October 15, 2023

Voices of women, life and freedom battle sadism in Iran

In Australia, in the 25th year of the award of the Sydney Peace Prize, attention has at last been turned to a country, Iran, ruled by fear. The award-winning Iranian born British activist and actress Nazanin Boniadi will receive the 2023 Sydney Peace Prize for drawing attention to human rights violations in Iran, for lending a powerful voice to support for Iranian women and girls in their Women, Life Freedom Movement.

March 14, 2023

Rainbow alerts for peace, not red alerts for war

In their Red Alert for War, doom laden experts assembled by the Sydney Morning Herald forecast a war with China. Preoccupied with cybersecurity, biosecurity, with the weaponry available in military alliances, the experts speak the language of militarism and war but have nothing to say about peace. Yet the language of peace can inspire, not red alerts but rainbow visions to enhance life, not destroy it.

February 16, 2022

False fruits: What hope now for the Plenary Council of the Australian Catholic Church?

The expectations and hopes that many Catholics had after the First Assembly of the Plenary Council are fading fast.The manipulative approach adopted shows scant respect for either the Pope or the people.

March 11, 2024

Scholar or ideologue?

The Economist, a leading British weekly, enjoys wide global readership. It recently covered the thoughts and written work of two scholars, both Chinese, one now government-based, in Beijing and the other based in an academic institution in the US. Only the former, was branded as an ideologue however. Paraphrasing Professor Julius Sumner Miller: Why is this so?

January 29, 2024

Japan's diplomatic wisdom: Seizing the moment with China's visa-free proposal

Japan finds itself at a crucial juncture in its relationship with China, with an opportunity to recalibrate and enhance bilateral ties through a seemingly simple yet impactful diplomatic tool: visa policy.

October 17, 2023

Our mainstream media failed this country during the Voice referendum

As the former managing director and editor in chief of The Age newspaper (and founder of the Australian Press Council), this is a hard piece to write. In my view the mainstream media journalists and commentators have failed this country during the debate on the Voice.

January 31, 2025

Is America marching in the final footsteps of the British empire?

_Yu-Book Lim used to head a Singapore think tank and was Executive Chairman of IMC Plantations before that. He has just published an extended, thought-provoking essay: “_ _Xi Jinping’s “Once-in-a-Century Upheaval” Prophecy_.

January 23, 2025

Reasons ABC’s James Carleton should not be celebrating the ‘liberation’ of Syria

When ABC journalist James Carleton discussed the overthrow of the Assad government on a Radio National ‘God Forbid’ program (‘ Rebel fighters have overthrown the Assad regime in Syria, what does that mean for its people?’ 13/12/24), he warmly congratulated one of the program’s guests, Alia Malek, who was celebrating the ‘liberation’ of Syria.

November 29, 2024

Biden’s last hurrah against Russia and Putin

Frustration escalates for the lame duck president.

November 18, 2024

Legislative trends on anti-interference in major Western countries

When Hong Kong’s policy makers were formulating the offence of foreign interference endangering national security, they did not operate in a vacuum. International models were examined, and they heavily influenced the final product. They included the National Security Legislation Amendment (Espionage and Amendment) Act 2018 of Australia, now incorporated into the country’s Criminal Code Act 1995. Its effect was to proscribe foreign interference in Australia’s affairs, and it did so comprehensively.

November 2, 2024

"Reshaping the world through internal progress": Public advice for China's foreign policy

Leading international relations scholar Wang Jisi from Peking University, who just met Kurt Campbell, urges Beijing not to make new enemies, focus on domestic affairs, & maintain confidence in peaceful reunification.

October 23, 2024

Coping with despair: Palestine, Lebanon and beyond

Israel’s atrocities for which they are not held accountable, leaves a world feeling powerless to do more than watch and protest. Intervention to cope with a pandemic of despair, requires life enhancing responses to foster peace and revive respect for international humanitarian law.

October 17, 2024

Han Kang's Nobel prize award is a cry for Palestine

South Korean novelist Han Kang has won the Nobel Prize for Literature, beating short-listed literary heavyweights like Thomas Pynchon, Haruki Murakami, Salman Rushdie, Gerald Murnane, and the all-odds-favourite, Chinese author Can Xue. Han Kang was as shocked as anyone else after receiving the call notifying her that she had won. When asked what she would do next, she said she would quietly “have tea with her son”.

October 9, 2024

Meta is aggressively censoring criticism of US-Israeli warmongering

I am at risk of getting banned from both Instagram and Facebook as both Meta-owned platforms keep censoring my criticisms of Israel’s US-backed atrocities in Gaza and Lebanon, placing strikes on my accounts in the process.

March 17, 2024

ASEAN carpet baggers

Without a hint of embarrassment, Australian Treasurer Chalmers declared that ASEAN was ripe for the plucking by Australian business turbocharged by a AUD$2 billion fund.

March 15, 2024

Do Chinas leaders fully grasp foreigners concerns about the country?

Beijing has been slow to address the visa and e-payment woes of foreign travellers, and some officials remain complacent about the exodus of foreign investment.

February 4, 2024

Australias stake in the coming U.S. presidential election

Those following the U.S. Republican presidential race will have noted from the voter polls that the issue of foreign affairs ranks amongst the lowest or is the lowest of the priority concerns that the American public sees as critical to themselves and their country. A variety of polls held before the recently concluded nomination battles in Iowa and New Hampshire revealed that less than 10% of the supporters of the main candidates identified foreign policy as their major concern.

January 22, 2024

The four horsemen of Gazas apocalypse

Joe Biden relies on advisors who view the world through the prism of the Wests civilising mission to the lesser breeds of the earth to formulate his policies towards Israel and the Middle East.

January 9, 2023

Shooting Afghans: Prince Harrys apache moment

In his memoir Spare, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, does his best to show how he was no ornament of the British Army, one merely there to make up the numbers.

April 2, 2025

An open letter to Benjamin Netanyahu

Stop lying to your people and the world._

January 3, 2024

Things that may not be said about the Israeli atrocities

Despite a reputation for violent over-reaction in Palestinian affairs, the Israeli reaction has astonished and confused the world.

November 15, 2023

'The Australian' weaponises anti-Semitism

The Israeli media has been interpreting the October 7 attack as reaching Holocaust levels, or as an equivalent of the 9-11 attack in the US: and in an atmosphere of fear and anger, Israeli citizens are said to perceive the Hamas slaughter as a threat to the countrys existence. In Australia, to defend Israel, to stifle critics of the bombing of Gaza, and to follow Prime Minister Netanyahus polarisation of choices between good and evil, between civilisation or barbarism, between a powerful law-abiding country or Hamas terrorists, charges of anti-Semitism are being weaponised.

January 13, 2023

Ukraine war: life on Russias home front after ten months of conflict

Its been a year since I last visited Russia. Back then, most people I met thought theprospects of a war with Ukrainewere very remote, despite the massive troops build-up on the border. So I was curious to see how attitudes had changed since then. Equally important was to see for myself how the war has changed life in Russia.

December 29, 2022

Best of 2022: Australias damaging and deluded retreat from Asia

Obsessed with demonising China, the Morrison government appears to exult in its destruction of one of Australia’s most valuable relationships.

November 26, 2022

AP editor said she "can't imagine" a US intelligence official being wrong!!!

The Associated Press journalist who reported a US intelligence official’s false claim that Russia had launched missiles at Poland last week has been fired.

November 7, 2020

Do the mainstream media have much influence?

The other day Mungo McCallum remarked in passing that the influence of the media on public opinion has always been greatly overrated. I beg to differ, along with quite a few other commenters on his article. Here is a longer case for profound media influence.

March 29, 2025

Nation building and political reconciliation in Pakistan

I recently joined a small delegation of Pakistani Australian businessmen on a trade and investment investigation mission. During this visit, I witnessed a Pakistan eager to move out of its stagnant economy and the political deadlock. The tenacity and the determination of the people of Pakistan to rise out of their socio economic and political conditions were palpable.

February 17, 2024

Does China want Trump to win in 2024?

Agathe Demarais is a senior policy fellow on geoeconomics at the European Council on Foreign Relations and a Foreign Policy columnist. She recently argued in that journal (with a clear anti-Trump tilt)-that China is Rooting for Trump

November 27, 2023

A monstrous Gaza proposal is evil in plain sight

Giora Eiland is one of the thinking officers in the Israeli Defence Forces. He has an idea - epidemics in Gaza are good for Israel. After all, severe epidemics in the southern Strip will bring victory closer and reduce fatalities among IDF soldiers. One only has to wait for the daughters of Hamas leaders to contract the plague, and weve won.

October 24, 2023

Red line: Overshadowed by Gaza, Ukraine drifts beyond proxy war

The news that Ukraine has begun to use US-supplied long range ATACMS missiles against Russian forces has been overshadowed by the Palestine-Israel crisis, but it is an escalation that has profoundly dangerous implications.

March 24, 2023

Why the Coalition likes wrecking constitutional reform - Weekly roundup

Why the Coalition likes wrecking proposals for constitutional reform; a politicised and enfeebled public service; and people versus poker machines in the NSW election. Read on for the Weekly Roundup of links to articles, reports, podcasts and other media on current political and economic issues in public policy.

February 6, 2023

Disaster management: The lessons of 2022

As we start a new year, it is a good time to reflect on the lessons of 2022 not just from the Covid pandemic but also the floods that wreaked havoc on communities all down the east coast of Australia.

January 21, 2025

Pakistan's Imran Khan: will he be 'liberated' by Trump?

On the day a court in Pakistan finally pronounced its verdict in one of the more credible cases against Imran Khan, The New York Times published a report from its Islamabad correspondent Salman Masood about the “messianic certainty” among the former prime minister’s supporters in the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) that the incoming US president will somehow liberate their leader.

November 19, 2023

Real possibility of Trump presidency in 12 months

In twelve months time Americans will go to the polls to elect the next President. Is the world prepared for the outcome?

November 18, 2023

Drugs and alcohol arent even half the problem

Australias penal colony culture has continued into the fabric of all our public administrations, but most particularly Health, Education, Community Services and Justice.

January 30, 2023

Efforts to combat climate change and biodiversity loss are inseparable as new mass extinction looms

Recently, I had a catch-up conversation on climate change and Novembers UN climate change conference(COP27) in Sharm el-Sheikh with one of Hong Kongs most conscientious students of the subject.

January 23, 2023

Scholars laud Xinjiang moves

Islamic experts praise region’s success in anti-terror, ethnic group harmony.

October 29, 2022

The story behind Chinas fourth generation nuclear reactors

The fact that only China has implemented a Small Modular Nuclear Reactors is a testament to the skills and capacities of Chinese nuclear engineers and the policy makers that the West, despite renewed interest in the idea, will find difficult to match.

March 14, 2025

Escaping Thucydides's trap: A discussion between Graham Allison and Henry Huiyao Wang

_During the recently concluded Munich Security Conference, Professor Graham Allison from Harvard University met Dr Huiyao Wang, founder and president of the Centre for China and Globalisation based in Beijing, to discuss Dr Wang’s new book (“Escaping Thucydides’s Trap: Dialogue with Graham Allison on China-US Relations”) which is grounded on and develops arguments made in Professor Allison’s highly influential 2017 book, “_Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap.”

February 23, 2025

Trump – the wannabe king of America?

Some Americans have said it’s okay that Trump is effectively America’s king. After all, according to a 2017 survey, some 23 million Americans believe chocolate comes from brown cows.

January 25, 2025

Who is missing from the conversation?

We need to stop putting all our eggs in the ‘anti-racism strategy basket’ and start to recognise that a more holistic approach where everyone across the population can see themselves as benefitting from the initiatives is the future to reducing discrimination for all, writes Anthea Hancocks.

December 31, 2024

Australian UN expert Chris Sidoti lashes out at Netanyahu, shuts up Israeli reporter

Chris Sidoti, an International human rights lawyer from Australia working as a UN investigator along with former International Criminal Court judge Navi Pillay, has slammed Benjamin Netanyahu for the Gaza conflict. He also shut up an Israeli reporter, who made a desperate attempt to question the latest findings on Israeli excesses by these two UN experts. This video has the best bits from the press conference that both Sidoti and Pillay held on 30 October.

October 11, 2024

Placing Russian mobile missile launchers on alert a dangerous game

_Newsweek_ has recently (Oct 7) reported that Russian mobile nuclear missile launchers have been placed on combat alert. This could mean nothing – Russian mobile missile launchers do regularly go on patrol, both for scheduled alerts and for training purposes. However, the way in which the move has been telegraphed does suggest that Russia means to use them to intimidate the west and show resolve.

March 28, 2023

Infiltrated by extremists, what will the real Liberals do now?

The Labor victory in NSW this weekend has put the Liberal Party on notice. While many local issues were in play, the increasing radicalisation of the party at federal and state levels is making it unelectable. The usual drongos voices cry, Liberals must go further right to win, but Australias superior electoral system will make it hard for a radical right Liberal Party to win government.

March 24, 2025

Defending human rights will win the hearts of the Chinese people

I recently read Jerry Grey’s 8 March 2025 article and I was disappointed by the false and misleading statements made. I would like to participate in the exchange of ideas in a way that, I hope, will better inform your readers.

February 10, 2025

Is Romania’s stolen election what’s in store for 'democracy' in the West?

To save democracy, the US and the European elites appear to have found it necessary to destroy democracy. For the first time ever an election was overturned in an EU/NATO country. Ever. There were no allegations of voting irregularities – it was about whether Russia had spent money on a Tik Tok influence campaign to support the eventual winner of the first round. If that sounds an unconvincing reason for such an historic event, the truth (see below) is even weirder.

November 30, 2024

Another unwelcome ICC arrest warrant?

On November 27, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced that he is seeking an arrest warrant against Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the head of Myanmar’s military junta, for his role in the commission of crimes against humanity against his country’s Rohingya minority.

November 4, 2024

Remarkable Australian comparative analysis supports BDS

A very long line has been drawn between two dots: Israel and China, across what looks like a credibility chasm, by the vocal Australian Coalition MP Barnaby Joyce. But his recent interesting Israel-China comparative analysis implicitly lends robust support to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement directed against Israel, though this may not have been intended.

October 18, 2024

American censorship of the 'Pikidon' and genocidal intent in Gaza

In 2024 the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Nihon Hidankyo, the grassroots collective of Hibakusha and Hibakusha Nisei (first and second generation surviving the atomic bombs).

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal