July 4, 2022

Terms of condescension: The language of Australias Pacific Family

When will this nonsense on familial connection between Australia and the Pacific end? In 2018, Australias then Pentecostal Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, drew upon a term that his predecessors had not. On November 8 that year, he announced that Australias engagement with the region would be taken to another level, launching a new chapter in relations with our Pacific family.

July 6, 2021

Murdoch coverage of the pandemic - a dumping for Dan and a free ride for Gladys.

One of the advantages of COVID from a government and media perspective is that it has allowed other crucially important issues to be left aside or placed on the back bench until the pandemic is under control. As always a crises provide opportunities for ambitious politicians and their media supporters.

June 30, 2021

Carbon Leakage: the Achilles heel of climate change

Not dealing with carbon leakage has plagued emission reduction negotiations since the United Nations Climate Change Convention of 1994. It led to the failure of the US to ratify the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, then the Protocol itself, and may well lead to the demise of not only the 2015 Paris Accord but the WTO.

April 15, 2021

Paranoia over China, government, media, AFP collusion

The High Court’s current deliberations about the legality of warrants issued last year to the AFP to search the home of John Zhang, part-time assistant to NSW Labor MP Shaoquett Moselmane, are the tip of a massive iceberg of government abuses of power.

November 1, 2020

Why Australia must steer clear of Americas moral crusade against China (SCMP 28.10.20)

Americas global standing is in decline, on the back of its single-minded pursuit of military might and consistent flouting of the rules-based order it helped create. Anti-China enthusiasts in Australia also need to view Chinas record in a historical context.

September 2, 2024

The main suspect in the Sde Teiman gang rape case is now a media star in Israel

Soldier Meir Ben-Shitrit has revealed himself as the main suspect in the infamous gang rape of Palestinians at the Sde Teiman detention facility. Rather than making him an outcast, his story has turned him into Israel’s latest media darling.

July 31, 2024

Governance and diplomacy fail stranded Afghan women cricketers

While all eyes will be fixed on the Paris Olympics, we should not forget those athletes who have missed out, through no fault of their own.

July 2, 2024

The world has abandoned us. What can we do?

Palestinians must start discussing radical solutions to end Israeli occupation, apartheid and settler-colonialism.

June 10, 2024

The saddest consequence of Donald Trump

The saddest consequence of Donald Trump’s conviction is that it changes little. It may seem inconceivable that a convicted felon can run for President of the United States with a good chance of winning, but he would not be the first person to be elected after spending time in prison.

May 30, 2024

Shattered theory: the war on terror and Western impunity

Could the final act of the US’s Global War on Terror (GWOT) be the conviction of a US President for terrorism? Tantalising but implausible? Read on.

May 20, 2024

Australia’s greenhouse targets cannot be met without the conservation of native forest

When Labour Governments moved to protect native forest in the past – Hawke, Wran, Gallop, Kirner, Beattie, Carr – they knew that they were protecting irreplaceable natural values and resources. Even as late as the early 2000s however, the role of forests in climate change mitigation was little known. It was certainly not a matter of any significance in public debate.

August 2, 2023

The United States has put Australia back in its place again

After a rather extraordinary month of steadily escalating defence PR and conspiracy opportunities, Australia was sat on its backside over the weekend and reminded to know its subservient place.

July 24, 2023

Cover up: The Australian Governments secret list of US bases

What do the governments of other US allies, including Hungary, Norway, the Philippines, and the former puppet government of Afghanistan, possess that Australian governments do not? The answer is a conception of genuine sovereignty, and obligations to transparency that are foreign to Australian governments, particularly the incumbent Albanese government.

September 13, 2022

The major parties refuse to tackle the lobbying scourge. Can the Teals and the Greens save the day?

_The major obstacle to lobbying reform is that for members of parliament, their staff and senior officials, lobbying provides a very lucrative income when they leave parliament, the military or the public service. So they refuse to act on the lobbying scourge.

June 28, 2022

A word on war with China

Professor Hugh White argues, in an essay, If growing US-China rivalry leads to the worst war ever, what should Australia do? published in Pearls and Irritations on 26 June, that, ..the very real possibility that a war with China launched to preserve the USs position in Asia might end up destroying it, just as the First World War destroyed the empires that went to war to preserve themselves in 1914.

June 26, 2022

Beijing not Madrid, Prime Minister, would be more in Australia's interests

In the national security domain, changing governments is like changing spark plugs in that nothing else changes. From their darkened cloisters the militarists befuddle new ministers with gloomy prognostications while proffering prophylactics like deterrence, alliances, and interoperability. And so the Prime Minister is off to the Madrid NATO conference.

August 12, 2021

Climate change and the impact of humans A graphical perspective

The recent report by the IPCC (the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) is ‘code red for humanity according to the UN Secretary-General. This warning is a timely reminder to review the role of humans in global warming due to rising greenhouse gas pollution.

November 10, 2020

Bringing the Trumps, and Trumpism, to a fair accounting

Donald Trump has often spoken the language of retribution – and intention to use the processes of government to lock up his political enemies. He could hardly be surprised that his own administrations malfeasances will come under close scrutiny once his power to frustrate them lapses.

October 8, 2020

There's an essential starting point for grasping the crisis engulfing US politics

In the 50s the head of CIA counterintelligence James Angleton said Russian stratagems were like “a wilderness of mirrors”. The same phrase captures the maze of the US constitutional and electoral system, a wilderness of mirrors that can warp, even falsify, the choice of voters on November 3.

August 2, 2024

As Eurasia awakes our world will shake

“Tectonic shifts are underway in global politics, economy, and other spheres of international relations. A fairer multipolar world order is being born.” Opening words of the SCO 2024 declaration, Astana, Kazakhstan.

June 7, 2024

How lobbies works in China?

Dongya Huang from Sun Yat-sen University reveals the real relationship between enterprises and the state.

August 18, 2023

Oppenheimer and the forever" wars: Have we learnt nothing?

For the first time since the US achieved global domination economically and militarily after WWII, the military industrial complex and Biden administration fear the rise of China. They have decided that it must be crushed. The US, NATO and its compliant states have whipped up a frenzy of fear and loathing for the Chinese. This has resulted in trillions of dollars in a global rearmament on a colossal scale. The Australian government, without the approval of parliament or the people have handed over sovereignty to the US to operate their war from its bases in states all around the country. The first nation to be “captured by “the Rulers of the World” is Australia.

May 31, 2023

Bruce Haigh: time for some revolutionary Australian art

Dont it always seem to go, that you dont know what you got till its gone? Joni Mitchell

May 22, 2023

Outrage is appropriate: The role of big consultants in Australian government

Every Australian who has sweated over a grant for a modest sum, or who pays taxes and thinks they should get value for money, must be asking questions about a huge swindle that has been growing over the past two decades under our noses. One thing is certain: our parliament needs to act.

April 7, 2023

The United States is in decline, with AUKUS, so too is Australia

It is all but finalised. Australia has handcuffed itself, essentially in perpetuity, to the United States. As a result, Australias future is inextricably intertwined with the future of the United States.

August 17, 2022

Governor-General should have queried Morrison

Scott Morrisons enabling accomplice in his ministerial power grab, the Governor-General David Hurley, has some explaining to do if he is to resist suggestions that he should resign. Indeed, the political storm the ongoing revelations about Morrisons extraordinary actions may be so embarrassing for the Governor-General that his early departure from the role cannot be avoided.

September 2, 2021

Taiwan quo vadis: Is reunification inevitable?

With time on Beijing’s side, is there any other option than Taiwan and Mainland China reuniting?

July 5, 2021

The IGR report and its failure to expose the critical policy choices

The Treasurers recently released Intergenerational Report has been widely criticised for its narrow modelling framework. But even within this framework, the assumptions appear to be excessively optimistic. Consequently, the Reports conclusion that Australias budget is fiscally sustainable way into the future is not credible.

May 23, 2021

Is the US a reliable ally?

Australia has put almost all its defence eggs in the American basket at the cost of further weakening relations with China. We are betting that in our hour of need, the US will come to our aid. But will it? It is worth looking at the American record of supporting its allies of one kind or another. It is important to remember that ANZUS doesnt commit the US to anything if Australia is attacked except to think about what it wants to do.

January 27, 2021

Rupert Murdochs faulty memory. (edited repost from 21 Dec, 2016)

Rupert Murdoch has asserted many times that he has never asked anything from a prime minister yet the Guardian has proof that contradict that claim, as do I.

January 20, 2021

Australia's political talent pool more like a puddle

_Once upon a time in Australia, the best and the brightest presented themselves for election. Now, it seems, Cabinet ministers are chosen on the basis of loyalty to whoever is sitting in the prime ministerial chair. And talent is in short supply.

January 4, 2021

Vale Bishop Geoffrey Robinson

Bishop Geoffrey Robinson died on 29 December 2020 aged 83. In this subdued time of Christmas and New Year celebrations, the sombre news of his passing seems quite apposite. He was a talented, sensitive man who cherished his priestly vocation.

December 19, 2018

AMANDA MEADE. Positive finding on ABC and SBS a bitter pill for News Corp (The Guardian).

Rejection of competition complaints wasnt what the Australian was hoping for. Plus: Ray Hadley sees the light.

June 2, 2024

"We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality..."

“Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty.”

May 23, 2024

China and Russia have one bed but different dreams

Russian weakness has enabled China to emerge as Eurasia’s dominant power. But it also limits the partnership of the two.

July 23, 2023

Planetary Inferno

The fast rise in global warming manifested by current extreme weather events betray a dangerous underestimation of the Earths liveable climate, while governments ignore climate science, claim to set limits on domestic emissions but allow major export of fossil fuels and emissions worldwide on a scale threatening life on Earth.

June 7, 2023

AUKUS and the security pathology of colonial racism

Today, there are strong arguments that Australian security and defence thinking, which was historically race based, is now culturally embedded; that the current situation is close to what race theory describes as ‘racism without racists.’ How, then, might Australian colonial racism have conditioned our security culture to put the ‘A’ in the AUKUS nuclear powered submarine (SSN) deal?

April 27, 2023

Chinas Historic push for multipolar world to end U.S. domination

This is a historic watershed that the world is living through right now. What China is after is true multilateralism. What’s very important to understand is that most of the world also does not want the U.S. as the global preeminent power. Most of the world wants a truly multipolar world, and is, therefore, not lined up behind the United States sanctions on Russia, says Jeffrey Sachs in an interview with Democracy now.

June 21, 2022

The scourge of lobbyists and a role for the Greens and Teal. A revised post from Jan. 3 2022

Regulation of the way we manage lobbying in Australia is an even more important issue than a National Integrity Commission. The lobbying of governments around the world by the fossil fuel industry is a major reason for the Climate Emergency we now face..

August 30, 2021

Can Morrison sell his risky plan as a contract with the Australian people?

This year Morrison has not done much that will win him credit over the premiers. Thats because of his own mistakes.

May 6, 2021

Biden supports waiver on Covid -19 vaccines. Will Australia follow? New Zealand is ahead of us again.

Australia must fall in behind the US and New Zealand in promoting wider production of Covid-19 vaccines.

January 13, 2021

Assault on US Capitol showed Trump where his market is now (The Irish Times Jan 12, 2021)

Theres an American clich: Run it up the flagpole and see who salutes. It emerged from the advertising industry in the Mad Men era. Its what you do with an idea thats a bit outlandish but that just might work; test it out in a promising market.

January 4, 2021

Small nail, big hammer

Indonesian President Joko Widodo, a leader prone to blunders (he initially took the Trump no-worries approach to Covid-19 now ravaging the Republic), may have made another serious error. Hes banned a Muslim organisation thats become the loudest and most militant critic of his government.

November 11, 2020

Media moguls versus elites

Members of the Murdoch media have once again used the US election as an opportunity to pursue elites. Chris Kenny suggested in The Australian (5 November) that the election had been a win for the mainstream, against elites who treated the choices and preferences of the people with disdain. Who are these elites?

February 1, 2020

PETER SAINSBURY. Sunday environmental round up, 2 February 2020

Despite the rhetoric of support for action to combat climate change from senior company executives and members of government, banks and rich nations continue to fund the development of coal mines and power stations, even in countries that currently dont have any coal power. Centuries of abuse of waterways leads to problems along the Mekong River and in the Everglades, and plagues of locusts devastate crops in East Africa.

July 19, 2024

Not what you might expect – close encounters in China

I recently visited Wu Tai Shan, a Buddhist mountain in Shanxi Province, China, with an old nun-friend and a film crew of thirty young Beijing production people. It was Dragon Boat Festival and Wu Tai’s many temples were thronged with pilgrims from all over China paying their respects to the deities. I met worshippers, discussed Buddhist psychology and ate with the lively crew.

June 27, 2024

Where Olive Trees Weep - Australia must recognise Palestine

An open letter to Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister of Australia, Mr Dutton, Senator Wong, Senator Birmingham and Senator Patterson. Yesterday you, or your party, opposed a motion which would have encouraged Australia to join a growing majority of the world’s countries that recognise Palestine. Why did you do that?

June 15, 2024

“Hard won victory”: Australia-China relations on track to improve

Zhao Ying is a China commentator and the host of CGTN Radio’s “World Today” program. Zhao Ying interviews Professor Chen Hong, President of the Chinese Association of Australian Studies and Director of the Australian Studies Center at East China Normal University on Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s visit to Australia and the promising signs of recovery in the relationship between Australia and China.

June 10, 2024

Corporations far right machine is busy

The radicalised right has been very active in Australia and internationally recently. With corporate money backing the movement at every turn, the networking is amplifying. If democratic projects can be made more illiberal, and international bodies crippled, the liberal tradition can be replaced with an authoritarian reimposition of “order” and corporations will have an easier route to profit.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal