Lobbyists have exceptional access to our Parliament and politicians, and they’re not acting in the public interest.
The US empire is addicted to a belief in its exceptionalism, grounded in aggression both at home and abroad, and finding it hard to admit mistakes. (more…)
As Australia locks itself into the US military machine, we increase the risks of retaliatory attacks on Pine Gap in the Northern Territory.
What the US most resents about China is that it is successful in delivering results for its own people and resists US interference.
(more…)
Legacy media in the US, UK and Europe frames and conditions our thinking and actions. They frame and condition the stenographers in the Australian media.
But does anybody in Washington DC understand China like Wang Huning understands America? (more…)
China has just signed two major LNG contracts with US companies at the expense of Australia. There has been little mention of it in any Australian media. (more…)
Housing policies should reflect the sort of society we want to live in, not the quest for wealth accumulation.A home is not a commodity.
Former prime minister Paul Keating’s National Press Club address showed just how badly awry Australia’s policies on Asia have gone.
What a relief to know that the US has our back in our trade dispute with China! First it was agricultural products, Now LNG.
Our great “mate” is stealing our lunch again. The Chinese and Americans must be both laughing at us. (more…)
Driven by its military-industrial complex the United States depends on continual war. As the War on Terrorism peters out a new enemy is invented — China.
How China made ‘common prosperity’ a major political issue for Xi Jinping and his government.
Nine years ago I gave the speech below. I was then pessimistic about our understanding of Asia. The situation has got markedly worse since then, writ large in the unremitting attacks on China stemming from ignorance and parochialism, particularly in our White Man’s Media. (more…)
Scott Morrison has abdicated any pretence of leadership on climate change, allowing the National Party — which has turned its back on farmers — to hold Australia to ransom.
Ian McAuley’s guide to good reading and listening for the weekend has moved.
We’ve been encouraged by the response to our callout last week for donations.
As Pearls and Irritations continues to grow, our articles are being noticed far and wide, including by linguist Noam Chomsky in a recent lecture.
The major parties are not serving Australia well, and voters know it. If independents held the balance of power in the House of Representatives, it would be a good thing for our democracy.
(more…)
Paul Keating put it succinctly yesterday in The Sydney Morning Herald that we are selling our country to another power. Or, as former ambassador John McCarthy put it, “we are moving from being a country with the self-respect of true independence”. (more…)
Apart from Paul Keating and a few others I do not know what the Australian Labor Party (ALP) now stands for on key issues.
Australia is among the rich, western countries siding with Big Pharma to thwart the widespread manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines.
(more…)
Fearful of our region, Australia has clung to remote imperial powers, first the UK and now the US. Similarly our derivative main stream media clings to the legacy media of the UK and the US. We have a White Man’s Media in which the hegemony of the UK and particularly the US is entrenched. This hinders our task of equipping ourselves for our future in Asia. (more…)
They have all failed to conquer Afghanistan – the Greeks, Indians and more recently, the British in the mid 19th Century and the Soviets in the late 20th Century. And now the US empire is failing to subdue the tribes of Afghanistan despite enormous cost of people and treasure. What has not received much attention is that the Taliban depends very heavily on the opium trade which finds its market in the US and other developed countries. That opium trade determines what happens in Afghanistan and not military intervention.
Privatising assets without allowing for competition or regulation creates private monopolies that raise prices, reduce efficiency and harm the economy.
I have said many times that a person from Mars who read and listened to Australian media would conclude that we are an island parked off London or New York with little relationship to Asia. Our news and media coverage is so derivative, relying heavily on the BBC, CNN and other news and entertainment houses in the UK and the US. We are recyclers. Tony Abbott delights in our being part of this Anglosphere with its British monarchy, Sirs and Dames.
President of Human Rights Council appoints Members of Commission of Inquiry
See below a letter exchange between Assistant Secretary, Integrity and Security Division Attorney-General’s Department and ANU Professor Gareth Evans and former Foreign Minister regarding the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme.
Gareth Evans did not give his response to the media but did copy his reply to a number of former Cabinet, diplomatic and ANU colleagues, from which it found its way into yesterday’s The Australian. Some of the story being out, he has now agreed to put the full exchange on the public record. His colleagues enthusiastically welcomed his robust response.Several have offered to visit him in prison. (more…)
What a reflection this is on the standing of the Australian Public Service and the Morrison Governments lack of interest in a robust and well functioning civil society. We invariably turn to the military. (more…)
