President Donald Trump has said his recent raft of tariff measures amounted to “Liberation Day” for US traders and not a fatal blow for a global trading system that has served international commerce well for decades following the turbulence that existed prior to and up to the Second World War in the early 1940s. (more…)
Andrew Farran
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When war is around be careful what you wish for!
If anyone is yet to be disgusted with war and the reckless use of armed force, recent news from Gaza and Ukraine will change your mind. (more…)
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Trump has ruled out allies, implying too that with AUKUS we have bought a ‘pig in a poke’
What President Donald Trump has been saying about his friends and our allies recently clearly suggests that both the AUKUS arrangement (it is not a treaty), along with last month’s down payment of some $US500k, has been and will prove to be a terrible mistake. (more…)
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The rules based order – is it over? What’s next?
It is becoming much clearer, if it ever was, that President Donald Trump doesn’t much believe in the “rules based system”. If he does or did, he wouldn’t be firing off salvos of tariffs as if they were missiles intended for another purpose.Which, of course, they are. (more…)
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The upending of UNRWA could be the end of the UN’s role in humanitarian affairs
The unilateral action of the Israeli government to ban the UN specialised agency UNRWA and its humanitarian work in Palestine is wrong, both morally and legally. Moreover it threatens the substructure of specialised agencies that underlies the UN system generally, on which relief and humanitarian assistance for poverty stricken or famine affected regions and their displaced persons, rely. (more…)
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The release of the 2003 Iraq War cabinet papers and what we were not told
We are constantly assured that our governments don’t lie. But in this case the enormity goes beyond a mere cover-up to protect deemed “national security”. That war was a lie from beginning to end. (more…)
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What the Defence Strategic Review does not tell us
There are a number of salient points arising from the Defence Strategic Review which have not been exposed to clear light – which might explain why the government has taken the approach it has. There are two scenarios behind the DSR: war over Taiwan with the US, or war with Indonesia by ourselves. (more…)
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Brexit over; now for common sense
The Brexit saga has played itself to death with much relief all round except perhaps at Britain’s political margins. (more…)
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The Defence Strategic Review and Australia’s ‘Alliance’ obsession
How might the renown mid-20th century linguist Ludwig Wittgenstein have addressed the current defence strategic review? (more…)
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What ails Britain? Don’t mention Brexit
I’ve been asked to come out of blogging retirement, temporarily, to explain why Brexit has been at the root of Britain’s most serious problems since Brexit was decided in 2016 and which a growing body of commentators rate as a colossal mistake. Contrary to Boris Johnson’s repeated assertions, Brexit has not yet been done and can never be. (more…)
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States of chaos: internal border closures a disaster during pandemic
Free movement between the states is central to the Constitution — long-term lockdowns and officious regulation will have dire consequences. (more…)
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Brexit tensions push Britain and Europe closer to a damaging trade war
Complications over the Northern Ireland Protocol and pressure from Brexiteers are straining already fraught UK-EU ties.
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Farewell Chilcot and Barratt: public servants who truly served the public
Australian politicians could learn from two public officials — one who scrutinised the Iraq War, and one who sought change to the way we conduct war.
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The French have much to be furious about
The Australian submarine contract was integral to France sustaining its defence sovereignty beyond Europe. Now the French feel betrayed by the contract’s cancellation and how badly it was mishandled by the Australians.
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Afghanistan, the aftermath: Recognition or engagement?
What are the options for states, including Australia, in their dealings with Afghanistan following the retreat of the previous government and the assumption of power by the Taliban?
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ANZUS at 70: Is a strategic rethink overdue?
After 70 years of living with ANZUS, through one aborted action after another, surely now is the time to give the alliance a deep rethink.
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Have government responses to COVID-19 eroded freedoms?
Has it come to the point where it is imperative that we have a Bill of Rights as a bulwark against creeping arbitrary executive power and oppression as such protections as might exist are being steadily and stealthily eroded away supposedly for the public good? -
Behind the scenes: Section 92, the High Court and State coronavirus border closures
Nearly four months after the High Court ruled in favour of the WA Government against billionaire miner Clive Palmer, who challenged WA’s coronavirus border closure, we have the Court’s reasons for its decision. (more…)
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Carbon tariffs and taxes should not be an item for the WTO
Carbon border tariffs would tie the World Trade Organisation in knots and detract from its core purposes. Such a tax would also discriminate against the poorest in the world. Without broad consensus they would be illegal.
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Taiwan: to war or not to war, is that the question?
Are we at risk of stumbling into a war with China over Taiwan – as happened in 1914 over a war with a rising Germany?
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Brexit still not done and dusted?
The lies and misrepresentations spun by Brexiters (and the UK government) ever since the 2016 Referendum are coming home to roost. While niggles and irritations were expected, they were seen as transitional. But major consequences for the British economy are heaping up.
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Section 92 case decided but Court’s reasons still awaited
If national unity and the Federation were endangered in 2020 it was thanks to the Commonwealth government, the States, and the High Court, which bypassed a fundamental principle of the Constitution designed to secure the Federation and prevent discrimination among the States and their citizens. (more…)
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EU/China investment deal splits the West?
At a time when the United States and China are distancing themselves from each other’s economies, especially in the area of investment and high tech, while at the same time doing their best to undermine the global system for trade and investment, it may seem curious that on 30 December the EU and China concluded an ‘in principle’ grand-daddy investment deal: that is, the China-EU Comprehensive Agreement on Investment. (more…)
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Post Brexit? It is not pages of legal text that sustains communities. It is political commitment.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his government may have got Brexit across the line, and avoided the embarrassment and discomfort the country would have suffered had they not, but clearly they have not delivered on what was promised at the 2016 referendum.
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Brexit on the threshold
What will become of Brexit in the next few days? The Chinese may wish their foe to live in interesting times. But nothing that the British and the Europeans could do for themselves could rival the chaos and pandemonium now besetting them across the Strait of Dover. Regardless of deal or no-deal post-Brexit, disruptions to trade and supply chains will characterise life in that region and beyond for many months, compounded of course by a surging COVID-19 mutation.
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Brexit: The cliff is being pushed further back!
The negotiators have been given a few more days to achieve what they haven’t been able to in more than four years. Has there ever been such a prolonged display of muddled statecraft – negotiations that affect people’s lives and businesses to a far greater degree than in any other deal?
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Brexit – denouement or disaster
As the process towards a post-Brexit agreement with the EU staggers towards its denouement (or otherwise) the gathering scene is looking increasingly bizarre. What has gone wrong to date is almost bound to go wrong again, as 31 December deadline approaches. (more…)
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What’s the point of FTAs (including RCEP, with China?
With virtual fanfare the much heralded Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Regional_Comprehensive_Economic_Partnership was signed this weekend with the ten nation ASEAN group in addition to Australia, China, South Korea, Japan and New Zealand. As with the former 12 nation Trans Pacific Partnership, the United States has withheld its participation. What are these mega trade agreements worth?
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The High Court and Section 92 again
David Solomon’s item on the above – https://publish.pearlsandirritations.com/palmer-loses-border-war/ – is headed ‘Palmer loses border war’. It is not just Palmer that lost the war; in one way or another, as Australians, we all have.
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The wool trade: hostage to intransigence
Animal welfare groups object to the wool industry because of the process of mulesing, a treatment used to protect sheep from fly strike. They argue that mulesing is cruel and invasive regardless of whether painkillers are used. There is, however, an alternative to mulesing that is painless, bloodless and no less protective. (more…)