Letter

In response to America’s justification for attacking Venezuela: Part 1 – a calculated insult to

Rogue actors

For a book detailing the involvement of the CIA with drugs, Alfred W McCoy’s The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia is well-researched and convincing. When reading it many years ago, I realised that while it was possible for the CIA to amas a quantity of heroin through the use of not-so-hidden labs in Southeast Asia, a distribution network was needed to move that product. What was then known as the Mafia had such a network.

Despite an increasingly thin veneer of ‘a rules-based international order’ and ‘a shinning light on the hill,’ the USA is becoming exposed as a rogue actor. They act, and the rest of us react. The truths they proclaim are hollow, their accountability non-existent.

The other rogue actor on the international scene today is Israel. It’s clear that they simply don’t care what world opinion and the world of international law thinks.

By aligning itself with these two, Australia risks erosion from within. Does Canberra really think it can excuse the criminal actions of our main international allies and expect the rule of law to remain firm and respected within Australia? There is a yawning contradiction here, and many are beginning to notice.

— Hal Duell from Alice Springs