January 17, 2025

The US is upset China wants to be self-reliant in producing chips

Having denied Chinese firms access to advanced foreign semiconductors, Washington is launching probe into ‘subsidised’ domestic production.

December 1, 2024

America's decline: An Australian-American’s response to the US elections

My friends will have to excuse me for not being sufficiently riled up about the second coming of Trump. To me, he’s a phase in America’s inevitable decline, on the way to the end of the US Empire.

October 20, 2024

More authoritarian Western crackdowns on speech critical of Israel

British “counterterrorism” police raided the home of Electronic Intifada editor Asa Winstanley on Thursday morning, seizing multiple electronic devices on suspicion that the journalist violated the UK’s 2006 Terrorism Act with his social media activity.

January 25, 2024

Gaza is exposing Western Liberals for the frauds they are

The entire western liberal worldview is currently balanced on the ability to psychologically compartmentalise away from the mass atrocities in Gaza and what western governments are doing to perpetuate them.

November 5, 2023

What our Media fails to tell you about October 7

It is journalistic malpractice for the media to still be repeating so credulously the Israeli military’s account of that day.

January 25, 2023

Now is the time for nonalignment and peace

War is an ugly part of the human experience. Everything about it is hideous. War is most obviously the act of invasion and the brutality that goes along with its operations. No war is precise; every war hurts civilians. Each act of bombardment sends a neurological shudder through society.

January 22, 2023

An agenda for regional economic and security cooperation

The connection between economic integration and political security has long attracted attention. Integration through intensive trade and investment relations has led to greater interdependence and made conflict more costly, helping states to maintain peace and stability. But interdependence can also increase the risk that geopolitical tensions might turn into open conflict.

March 25, 2023

A tale of two octogenarian politicians

Former Australian leader Paul Keating still has fire in his belly, while US President Joe Biden appears to be losing his mind and when it comes to Aukus and a nuclear submarine deal to counter China, theyre on opposite sides.

March 22, 2023

Does the ABC regard Palestinians as humans, equal to Ukrainians?

An open letter to the ABC, 22 March 2023.

February 6, 2023

Trial Balloon: Did the Pentagon deliberately sabotage Blinkens China visit?

It seems the Pentagon has floated another one. The net result of this incident thus far is that the secretary of state has called off a scheduled summit to Beijing intended to reduce tensions.

February 4, 2023

A Middle East diplomatic memoir with heft

Bob Bowkers recently published memoir enriches our understanding of the Middle East and reminds us that the corpse of the two-state solution in Israel-Palestine has been lying in the sun for years, though many countries, including Australia, determinedly hold their noses and avert their gaze.

January 26, 2023

2023 will be make-or-break year for Russia

As the West throws the whole shebang at Moscow, the world’s largest country faces a moment of truth.

December 12, 2021

What successful capitalism can teach Scott Morrison

Corporate leaders who show empathy and kindness and foster a positive culture are the most successful the PM should take heed.

November 22, 2023

"From The River To The Sea" Is genocide, But actual genocide is not genocide

Elon Musk has announced that common pro-Palestine phrases like from the river to the sea and decolonisation are now banned on Twitter and will result in suspension, falsely claiming that they necessarily imply genocide. This move is likely an attempt to appease key advertisers who have been pulling out of the platform in response to a tweet Musk himself made about Jewish communities pushing hatred toward white people.

October 16, 2023

Morrisons Taiwan visit designed to goad China into war

The speech by former Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison in Taipei on Wednesday 11 October, 2023, was clearly designed to undermine the forthcoming visit of Prime Minister Albanese to Beijing. It continued to drive forward the American objective of goading China into war over Taiwan.

March 7, 2023

No, Australia does not actually need to prepare for war with China

In the latest instance of the Australian media’s deluge of propaganda geared toward manufacturing consent for war with China, Nine Entertainment-owned newspapers The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have brought together a panel of “experts” to assess how well-prepared Australia is for a hot war with its primary trading partner. The question of if that war is necessary or should be prepared for is left completely unexamined.

January 2, 2023

US Military thanks and praises retiring CNN "Journalist" for her service

The US military has been showering CNN’s retiring Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr with effusive thanks and praise for her lifetime of service, giving some insight into the cozy working relationship between the media and the war machine inside the US empire.

December 28, 2021

Australia's clumsy retreat from Asia will prove costly

The decline in our ties with Asia that began under John Howard has accelerated alarmingly as the Morrison government.

October 29, 2021

From our readers: Labor's small-target strategy will not win votes

In letters to the editor this week: Labor’s lack of passion, Australia’s alliance with the US, and affordable housing.

January 8, 2024

Will 2024 be the year to rein in the military-industrial complex, the biggest threat to global peace?

The complex, a key part of US political economy, fuels geopolitical tensions and enables countries and private actors to push for and capitalise on conflict. Its time for societies to make concerted efforts to rein it in and build a movement to educate the world about the grave threat it poses to civilisation.

September 11, 2021

The Plenary Council: Consulting the faithful

The episcopal and clerical members of the Australian Plenary Council should be particularly attentive to the voices of the laity when they address the councils agenda.

February 8, 2018

Corruption in the Arms Trade

The Turnbull government is very excited about turning Australia into one of the world’s ten biggest arms traders. The announcement was prompted as much as anything else by President Trump’s announcement of a $US716 billion rise in the United States military budget, with prospects of Australia gaining a significant share in this gigantic spend. Of course the government claims Australian arms sales are selective, never offending Australian foreign policy or humanitarian priorities. But foreign weapons companies which inevitably control the trade, have a record of corruption and indiscriminate selling.

February 5, 2024

Seven reasons to give the Nobel Peace Prize to the IDF

The title of this article is not a joke, nor is it clickbait. I have solid reasons with which to argue that it would be logical and fitting that the next Nobel Peace Prize should be given to the Israel Defence Force, better known as the IDF.

March 16, 2022

Putin's actions in Ukraine are vile, but Russia was sorely provoked by NATO

_The moral outrage insisting on retaliation over the invasion of Ukraine ennobles the American war machine.

March 14, 2023

On war with China, Australia Is caught between a rock and a Pentagon

As part of Australian media’s relentless onslaught of war-with-China propaganda, the government-run Australian Broadcasting Corporation just aired a radio segment on RN Breakfast about the newly revealed details on the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine deal, featuring two guests who are enthusiastic supporters of the deal, and hosted by another enthusiastic supporter of the deal.

November 7, 2021

Australian export lobsters are a magnet for Triads in Hong Kong

Our crustaceans wilting in boxes dumped by Triad smugglers. A dead police officer. There should be lobster-red faces in Australia.

February 10, 2023

A sovereign SSN capability and Australias national security strategy

There is no way that the UK or the US would ever contemplate surrendering sovereignty over the control of its military operations to any other power. Australia should not either. If Australia is to acquire a fleet of SSNs, the government needs to negotiate an agreement that avoids counter-productive short cuts and ensures sovereign control of what would be an immensely valuable capability for the Royal Australian Navy.

March 26, 2023

India-ASEAN collaboration: shaping a new global agenda

India holds this years presidency of the Group of 20 and has boldly stated its vision as Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (One Earth, One Family, One Future). This is a departure from the previous (and often dry) themes of the G20 which are dominated by geopolitical issues and economic priorities of Western powers.

December 22, 2023

Herod: Benjamin Netanyahus 1st Century predecessor

After the birth of Jesus, there was the flight into Egypt. Benjamin Netanyahus 1st Century predecessor, Herod, had decreed the slaughter of all the male children under the age of two not Gaza this time, but West Bank Bethlehem.

December 4, 2022

At protests across America, guns are doing the talking

Armed Americans, often pushing a right-wing agenda, are increasingly using open-carry laws to intimidate opponents and shut down debate.

July 31, 2021

Failed US empire: is this country heading for the exit?

Three decades after the Soviet empire headed for the exit, is it possible that the far more powerful American one is ever so chaotically heading in the same direction?

March 25, 2021

Media in the Asian Century: On our Quad bikes

The most concrete measure to come out of the March 12 Quad summit was a plan for Indias huge pharmaceutical industry to manufacture one billion doses of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine financed by the US and Japan for world-wide distribution to regions in need, particularly the most remote.

December 3, 2022

UK chaos: Hong Kong emigrants duped by false prospectus

In 1711, Alexander Pope, the English poet, wrote that fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

December 27, 2023

200 Years of the Monroe Doctrine is 200 too many

If the United States is serious about liberty and justice for all, respect for international law, and a rules based order that treats everyone fairly and even-handedly, its time to ditch the doctrine and its corollaries.

March 23, 2021

The AFP clearing-house: more political than useful

_Some of the AFP commissioners have entrenched the AFPs reputation as the most politicised force in the country. When one considers the NSW and Victoria Police, that is really saying something.

March 9, 2021

Is Christian Porter fit to hold public office?

Any proper assessment of Christian Porter’s fitness for office would not only properly assess the sexual assault allegations but would his performance as a politician and as a minister. It would appear his personal failings mirror his abuse of political principle.

January 26, 2024

Mearsheimer: China cements diplomatic role as Palestinian genocide isolates US, Israel

John Mearsheimer, in an interview, also argues South Africas case of genocide against Israel before the ICJ will further isolate the Jewish state and the US, while Palestinians face the bleak prospect of apartheid or ethnic cleansing.

July 25, 2021

Blinken's vow to support 'independent journalists' does not apply to Julian Assange

Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed last Monday that the United States “will always support the indispensable work of independent journalists around the world” - a commitment that the Biden administration has refused to apply to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, whom the US government is attempting to prosecute for releasing classified information that exposed war crimes in Iraq and elsewhere.

March 12, 2023

Why China has passed the United States in science and technology

In recent weeks there have been a multitude of news items and reports emanating from various quarters indicting China has passed the United States in science and technology and this is likely an irreversible trend.

January 9, 2023

Neocons and the Ukraine Coup - a repost from Feb 23, 2014

Exclusive: American neocons helped destabilise Ukraine and engineer the overthrow of its elected government, a regime change on Russias western border. But the coup and the neo-Nazi militias at the forefront also reveal divisions within the Obama administration, reports Robert Parry.

January 23, 2024

Yemen: why it fights for Palestine

Yemen is a country thats been grappling with war and siege since 2015. As part of Saudi Arabias denigrating campaign, anyone in the country, except for ousted President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi and his small group of protgs, have been unjustly portrayed as uncultured and underdeveloped individuals with little to contribute to their nation and the region.

March 17, 2023

Who stands for freedom?

I was recently sent an interesting article titled Who Stands for Freedom by the Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz. The article is a review of the book The Big Myth by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway. It raised a fundamental question: Does China have more true freedom than the United States?

December 2, 2022

Zhou Enlais posthumous triumph

Nations now fashioning a postWestern world order appear to be abiding by the Five Principles espoused by Chinas first and long-serving premier.

March 17, 2023

Why did Biden snub China’s Ukraine peace plan?

There’s something irrational about President Biden’s knee-jerk dismissal of China’s 12-point peace proposal titled “ China’s Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis”

June 19, 2021

Our failure in Asia as viewed nine years ago. The situation is now far worse.

Nine years ago, in the speech below, I was pessimistic about our understanding of Asia and our future. The situation has got markedly worse since then.

February 3, 2025

A five-minute scroll

Trump and Netanyahu are reported to be set to announce progress on Saudi-Israeli normalisation. Israel releases Gazan hostage Mohammed al-Halabi held since 2016. Tucker Carlson takes on Piers Morgan on the killing of civilians while Husam Zomlot takes on the BBC for their terminology for Palestinian hostages.

March 18, 2022

The wars our media would rather we forget

_What is the basis of the double standards exhibited by the media? The cone of silence about the plight of the wretched of the earth in forgotten war theatres is underpinned by a maze of strategic and financial considerations.

March 28, 2021

Morrison exposes his frailties. He needs empathy training

Andrew Laming who conducted vile harassment and bullying campaigns on social media and elsewhere against several women in his electorate has been ordered to do empathy (or awareness) training.

February 13, 2024

"Are They 'Hamas'?" 12,300 children killed by Israeli forces in Gaza

Gruesome new data shows that kids make up around 43% of the death toll from Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip.

Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue's Public Policy Journal