Letters to the Editor
Would MSO have cancelled Yehudi Menuhin?
August 20, 2024
Yehudi Menuhin, when receiving the Wolf Prize some years ago, addressed the Knesset saying: The wasteful governing by fear by this Government, by its contempt for the basic needs of life, the steady asphyxiation of a dependent people, should be the very last means to be adopted by those who know only too well, the awful significance, the unforgivable suffering of such an existence. It is unworthy of my great people, the Jews, who have striven to abide by a code of moral rectitude for some 5,000 years.” I wonder whether the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra would ever have considered...
Richard Manderson from Canberra
In response to: Melbourne Symphony Orchestra strikes the wrong note on Gaza
Self-funding Universal Basic Income
August 20, 2024
I congratulate Michael Lester and Bronwyn Kelly for their Universal Basic Income proposal and wish to suggest a politically compelling way for its introduction. The idea is a counter-intuitive self-financing tax incentive. Shareholders who change the constitutions of their corporations obtain bigger, quicker and less risky profits. But, on condition, they endow a small fraction of their equity each year by a book entry to a Stakeholder Equity account. Corporations then create Stakeholder shares, which they only endow to citizens, who can vote for the politicians who can vote for the tax incentive. Non-self-funding tax incentives are used...
Shann Turnbull from Paddington
In response to: How to fix poverty? Universal basic income
Teals show the way to revive conviction democracy
August 20, 2024
Les MacDonald’s hope that democracy may finally be returning to its roots, where strength of conviction shapes policy, is personified by the parliamentary influx of Teals. These intelligent, capable individuals came to parliament holding a few conviction policies in common – strong action on climate, a strong NACC, a better, and safer world for women – and continue to operate, independently, through extensive, regular community consultation to understand and reflect the views of their communities in other matters. Regrettably, the major parties seem to be closing ranks against this democratic revival. Labor’s proposed reforms to political donation laws, while...
Chris Young from Surrey Hills, Vic
In response to: Returning to a democracy where strength of conviction shapes policy
AUKUS turnabout
August 19, 2024
The acronym was obviously carefully conceived, because the alternative sends a very clear message to Australia. If the proper order of country importance was followed, it would actually be: USUKA pronounced U-SUKA. I didn't think of this, a friend of mine did, and once he said it, I haven't been able to get it out of my head. Would it help our understanding of the special arrangement if we used this version in future?
Marguerite Bunce from France
In response to: America is the most violent, aggressive country in the world
The Americanization of Australia — observations
August 19, 2024
I lived in the US from 1977 to 2010, a total of 33 years, and returned looking for Australia. I think Australia then was in a twilight of the 20th century. I went to the US because the dismissal had left me very bitter and angry. I decided to find out why Australia chose to be obedient to the US. Thirty-three years in the US makes you think like an American if you are going to survive there. Returning the last of Australia’s sense of self was in retirement mode. Kerry O’Brien’s last years at the ABC and Quentin Dempster...
David Nicholas from Umina Beach, Central Coast NSW
In response to: The Americanisation of Australia: how we’re rapidly losing our cultural sovereig
The definition of civilised
August 19, 2024
The conqueror is always more civilised than native inhabitants! The British in Australia encountered a peoples perceived as primitive because the accepted definition of civilised is based on the demonstrated ability to maim, kill, rape and enslave (physically or economically) on a large scale. The Australian First Nations people and the inhabitants of most colonised nations could not do that, hence minimum respect for their cultures. Jimmy Carter once observed that for about 15 years in its history the US had not been involved in a war somewhere on the planet. It has exceptional abilities to kill on a...
Adrian Potter from Adelaide
In response to: Our Other Face
Opposing anything, everything, almost everybody
August 19, 2024
I have never been able to understand the concept of an elected “Opposition” . What company would employ up to 49% of its employees to “oppose“ everything the other 51+% are trying to achieve? Who do Opposition Parliamentarians actually represent when they are opposing everything that the actual government are trying to achieve? I have been voting for some 50-odd years and I don’t recall it always being like this . In opposing anything and everything Tony Abbott wrote the LNP playbook, a playbook that was used very effectively to depose a succession of prime ministers, leaders of the oppositions...
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: Has-australia-turned-its-back-on-assisting-people-fleein
Spaceship Earth
August 16, 2024
Excellent analogy of our planet as a spaceship by Mark Beeson (“Spaceship Earth is experiencing turbulence” Pearls and Irritations, 6/8). Indeed, all passengers aboard spaceship earth are in for an increasingly rough ride, with the vast majority sadly set to experience more tough turbulence than others. Beeson’s suggestions of how we might collectively steady the ship are excellent. In this era of misinformation, disinformation and constant distraction, however, how we “make the stability of the Earth and the environment upon which we all depend the single most important goal of everyone on board” is anyone’s guess. I, for one,...
Amy Hiller from Kew, Victoria
In response to: “Spaceship Earth is experiencing turbulence”
How many "worst" leaders can we have?
August 16, 2024
The shortest answer to Abul Rizvi's question is YES! Anthony Albanese's approach to Gaza is, as with just about everything else, limp. Some might say spineless. Must we forever wait for the US and follow if not actually do as we're told? But in Peter Dutton we have found another worst at the bottom of the barrel. We thought Howard was bad. But Abbott was something else. And then - surely it must stop with Morrison? But no, in his own way, Dutton is an equal worst. His attitude to asylum seekers was unbelievable but now ....There has...
Margaret Callinan from Hawthorn VIC 3122
In response to: Has Australia turned its back on assisting people fleeing war/conflict?
Universal Basic Income, Rental Affordability Crisis
August 16, 2024
I've been a keen advocate of UBI for years (https://publish.pearlsandirritations.com/tim-woodruff-basic-income-guarantee-this-is-a-health-issue/) and am delighted to see it being pursued. Clearly the tax system requires adjusting to implement this policy. The other area that is of concern is the possibility that in the current rental and housing affordability crisis, the only people who will benefit will be the homeless, who will be able to enter rentals at the bottom of the market, and the landlords, who will increase rent because they can.
Tim Woodruff from richmond, victoria
In response to: How to fix poverty? Universal basic income
Labor swallows Coalition defence and foreign policy holus-bolus
August 16, 2024
Ex Prime Minister Keating joins the growing list of informed commentators who is worried by, or opposes the AUKUS agreement. Having rejoiced at the departure of the Morrison government, I was shocked to see Labor swallow Coalition defence and foreign policy holus-bolus. The idea that a Labor government would take us down the path of nuclear powered submarines costing an estimated $368 billion and tie us in with the United States' military-industrial machine seemed unthinkable but here we are! Richard Marles is like a school cadet, flattered by the big boys at the Pentagon and eager to please....
Graeme McLeay from Torrens Park SA 5062
In response to: Paul Keating: Military control of Australia
Anthony Albanese
August 16, 2024
Here we go again. It is unrelenting. This time Paddy Gourley has a go at Anthony Albanese, again without also listing any of the considerable achievements of this government, especially compared to its recent predecessors, a low bar I admit. Four people were initially advised of AUKUS, it then went to cabinet and then to the Labor caucus before being supported. In the more than two years since, there has been plenty of opportunity for full advice and to pause and review. On balance AUKUS is proceeding and with a high level of community support. Albanese improved the...
David Hind from Neutral Bay
In response to: A Timid PM, Frozen in the glare of the Keating headlights
The unsustainable lifestyles of the wealthy West
August 16, 2024
The numbers in Peter Sainsbury's report of the finding of a colossal new copper deposit a mile underground in Zambia are mind-boggling. But the most stunning statistic is the statement that although this mine is expected to produce at least 300,000 tons of copper per annum - enough for 50 million EV batteries - the world will need up to six new copper mines of similar size to open every year out to 2050! In other words, if, miraculously, we transition to a low carbon economy quickly enough to avoid climate catastrophe, we will still destroy the planet in...
Richard Barnes from Melbourne
In response to: Environment: Zambia has lots of copper but will Zambians benefit?
The Bonfire of the Verities
August 9, 2024
Compare and contrast, with reference to claims by our government of even-handed, just and fair treatment of the two protagonists in the Gaza conflict: Iran’s ambassador to Australia given diplomatic rebuke after ‘abhorrent’ comments on Israel (Anthony Albanese condemns antisemitic social media post by Ahmad Sadeghi as tensions grow in Middle East after death of Hamas political leader). The response?: Anthony Albanese: “There’s no place for the sort of comments that were made … by the Iranian ambassador,” Albanese told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday. “They’re abhorrent, they are hateful, they are antisemitic and they have...
Richard Llewellyn from Colo Vale NSW
In response to: Rape and genocide: the Israeli war machine we support
We must reverse bipartisan support for oil and gas
August 9, 2024
As Ken Russell observes, Labor and the Coalition offer bipartisan support to the fossil fuel industry, authorising new gas and oil projects, and maintaining substantial industry subsidies. Russell calls for climate experts to step up their public advocacy to bring change. During covid people listened to experts because we were afraid: an incurable virus was spreading freely among us, we were desperate for information. Most people do not yet feel this intensity of fear about our changing climate. Governments and experts downplay the risks lest they be accused of fear-mongering. Labor holds their climate security review in secret. Experts...
Chris Young from Surrey Hills, Vic
In response to: Climate change – government and media failure
The need for large scale degrowth
August 9, 2024
Mearsheimer’s analyses are of great value and in my view correct, but I do not think his account of US support for Israel is right. Of course the power of the lobby is central but the core factor is that Israel is the empire’s forward base in the essential effort to secure Western access to oil, and keeping the Arabs down, divided and harassed is the central element in this. In Nasser’s time “Arab Nationalism” was rising, but it has long gone. Biden et al. are in a good position, able to tut-tut about Israeli “excesses” while watching...
Ted Trainer from Australia
In response to: The awesome power of the Israel lobby
NOTHING TO SEE HERE
August 2, 2024
40 odd years ago my brother in law was in an officer in training in the ADF and He Told me our defence thinking was about Indonesia. Learning Indonesian was encouraged in schools. That was before we outsourced our thinking, any thinking to the USA. A small boat sail to the North is a Nation (don’t mention religion) of nearly 300 million people who live on smallish islands that are soon to be to varying degrees flooded by rising seas and smashed by storms. To the north of them are some of the most densely populate...
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: War in a hot climate: the luxury of AUKUS in a time of global overheating
Small acts of sedition
August 2, 2024
Small acts of sedition. Yes, that we can all do, even one such act a day carried out by each of us would make an enormous difference. Today I liked a feisty post on social media, and some else liked my like. Small things like that. Joanna Macy, she of Active Hope, wrote “Of all the dangers we face, from climate chaos to nuclear war, none is so great as the deadening of our response.” I agree Caitlin, we need to wake up, all of us, one by one.
Janet Grevillea from New South Wales
In response to: US presidential races hide the criminality of the US empire
When a white flag no longer counts
August 2, 2024
Where would Ireland be today if an IRA leader involved in the peace negotiations some thirty years ago had been assassinated?
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: Fears of full-scale war with Lebanon rise after Israel bombs Beirut, assassinates Ismail Haniyeh
Pearls and Irritations Journal Limited
August 2, 2024
Dear John, Please accept my appreciation of the daily articles published daily in Pearls and Irritations Journal, and a big thank you for your service running it. It’s a great journal that respects the public’s right to know, holds the powerful to account and has spoken truth to power. In order to help release the great burden that you and wife, Susie, have carried for years, I congratulate you for deciding to establishing a not for profit company Pearls and Irritations Journal Limited to continue the unrivaled journalistic publication. I wish you and wife Susie can enjoy...
Robert Chong from Melbourne, Victoria
In response to: New Governance arrangements for Pearls and Irritations
Thank you
August 2, 2024
Dear Mr Menadue Thank you so much for making arrangements for continuation of your P&I project. I have been a regular reader for a few years now. I continue to be encouraged by the number of contributors that so coherently oppose the partisan US bias in reporting by the main stream media - including the creeping change at the ABC under the pretence of providing balanced coverage of news and current affairs. Yours in sincere appreciation, Stephen Webber
Stephen Webber from Brisbane
In response to: New Governance arrangements for Pearls and Irritations
Well said.
August 2, 2024
Well said Mr Keating. Well said. Would that it were enough to sink AUKUS. Sadly, there are none so deaf as those who will not hear. And there is way too much selective deafness in Australian politics at present.
Peter Hehir from Rozelle. Sydney
In response to: AUKUS servility just one facet of poor governance
There is an alternative political narrative
August 2, 2024
I commend Caitlin Johnstone's critique of the US electoral system and that neither Presidential candidate will adequately address the pressing social and environmental problems both the US and the world face. But Caitlin, there is an organisation and movement both here and in the US which is addressing the issues at a grassroots level that you say are so desperately needed to bring about real change to people's lives and a resolution to international conflict. I commend the Greens as such an entity which is trying to address these issues through mobilising communities to be more active in bringing...
Les Mitchell from Port Macquarie NSW
In response to: US presidential races hide the criminality of the US empire By Caitlin Johnstone
July 26
August 2, 2024
You wrote your article on July 26, a powerful date in the fight against US imperialism that should be commemorated by all citizens concerned about the fate of the world. In 1953 on that date Fidel Castro and his fellow fighters attacked the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba, thus commencing the war against the murderous US backed dictatorship of Fulgencia Batista in Cuba. So my regular small acts of sabotage are to study and understand the Cuban revolution of 1 January 1959 and talk about the many achievements, domestic and international, of that revolution and the many ways...
Rob Parnell from Narrabundah
In response to: US presidential races hide the criminality of the US empire
Not my Labor
August 2, 2024
I'm a 71 year old who would be described as rusted on Labor. I come from a family of rusted on Labor voters. My dad was still handing out Labor how to vote cards in his nineties and I was driving him to the polling booth in his nineties. I have been disappointed in the Albanese govt since it failed to shut down AuKuS during his acceptance speech. Last Sunday I decided to write to the PM to list my dissatisfaction including AuKUS, Climate, Gaza, Defence wasting etc. I don’t believe I was abusive. I did however...
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: US presidential races hide the criminality of the US empire
Albanese's Timidity
August 2, 2024
I wholeheartedly support Paul Begley's expose (July 30, 2024) of the shortcomings of Anthony Albanese's leadership of the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party in his role as Prime Minister. He is clearly out of his depth with his no risk timid approach and it's even more damning that he hasn't supported his Ministers following pressure from the Opposition, when he needs to get on the front foot and show loyalty by defending them. My biggest gripe is with his unquestioning acceptance of Morrison's AUKUS (USUKA) without proper due diligence. Deputy PM and Defence Minister Marles, who is also out of...
Ray Laverack from Sydney
In response to: Anthony Albanese: the weak link in the Albanese Government
Albanese is providing genuine Leadership
August 2, 2024
It is frustrating and indeed tiring to read a stream of P and I pundits doing the job of and plagiarising the Opposition leader in criticising Anthony Albanese who is running a highly effective government. Would they rather see a return of mediocre Coalition outfits? Albanese promised to be different and he has broadly kept this promise. He refused to make undeliverable promises and has made good on most of the promises he did make. He refuses to play many of the tired old games advocated by some of these pundits. He runs a proper Cabinet process. We are...
David Hind from Kurraba Point NSW2089
In response to: Anthony Albanese: the weak link in the Albanese Government
Why not apply the extradition treaty provisions?
August 2, 2024
One of the federal review agencies told me recently that sometimes public servants confuse policy with the law, the notorious example being Robodebt. In Dan Duggan's case, the law is contained in the Australia-US extradition treaty. Firstly this specifies a range of extraditable offences, none of which apply to Dan. Then it provides for extradition if Australian law has a similar offence to the alleged US offence. At the time of the alleged offences, we had no offences matching the two directly pilot-training related offences. However, as to alleged money laundering, we do have a cognate offence. But...
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: Aussie ‘Top Gun’ Dan Duggan submits final appeal for Australian justice
PM's reshuffle no sign of weakness
August 2, 2024
Paul Begley appears to judge the Prime Minister's strength or weakness using the same criterion as Peter Dutton. What if, amazingly, he actually decided that Home Affairs is not as important as Housing? Clare O'Neill is a fine minister and her talents were wasted in Peter Dutton's self-aggrandising super ministery of Home Affairs. Labor had to deal with the legacy Morrison et al left but is now able to quietly unpack Home Affairs, taking ASIO away from it and giving it to reknown head kicker Tony Burke along with Immigration - the two hot button (for the Liberals) areas. This...
DARYL DELLORA from VICTORIA
In response to: Anthony Albanese: the weak link in the Albanese Government
Lacking moral fibre
August 2, 2024
The lack of moral integrity which allows the Labor Government to take its lead on Israel from the US also allows it to... - fail to undertake the desperately needed critique of the AUKUS deal - cave in to the fossil fuel industry to the detriment of positive action on climate change - ignore urgently needed tax reform in favour of tinkering at the edges with the Stage 3 tax cuts - continue to underfund public schools and hospitals (and I would add tertiary education) - force those not in paid employment - the aged, the physically and mentally...
Margaret Callinan from Hawthorn, VIC 3122
In response to: The World Court has cleared the fog hiding western support for Israel’s crimes
I call on the government to resign.
August 2, 2024
During the war in Kosovo, after a massacre that Dutch troops failed to intervene in, and more recently when the Dutch government was found to have harassed and defrauded parents using government provided childcare, the Dutch government resigned in order to take responsibility. Note the contrast with the Australian government which was recently found to have stolen more than a billion dollars from the poorest people in Australia, which resulted in many deaths. The government came into possession of evidence for theft, mass murder, and conspiracy to obtain benefit by deceit, and instead of passing the information to...
Noel Quinn from Cobargo
In response to: Time to step up Albo, or step away
Not walking the walk, barely talking the talk
August 2, 2024
Thank you David Spratt and Ian Dunlop for staying calm enough to talk sense about the way governments at every level seem to believe they have enough time to keep placating big fossil fuel corporations for just that bit longer. I find it almost impossible to understand how people in power, who have children, and who think of themselves as leaders, do not have sufficient respect for themselves, let alone the rest of us, to face up to the fact that the Planetary Climate Crisis requires urgent action right now. Real leaders would take responsibility for making sure we...
Penny Lee from Perth
In response to: The Albanese government has created a climate vacuum, and we will pay the price
Envoys or no envoys
August 2, 2024
Magaret Reynold’s expose of Social Cohesion is interesting and, for most Australians, something that needs to be discussed. But true to form, most whitefellas don’t want to talk about something that is controversial and an impediment to their way of life. Envoys for some and not others, is just another spineless cop-out by a Government that is throwing buckets of water on a bonfire! As Margaret says we need Political Leadership not cowardice. However, the sorry state of Australians politics rules this our at all levels. The referendum with its built-in designed to fail legislation, it was a...
John Bentley from Tongala
In response to: Who is responsible for social cohesion in Australia?
Party Solidarity?
August 2, 2024
It seems that the rules and solidarity to the Labor Party over rides humanity and social conscious. The rules grew from the union movement when members could not vary from a direction so preventing strike breaking. But, hey, we live in a different world now. The Labor party is not now the party of the unions. Its supporters come from those who are socially aware. Just as TEALs came from disaffected Liberals, the time is looking right for a break away from the hard liners of Sussex Street. J Davies
John Davies from Mullumbimby, NSW
In response to: Australian Leadership to end the war on Gaza: open letter to the Prime Minister
Thank you John
August 2, 2024
Thank you so much to you John, and to your staff.
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: Twenty thousand articles in Pearls and Irritations and counting
Albanese government must present climate truth
August 2, 2024
David Spratt and Ian Dunlop warn us that the Albanese government is presenting the brighter side of our transition to renewables. They should and must present both the positive aspect plus the worsening deadly reality of climate change. They must reveal the security-related climate risks still not revealed to our public. They also must stop approving various new fossil fuel projects, and relying on minimal carbon capture and storage of emissions. In the next few months they must do better with climate education and genuine decarbonising, or risk losing the federal election. Fortunately, several positive meetings will help...
Barbara Fraser from Burwood, Vic
In response to: The Albanese government has created a climate vacuum, and we will pay the price
The Greens and the CPRS - still!
July 29, 2024
As an example of a party failing to cooperate when it should have done so, Carolynne Fitzwarryne adduces the Greens voting with the Coalition against a Carbon Tax, which put back climate change initiatives for years. Indeed, it has become part of Australian political folklore that when the Greens helped defeat the Rudd CPRS legislation in 2009, they “ruined everything”; that by rejecting the good with a futile demand for the perfect, they ushered in 15 years of climate inaction. In fact, the CPRS was not less than perfect. It was a terrible policy, which would have achieved...
Richard Barnes from Melbourne
In response to: Beware the Big C – Consensus
Time to step up, Albo, or step away
July 26, 2024
The defining characteristic of Anthony Albanese’s government has been the leadership void at the top. This first became apparent during the tragedy of the Voice referendum. The PM declared that his government’s first priority would be the full implementation of the Uluru Statement From The Heart. He then let this matter be carried by others; he himself was barely seen or heard. And now we have the same issue with climate risk. Addressing climate change was a big issue in the election, but since then we have heard little from our PM. There is no sense of driving vision;...
Chris Young from Surrey Hills, Vic
In response to: The Albanese government has created a climate vacuum, and we will pay the price
Actions, not words: Unpublished letter to The Age
July 26, 2024
The Editor Hamas kills innocent Israelis to promote terror. It is listed by the Australian Government as a terrorist organisation. It is an offence ‘to provide support to a terrorist organisation.’ The Israeli Defence Force kills innocent Palestinians to promote terror (19/7 Wong deplores Palestinian killings). It should be listed as a terrorist organisation. All that is required is that the Attorney General is satisfied that it ‘is preparing, planning, assisting or fostering the doing of a terrorist act.’ The Attorney General would then need to consider advising the laying of charges against companies in Australia which...
Tim Woodruff from Richmond, Victoria
In response to: The insignificant seven
What are our defence strategies without AKUS?
July 26, 2024
I value Nick Dean's detailed concerns in his article, which concludes with an assessment of the various players' ego states. I key phrase that sticks out for me is: With AUKUS, the pride of politicians has thus become an obstacle to reaching the best solution to the ‘national security’ conundrum. I appreciate that Mr Dean's important field of expertise is sociology, which is the essential thrust of his argument, and that he is not a security guru. Hence, my suggestion to enable this movement forward is to commission an expert research panel to present the defence strategy...
Peter Heath from Sydney, NSW
In response to: AUKUS and the pride of politicians By Nick Deane
China brokers national unity government
July 26, 2024
Excellent comments by these leading Australians. The role envisaged for Bob Carr is a great idea. This will be assisted by the national unity government for Palestine just announced in Beijing.
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: Australian Leadership to end the war on Gaza: open letter to the Prime Minister
Ignorance about China
July 26, 2024
At last someone has written and article about the real China. I have visited China many times over about forty years and I trade with China. I am tired of the negative press that has turned the nation against China. I have found the Chinese people in general welcoming and trustworthy people. China has changed so much over the years I have been visiting and is now so far ahead of the world in looking after its people and developing a society that cares. Even with all the negativity they get China patiently keeps trying to spread the...
Dianne Russell from Taree, NSW
In response to: Not what you might expect – close encounters in China By Meg Hart
Oslo is dead
July 26, 2024
Oslo is dead - through its 68 to 9 vote to reject any creation of a Palestinian state west of the Jordan river (17 July), Israel has said so. The rule of law must now replace the discredited fiction that was Oslo. The ICJ has spoken (19 July): Israel must bring to an end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including east Jerusalem, as rapidly as possible. Yours sincerely James Schofield Barrister
James Schofield from United Kingdom
In response to: The unlawful presence of the State of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory must cease immediately
IT Outages
July 26, 2024
The Optus outage was Australia-based. The Crowdstrike event was international (minus Russia, China, DPRK, Iran etc {who must have been laughing themselves stupid at 'the West'}). Therefore, unless the rules are worldwide, there is little to be gained. It has been said that Crowdstrike's market share is 17% but I wonder whether the economic impact was considerably more.
Leigh Bunting from Adelaide
In response to: What have we learned from last year’s Optus outage?
Evading a US “iron dome”
July 26, 2024
Paul Budde’s article reminds us of the fragility of our digital society and economy. If it had been a malicious actor instead of CrowdStrike sending out wrong code, it would entirely bypass the “iron dome” promised by Donald Trump in his acceptance speech only a day or so before. Particularly if an outage ran for weeks not days, the economy and society for most people in most parts of the world would grind to a halt with effects which might well surpass those from penetration of the iron dome by hypersonic missiles. The iron dome, if it...
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: What have we learned from last year’s Optus outage?
What an unshackled Oz could do
July 26, 2024
My hope is that the possible outcome postulated by the writer is right. I'm optimistic about the pragmatism of China and most Chinese and that a new, more balanced world order will emerge. I believe the Oz Gov is completely wrong with its commitment to AUKUS, just as we were with our belief that the Mother Country would help defend us in World War Two. We are allowing ourselves to be taken for a ride by the US and the UK in their blatant self interest of attempting to keep a lid on China. Our action in doing...
Brett Martin from Greenwith, South Australia
In response to: Crisis in the West, Opportunity for the Rest
A very informative and timely article
July 26, 2024
Dear Meg Hart- A very informative and timely article. The Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology is making great strides to engage with Chinese scholars through the Confucian Institute, holding conferences in China with attendances probably in the thousands - as well as US-linked interactions. Thank you.
Len Puglisi Puglisi from Burwood East
In response to: Not what you might expect - close encounters in China
The Summit of the Future offers hope for us all
July 19, 2024
Excellent news that UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called for a Summit of the Future at the UN on Sunday 22 and Monday 23 September 2024. Thanks to Jeffrey D. Sachs, Professor of Sustainable Development at Columbia University, who tells us more about it. The Summit is needed urgently as the path for the world to cooperate scientifically and fairly in solving the worsening deadly challenges. The Summit will be presented as five topics, for each of which I have selected just one example: Sustainable development- funding for poorer countries. Peace- sensible solutions instead of war. Control of...
Barbara Fraser from Burwood, Vic
In response to: The Summit of the Future
Violence and solving political problems
July 19, 2024
I don’t in any way condone the violence against Donald Trump. But it is a bit rich for Joe Biden to then decry violence as a means of solving political problems. After all, he has just approved resumption of supply of 500lb bombs to Israel, presumably to solve the political problem involving Israel and Palestine.
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: A descent into violence? Political polarisation in the US