The G-7 countries are democratic domestically but are dictatorial globally. By contrast, the G-20 group, which has many autocratic regimes, represents a more democratic forum for governance. (more…)
I’m a recently retired specialist doctor and I keep an eye on medical affairs. They affect all of us, especially as we get older, and people still ask what I think. (more…)
The most likely way 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. Nancy Pelosi is doing her best to provoke China. (more…)
Translated and introduced by Norma Field (Professor Emerita, University of Chicago).
In the days and months following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, Koide Hiroaki, for some 40-years a nuclear engineer at the Kyoto University Reactor Research Institute, became Japan’s preeminent scientific critic of nuclear power and of Abe government policy. On July 9, the day after former Prime Minister Abe’s assassination, Koide wrote and posted on the web the following essay, translated here with his permission and the addition of a brief introduction. (more…)
Joe Nathan James Jr was executed by lethal injection on Thursday, against the wishes of his victim’s family. He was the eighth person to be put to death in the US so far this year, and the second from Alabama. (more…)
The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted weaknesses and disconnections within Australian Health systems which significantly impacted on our ability to reliably detect and respond to this outbreak in a timely, effective and efficient manner. (more…)
What penalty will China mete out to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for a Taiwan visit? The key word here is “penalty”. Anything that could remotely benefit Pelosi is off the table. (more…)
Global oil companies like to be thought of positively. British Petroleum was initiated by a colonial Australian conman, and there is virtually no evidence of any improvement in its business culture since then. (more…)
“I do not accept second place for the United States of America.” That simple statement, delivered to rousing effect by Barack Obama in his first State of the Union, in January 2010, managed to summarize the current American strategic horizon in a single sentence. (more…)
We need to develop the habit of thinking independently in our own national interests. (more…)
“Duchessing” as a term and the concept it embraces, derives from the early experiences of the British Labour Party. (more…)
I find the prospect of civil wars less disheartening than the related drift toward fascism or the torments of anarchy. (more…)
When the U.S. Government at the highest level criticised Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, because she went to China on a mission to develop opportunities for cooperation with respect to the protection of human rights. (more…)
Some speculate that Kiribati’s exit from the Pacific Islands Forum was a decision influenced by China. However, the more tenable view is that this has nothing to do with China. Offloading the blame on China will unhelpfully distract focus from the inner regional issues. (more…)
This is a comprehensive, sobering review by Jonathan Cook who concludes that Washington’s greatest fear is that, as its economic muscle atrophies, Europe’s vital trading links with China and Russia will see its economic interests – and eventually its ideological loyalties – shift eastwards, rather than stay firmly in the western camp. (more…)
It’s entirely possible that doomsayers of the world, though widely ridiculed, could be on target about the prospects for global societal collapse. But, of course, when? According to a recent Noam Chomsky interview, it’s an ongoing grind that will end with a thud. (more…)
The Bergin Inquiry in NSW has recommended the creation of an “Independent Casino Commission” after allegations that high rollers which Crown Casino knew had a history of money laundering, lost $1.1 billion dollars to the casino since 2016, some of which was carried in plastic bags and shoeboxes. How did we get here? (more…)
Death-and-resurrection moments might be the most accurate way to describe the scale of what unfolded at a rare high-level Catholic meeting of almost 300 representatives last week in Sydney. (more…)
Labor didn’t so much win the election gaining only 32% of the primary vote – they just didn’t lose it quite as badly as the Coalition, scraping into government because they were not as reprehensible on climate and integrity. (more…)
Our record in protecting our human rights is being seriously eroded in many areas -the right to silence, the right to a fair trial, the presumption of innocence, freedom from cruel and inhuman treatment and freedom from arbitrary detention. (more…)
Both nations depend heavily on a multilateral trading system. Strengthening it together is a way of managing their troubled bilateral relationship. (more…)
Chinese investors are fast abandoning Australia as a frosty bilateral relationship dampens trade, with a report showing Chinese investment in Australia nosedived by almost 70 per cent last year to the lowest level since 2007. (more…)
The United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, issues first report – June, 2022……..A WAY FORWARD. “The question, I believe, is not to devise a means for persisting on trying to separate them, but to see whether it is possible for them to live together as fairly and peacefully as possible” Edward Said, 1935-2003, born in the British protectorate of Mandatory Palestine; public intellectual, Professor of Literature and founder of the academic field of Postcolonial Studies. (more…)
Why we live in a world where the goal of nations is to damage the lives of inhabitants of other nations is a question which continues to puzzle me. (more…)
Should forensic science be scientific? Seemingly not, if you ask the Victorian Court of Appeal. (more…)
The 2022 African Youth Survey released on Monday has sent shock waves across the world. China has surpassed the United States as having the biggest positive influence among African youths. (more…)
Military posturing in the Asia-Pacific also risks nuclear war and the potential extinction of the human species. (more…)
