History in the Middle East is unkind to us westerners. Just when we thought we were the good guys and the Iranians were the bad guys, here comes the ghostly, hopeless possibility of a Trump-Rouhani summit to remind us that the apparent lunatic is the US president and the rational, sane leader who is supposed to talk to him is the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran. All these shenanigans are fantasy, of course – like the “imminent” war between America and Iran – of which more later. (more…)
John Menadue
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IVAN LEVINGSTON, DAVID WAINER. The Most Undiplomatic of Diplomats Is Trump’s Man in Middle East (Bloomberg 30-8-19)
David Friedman has upended American policy in the unstable region. (more…)
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ANDREW SHENG, XIAO GENG. Hong Kong’s Real Problem Is Inequality (Project Syndicate 29-8-19)
A powerful, but oft-ignored factor underlying the frustrations of Hong Kong’s people is inequality. And, contrary to the prevailing pro-democracy narrative, the failure of Hong Kong’s autonomous government to address the problem stems from the electoral politics to which the protesters are so committed.
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TESS NEWTON CAIN. Australia shows up in Tuvalu and trips over (East Asia Forum 30-8-19)
On 13-16 August 2019 the leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum held their 50th meeting. The theme, as chosen by their host and current chair Tuvaluan Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga, was ‘Securing our Future in the Pacific’. The leaders’ meeting of 2018 provides context for what transpired in 2019 and why it is significant. (more…)
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FRANCISCO TORO. Japan is a Trumpian paradise of low immigration rates. It’s also a dying country. (Washington Post, 29 August 2019)
KITAKYUSHU, Japan — For a sense of what the United States might look like in a reality where the hard right’s dreams of drastically reduced immigration come true, you could come to Japan and ask my father-in-law about the house across the street. The owner of the house died some time ago in this low-key, working-class suburb of Kitakyushu, in Japan’s southern island. The house has fallen badly into disrepair. None of the heirs seems interested in it: The taxes are too high, and there isn’t really a market for this kind of house anyway. (more…)
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NICHOLAS KRISTOF. What religion would Jesus belong to?
ONE puzzle of the world is that religions often don’t resemble their founders. Jesus never mentioned gays or abortion but focused on the sick and the poor, yet some Christian leaders have prospered by demonizing gays. Muhammad raised the status of women in his time, yet today some Islamic clerics bar women from driving, or cite religion as a reason to hack off the genitals of young girls. Buddha presumably would be aghast at the apartheid imposed on the Rohingya minority by Buddhists in Myanmar.
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SCOTT BURCHILL. Resuscitating Sinophobia in Australia.
Sinophobia has a long history in the West, especially in Washington. It has always contained xenophobia, racism and Cold War animus in roughly equal parts. In Washington’s China, James Peck documents how since the 1950s, the national security establishment in the United States has used the fear of China to thwart any challenge to Washington’s vainglorious and limitless ambition to rule the world. (more…)
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MINXIN PEI – An interview on China and Hong Kong (Project Syndicate 26-8-2019)
Many Chinese are deeply conflicted:they may not like the CPC, but they are proud of their country and resent outside criticisms. (more…)
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NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER. Editorial: Those who dismiss Pell verdict ignore integrity of legal process
The response in certain circles to the Aug. 21 court decision upholding Cardinal George Pell’s conviction for sexually assaulting two choirboys in the 1990s was as swift as it was irrational.
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TONY COADY. What price intimidation?
The recent serious injury to Australia’s outstanding batsman Steve Smith caused by a ferocious bumper from speedster Jofra Archer in the Second Ashes Test at Lords should have raised concerns about the status of cricket’s law against intimidation. I discuss why they and similar incidents didn’t and why they should. (more…)
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ARTYOM LUKIN. China and Russia’s sky-high strategy (East Asia Forum 29-8-19)
On 23 July 2019, Russian and Chinese warplanes — long-range nuclear-capable bombers accompanied by fighter jets and surveillance aircraft — conducted a ‘joint patrol’ over the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan. This marked the first ever joint air force operation by Russia and China beyond their borders. (more…)
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CATHY WILCOX. Standing by our trusted ally. (SMH 23.8.2019)
In the face of destabilising provocation.
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KELLIE TRANTER. Defence exports – what are we subsidising?
Last month Australian defence company, Electro Optic Systems (EOS), again denied its weapons system was being used in the Yemen war when photographs surfaced of four consignments of its Remote Weapons System for export in June and July to the UAE and Saudi Arabia. But what slipped through in relation to EOS is its February 2019 media release confirming its collaboration with Israeli company, Elbit Systems to develop a turret that ‘adds a next generation, medium calibre turret to the EOS family of weapon systems and has been designed to meet a rapidly emerging global market worth more than AUD$4 billion.’ (more…)
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CHRISTOPHER LAMB. Cardinal Pell analysis: What happens next? The Pell case has become something of a litmus te st for the church’s handling of abuse
The Vatican is holding off from issuing any disciplinary measures against Cardinal George Pell until the Australian prelate has exhausted all legal avenues in trying to overturn his convictions for the sexual abuse of children.
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TOM EMBURY-DENNIS. Trump promotes claim Jewish Israelis love him like he is ‘King of Israel and second coming of God’ (Independent 22-8-19)
Outburst comes less than 24 hours after president used antisemitic trope about Jewish ‘loyalty’ (more…)
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GEORGE MICKHAIL. There is no freedom in a society, if there is no public order!
The French Police’s brutal force against the Gilets Jaunes (Yellow Vests) protesters since November 2018 did not attract the same ‘international’ media outrage as that directed at the Hong Kong SAR police force despite being a lot less violent than the ‘mainstream’ media would make us believe. (more…)
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ERNST WILLHEIM. The saga of Bernard Collaery and Witness K continues.
If you watched the program [ABC 4-Corners] you will already know this is a talk about some shameful events in Australia’s recent history. And I very much fear the shameful saga is about to continue. It is about Australian commercial espionage. [SPEAKING NOTES, ADDRESS TO AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS. CANBERRA. 27 August 2019] (more…)
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CHRIS LOWNEY. How Pope Francis Can Revitalize a Church in Crisis
Pope Francis’s foremost priority should be top-to-bottom culture change in the Catholic Church, specifically: fostering a spirit of urgency, bringing new talent to all decision-making tables, and creating openness to radically new ideas.Without this thoroughgoing cultural transformation, a Church now enduring its worst crisis in five centuries will continue to deteriorate. (more…)
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ILAN PAPPE. Israel’s latest attempt to erase Palestine (The Electronic Intifada 25-7-19)
The attempt to suppress official documentation of the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in 1948 is not new. (more…)
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NATASHA STOTT DESPOJA. Celebrating Women Humanitarians
On 19th August, World Humanitarian Day, events around the world paid tribute to the women who serve on the frontline of humanitarian responses to disasters. They are often the first to respond and the last to leave, and yet their voices and rights are often ignored. In Sydney, ActionAid Australia heard from women from Vanuatu and Fiji who are part of the Shifting the Power Coalition that promotes Pacific women’s leadership in humanitarian action.
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BILL CLEMENTS. Grain silos and war memorials
In 2008, archaeologists from the University of Chicago discovered ancient grain storage silos in Southern Egypt. Made from mud brick, they were there when Jacob’s sons, in a time of famine, came seeking grain. We are fortunate that these silos constructed from simpler, cheaper materials than the great tombs, have survived. For ancient Egypt reserved its best resources for the burial of the dead, not for domestic needs and the celebration of life. Perhaps, more than is generally recognised, Australia, too, might be pursuing this perverse priority. (more…)
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ALEX COBHAM. We Could Eliminate Extreme Global Poverty If Multinationals Paid Their Taxes. (Truthout 18-8-19)
International tax rules have reached a crossroads. The reform programannounced by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) this summer represents the last chance for the Organisation’s club of rich countries to find an approach that can curtail the rampant tax avoidance of multinational companies. (more…)
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JOHN BROWN. How Quickly They Forget – But I Don’t.
Some years back, one of my proudest acts as a Minister for Sport was that I introduced about 10 pieces of legislation into the Parliament to the benefit of sport which were the first pieces of legislation including the word sport introduced since Federation. One of the better pieces of this legislation was a taxation ruling which allows particular classes of people who achieve fluctuating incomes an ability to spread their income over five years. This ruling particularly benefited cricketers who over their career have good years and bad years
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SR PATTY FAWKNER SGS. The Church – to include or not to include?
Boston’s gain has been Australia’s loss. Richard Lennan, a priest of the Maitland Diocese taught Theology at the Catholic Institute of Sydney for fifteen years before transferring to Boston College in 2008 where he now serves as Professor of Systematic Theology and Chair of the Ecclesiastical Faculty.
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PETER WILKINSON. Witness of truth wins justice in Pell appeal
On Wednesday, 21 August 2019, a majority of the appeal judges who reviewed all the evidence in the trial of Cardinal George Pell for historic child sexual abuse, and in which he was convicted on five charges, have concluded that the key witness, a former choir boy who alleged he was abused by Cardinal Pell, was a witness of truth. On that basis, Pell’s appeal to have his conviction overturned was dismissed.
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MICHAEL SEAN WINTERS. The Pell verdict: Various shades of justice | National Catholic Reporter
A three-judge panel in Australia has upheld the guilty verdict against Cardinal George Pell. On two of the claims put forward by Pell for overturning the verdict, the three judges were unanimous. On the third claim — the key issue of reasonable doubt — they divided two to one. Pell is already serving a six-year sentence for abusing a minor. (more…)
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JAMES O’NEILL. Latest Australian Foreign Policy Venture in the Middle East a Symptom of a Much Wider Problem
The announcement by the Prime Minister that Australia would be sending a military force to the Middle East is the latest in a series of foreign policy blunders that fails to recognise Australia’s foreign policy interests. (more…)
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MARTIN JACQUES HK’s future lies with China, not the West: (Peoples Daily Online 19-8-19)
As protests in Hong Kong continue, scholars and experts worldwide have expressed their concern over the city’s economic recession and rising violence. During an exclusive interview with People’s Daily Online, Martin Jacques, a senior fellow at Cambridge University, called for restored stability and order in Hong Kong, adding that its future lies only with China.
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From little things, big things grow, but problems can arise
In 1984 the number of international students in Australian was minimal and I found Australian University Vice Chancellors very sceptical about encouraging international students to study in Australia .They feared the displacement of Australian students. But in the Department of Trade we pressed on and now there are almost 700 000 international students in Australia. International education is now our third largest export earner, over $30 b per annum and rapidly rising, year on year.But there are problems (more…)
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JIM COOMBS. Crime is down,Gaols are bursting. Why?
It is essentially a failure of administration.The nation’s foremost collector of information on this, the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics (BOCSAR) recently reported that nearly a third of the NSW prison population is on remand, i.e., awaiting trial. (more…)
