March 3, 2024

Public has no cause to fear national security legislation

The relaunch of legislation to implement Article 23 of the Basic Law to prohibit national security offences, after a pause of more than 21 years, has sparked remarkably few controversies in the local community in Hong Kong. In the light of the political upheaval in 2019, and evidence of dangerous activities emerging from cases currently on trial, the general public appears to have accepted the need for legislation to safeguard national security.

January 24, 2024

'A frightening precedent: New Zealand to send military personnel to target Houthis

Bombing one of the most impoverished nations on Earth over its sea blockade to stop genocide in Gaza reflects Kiwi values, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says.

November 25, 2023

Sacrificing pawns in the USAs geopolitical game

Ahead of its elections, Taiwan needs to be forewarned of putting too many eggs into the USA basket. A significant body of evidence warns that the people of Taiwan may find themselves nothing but pawns, to be sacrificed in the USAs geopolitical game.

November 14, 2023

Impressions of China: political stagnation and an economy transformed

After a one week China tour organised by some Chinese entrepreneurs to mark the anniversary of the 1971 pingpong diplomacy which opened China to the outside world, two firm impressions remain. One is the extraordinary pace and dynamism of the economic, and social, progress. The other is the political stagnation, with our guides still clinging to the name of Chairman Mao.

November 1, 2023

Prime Minister ignores Palestinian criticism of Governments support for Israels oppression, genocide and ethnic cleansing

The convenor of the youth branch of Australian Friends of Palestine Association, (Young AFOPA) on 20 October 2023 wrote to Prime Minister Albanese expressing disappointment in his unequivocal support for Israel during its ongoing genocide in Gaza. The writer challenged the sincerity of the Prime Ministers purported commitment to engaging in reconciliation in Australia, when at the same time supporting an occupier actively committing acts of ethnic cleansing and genocide.

October 4, 2023

A divided US needs an enemy like Beijing more than it ever did

When something becomes too complicated, psychologists say we go for rules of thumb. In Washington today, that rule is the China threat.

October 2, 2023

In support of the policy of deterrence

Theres been a lot of debate lately over the US strategy of surrounding nations like Russia and China with war machinery in order to deter them from aggressive actions. Some argue that since powerful nations tend to respond aggressively to the amassing of military threats on their borders, this policy actually provokes the very aggressions its proponents claim it prevents.

February 17, 2023

Marcos beware: US militarisation of the Philippines endangers regional peace and stability

When Ferdinand E Marcos was elected the 10th president of the Philippines in 1965, it was with the support of the United States. Laudatory articles about him appeared in the American media, and the US vice president, Hubert Humphrey, attended his inauguration. The US saw him as an amenable politician who was also popular, although it miscalculated in considering him a puppet.

October 29, 2022

China, UK leadership transitions illustrate how the world has changed

The leadership transitions in China and the UK shed an illuminating light on their very different political systems.

December 31, 2021

Australia's nuclear submarine deal: very high risk for no reward

Although it will be Australia’s biggest military purchase, the submarine deal is mired in strategic uncertainties.

December 23, 2021

How Christ inspires us to lives better lives for ourselves and others

Many Christians are honouring the message of December 25 and the teachings of Christ from beyond the institutional church.

December 6, 2021

Royal commission will let politicians avoid blame for futile wars

The terms of reference for the defence suicide royal commission ignore the direct cause of the issues that affect veterans war.

December 5, 2021

Crash and burn: the deadly climate policies of our major parties

The Coalition and Labor refuse climate action that will ensure humanity’s survival, even as thousands die globally from the burning of fossil fuels.

September 25, 2021

The Clayton's but secret Covid national plan

Those hoping for clarification on the national COVID-19 plan from last week’s national cabinet meeting will be disappointed. The main outcome from the meeting was a statement about the importance of its discussions and documents remaining “cabinet in confidence”.

March 21, 2021

The Quad: an unlikely friendship with unfriendly motives

Sydney Morning Herald political and international editor Peter Hartcher has told us that a historic friendship meeting between Japan, the US, Australia and India - the Quad, has begun. However, it’s not particularly friendly, or historic.

January 23, 2025

How the Israel lobby tries to silence criticism of Israel

There’s a long history of the Zionist lobby pressuring, bullying and cajoling critics of Israel and they’re now upping their tactics in a time of mass slaughter in Gaza, writes Kellie Tranter in Declassified Australia.

December 2, 2024

South Korea pays the price for Ukraine’s fake news on North Korean troops

Some stand to benefit from the deluge of fake news from the war, while others could pay dearly.

November 25, 2024

Deputy Director of CASS Institute of Finance warns against excessive security concerns

Zhang Ming: China must not sacrifice development for security. For a large developing country like China, development is the greatest security.

November 21, 2024

The American-style Cultural Revolution is taking root in the US

Trump’s shocking cabinet picks are reminiscent of what Mao Zedong did after launching the tumultuous Cultural Revolution in 1966. Under his slogan “revolution is no crime; to rebel is justified,” Mao encouraged the firebrand Red Guards and grassroots loyalists to take over power at central and local government levels across the country, writes Wang Xiangwei.

November 11, 2024

One person’s think tank is another’s propaganda organ

Unlike China’s state-run think tanks and media groups, their Anglo-American counterparts have industry ties and interests whose influences are often far less obvious.

December 26, 2022

Violence at home and abroad is as American as cherry pie.

_We could get into a war with China is if we continue to act as a proxy or deputy sheriff for the US in the region. Despite the media hysteria, China is not a military threat to Australia or the US.

December 10, 2022

Revealing he too had Manning leaks, Ellsberg dares DOJ to prosecute him like Assange

“Let’s take this to the Supreme Court,” says the Pentagon Papers whistleblower, taking aim at what he argues is an unconstitutional use of the Espionage Act.

December 2, 2022

The Guardian could help Assange by retracting all the lies it published about him

The Guardian has joined The New York Times,Le Monde, Der Spiegel and El Pas in signing a letter from the five papers which collaborated with WikiLeaks twelve years ago in the publication of the Chelsea Manning leaks to call for the Biden administration to drop all charges against Julian Assange. This sudden jolt of mainstream support comes as news breaks that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been personally pushing the US government to bring the Assange case to a close.

January 4, 2022

Australia must re-assert its stand on harm minimisation drug policies

Is it possible for prohibition and law enforcement to compete against the ubiquitous and increasing use of mind-altering drugs?

October 25, 2021

Were the good old days in the Catholic Church really that good?

To heal from the child sex abuse tragedy, the Catholic Church must be more inclusive and go to the people on the margins.

January 16, 2025

Beggars as choosers

By blocking Nippon Steel’s $14.9 billion purchase of US Steel, the Biden Administration has turned international economic policy inside out. On this point, the incoming Trump Administration is in rare agreement. Like many conflict-prone moves in recent years, this action has been justified on the basis of alleged national security concerns. Yet in the end, it is nothing more than a blatant political move at odds with the core economic and financial needs of the United States.

January 4, 2025

Consumer solar surge: Pakistan shows you don’t need government programs to green the grid

While no one was looking, the Pakistani public took matters into their own hands, adding 17 gigawatts of solar power this year. These installations are mostly in the form of Chinese panels for rooftop or ground level solar in towns and villages.

November 24, 2024

Is the USA a Banana Republic?

In June 1986, as the newly elected MHR for Burke I had the great privilege of standing beside Paul Keating on that fateful morning he declared that Australia “could become a banana republic” if we did not squarely face up to our economic problems.

February 20, 2024

Things are not what they seem

We are homo dramatis, the species that tells stories. Today more and more of us are rejecting America and Israels stories and are searching for a better script. That is a good thing because History is calling us to be actors, not spectators, in the drama playing out in Gaza.

December 6, 2023

There's nothing you can say to make me accept the murder of thousands of children

I promise there is nothing you can say to me that will cause me to cease opposing the murder of thousands of children in Gaza. There is no name you can call me, no accusation you can scream at me, no talking point you can regurgitate at me that will ever make me shut up and accept this.

January 18, 2023

By the numbers: The de-dollarisation of global trade

Data suggests that US dollar reserves in central banks are dwindling, as is the influence of the US on the world economy. This presents a unique opportunity for regional currencies and alternative payment systems to enter thevacuum.

January 7, 2023

The deadliest year for West Bank Palestinians since the second Intifada in numbers

Middle East Eye analyses figures of record Israeli violence in 2022 in which the majority of victims were civilians, including children and journalists.

December 7, 2021

Dave Sharma, the very model of a Wentworth modern Liberal

Preparing for a tough election battle, federal Liberal MP Dave Sharma massages the truth on the governments climate action for Wentworths voters.

January 25, 2025

How Israel’s ‘First Defeat’ will shape the country’s future

The headline in the Times of Israel says it all: “For the First Time, Israel Just Lost a War.”

January 21, 2025

Ferreting out OECD experiences in building nuclear power plants

Meeting the challenges of climate change requires an array of options in each country’s energy mix. Nuclear is one of the many options. But how realistic is it for Australia? Nuclear cannot compete with offshore wind in UK, neither can it compete with cheap shale gas in the US.

December 8, 2024

“Barn of Broken Doors”: Nauru poet deplores offshore detention

Mohammed Salamat delivered this anguished poem about his detention on Nauru outside Federal Parliament last Tuesday November 19, 2024. The reality of ‘offshore processing’ by the Australian government is still very much a fact, in legislation and the news.

December 3, 2024

A surprise assault on Syria, but can it last?

The wave of enemy destabilisation ploys jumped from Lebanon to Syria this week, with a swarm of foreign-backed extremists breaking into Aleppo. Israel warned that Syria was next, but can the militants do today what they couldn’t achieve for almost a decade?

November 20, 2024

Indonesia’s Jokowi does a Machiavelli

Power is the proverbial drug that leaders find hard to quit.

October 14, 2024

So is this just how our great free press of the West really operates?

To appreciate the true magnitude of its disgrace, imagine the response if murdered Gazan journalist Hassan Hamad were an Uygur or a Tibetan.

December 30, 2022

Best of 2022: Australias China threat industry led by Sydney Morning Herald takes a hit

Above a picture of a tired looking Xi Jinping taken at the G20 the Sydney Morning Herald ran the headline: The Face of Capitulation. It was as banal as it was predictable. It was for a Peter Hartcher story that crowed at having slayed the dragon (sub-text: this was Hartchers personal victory).

December 31, 2024

Western tourists rediscover Chinese mainland, HK

Fifty years ago, I enjoyed an overnight stay in Hong Kong while on my way from Melbourne to visit the United Kingdom for the first time. Hong Kong was already established as a “tourist and shopping paradise” by then. I remember being somewhat bewildered by the crowds of people everywhere I went. But it was still a marvellous experience, and I came away with an excellent new Japanese camera and portable cassette recorder, which cost half what they did in Australia.

December 28, 2024

Martin Jacques: This is the fundamental difference between China and the West

Watch China expert, Martin Jacques explain the fundamental difference between China and the west, and how China will ‘rise’ differently than Western nations did in the past…

December 17, 2024

Taiwan's former parliamentary speaker proposes "separate jurisdictions, one sovereignty"

Wang Jin-pyng says not to abandon “the opportunity for people on both sides to jointly pursue the well-being of the Chinese nation,” and respect the separate jurisdictions across the Strait. If world peace really hinges on, as many claim, what happens across the Taiwan Strait, you’ll have to bear with me for more posts on the seemingly niche subject.

October 13, 2024

History's wound, still open wide

Australia, land of Altjira, of oceans wild and skies untamed, Where stories of the Jukurrpa are told in songlines proclaimed.

March 28, 2024

China warns foreign hackers are infiltrating hundreds of business and government networks

Top spy agency urges Chinese citizens to step up cybersecurity as attacks by overseas agencies have been rampant in recent years. The message comes as Beijing broadens scope of anti-espionage law to cover online attacks and prepares to expand penalties for data violations.

January 16, 2024

The remarkable global impact of the Chinese car industry: Trade beats war every time

Around 25 years ago, wise commentators said China may, in due course, be able to produce acceptable basic, manufactured white-goods but making motor cars that would sell globally was not conceivable. Far too many complex inputs went into making a modern family sedan compared to a refrigerator. As for landing a rover on the Moon and Mars unimaginable. Those rovers successfully landed in 2013 and 2021 respectively. And now China has become the largest builder and exporter of motor cars on the planet. The Global West, especially, is widely surprised, indeed, startled.

November 2, 2022

NDIS: What do soaring costs tell us?

The budget has seen shock headlines about the increase in NDIS costs. The AFR screamed in its headline the NDIS will blow out to $50 billion. It didnt mention that this was in nominal terms - but the real increase of 17% over the next four years is serious enough.

December 10, 2024

Manufacturing consent with a pivotal signifier

Most of the world believes, today, that the Western use of the term, terrorism, is wilfully warped to advance a destructive political agenda. This same manipulative usage remains indispensably effective in the West, however. It fundamentally underpins, for example, the monstrous process lately identified by Stuart Rees as the “normalisation of atrocity.”

March 30, 2024

A vibrant media landscape will ease fears over Hong Kongs Article 23 law

People in Hong Kong, particularly the media, should still be allowed to voice diverse opinions and criticism without fear of retribution as long as it is fair and fact-based. This will help mitigate the concern of people considering a move to the city and show one country, two systems is still alive and well.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal