega threats’
Former Liberal party leader John Hewson, in a letter to the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, enquired why the United Nations was not acting on proposals to deal with a series of well documented and interacting catastrophic threats. Continue reading »
-
Okinawa disproves the US narrative about overseas bases
Okinawa governor Denny Tamaki has implored the UN for international backing in his opposition to the prefecture being overrun with US military bases. Continue reading »
-
Strategic ambiguity: a weapon of mass destruction
Strategic ambiguity is the greatest oral weapon of mass destruction that the Western world has ever invented. Continue reading »
-
The mass-media memory hole: Ukraine, Libya and war crimes
A key function of state-corporate media is to keep the public pacified, ignorant and ill-equipped to disrupt establishment power. Continue reading »
-
Freedom of the press barons?
The ‘disinformation’ (read: lies and bullshit) being propagated about the indigenous Voice to Parliament by the Murdoch media, among others, harms our society. It promotes division, celebrates and cultivates ignorance and bigotry, oppresses a minority and diminishes us all. Why do we tolerate such behaviour? Continue reading »
-
Trudeau ruins India’s global triumph – Asian Media Report
In Asian media this week: Canada, India tensions have sorry history. Plus: BRI shows most countries shun ‘decoupling’; Myanmar rebels ‘will never give up’; China to dominate green car market; Putin and Kim lead ‘axis of outcasts’; China decline the fashionable chatter in Washington. Continue reading »
