John Menadue

  • GLEN S. FUKUSHIMA. Is Trump stringing Abe along?

    Japan has been reeling ever since 8 March when US President Donald Trump met with South Korea’s national security adviser Chung Eui-yong and announced, to the world’s surprise, that he would accept the offer to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Until then, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was confident that he was ‘managing’ Trump well, starting with the meeting in Trump Tower on 17 November 2016 that made him the first foreign leader to meet with the then president-elect. This was followed by the meeting in Washington, DC on 10 February 2017 and golf and dinner in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, when North Korea’s missile launching forced an impromptu news conference pledging US–Japan solidarity against North Korea. 

    (more…)

  • JIM COOMBS. Counting.

    “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.”  The mantra of the managerialist “economic rationalists” has led to oversimplification and oversight (in the sense of ‘failing to see’) of what actually matters: the real values involved in the work.  (more…)

  • SHANNON TEOH. After two weeks, Malaysia’s King consents to PM Mahathir’s choice of Attorney-General (The Straits Times, 5 June 2018)

    Sultan Muhammad V has agreed to the Mahathir Mohamad administration’s choice of Attorney-General (A-G), despite widespread concerns in Malaysia that the candidate is not from the Malay Muslim majority.

    In an unexpected concession in the early hours of Tuesday (June 5), the National Palace said Malaysia’s supreme ruler, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, had withdrawn its consent for incumbent Apandi Ali to continue as the nation’s top lawyer.  

    (more…)

  • HAROLD JAMES. Madmen in Authority in Italy.

    With concerns about Italy’s public debt growing, Italian populists have taken a page from US President Donald Trump’s playbook and threatened to blow up the eurozone if they don’t get their way. The European Union must resist the temptation to engage in a dangerous game of chicken.  
    (more…)

  • M.K. BHADRAKUMAR. Russia pushes back at US on North Korea (Asian Times 4 June, 2018)

    Foreign Minister Lavrov asserted Russia’s role in the current process as a stakeholder in the stability of northeast Asia; he flagged the need to revive six-party talks; it also seems Putin will meet Kim Jong-un soon.  

    [If President Trump thinks that the DPRK issue is one for the US alone to determine, he will be deluded. As the article below indicates, there is a very strong historical link between Russia and the founder of the DPRK, Kim Il Sung. John Menadue]   (more…)

  • TONY WALKER. Australia needs to reset the relationship with China and stay cool.

    Let’s call it the “China syndrome”. This describes a condition that is a bit compulsive and not always rational.

    Australia’s response to China’s continuing rise mixes anxiety, even a touch of paranoia, with anticipation of the riches that derive from the sale of vast quantities of commodities.

    Economic dependence on China is two-edged and potentially policy-distorting. (more…)

  • M.K. BHADRAKUMAR. Russia censures Iran, expects Israel to help restore ties with US.

    The annual meeting of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum – dubbed as “Russia’s Davos” – on May 25, which traditionally promotes foreign investment in the Russian economy, ended this time around as a major political event signaling a renewed bid by President Vladimir Putin for détente with the West.   (more…)

  • NAHAL TOOSI. Surreal Trump-Kim summit defies diplomatic playbook

    How do you plan a high-stakes meeting between a freewheeling American president and a paranoid Asian dictator?  The world is about to find out.  As President Donald Trump prepares to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, officials from both countries are working overtime to prepare for aJune 12 nuclear summit in Singapore.  The event is unprecedented: A sitting U.S. president has never met with his North Korean counterpart. Kim had never even met with a fellow head of state before a March visit to Beijing.  In theory, traditional diplomatic protocols will apply. In reality, anything could happen. Here’s a look at some of the issues organizers are grappling with as they scramble to arrange this extraordinary meeting:  

    (more…)

  • TONY STEPHENS. Freda Whitlam: educationalist passionate about her girls.

    Freda Whitlam, a formidable educator and church leader, was principal of a prominent Sydney private girls school, helped establish the University of Western Sydney and the University of the Third Age, and became Moderator of the Uniting Church of Australia. She died on Wednesday, May 30, at the age of 97.

    (more…)

  • ABHISHEK MOHANTY. India-Vietnam defense ties in spotlight with joint naval exercise

    On May 21, within the framework of perpetual deployment of the Indian Navy’s Eastern Fleet to Southeast Asia and the Northwest Pacific region, three Indian naval ships en route to Guam and Hawaii for the multilateral Malabar and RIMPAC naval exercises  made a port call at Tien Sa Port in Danang for India’s first joint naval exercise with Vietnam.  To put this in perspective, this is analogous to the navies of China and Bangladesh exercising in the Bay of Bengal.  

    (more…)

  • KAVEH L AFRASIABI. Hidden Message To UN On Iran.

    In a remarkable and somewhat unprecedented rebuke of the US administration, India’s Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj has announced that India will not respect unilateral U.S. sanctions on Iran and will recognize “only the UN sanctions.” Bound to raise tensions with Washington, India’s brave decision reflects both India’s political evolution and the primacy of her own national interests. It’s also another setback for the White House’s hawkish anti-Iran policy, which has already alienated key European allies who are struggling to preserve the Iran nuclear deal without the United States by offering Iran a package of incentives in the near future. Adding real bite to her major policy announcement, Swaraj then went on to meet Iran’s visiting Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who is seeking to shore up global sanctions-busting support through a flurry of diplomatic trips. (more…)

  • CLAIRE JONES. Italy crisis poses dilemma for Draghi over ECB’s next step.

    Central bank hawks want to keep plan to end QE but market jitters could force rethink. (more…)

  • ED PILKINGTON. Trump’s ‘cruel’ measures pushing US inequality to dangerous level, UN warns.

    Scorching report on poverty finds ‘systematic attack on welfare program’ will leave millions deprived of food and healthcare.  (more…)

  • ROBYN WHITAKER. Christians in Australia are not persecuted, and it is insulting to argue they are.

    As Australians wait to hear the government’s response to the Ruddock review of religious freedom (and indeed, the content of the report itself), it is worth considering exactly how the two intersect in this largely secular society.

    Australia has neither a bill nor charter of rights, leaving us with complex and diverse laws governing these issues.

    Discussion of religious freedoms is an important conversation to have and not one that should be hijacked by inflammatory rhetoric. Yet, much like the marriage equality debate that sparked the review, that is the danger we face. (more…)

  • GEORGE EATON. Italy’s new hard-right government is the biggest threat the EU has faced.

    The country’s most right-wing government since Mussolini is determined to test the euro’s limits. (more…)

  • LUCY BERAUD-SUDREAU. Asia’s defence budgets dispel ‘arms race’ myth.

    Asian defence spending has not grown faster than the region’s economies – and the share of defence budgets allocated to procurement and R&D has held steady over time. (more…)

  • WAYNE SWAN. Foreign influence and foreign donations in Australia.

    The debate over foreign influence in our domestic politics and policymaking is an important one for our country – too important for political point-scoring and manipulation by vested interests and political vendettas.   (more…)

  • GEORGE PERKOVICH. What Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un Don’t Know About Their Own Standoff

    If the Cuban Missile Crisis is any indication, today’s leaders may be dangerously misinformed about the nuclear crisis.   

    (more…)

  • YANIS VAROUFAKIS. Merkel reaps with Quitaly what she sowed with Greek austerity

    By crushing us Europeanist Greeks in 2015, Germany sowed the seeds of a bitter harvest: an Italy that might leave the EU.  One of the most common mistakes European leaders make in interpreting US President Donald Trump’s hostility toward America’s traditional allies, or the alacrity of his administration’s efforts to blow up the international order, is to assume that all of this is unprecedented. Nothing could be further from the truth.  

    (more…)

  • BEH LIH YI. Malaysia’s new deputy PM aims to be a role model for women.

    PUTRAJAYA: Wan Azizah Wan Ismail’s childhood ambition was to become a doctor and cure disease. Now that she is Malaysia’s most powerful female politician, she says her mission is to improve women’s rights. (more…)

  • DAMIEN CAVE. Blurred lines between journalists and what we cover.

    As soon as I made eye contact with the smiling woman in the Doctors Without Borders T-shirt on a busy Sydney street, I knew I’d be asked for money or a signature. And I knew I’d say no.

    “I’m a foreign correspondent for The New York Times,” I told her. “I can’t really help because at some point, somewhere, there’s a good chance I may cover what you do.”

    I always feel bad trying to explain journalistic detachment in such moments, and I often get looks of confusion in response.  

    (more…)

  • RYAN DAGUR. Indonesia won’t revoke list of approved Islamic preachers.

    Indonesia’s Ministry of Religious Affairs has ignored the protests of Muslim groups and continues to list and publish the names of preachers who are qualified to give religious instruction, in a bid to counter rising radicalism.

    Mastuki, the ministry’s spokesman, told ucanews.com on May 29 that they would not change their policy as it was designed for “the good of Muslims and the nation.”

    “We will not revoke [it] but will evaluate the mechanism after getting public feedback,” he said, adding that it has now placed over 500 preachers on the recommended list.  

    (more…)

  • PETER MARTIN. Awful truth about our super

    The industry says we have a ‘world class’ system but who does it benefit. ‘It treats us with contempt. It has known for decades about the cost of multiple accounts.’ Here’s how you can tell the Productivity Commission was spot-on in its assessment of the superannuation system.

    (more…)

  • MICHAEL LAMBERT: The Superannuation Reform Proposals

    A substantial Productivity Commission report, Superannuation: Assessing Efficiency and Competitiveness, was released this week with submissions due by 13 July 2018. It is an important report that reviews the $2.6 trillion industry with 15 million members and provides sensible reform proposals though the handling of the default allocation to My Super accounts does require further consideration.   (more…)

  • RUTH ARMSTRONG. Four Corners- Mind The Gap episode: a one dimensional look at a multifaceted problem.

    A single tweet put Monday night’s Four Corners episode into perspective for me. I’d been trying to put my finger on what seemed out of kilter with the whole segment and there it was: the program had virtually ignored the bedrock of Australian health care, the public hospital system. (more…)

  • JAMES FALLOWS. America Is Fumbling Its Most Important Relationship.

    The United States has a China problem—and pundits and politicians are making it worse. China is an increasing problem for the United States. But the latest reactions and assumptions about China among America’s political-media leadership class hold every prospect of making China-related problems much worse. How can this be? It involves the familiar tension between short-term political shrewdness and longer-term strategic wisdom. (more…)

  • Chinese, Russian firms look to exploit Europe’s retreat from Iran (Asian Times Staff)

    Iranian president to be hosted in Qingdao next month as Beijing and Moscow-led bloc looks to protect business interests. As European companies react with trepidation to the Trump administration’s efforts to blow up the Iran nuclear deal, pulling out of business deals in the face of looming sanctions, Chinese and Russian firms wait in the wings.  

    (more…)

  • LAURA TINGLE. Here’s what Peter Dutton’s Home Affairs super-department looks like.

    When Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced the creation of the massive new Home Affairs portfolio in July last year, he called it “the most significant reform of Australia’s national intelligence and domestic security arrangements — and their oversight — in more than forty years”. (more…)

  • MELVIN GOODMAN. A Major Win for Trump’s War Cabinet.

    President Donald Trump’s abrupt decision to run away from a summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un should not be a surprise to anyone. The White House is encouraging the notion that China’s Xi Jinping is to blame for souring the notion of a U.S.-North Korean summit and for toughening Kim Jong Un’s negotiating position, and the mainstream media is doing its predictable best to validate such a self-serving explanation.  In actual fact, the Trump administration was never prepared to discuss any issue that resembled arms control and disarmament, and national security adviser John Bolton, the formidable chairman of the new “war cabinet,” was never agreeable to the idea of U.S.-North Korean diplomacy.

    President Obama had to put a ‘gag order’ on Admiral Harris because of his anti China attitude. Harris was initially slotted to be the next US Ambassador to Australia (more…)

  • ANDREW PESCE. Another School Shooting.

    Our understanding that the Mayans and other civilizations once used human sacrifice in their ritual observances sits and contrasts uncomfortably with our sense of civilization. Apart from written history, we have access to more visceral experience of the horror: Mel Gibson’s “Apocalypto” depicts both the individual impact, and the larger scale trauma of the practice. Who, having seen it, can forget the scene of the terrified hero of the movie stumbling across a valley of literally heartless corpses, sacrificed to appease the angry gods? (more…)