Over the next two weeks we will be running a series of articles to focus on the Defence Strategic Review (DSR) which is headed by Sir Angus Houston and the Hon. Stephen Smith.
In becoming a US proxy, even patsy, we are on a risky and dangerous path. (more…)
The Greens are threatening to block the referendum on the ‘Voice’ which promises to give effect to the Uluru Statement from the Heart. (more…)
Recent comments by Defence Minister Richard Marles about Australia, China and the international law of the sea raise the spectre of Australia acting as an Indo-Pacific “deputy sheriff” for the United States, enforcing the rules-based international order. (more…)
Professor Graeme Gill has written a detailed response to my own article in P and I on NATO and the origins of war in Ukraine. I argued the latter were to be found in Russia’s post-imperial angst and domestic authoritarianism rather than in any threat presented by NATO expansion or Western policies. (more…)
The other day an Australian journalist was giving me a hard time for not criticising Russia and China the way I go after the US empire, calling me “morally bankrupt” for not criticising all governments equally. He said the ethical thing to do would be to criticise the US, but also criticise the governments the US doesn’t like for balance. (more…)
The solicitor-general’s response that Morrison’s secret swearing of himself into five extra government portfolios was not illegal has done us no favours. On the 7.30 Report, Laura Tingle announced that Stephen Donaghue’s findings were not about ‘the legality or constitutionality’ of the findings, although Donahue’s report did go on to say that ‘the principles of responsible government are fundamentally undermined’. (more…)
Both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one and the same China. Taiwan is part of China’s territory. Although the two sides have been politically against each other for a long time, China’s state sovereignty and territorial integrity has never been split. (more…)
I have spent hundreds of hours trawling through countless UN reports and scientific papers until my eyes sting and I can no longer absorb any more information. I feel overwhelmed and saturated with sorrow. As a sensitive person with a difficult background, sometimes I find the reality of the world we live in unbearable. I just can’t understand why we inflict so much pain on each other and our planet. (more…)
According to recent data published in China and admission reports from U.S. universities, the number of Chinese students applying for study in American institutions of higher learning in recent months has fallen markedly. (more…)
The US is an occupying force who is there without the permission of the Syrian government, without having been attacked by Syria, and without any valid claim to be defending itself from anyone in Syria. (more…)
The most important outcome from the Jobs and Skills Summit must be some federal government leadership. Our Vocational Education and Training system, including TAFE, is in urgent need of a major reset. (more…)
What power always does is reveal. (more…)
“The prime minister was spotted at the media empire’s Holt Street offices on Wednesday, when, we’re told, Albo, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong met News Corp cochairman Lachlan Murdoch and senior editors of the media empire’s Australian mastheads”.(SMH 26 August 2022) (more…)
To many Americans who view Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as an unprovoked war that must be opposed, Indonesia’s high levels of public support for Russia may be perplexing. But divergent US and Indonesian views should not come as a surprise. The United States and Indonesia tend to perceive international events — and one another — through distinct ideological and normative frameworks due to their different international positions and historical experiences. (more…)
The Pentagon does not know how many bases it has around the world so it relies on academics to tell it. The US bases are gated communities which replicate US suburbs, shops and amenities to the exclusion of local people. (more…)
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February has met with opprobrium in most quarters. At the same time, commentators of diverse stripes still argue that Western policies, particularly NATO expansion, should bear part or much of the blame for these events. (more…)
Military contracting “obscures where and how taxpayer money flows,” and “makes it difficult to know how many people are employed, injured, and killed,” said the Costs of War Project report’s author. (more…)
The calls mount for the Russian leader to be dragged before a War Crimes Tribunal, while everyone from international sporting bodies to businesses and banks is busy sanctioning Russia. Yet, the three world leaders responsible for the illegal Iraq war of 2003 have still not been held to account (more…)
One of the few uplifting political trends of the past decade has been the growing strength of movements for gender equality and, even more surprisingly, the demand for racial justice. But a higher-level structure of discrimination governs both racism and sexism: The global dominance of a white power elite in virtually every arena of human activity. (more…)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in the Philippines to meet the newly elected President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. just as the Rim of the Pacific exercise, or RIMPAC, ends. As the world’s largest maritime military exercises, RIMPAC has intensified the militarisation of the Asia-Pacific region since 1971 and has further strengthened the alignment of the newly-minted Marcos Jr. regime with U.S. military interests. (more…)
With more than 90,000 views, this interview that Jordan from the Friendly Jordies conducted with John Menadue in 2020 was received with much praise from viewers. “This dude is like 70 and he gets the current landscape more than people half his age”, writes one, “This man is a primary source, if I ever have to write a history essay on Aussie politics in the 70’s I have this interview right here I can quote”, writes another”. (more…)
So many empire apologist arguments depend on pretending the US empire doesn’t exist; pretending the US is just a normal country sitting there minding its own business. (more…)
We are living through a change of era on planet earth. Huge changes are ongoing. There is no doubt that the recent federal election gave a mandate to the incoming Government to RESET the way we do business at many levels. (more…)
Julia Gillard delivered a gushing speech to the American Congress in March 2011. Then eight months later she agreed to US Marines in Darwin. (more…)
Israel’s hatred of the Palestinians is shaped and driven by three basic sentiments. (more…)
I want to apologise for my actions. I’ve let my team down. I’ve let my family down. I’ve let the country down!” (more…)
Australia is becoming functionally just a US military base with kangaroos. (more…)
The States should stick to their knitting and stop deluding themselves about their overseas role. (more…)
The use of PFM-1 explosives against civilians is prohibited by the Geneva Conventions—but this evidently isn’t stopping Ukraine. (more…)
The imposition of neoliberalism as the theology of state has created a world-wide orthodoxy of government. Political leaders fear excommunication, or worse. (more…)