November 30, 2023

Israel's savagery is so shocking it's sometimes hard to take in

Sometimes Israels crimes are so horrific that at first you dont even understand what youre looking at. You just stare at it trying to make sense of what youre seeing for a bit, like you would if you suddenly saw a space alien or a leprechaun or something.

November 18, 2023

These things don't happen in a vacuum

Hamas Oct 7 attack on Israeli citizens was horrific. There are 2 things to bear in mind firstly it didnt happen in a vacuum and secondly the scale of the retaliations, the punishment, far outweighs the crime.

February 14, 2023

China statecraft must avoid war with US and keep Taiwan peace

It would be a grave mistake for Beijing to respond in kind in the face of incessant provocations and escalations by America and its allies.

January 24, 2023

America’s strategy of failure comes to Ukraine

US mission creep in Ukraine follows in the fatal footsteps of ultimately failed war campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.

March 30, 2021

The meaning of the word 'floodplain' - and the consequences of building on one

One of the great challenges of city building is building sustainably. Many of our towns and cities are built at least in part on floodplains, which are by definition problematic as places on which to build.

March 29, 2021

Re-thinking flood mitigation and development, especially in the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley

The rain has gone, the floods on the eastward-flowing rivers are receding in Queensland and New South Wales and the focus has shifted from response to recovery. But theres another important matter which needs to be addressed mitigation, or the means by which we can reduce the impacts of future flooding. Lets look at this in the context of attempts that have been and could be made to manage floodwater and ensure that flood peaks are kept as low as reasonably possible.

March 25, 2021

WA's GST deal is keeping the rest of the nation under water

Every government in Australia is running a budget deficit. Except one. Western Australia, unlike the rest of Australia and the world, is rolling in it.

February 27, 2025

Cartoon Commentary

December 5, 2024

For whom the bell tolls: The rise and fall of the US empire

“No man is an island, Entire of itself. Each is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less. As well as if a promontory were. As well as if a manor of thine own Or of thine friend’s were. Each man’s death diminishes me, For I am involved in mankind. Therefore, send not to know For whom the bell tolls, It tolls for thee.” (John Donne - For Whom the Bell Tolls)

November 19, 2024

The countries fuelling Myanmar's civil war

China has the biggest influence on Myanmar’s civil strife but Russia also has sway, supplying arms to the military junta.

November 5, 2024

What makes Chinese students so successful by international standards?

There is a belief widely held across the Western world: Chinese students are schooled through rote, passive learning – and an educational system like this can only produce docile workers who lack innovation or creativity. We argue this is far from true.

October 16, 2024

We must purge genocide from the marrow of our bones

The Israeli outlet Haaretz has a new article out titled “ Israeli Defence Officials: Gov’t Pushing Aside Hostage Deal, Eyeing Gaza Annexation,” and it’s exactly what it sounds like. Anonymous senior Israeli officials are telling the press that the government has abandoned any notion of securing a hostage deal, and is now working toward “the gradual annexation of large parts of the Gaza Strip.”

March 20, 2024

Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner calls for ethnic cleansing of Gaza to 'Finish the Job'

Kushner, who served as a key Middle East adviser to Trump, said that Gaza’s “waterfront property could be very valuable” and urged Israel to “clean it up.”

January 15, 2024

Horror after horror laid bare: Remember us

In their historic case against “the ongoing slaughter of the people of Gaza, South Africa opened its presentation at the Hague with what rights experts deemed “chilling” and “devastating” evidence of Israel’s genocidal intent in “an exceptionally brutal military campaign” - from vast civilian deaths of mostly women and children to massive infrastructure destruction to looming starvation. A grim reminder: As they spoke, and today, and tomorrow, the atrocities - bolstered by U.S. funds - fester unchecked.

January 1, 2024

Is the mainstream press beginning to turn on Bill Gates?

The Bill Gates Problem is Hitting the Mainstream.

October 28, 2023

The Promised Land

With your last breath you can exalt those fearsome prophets. As you die again and again. The million deaths they promised you.

March 8, 2023

Australian media are outright telling us they are feeding us war propaganda about China

The mass media in Australia have been churning out brazen propaganda pieces to manufacture consent for war with China, and what’s interesting is that they’re basically admitting to doing this deliberately.

February 11, 2023

Far from dying, a new globalisation is emerging driven by China and the digital economy

An important feature of the new globalisation is Chinas Global Development Initiative and a renewed, non-exploitative focus on the Global South. The other is the growth of the digital economy and non-dollar-denominated digital currencies that enable cross-border trade.

April 2, 2025

Ursula and the steel porcupine

EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has called for the EU to turn Ukraine into a “steel porcupine” and for Europe to undertake a massive rearmament.

February 27, 2024

Immolation: Aaron Bushnell burned himself alive to make you turn your eyes to Gaza

I watched the uncensored video of US airman Aaron Bushnell self-immolating in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington while screaming Free Palestine. I hesitated to watch it because I knew once I put it into my mind its there for the rest of my life, but I figured I owe him that much.

January 20, 2024

John Pilger - 'A Majority Of One'

In exact opposition to the way Israeli journalists are now burying the truth of their governments genocide in Gaza, Pilger wrote in 2006: In reclaiming the honour of our craft, not to mention the truth, we journalists at least need to understand the historic task to which we are assigned that is, to report the rest of humanity in terms of its usefulness, or otherwise, to us, and to soften up the public for rapacious attacks on countries that are no threat to us.

February 24, 2023

Sanitising the unforgettable

I hope this article will turn out to be a short communication because my hand trembles with indignation as I write.I refer to the article Why history does not disqualify Japan as an ally: a reply to Richard Cullen by Robert Cribb Feb 21, 2023.

January 14, 2023

The last pope of the Second Church?

In the middle of the last century, theologians began speaking of a Third Church.

January 10, 2023

Chinese companies sign oil extraction deal with Taliban government

On 5 January, the Taliban-led government of Afghanistan signed a contract with Chinese companies Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas Co. (CAPEIC) to extract oil from the nations northern provinces.

January 7, 2025

When will this insurrection end?

The insurrection in South Korea that was started on 3 December is still ongoing. This insurrection needs to be swiftly put to an end, but in order to do that, we need to consider the qualities of an insurrection and what it means to quell it.

November 1, 2024

Nixon’s “War on Drugs” was a sham

The New York Times recently revealed that while Pres. Richard Nixon publicly referred to marijuana as “public enemy No. 1” he really felt it was “not particularly dangerous.”

November 23, 2023

White House fears pause in fighting will let journalists see what's been happening in Gaza

Israel and Hamas have reportedly agreed to a four-day ceasefire which will entail the release of 50 hostages held by Hamas in exchange for 150 hostages held by Israeli forces.

November 16, 2023

Human-caused climate change cost US $67 bn., produced hottest 12 months for 125,000 years

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) The non-profit collective of high-powered scientists, Climate Central, has released a new report demonstrating that the past 12 months have been the hottest on record, and inferring that they are the hottest in 125,000 years.

December 19, 2021

Australia's incoherent visa system needs urgent repair

Strong jobs growth will hinge on high levels of net migration, so the next government must act to streamline the system and fine-tune the settings.

December 15, 2021

Australia doesn't need a royal commission to fix its broken media

A disappointing media diversity report was predictable and largely unhelpful. Here is how to address the genuine problems with the Australian media.

December 6, 2024

Western democracy now finds itself in a parlous state

In 1947, former British prime minister Winston Churchill famously observed that: “Many forms of government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”

October 26, 2024

When the Holocaust returned it came denouncing Anti-Semitism and wearing a star of David

When the Holocaust returned it came denouncing anti-semitism and wearing a Star of David. It was never going to look how we were expecting. It wasn’t going to show up in its old familiar costume with the bent cross and the tiny mustache, blaming all the problems on the Jews. It had to look different. If it didn’t look different, we never would have let it in the door.

January 23, 2024

The Biden administration's absurd justification for its Yemen war

On Monday the US launched its eighth wave of airstrikes in its new war against Yemeni forces, which it has now formally titled Operation Poseidon Archer. The strikes are aimed at breaking a Red Sea shipping blockade which the de facto authorities in Yemen have implemented to pressure Israel and its allies into ceasing the genocidal onslaught in Gaza.

January 22, 2024

Some journalists lives are worth more than others

In politics, there is often no reward, only penalty, for being right, especially when you go against the messaging of the ruling elites.

March 30, 2023

War crimes and lawfare: The ICC's arrest warrant for Putin

What is a war crime?

February 17, 2023

In a stalemate with Pakistan’s rulers, Imran Khan’s party faces an Institutional crackdown

Pakistan’s rulers face an emboldened and resilient personality in the form of ex-prime minister Imran Khan. With such challenges now cascading upon the country, the greatest threat might yet be a further political crisis as the people abandon the government in the search for stability._

February 12, 2023

My sources corroborate Hersh's Nord Stream Report: notes from The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix

My sources corroborate Seymour Hersh’s report that the US was behind the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage. (My sources are logic, common sense, and public statements by US government officials.)

January 10, 2025

Will 2025 bring the world a G3?

The year 2025 promises to be a tumultuous one in many parts of the world. But will the status quo remain? Will it be a case of the more things change, the more they remain the same? Will we see changes for a better or worse world? And how will Australia cope with or help shape the world order?

January 4, 2024

The facts behind RNZ's 'Russian edits scandal'

The broadcaster’s response to my editing of international news stories amounted to a show trial, reflecting a malaise within mainstream media.

December 30, 2023

How to make an omelette

December 5, 2023

The horrors in Gaza are happening because the US empire wants them to happen

I came across an interesting quote made last month by a retired Israeli major general named Yitzhak Brick about the ongoing IDF assault on Gaza.

November 12, 2023

US proxy Anthony Albanese goes to Beijing

While Australias formal sovereignty resides with the British monarch as part of the Commonwealth, its real sovereignty is to be found somewhere in Washington.

January 12, 2025

Japan’s weather in 2024: Record temperatures hurt people’s health and wallets

Last year might best be remembered for the conflict in the Middle East or the return of Donald Trump in the US, but in climate circles, in Japan and elsewhere, 2024 will go down as the latest “hottest year on record.”

January 10, 2024

The West will stand in the dock alongside Israel at the genocide court

Israels allies arent just turning a blind eye to Gazas killing fields. They have cheered on the bloodshed, provided diplomatic cover and supplied the arms.

January 2, 2024

Israeli war crimes belong to Biden and the US congress too

The judgment of history awaits as we continue to witness the nightmarish visions of innocents being vaporised because of Washingtons unconditional backing of the Israeli blitzkrieg against the people of Gaza.

December 20, 2023

The atrocities in Gaza are the perfect embodiment of 'Western Values'

When Israeli president Isaac Herzogdescribedthe assault on Gaza as a war to save Western civilization, to save the values of Western civilization, he wasnt really lying. He was telling the truthjust maybe not quite in the way that he meant it.

November 3, 2023

This cannot go on a cry for an end to intolerable suffering

Calls for a ceasefire in Gaza are intensifying as the traumatic toll on civilians sees thousands of children being killed, many health and aid workers and journalists dying on the job, the destruction of health services, surgery taking place without anaesthetic, and civilians unable to access necessities, including life-saving healthcare, food and water.

October 5, 2023

Facing existential threats, raging wars highlight our failure to co-exist

The world recently saw the hottest day in120 thousand years, mainly driven by climate change arising from our addiction to fossil fuels sustaining economic growth and maintaining our lifestyles. We are consumingmore oil than ever before in human history enough to fill6,500 Olympic swimming poolsevery day.

February 21, 2023

What would war with China look like for Australia? Part 2

Australians could wake up one morning to the news that we are at war with China.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal