World
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OPEC won’t back West on Ukraine, hostile to Biden
There will be myriad effects from the decision last week by the OPEC+ oil producers – led by Saudi Arabia and Russia – to cut production and increase the price of oil. Continue reading »
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Ukraine’s revenge on the West
As the balance of power shifts again in Ukraine, its reverberations will impact the very unity of the EU project. Continue reading »
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Jeffrey Sachs urges dialogue amid rising Taiwan-China tensions
Jeffrey Sachs, who has been named this year’s Tang Prize laureate for Sustainable Development, has urged Taiwan and China to commit to dialogue to find a peaceful resolution in the midst of rising tensions between the two sides. Continue reading »
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How the US, not just Russia, helped bring the world closer to nuclear war
The West has effectively been challenging Russia’s right to be a hegemonic power. What if the proxy US campaign in Ukraine doesn’t lead to Russian regime downfall but instead to a desperate Putin using nuclear weapons? Continue reading »
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Western anti-China rhetoric reeks of hypocrisy
The direction from whence comes most of the anti-China rhetoric in the world today is hardly surprising. It reeks of hypocrisy. Continue reading »
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The Defence Strategic Review and the challenge of synchronising with foreign policy.
A reshaped foreign policy for Australia and the Defence Strategic Review are inextricably linked. Continue reading »
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Renewable energy is not enough – we must reduce consumption too
Alan Pears explains why we must stop ignoring energy efficiency gains instead of just focusing on switching to renewables. Is Australia’s focus on “clean energy” part of our economic and climate problems? Continue reading »
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Australia: An Electric Vehicle Battery manufacturing powerhouse?
Is it too late for Australia to enter the global market for Electric Vehicle Battery (EVB) manufacturing? It has become apparent that Australia’s exit in 2016 from local car production has made it more difficult for us to participate fully in one of the 21st century’s fastest growing, technically advanced and environmentally critical industries. Continue reading »
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Climate change risk second only to nuclear war
Could anthropogenic climate change result in worldwide societal collapse or even human extinction? Continue reading »
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We won’t recognise the annexation
Does any country buy Israel’s self-righteousness – it doesn’t recognise the annexation of the four provinces – at a time when Israel is trying to persuade world leaders to recognise its own annexations. Continue reading »
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Truss misrepresentations on China
While the campaign for the UK prime ministership was more about domestic issues than foreign policy, China still made fleeting appearances. Prime Minister Liz Truss had long pushed for a more ‘hawkish’ approach to China, commenting in the past about the need for the United Kingdom to avoid ‘dependency’ on the People’s Republic. Continue reading »
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25 Years ago, I warned expanding NATO ranked with the errors that led to WWI and II
Expanding NATO’s military demarcation point to the very borders of the former Soviet Union was an error which may rank with the strategic miscalculations which prevented Germany from taking its full place in the international system at the beginning of this century. Continue reading »
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US ring-fencing of Russia weakened those prepared to give liberal democratic principles a go
When the Russians surrendered their empire in 1990, wouldn’t it have been better to have Russia as part of an enlightened framework of intelligent co-existence, to invite their people, battered by the twentieth century, into the comity and wealth of nations? Continue reading »
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Peace, prosperity are ASEAN watchwords
Southeast Asian nations must call out US attempts to destabilise the region with anti-China rhetoric. Continue reading »
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The Defence Strategic Review: National strategy or weapons shopping list?
Governments don’t hold inquiries to get unwelcome answers. The Defence Strategic Review is no exception. So what does the Albanese government want it to achieve? Continue reading »
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Here comes the catastrophocene…
The good news is that the Anthropocene is almost over. It will have been the shortest geological epoch in all of Earth history. 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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US hypocrisy knows no limits on war crimes by US presidents
President Biden’s condemnation of Russia at the UN on Wednesday, where he claimed Russia had violated the UN Charter by invading Ukraine, a country he ludicrously said posed “no threat” to its larger neighbour, is epic hypocrisy coming from the leader of a country that not long ago invaded and destroyed Iraq based on a 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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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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When facts are not necessarily facts. The Uyghurs and China
Repeat a supposed fact sufficient times and it will become assumed truth. That seems the case very much when it comes to claims about China’s oppression of the Uyghurs in its western Xinjiang province. Supposedly one million or more Uyghurs have been imprisoned in vast re-education camps with the term ‘genocide’ being frequently used. Even Continue reading »
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The rise of Trussonomics
It’s impossible to know whether the new British Prime Minister is genuinely serious about constructive policy or not. She is certainly interested in greasing palms and calming the storms, if only to delay the inevitable. Having proven herself the shallowest of candidates to succeed her disgraced, not wholly banished predecessor, Liz Truss has leapt into Continue reading »
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The best journalists are persecuted and despised
The best western journalists are overwhelmingly despised while the worst are acclaimed millionaires. Western civilisation is built on lies, dependent on lies, powered by lies. Don’t seek widespread approval. It’s worthless. Continue reading »
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Beijing ‘won’t be threatened’ into changing Taiwan plans, analysts say
China’s foreign ministry lodged ‘stern representations’ with the US after President Joe Biden again said American troops would defend the island if the PLA attacks. Continue reading »
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Who are the war criminals?
One of the few heartening things to come out of Russia’s war against Ukraine is the renewed emphasis on how it’s a crime for national leaders to start a war of aggression. Putin is not the only one who can reasonably be accused of committing war crimes. Most US president since World War II have Continue reading »
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Defence Strategic Review-Prometheus bound – China the constrained superpower
Several contributors to this series have argued that China should not be seen as a military threat to Australia. Their arguments are based on historical, political, and cultural grounds, or all three. Henry Kissinger in his 2011 book On China concluded similarly. Continue reading »
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To all who care about humanity’s and the planet’s future
Humanity has reached a tipping point. It is time for governments, international institutions and people everywhere to take stock and act with renewed urgency. Continue reading »
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President Abbas at UNGA: Why is Israel not punished for violating international law?
Who is protecting Israel from being held accountable? Why these double standards when it comes to Israel? Continue reading »
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Almost 90% of the world is not following America on Ukraine
A remarkable recent article in Newsweek, has documented concisely and convincingly how: “Nearly 90 Percent of the World Isn’t Following Us on Ukraine” – and what consequences follow from this. Continue reading »
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Britain’s opium era strategy to deal with China
THE DAOGUANG EMPEROR tasked Commissioner Lin Zexu with suppressing the opium trade bedeviling China in 1839. Lin initially tried diplomacy. Continue reading »
