While confrontations continue in Seoul between right and left-wing factions over the fate of Yoon Suk Yeol following his ill-conceived declaration of Martial law on 3 December 2024, it is instructive to look back at the many attempts to improve North-South relations when things seemed not quite so hopeless. Can they be revived? (more…)
Richard Broinowski
-
Whitewashing a dictator
Informed observers are amazed that the blackened legacy of Ferdinand E. Marcos has been sanitised to such an extent that his only son Bong Bong Marcos could become the 17th elected president of the Philippines in June 2022. Who on earth can take the Philippines seriously ever again?
-
The fragility of South Korean democracy
South Korea is in a dangerous political mess. President Yoon Suk-yeol has been arrested, but his dismissal and imprisonment are far from certain. His toxic ambition to eliminate ‘despicable pro-North Korean and anti-state forces’ has numerous supporters. As have his hostility towards China and his plans to develop nuclear weapons. (more…)
-
Bill Sullivan and Iran – missed opportunities then and now
The last American Ambassador to Iran was William Sullivan, a debonair silver-haired Irish-American with much wisdom and diplomatic experience. If President Jimmy Carter and Secretary of State Cyrus Vance had followed his advice, Iran would probably not be US enemy number one as it is today. Maybe even an ally. (more…)
-
Australia’s Israel Policy at the Crossroads: How much worse can it get before Australia takes a principled stand?
The horrific situation in the Middle East has landed Foreign Minister Penny Wong with a difficult and frustrating job. She is wedged between a so-far unacknowledged obligation to honour Australia’s legal commitments to condemn Israeli genocide and apartheid on the one hand, and on the other, a vociferous campaign by local Zionists and their supporters to back Israel’s military actions in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon. (more…)
-
How civilisation could end – an all-too-possible nuclear scenario
On 12 September, Vladimir Putin threatened retaliation, not excluding nuclear, against NATO countries if Washington allows Ukraine to attack targets inside Russia with US missiles. President Joe Biden backed off – for the moment. But the doomsday clock of the Atomic Scientists now stands at 90 seconds to midnight, the closest it has ever been to signalling Armageddon. (more…)
-
Advocates for nuclear power should heed the lessons from Kursk
On 22 August, Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, warned of the deadly effect a military attack on Russia’s nuclear power complex at Kursk would have on civilian communities in Russia, Ukraine and potentially across Europe. He had previously warned of the consequences of such attacks on Ukraine’s nuclear reactors at Zaporizhzhia. (more…)
-
The Astana Declaration – a challenge to US world power
The 24th summit of heads of state of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) concluded on 4 July 2024 in Astana, Kazakhstan. Its communique emphasised the group’s determination to enhance its role in influencing world events, an unmistakable challenge to US world leadership. (more…)
-
Australia supplies Israel with weapons of genocide, breaches law
The Australian Government has at last grudgingly admitted that Australian-based companies are supplying parts and components to Israel for its F-35 Lightning jets which are systematically destroying human life and buildings in Gaza. But it has not yet admitted that the supply of such components contravenes the Arms Trade Treaty of 2014, which Australia has ratified. (more…)
-
Peter Dutton sprinkles nuclear stardust into the climate policy vacuum
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is nailing nuclear energy for Australia to his economic renaissance mast. His earlier thought was that the electricity generating transition should be confined to SMRs (small modular reactors) conveniently placed in the basements of factories around Australia. He then expanded his concept to include the construction of large industrial reactors of 600 MW capacity and more built on sites occupied by former coal-fired generators. (more…)
-
Secretive ADF Middle East deployments are putting Australia at risk
On Friday, 5 January 2024, Iraq’s Prime Minister Shia al-Sudani said he wanted all remaining US Coalition troops out of Iraq. He was speaking on the fourth anniversary of the US drone assassination of Iraqi and Iranian generals Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Qassem Soleimani at Baghdad Airport in January 2020. (more…)
-
Henry Kissinger – the Caligari of the American Empire?
Bloody subverter of world peace, or its champion? Since his death on 29 November 2023, Henry Kissinger has been excoriated and praised in almost equal measure. His critics are more focused and vehement. (more…)
-
Who are the Five Eyes loyal to?
American intelligence personnel are predominant at Pine Gap and throughout the Five Eyes network. This ensures that American views prevail about threats to world security, which become threats to Australia’s security. The mind-set of our intelligence community is constantly reinforced by ‘independent’ second-tier policy assessment outfits such as ASPI in Australia, CSIS (Centre for Strategic and International studies) and CNAS (the Centre for a New American Security) in the United States. All have solid military-industrial backing. (more…)
-
Ukraine: Who is winning?
How is the war going? Two expert observers add to the confusion. Former British soldier Richard Iron, reflects on what he sees as the brittleness of Putin’s situation, thinks Putin could fall in a coup and predicts that Ukraine has a good chance of turfing Russians out of Ukraine altogether. American Professor John Mearsheimer, a professor at Chicago University and adherent of the so-called ‘School of Realism’ thinks Ukraine has already lost the war. (more…)
-
US concern over Chinese navy an exercise in double speak
The double standard continues. Russian collaboration with China in naval exercises in the north Pacific are presented in United States media as creating ‘a dangerous world’. But far larger military exercises in the south Pacific by ‘free’ countries are presented as ‘promoting peace, security and stability’ in the Indo-Pacific region. (more…)
-
Australia – an international nuclear wasteland?
The spectre of an international nuclear waste dump in Australia hangs over AUKUS and what this secretive agreement commits Australia to. Does it oblige us simply to dispose of spent nuclear reactors from our submarines if and when we get them? Or is there a hidden agenda whereby we also take the expired nuclear reactors from US and British submarines? If so, could it lead to Australia becoming a dump for high-level waste from civil nuclear reactors around the world? (more…)
-
Seven deadly sins in the Defence industry
If previous defence acquisitions are any guide, the enormous cost of nuclear-powered submarines for the Royal Australian Navy will almost certainly escalate well beyond the estimated but un-itemised initial price of $A368 billion. The record of corruption of the two US submarine builders suggests that the project will also probably suffer from mismanagement. The final bill is likely to be astronomical. (more…)
-
American cluster bombs in Ukraine
According to the UN Human Rights Office, 9,083 civilians have been killed in 500 days of fighting in Ukraine, and 15,779 wounded. These figures are likely to increase dramatically once American cluster munitions are deployed. (more…)
-
More fallout from Fukushima
The International Atomic Energy Agency has just concluded that the proposed release over the next 30 years of over 1.3 million metric tonnes of cooling water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear reactors into the Pacific is ‘safe’. Many international experts and officials, and the fishing communities from surrounding countries disagree. (more…)
-
Chasing shadows in Cuba
Why does Washington believe they have the right to conduct joint military exercises off the Chinese Pacific coast, but will not tolerate even the barest hint of those activities by China and Cuba in ‘their’ maritime neighbourhood?
-
Depleted Ukrainians
Fighting in Ukraine continues, sometimes fiercely, sometimes spasmodically. So do the unending appeals from Vladimir Zelensky for more and better weapons from the West. He is now to get from Britain anti-tank shells made from depleted uranium, which will increase radiation and chemical pollution where they are used. (more…)
-
How safe are nuclear powered submarines?
The acquisition of nuclear-propelled submarines has been enthusiastically embraced by Albanese, Dutton, most of their benches, and their collective military-industrial backing chorus. In considering where the submarines will be based, questions about radiation leaks and accidents have been shunted to a back burner. (more…)
-
What happens when our nuclear subs retire?
Among the breathless press announcements coming out of San Diego on 14 March was that the spent nuclear fuel reactor cells for our submarines would have to be stored in Australia. This on top of the unexplained escalating costs of the subs, estimated delivery not until 2042, and three hand-me-down stop-gap Virginias possibly available around 2033. ‘A dare to embrace greatness’, trumpeted Greg Sheridan. A dare to embrace poverty and long-term environmental pollution more likely. (more…)
-
Modular nuclear reactors: snake oil from the nuclear lobby propagandists
Nuclear lobby propaganda in favour of small modular reactors ignores Australia’s terrible nuclear history and plays fast and loose with the facts. Many forensic enquiries have already recommended against the introduction of nuclear power into Australia on the grounds of proliferation risk, cost, safety, and the environment.
-
Anti-Chinese press vitriol in press gallery
From 2004 to 2014, I ran a program on behalf of Sydney University to send highly-motivated Australian media students to English-language newspapers around Asia. They were to work as professional journalists, researching and publishing their own stories about local events. On return to Australia, their experience was designed to equip those who joined Australian media outfits with a sophisticated insight of their host countries. Funding came from the Myer Foundation, then DFAT. (more…)
-
Nuclear submarines – disaster impending
Australia’s decision to acquire nuclear-propelled submarines will be staggeringly expensive and is unfit for the purpose of defending the country. It is prone to reinforce Chinese suspicions that we are determined on joining the United States in ‘containing’ it. (more…)
-
AUKUS exposes Australia’s incoherent defence policy
Environmentally, the submarine acquisition could be a disaster. Where in Australia are the submarines to be based? Could their home ports become contaminated? Where do we dispose of their reactors at the end-of-service life? (more…)
-
Ships in the Night: A Vietnam war story, by Greg Dodds
Greg Dodds’ career began as a professional Australian soldier who served as an intelligence officer with the Australian Task Force in Vietnam in the late 1960s. In this racy 200-page monograph, Dodds disposes with scholarly requirements – no footnotes, no glossary, no reading list or sources. To appreciate its full context, the reader should have some knowledge of the war, its causes, its leading characters and its aftermath. Even without such background, however, this is a captivating memoir. (more…)
-
Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions
The assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh is immensely provocative to all Iranians, and may be the tipping point towards a full Iranian nuclear weapons program. (more…)
-
Australian Soaps to the Pacific – Good Diplomacy?
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade launched an initiative to send commercial (soaps) Australian television programs to stations in the South Pacific. This will do little to enhance vigorous and discerning projection of Australian news and values in the region. (more…)