The AUKUS security pact is another provocative alliance that can only end in blood and tears. And for no good reason other than a nostalgic addiction to imperial power.
Joseph Camilleri
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Afghanistan debacle exposes the limits to Empire
The chaotic scenes at Kabul airport are symbolic of a military intervention that has brought the people of Afghanistan nothing but loss and destruction. The United States and its allies, not least Australia, have a great deal to answer for. This twenty-year war has been an unmitigated disaster from beginning to end. And what an ignominious end it is, especially for the United States.
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Biden’s strategy exposed – tempestuous times ahead
It is safe to conclude that neither China nor Russia will be intimidated by shows of US strength or alliance solidarity. They will keep on strengthening their military capabilities and continue to use every bit of soft and hard power to advance their vision of a multi-centric world. (more…)
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Time to silence the drums of war
For many familiar with the excesses of Cold War rhetoric and the hyped-up fears used to justify our ill-fated interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan, the current China bashing is a case of déjà-vu. But the latest bout of politically contrived anti-China hysteria is especially troubling. (more…)
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America’s place in the world under Biden: the omens betide no good
The only way to manage the emerging pluralist world order at all safely is to cultivate international institutions and mindsets that are genuinely inclusive and conducive to a respectful and sustained dialogue. Are the United States and its allies, Australia included, open to this sobering thought? (more…)
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A post pandemic world: glimmers of hope amid the bleak reality
With much of the world engulfed by the first, second or third waves of Covid-19 transmission, predicting when or how the post-pandemic future will emerge remains a hazardous occupation. One assumption, though, seems safe enough. When the spread of the virus eventually subsides, we will face a grim social, economic, environmental, and political landscape. (more…)
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Why the Biden victory is not the answer to our prayers
Much of America is breathing a sigh of relief that, gracefully or otherwise, Trump will soon vacate the White House. Allies of the United States – not just governments but much of the commentariat – are expecting a less turbulent and more predictable international environment. That may be wishful thinking. (more…)
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Australia and the World after Trump? The moment of decision is fast approaching
Much of the commentary on the US election has focused on the personalities, the contest, the likely result. Will it be Biden or Trump again? But is this the nub of the question? (more…)
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The parlous state of our security policies – thinking through the hard questions
In Australia security policy is made largely behind closed doors, and subject to remarkably little scrutiny by parliament or our mainstream media. It has at best a fleeting presence in our political and public discourse. (more…)
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It’s time to strip ‘national security’ of its sacred cow status. Part 2
On closer inspection, the immense financial, institutional, and rhetorical investment in this elaborate security edifice rests on questionable assumptions. The costs may far outweigh any likely benefits. (more…)
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It’s time to strip ‘national security’ of its sacred cow status. Part 1
The Prime Minister has just announced the most hawkish turn in Australia’s defence policy since the end of the Cold War. All in the name of national security, the mantra of governments intent on justifying sprawling, costly and often unaccountable security establishments. (more…)
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Living with China: There is a way, but is there a will? Part 3
To enter into a sustained and productive dialogue with China, Australia needs to do its homework. As indicated In Parts 1 and 2, both government and society have to cultivate a better understanding of contemporary China, its history, culture, economy and politics. (more…)
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Living with China: There is a way, but is there a will? Part 2
In Part 1 we saw that the post-1945 Western dominated world order is rapidly giving way to a multicentric world, in which different players, each with its own system of governance and civilisational inheritance, are vying for power and influence. In this part, we examine How Australia can accommodate this shift, as it goes about the demanding task of rethinking its relationship with China. (more…)
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Living with China: There is a way, but is there a will? Part 1
There is a growing sense that it’s time to step off the merry-go-round of China bashing and the Australia bashing that inevitably follows. But what is to take its place? Many would like to see a more solid foundation for our relationship with China. But what would this look like in practice? And how well equipped are we for the task? (more…)
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JOSEPH A. CAMILLERI. Can we rescue the China relationship from the abyss?
For some time now we have been routinely mishandling our relations with China. Our petulant demand for an international Covid-19 inquiry, whose thinly veiled purpose was to point the finger at Beijing’s misdeeds, is the latest in a long series of missteps. (more…)
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JOSEPH A. CAMILLERI. Covid-19 – Lessons Not Yet Learnt
For weeks now Covid-19 has dominated the world’s media. We’ve had endless facts, advice and commentary on the virus itself, the number of deaths and infections, the level of testing, the do’s and don’ts of hygiene and social distancing, the flattening of the curve, and much else. But on the underlying significance of the pandemic remarkably little. (more…)
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China policy drowning in empty rhetoric – time for an informed public debate
China is in the news and rightly so. If it’s not events in Hong Kong, it’s the China-US trade dispute, or tensions in the South China Sea, Beijing’s expanding influence in the South Pacific, the prospect of a Chinese military base in Cambodia, China’s treatment of the Uighur minority, or China’s massive Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). For Australia, this is a time for uncomfortable soul searching. (more…)
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JOSEPH ANTHONY CAMILLERI. Was this ‘the election we had to have’?
It is two weeks since Australia went to the polls, but are we any wiser as to what actually transpired at the ballot box and during the preceding weeks of mind numbing electioneering? Politicians and commentators alike have single-mindedly focused on the ‘surprising’ election result – shocking for some, miraculous for others. But few if any of the explanations ring true.
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JOSEPH A. CAMILLERI. Just Peace: A timely roadmap for Australia or impossible dream? – Part 2
If ‘just peace’ requires peacemaking and peacebuilding to be sensitive to the cries of the poor and the cries of the Earth, how relevant is it to Australia’s present circumstances? If what is proposed is a holistic approach to the problem of violence that encompasses social and ecological violence as well as physical violence, is Australia capable of adopting the approach as a guide to its domestic and external policies? To judge by the parlous state of Australian politics and public discourse, at least as filtered by mainstream media, the omens are less than propitious. And yet, the possibilities are immense and tantalising, and the ground potentially more fertile than is often supposed.
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JOSEPH A. CAMILLERI. Just Peace: The only antidote to the age of violence – Part 1
Endemic violence, the hallmark of the last hundred years, shows no sign of abating. The death toll resulting from war in the 20th century is 187 million and probably higher. The number of armed conflicts in the world has risen steadily since 1946 and now stands at 50 or more in any one year. In each case ‘just war’ rhetoric has been invoked to defend the indefensible. It is time to shift our thinking and public discourse from ‘just war’ to ‘just peace’.
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JOSEPH CAMILLERI. The seismic shift we can no longer ignore
The acute tensions that disrupted the recent APEC summit, the Brexit fiasco in Britain, the rise of populist discourse and movements in much of Europe, the ‘theatre of the grotesque’ in Trump’s America, are just a few of the symptoms of the seismic shift that has been in the making for over three decades. It is a shift which political leaders, not least in Australia, seem scarcely able to comprehend, let alone address. (more…)
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JOSEPH A. CAMILLERI: Australia’s China policy mired in phobia and confusion.
Australia’s handling of its relations with China is rapidly descending into farce. Geoff Raby’s excellent piece (30 April) makes abundantly clear the principal factor at work, namely a nostalgic attachment to the US-led regional and global order of earlier years. (more…)
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Many are thinking: we can surely do better as a nation
Across the country there is much amusement, and a good deal of bewilderment. People are asking: how can our subservience to Washington’s bidding hit such an all-time low? How can a government think it can shape Australia’s future security and prosperity by mouthing one inanity after another? (more…)
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JOSEPH CAMILLERI. For our misdeeds in Korea we shall pay dearly
The result of the recent snap election called by Shinzo Abe and Japan’s steady military build-up are a portent of things to come. The Korean crisis, which owes at least as much to Washington’s flexing of military muscle as to Pyongyang’s misguided nuclear antics, holds the key to many of these ominous developments. (more…)
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JOSEPH A. CAMILLERI. Australia’s engagement with Asia and the world has fallen on hard times.
In the vain hope of minimising the catastrophic consequences of America’s 16-year long military intervention, Donald Trump has just announced yet another surge in its military presence in Afghanistan. Australia, like other allies, will also be asked to do more, and will almost certainly agree to the request. This is part of the now familiar pattern that has seen Australia despatch military forces to Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. It is a reminder of the same reflexive mindset that has prompted Malcolm Turnbull’s recent comments linking ANZUS to the Korean crisis. In this case, the response is so ill-informed as to be comical, and so bereft of common sense as to be tragic. Australia’s foreign and security policies, it seems, have now descended into pure farce. (more…)
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JOSEPH CAMILLERI. The Politics of Paralysis: Australian style
It is hard not to conclude that our major parties have been the primary stumbling block. They seem singularly ill equipped to envisage, let alone manage, the institutional changes called for by a globalising and increasingly interdependent world. If innovation holds the key to the future, we would do well to look elsewhere for leadership or inspiration. (more…)
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JOSEPH CAMILLERI. New series. We can say ‘no’ to the Americans.
Australia at the crossroads of time and imagination
Can Australia rise to the challenge of a rapidly transforming world or is it bound to the myths of a bygone age? (more…)
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JOSEPH CAMILLERI. The election of Hillary Clinton promises a more dangerous world.
In a long and often exasperating presidential campaign, Americans and the world have been subjected to Donald Trump’s odious and often incoherent rhetoric, and from both sides much vitriol and endless accusations of deceit, crookedness and sexual misconduct.
In this largely policy-free contest, Hillary Clinton’s approach to the immense challenges facing the United States has escaped serious scrutiny. Yet, how America views its place in a rapidly transforming world has far-reaching implications not only for security at home and abroad, but for the economy, financial markets, the environment and much else. (more…)