Letters to the Editor
The state with power to grant citizenship
March 25, 2025
Peter Hughes' article warns, cogently, against Dutton's thought bubble about giving ministers power to strip Australian citizenship from criminal dual nationals who have served their time. One aspect of citizenship law that Hughes only alludes to is the fact that a person's right to citizenship is determined solely by the country granting citizenship. Consequently, a minister deciding to remove the citizenship of a dual national cannot be sure the person actually remains a dual national. It is quite possible the other country has already taken its citizenship from the person. In that event, the minister would be...
Paul Fergus from Croydon NSW
In response to: Devaluing Australian citizenship
A better way to determine our defence needs
March 25, 2025
Paddy Gourley presents a superb novel idea: Australian defence spending should be calculated on the basis of a careful definition of the kind of country we want to be, a clear-eyed analysis of our strategic circumstances and the risks it poses and an assessment of the extent to which those risks can be negated or satisfactorily minimised by military power used in concert with whatever reliable allies are prepared to associate themselves with us. The world's greatest warmonger and seller of arms, currently involved in genocide in Palestine and led by a deranged president, should not participate in any...
Margaret Callinan from Hawthorn VIC 3122
In response to: Kim Beazley bombs out
Stuart, be more precise, please!
March 25, 2025
As far as we are aware, among the cohort currently sitting in the federal parliament, only two independents (Lydia Thorpe and Fatima Payman) and the Greens MP and Senators have clearly taken a principled stand in support of the Palestinians, calling for a boycott of the Israeli State in all areas (economic, military, cultural, academic, sport) and appeared as speakers in the frequent pro-Palestinian rallies. So Stuart Rees — rather than only advocating a vote for humanity, for human rights, for support of candidates who uphold the rulings of the International Court of Justice that a plausible Israeli genocide...
Michel and Anne Beuchat from Balwyn North
In response to: A moral precipice challenge – Vote for humanity
Atrocious defence of Falun Gong
March 25, 2025
I cannot believe you would publish this utter garbage. The man is such a liar and his characterisation of Jerry is defamatory. To suggest Jerry is too stupid to be able to research what falun gong, the epoch times and the new tang dynasty are an insult to your readers. I'm astounded you gave this China hater the oxygen to spread this poison. The CCP? Only racists and bigots refer to them by that. If you can't find the countries name as the PRC or their political party, the CPC, then you know the person is being vengeful. ...
Dean Smith from Melbourne
In response to: Defending-human-rights-will-win-the-hearts-of-the-chinese
US Israel game plan support from Israeli newspaper
March 25, 2025
Further to Stuart Rees and Margo Reynolds’ incisive article, it is chilling to read an Israeli newspaper opinion on the weekend which recommends a “political solution” envisaging the total depopulation of Southwest Palestine. Further, it advances the view that those two million people can easily be accommodated elsewhere.
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: A moral precipice challenge-vote-for-humanity
Albert Roman on Falun Gong
March 24, 2025
I read the recent article by Albert Roman with a sense of deja vu, as, back in 2021, when P&I published a piece I submitted providing the other side of the widely promulgated West Good-China Bad narrative I was described, in a counter article, as an entitled expatriate totally out of touch with the real people of Hong Kong, words not disimilar to those used by Roman to describe Jerry Grey's status as a long-term resident of PRC. And just as Painter who had enjoyed a short period in HK and so considered himself to be an expert on...
Bob Rogers from Hong Hong
In response to: Defending human rights will win the hearts of the Chinese people
Last week it was antisemitism, who’s next?
March 24, 2025
Last week it was antisemitism, this week it is Islamophobia. A new poll must have been released. One of them is being driven by a group of racist white supremacists among us.
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: new-report-reveals-islamophobia-in-australia-reaching-cr
Can Barrow make AUKUS-SSN as well?
March 24, 2025
Paddy Gourley mentions again the cost of the USUKA (Aukus) subs. According to Sky yesterday, reporting on Keir Starmer’s visit to the UK’s nuclear sub factory at Barrow, “the visit highlighted ongoing challenges facing the UK's aging nuclear submarine fleet, which has been forced to extend its typical three-month patrols to much longer durations due to maintenance delays and the postponed delivery of replacement vessels. The current fleet has now exceeded its intended 25-year service life.” So where, when and how does the AUKUS-SSN work fit in? Or are we going to give Britain too a three quarters of...
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: Kim Beazley bombs out
Pool the national risk
March 24, 2025
Ross Gittins’ suggestion for some form of a regional diaspora for flood-prone centres like Lismore might be technically correct. The Insurance Council of Australia wants $30 billion spent on mitigation. Even if both were immediately implemented by government, they are still long-term programs. Property owners need premium relief now. The unsustainably punitive premiums reflect the insurance industry’s targeting large regions with small populations to bear the brunt of costs, a methodology dictated to us by international reinsurers. The federal government Australian Reinsurance Pool Corporation originally established to provide reinsurance for terrorism events post 9-11 was expanded to pick...
John Devaney from Townsville
In response to: Outlook for House Insurance is much worse than we're being told
The very model of a modern major linguist
March 24, 2025
Paddy Gourley's incisive article, of course, teases the memory of us old lags: Beazley was nick-named Bomber in his time as defence minister. It was a rather good fit; just as Biggles was for Nelson and Poodles for Pyne. All of them have gone on to bigger and better things, one way or another. Paddy is absolutely en pointe that Beazley's defence (see what I did there??) of his attachment to several armament manufacturers is somehow linked to a safer defence of Australia, is irrelevant to the matter at hand – and it is irrelevant to the purpose...
Richard Llewellyn from Colo Vale
In response to: Kim Beazley Bombs Out
Diplomacy
March 24, 2025
John White's article in linking Trump, Putin and Netanyahu shows no regard to the relevant histories. The history of the Ukraine conflict goes right back to the break-up of the USSR and many events since then: eg Putin's 2007 Munich speech, Minsk 1 and,2 and Istanbul and Boris Johnson. Netanyahu presides over the horrific and ongoing attempt to exterminate the Palestinian people. He and his government are better described as Zionist. There are many Jewish people opposed to their actions. To imply that the US and Russia are now aligned is untrue – there is brinkmanship going on...
John Mateljan from Geraldton
In response to: The Limits of Diplomacy
Response to Binoy Kampmark's article
March 24, 2025
I enjoyed reading Binoy Kampmark's article. I thought it was spot on. Brave-sounding talk by Australian Big Men about Australian participation in another Coalition of the Willing, as Kampmark notes, Particularly, in Australia’s case, such a foolhardy promise shows that governments are willing to contemplate sending troops to conflicts they ill-understand and have no direct strategic value to them. As others have said, any such plan would need UN Security Council approval, which would be highly unlikely, given Russia's veto power in the UNSC. Unlike the USSR (which did not turn up to veto a proposal for UN participation...
Richard Morris from Sydney NSW
In response to: Coalitions of the deluded: Starmer’s Ukraine peace plan
Another original thought bubble
March 24, 2025
In the quest for my vote: the party that links the solar feed-in tariff to the wholesale price of electricity would go a long way to getting my vote and I don’t have solar panels. And it will have an effect on the solar panel take-up rate and the cost of living for the 30% of households with exisiting panels, although some may see it as middle class welfare
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: dutton-blames-renewables-for-rising-power-prices-but-bil
Peter Sainsbury's weekly articles
March 24, 2025
I don't know if a letter to the editor is the appropriate way to do it, but I couldn't see how else to contact you. I just wanted to let you know that I've been reading P&I for some time and I think Peter Sainsbury's weekly articles are extraordinarily good. Please pass on my thanks to the author.
Paul Rees from Brisbane
In response to: https://publish.pearlsandirritations.com/environment-building-nuclear-involves-killing-more-peopl
To recover Australia’s sovereignty, vote strategic
March 24, 2025
If the aim is to have independents in government at any cost, then I would agree with the strategy of giving preferences to any and all independent candidates ahead of the major parties. However the aims and behaviours of some independents are heinous compared to the behaviour of the majors. Giving them a higher preference would be to accept that I'm OK if they get elected. I cannot see how that would be a good strategy.
Danny Stevens from Kenmore Queensland
In response to: To recover Australia’s sovereignty, vote strategically
Beazley a lackey of the US imperium
March 24, 2025
Paddy Gourley's excellent article shows Kim Beazley to be another lackey of the US imperium. Given his key role in Gillard agreeing to the rotation of US troops through the NT, I have often wondered if he is a CIA asset. But then I think they don't need to appoint him covertly as he is already on the payroll of the US war industry. No longer revered if he ever was.
Malcolm Spry from Point Piper
In response to: Kim Beazley bombs out
Scratch one in the race whom to vote for
March 24, 2025
I'm yet to decide whom to vote for! I do know who I won't be voting for! I won’t be voting for the party that has no original policies, the party that only mimics the policies trumpeted out of the US. I will be voting for the party that puts Australia and Australians first and I’m still to decide on that.
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: to-recover-australias-sovereignty-vote-strategically/
Admiral Barrie and Australia's best interests
March 22, 2025
Admiral Barrie is no left-wing radical. He is a former chief of the Australian Navy. Many consider him the bad boy of Operation Sovereign Borders as he was the leader of that for a number of years. But he is a careful strategic thinker in Australia's interest and any politician should take note of what he is saying. He is not the only one saying it. I have seen and heard comments from others of his generation in the public service who are saying that Australia should move away quickly from our former relationship with the US and look...
Jennifer Haines from Glossodia
In response to: To recover Australia's sovereignty
Who is Australia?
March 21, 2025
“With, China, its values differ from ours and we may well feel that our own (imperfect) democracy is preferable to Chinese socialism.” Is it? Do the systems actually differ so much? It could be argued that Medicare is a socialist system, as are the PBS , NDIS, superannuation and even our tax system. How often do we hear: “Why should I contribute to someone else’s medical bills?“ “They should pay more tax“; They are bad economic managers, and will increase taxes“; “We support Medicare“. These are a source of constant conflict between the parties, a diversion, and these...
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: Australian-China-relations-a-question-of-trust
This article misses the obvious
March 21, 2025
The author has also missed the obvious: that the Australian and Chinese foreign ministers met at the G20 summit to clear the air. Also that the Chinese Ambassador to Australia, when interviewed by Channel 7 in Perth, said the flotilla circumnavigating Australia was for friendly purposes. I find the authors comment One of the most frustrating aspects of 'dealing' with China is the importance of what is not said very unfriendly. You don't deal with people. You converse with them. Also I have found from conversing with the Chinese, such as when I have had coffee with a...
Beverley Dight from Canberra
In response to: China flotilla reporting misses the obvious
Trump behind UN official’s death
March 20, 2025
I note the first two entries in this scroll. Why do writers keep saying it is Israel without including the US? Trump is clearly an accessory to the killing of the UN worker, and all the others in Palestine since the ceasefire. It has been clearly stated by Al Jazeera that Netanyahu got Trump’s nod. A nod from the US, supposedly a guarantor to the ceasefire, as are Egypt and Qatar. It is time the UN moved its headquarters from the US to neutral territory.
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: A five minute scroll 108
Homeless problem
March 20, 2025
The homeless problems discussed in this article are entirely manageable by the government (state or federal). One of the (federal?) ministers recently said unequivocally that the decision of where to spend money is a matter of priority. Money can, of course, only be spent once. Providing shelter to the homeless is obviously not a priority (as is bringing the unemployment benefits above the poverty level). Writing it like this, one would think, would raise outrage. What more can be important than providing shelter for those who cannot afford it but need it? But no, barely a comment is...
Hans Rijsdijk from Albion Park Rail
In response to: Homeless shelters are needed urgently
Rebuttal to Martin Hardie's claims
March 20, 2025
Martin Hardie may wish the best for Timor-Leste. But rather than address Dili’s lack of economic sustainability, he makes critical factual mistakes. Timor-Leste’s Petroleum Fund pays for most government spending and drives the economy. The $18.5 billion fund no longer receives oil revenues and has a finite life, as the 2024 budget statement states. Hardie claims: “Dogma casts the fund as a sacred idol, not to be touched for development, only preserved for some distant future.” He is wrong. Sustainable withdrawals are meant for budget expenditure and are a legislated requirement. This pays for development of the...
Damien Kingsbury from Melbourne
In response to: Timor-Leste and its Australian critics: A credibility gap exposed
Australia-China relations: A question of trust
March 20, 2025
Jocelyn Chey’s comment on Australia-China relations published in P&I on 20 March is among the best I have seen on the subject. I found myself in agreement with every word, but would like to draw attention to two points specifically. One is the importance of trust in the relationship. Some specialists say trust does not matter in bilateral relations, what matters is interests and practicality. While this is quite rational in terms of a “realist” international relationship, the human element is, for me, what makes a relationship special. Personally, I look back on and value friendships and cultural exchanges....
Colin Mackerras from Brisbane, Queensland
In response to: Australia-China Relations: A question of trust
Defence against who, what?
March 20, 2025
The first step in this is to identify who we need to defend our selves against and it’s not China The second step is to clarify if the US would rush to our aid if the others were to attack us. I doubt if the answers is an unqualified yes. The third step is to adjust our defence policy to suit the above. Australian interests first. Why not link the rent on all US bases to the equivalent of 100% tariffs on Australian goods going into the US and let the president bargain them down? He likes...
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: pine-gap-no-price-could-ever-be-right
Australia officially the 52nd state of the US
March 20, 2025
Is anybody else thinking of the benefits of becoming the 52nd state of the US? As it stands, we have all the disadvantages and none of the benefits. Think of the saving on AUKUS alone. Then there are the tariffs, some actual Australian news on TV, Greg Norman can come home: the list is endless. If we are quick, we could get the 51st spot ahead of Canada.
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: pine-gap-no-price-could-ever-be-right
ADF active on Israel’s side against Palestine
March 19, 2025
I refer to Les MacDonald’s article which notes the much-proclaimed IRBO, now in serious doubt in the US after Trump defied Judge Boasberg. Now our ADF as leader of Combined Task Force 153 is involved in Operation Hydranth to degrade the capabilities of the effective government of Yemen, the only country which is standing up to the mass murder and enforced starvation and infrastructure degradation in Southwest Palestine by the US and Israel. So we are now actively supporting Israel militarily by trying to ensure materiel reaches Israel via the Red Sea. Does CTF 153 command the USS aircraft...
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: The West’s ‘international community’ and the other 85% of humanity
Labor, hypocrisy and appeasement of genocide
March 19, 2025
Why do we have to keep on beating this drum? Today, (18 March) the reports are in of Israel's resumption of unrestrained blitzkrieg upon the Palestinian people. At least 200 have been blown to fragments. This is now such commonplace news that it doesn't even rank as headlines in the media. Just another article towards the front of the on-line opening page. Up there alongside a report of one (not recent) murder in Australia – a sad event certainly, but can we please have some sense of proportion? Penny Wong urges all parties' to respect the ceasefire. Only...
Richard Llewellyn from Colo Vale
In response to: Murder of Rachel Corrie
Not even Hollywood could write this script
March 19, 2025
There’s no doubting Trumpian America is an unstable democracy and an untrustworthy ally. Students of history would have by now picked up the similarities between other people who have come to power via democratic process and taken their nation down a disastrous path. Probably the most studied being Adolf Hitler. The division of Ukraine and the mooted annexation of Canada and Greenland ring warnings for their similarity to Stalin and Hitler dividing Poland, and Germany’s invasion of Austria and Czechoslovakia. The number of further parallels is eery. Often overlooked was that Germany’s industrial and commercial elite assumed they...
John Mosig from Kew, Melbourne 3101
In response to: The Manichean moment is over
Liebler and Mossad
March 19, 2025
Concerning Susan Rutland’s attempt to diminish Isi Leibler’s role as an Israeli agent of influence that her biography of the late Australian Zionist leader documents: at p. 219 she writes concerning the late Australian Prime Minister, “…..Fraser knew he would always find him at home and would visit him on a Friday evening. They would review the situation in the course of drinks until late into the night, and, on occasion, Fraser would ask Isi to 'convey confidential information to Mossad'.” In her response to Manne, Rutland seems to deny this evidence of Liebler's actual relationship to Mossad.
Martin Munz from MURWILLUMBAH
In response to: Executive Council of Australian Jewry’s Isi Leibler was a ‘covert agent of Israe
The real murderers in Southwest Palestine
March 19, 2025
I note Stuart Rees' account of the meeting in Glebe. The MSM seem unable to say it today, but the US, which brokered the ceasefire in Southwest Palestine, is clearly an accessory to the renewed mass murder of civilians yesterday, despite no breach of the ceasefire terms by the government of Southwest Palestine. We shouldn’t be, sadly, surprised. Trump promised this renewed attack very recently and is fully backed by Hegseth and presumably Rubio.
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: Anatomy of a public meeting: genocide a key election issue
ANZUS and NATO kaput: Australia keeps blinkers on
March 18, 2025
I almost agree with everything Jack Waterford says. My disagreement is with his view of America. The US hasn't changed. Trump has merely removed its thick veneer of caring about the rest of the world. When, as Waterford reminds us, in the one true test of ANZUS commitments — Indonesia’s invasion of Irian Jaya in 1963 — the US told Australia bluntly that it stood by Indonesia we chose to keep wearing blinkers rather than recognise the truth. As we still do. Yes, our friends and allies will wake up before our political leaders summon up their courage. They are...
Margaret Callinan from Hawthorn VIC 3122
In response to: ANZUS and NATO are kaput and Trump doesn’t care
What are the consequences of not acting on climate?
March 18, 2025
I don't know if my MP was one of those who was briefed on the contents of the Office of National Intelligence assessment of climate-related security risks and I won't ask, tempting her to break a confidence. But take a wild guess! On 19 February 2025, Kooyong MP Dr Monique Ryan held a Town Hall meeting, Climate change and Australian security: a conversation with Admiral Chris Barrie. The person in conversation with the retired admiral was the author of the article to which this letter is a response, David Spratt. To say it was eye-opening would be an understatement....
Margaret Callinan from Hawthorn VIC 3122
In response to: Government refuses to articulate ‘frankly terrifying’ security risks
Moving beyond the ONI report towards adaptation
March 18, 2025
Thank you for David Spratt’s article. Eight days ago the French government, recognising the seeming inevitability of temperature rise, published a plan for adaptation, firstly to 2.7 degree C rise, then to 4 degree C. Here our government, supposedly committed to open government, doesn’t even publish the ONI risk analysis.
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: Government refuses to articulate frankly terrifying security risks
Democracy isn't just for when we like the outcome
March 18, 2025
Many thanks to Eugene Doyle for bringing the political events in Romania to my attention. I was unaware. And also for his accurate analysis of the problems of not just what's been happening there but the silence that has accompanied it across Europe and beyond. If we believe in democracy and the election was fair, we can't dump the results just because we don't like the outcome. Trump's actions before and after the 2020 election have emboldened others to reject election outcomes and bystanders to keep quiet. What happens to community members when they become parliamentarians? And even...
Peter Sainsbury from Sydney NSW
In response to: EU welcomes its first dictatorship
Welcome, Catriona
March 18, 2025
Welcome, Catriona and congratulations on your appointment. We, the loyal servants and readers of Pearls and Irritations, look forward to your strong, insightful and committed leadership of this invaluable journal. Especially one that re-arms us with the moral courage required if we are to tackle existential threats. Best of luck.
Julian Cribb from Canberra, ACT
In response to: A message from the new editor, Catriona Jackson
Handling a BRICS Indonesia and Trumpery
March 18, 2025
In Five-Minute Scroll 105, Adam Bandt talks sensibly of withdrawing from AUKUS. In China Daily, this is what Fajar Hirawan has to say about Indonesia, which straddles many of our sealanes, joining BRICS: “Maritime co-operation is another strategic dimension of Indonesia's BRICS membership. Indonesia's Global Maritime Fulcrum vision aligns with BRICS' interests in securing critical sea routes, enhancing trade efficiency and improving maritime security. Co-ordinated efforts between BRICS countries can enhance regional security in the 'Indo-Pacific' region, particularly in areas such as the South China Sea and the Malacca Strait, which are crucial to global trade.” That, taken...
Geoff Taylor from Perth
In response to: A five minute scroll
Uninformed or uninterested ?
March 17, 2025
Why is our TV news made up of 25% US politics, 25% China bashing, 10% share prices, 15% sport, 10% prediction of the timing of the next election and a little bit of news? Increasingly I hear that people get their news from YouTube and other freedom of speech nutters. TV and news articles such as this showing the innovation and adaption by China are few and far between. China may not be a democracy, but show me a country that is. Australia isn’t and the US certainly isn’t a democracy. If the first weeks of the new...
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: smart-appliances-smarter-economy-reviving-chinas-growth-
Time to make polluters pay
March 17, 2025
Has anyone heard from Richard Hill? He last wrote after Cyclone Alfred rattled his windows, believing we’re in an escalating apocalyptic scenario. He’s not wrong – past greenhouse gas emissions linger for decades, global emissions keep rising, and land, air, and ocean temperatures hit record highs. Meanwhile, Trump emboldens conservative climate sceptics like Peter Dutton and Barnaby Joyce, who oppose emissions targets and deny human-induced climate change. Simultaneously, Chris Uhlmann, Peter Ridd, and Matt Canavan dismissed Alfred as just another cyclone. Ridd even claimed there’s no need to worry since houses are now better built. Deniers like these must...
Ray Peck from Hawthorn
In response to: Give us a break, Alfred
AUKUS, Trump and independence
March 17, 2025
Senator David Shoebridge of the Greens shows in this essay that he is one of the few clear thinking federal parliamentarians brave enough to express their views on sensitive alliance matters . Together with John McCarthy recently, and Cameron Leckie and Jack Waterford elsewhere, Australia has resources now for a timely root and branch review of our strategic options. A within-government White Paper would be useless, the official system is too indoctrinated to the subservient ally status quo. We need independent expert outside thinking now. There has never been a better time, straight after our federal election.
Tony Kevin from Canberra
In response to: AUKUS Trump and independence
Hear, hear, Jack Waterford
March 17, 2025
Jack Waterford gets it absolutely right (again) in his perspicacious observations about Australia and the US alliance. It is very concerning to me that Waterford's analyses are accessible to only a fraction of mainstream Australians compared with those who regularly receive their so-called information from Murdoch and his ilk. Well said, Jack, and thank you to Pearls and Irritations for regularly disseminating his work.
Neil Dwyer from Wanniassa, A.C.T.
In response to: Are America’s values our values anymore?
Australia needs to be transactional too
March 17, 2025
Who will answer the question, What are the benefits to Australia of hosting US military bases? I especially enjoyed the conciseness of the last paragraph of Michael Sullivan's article.
Peter Gillam from Turramurra
In response to: Imagine a secure Australia post-ANZUS and AUKUS
Facts are important in this debate
March 17, 2025
Michelle Berkon writes that to criticise and refute Zionism in terms that accurately reflect its nature as a settler colonial, supremacist, apartheid, genocidal project is simply fact. Criticism may contain facts, but criticism is not of itself fact. If the fact being referred to is the nature of Zionism, then it should be clear that it is an expressed opinion – not fact. Indeed, it's an opinion that paints any Zionist as inherently evil. As Berkon states further on, I unequivocally call for Zionism to be officially declared a racist ideology, for Zionist speech to be outlawed as hate...
Harold Zwier from Melbourne
In response to: Why is Israel such a big deal?
Thanks, Damien
March 17, 2025
I’m the first to admit that my most-used descriptors for Trump — such as Entitled Egomaniacal Arsehole — lack much in the way of academic usefulness, so thank you, Damien, for clearing so much of the linguistic fog around commentary on the one- man threat to the to the US, the planet and its people. So few words from you to bring so much additional clarity to in such a vital public debate.
Neil Hauxwell from Moe Vic
In response to: Sultanistic or neo-fascist? President Trump and 21st century ideology
Ignoring the real issues
March 17, 2025
Attempting to classify the brand of lunacy or megalomania that besets Donald Trump may be great fun for academics and will undoubtedly yield several neologisms and a flood of learned articles. But it will not save humanity from the universal emergency now approaching at dreadful speed. A business-as-usual hothouse Earth combined with a toxic, collapsing environment, deepening scarcities of water, soil and food, fresh pandemics, overpopulation and the assault on civil society by the billionaire tech bro fraternity, are coming together to ensure civilisational collapse before 2050. Maybe worse. Against this, all Trump's antics, however bizarre are but...
Julian Cribb from Canberra, ACT
In response to: Sultanistic or neo-fascist? President Trump and 21st century ideologyhttps://j
Nonsense
March 14, 2025
All the China bashing is nonsense. Why would China want to invade anywhere for the resources when it is so much cheaper and efficient to send bulk carriers and legitimately buy the material?
Philip Rice from Rivervale
In response to: Any old Chinese port in a storm: Anti-China Media Watch
Trump will not help the cause of peace
March 14, 2025
i thought this was generally an excellent article. However, I can't see Trump increasing peace in the world, as the author claimed. Trump stated that he intends to remove the Palestinian people from Gaza. Also, at the press conference after his meeting with Netanyahu,he responded to Netanyahu saying I will end the war by winning the war by promising to give Netanyahu billions of dollars worth of powerful bombs capable of massive destruction that even Biden had latterly refused to give him. To give Israel the means to annihilate the Palestinian people in Gaza is hardly conducive to...
Beverley Dight from Canberra
In response to: Who's who in the war business
Industrial research
March 14, 2025
This article demonstrates why R&D and industrial innovation have done so poorly in Australia, with investment in building the case for developing a dynamic innovatin system, economy and society – in which greater investment in R&D would make sense as the best we can come up with as a proposal for a way forward. It is not difficult to see where the problem lies. When I started my career as an engineer in the US, industrial research was synonymous with Bell Labs, IBM, Xerox, Dupont, Corning, Hewlett-Packard, Westinghouse, GE, and so on; the great inventions and innovations took place...
Erik Aslaksen from Allambie Heights
In response to: A poor start to the strategic examination of R&D
A case for AI control
March 14, 2025
AI: Will taking the emotion from the equation explain why prices rise but the comparative value remains the same? Why can some people regularly afford a new Rolls Royce why other people can only ever afford a second-hand Toyota? I doubt AI will have the compassion to fix it .
Bob Pearce from Adelaide SA
In response to: maybe-the-inflation-surge-didnt-happen-the-way-weve-been