It is absolutely pants-on-head gibbering insanity that these direct negotiations are not already presently underway. (more…)
Category: Defence
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Ethiopian, Eritrean atrocities in Tigray: who cares, it’s an African war
Fighting and famine in Tigray is described by the London Observer as ‘the most lethal anywhere in the world.’ (more…)
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The incoherent narrative of the AUKUS nuclear powered attack submarines-SSNs
In the year since the government announced the AUKUS arrangements – especially that they involved Australia’s acquisition of a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines – the relevant communications on this centrepiece have veered from the boastful to the oracular. Ostensibly, they emanate from the inner sanctums of Defence and National Security, or those recently within them and should, therefore, be authoritative, coherent, and unambiguous, but they aren’t. Indeed, what is to hand is an unedifying spectacle of the pursuit of something unfeasible and internally contradicted which defies reconciliation. (more…)
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Ukraine’s revenge on the West
As the balance of power shifts again in Ukraine, its reverberations will impact the very unity of the EU project. (more…)
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How the US, not just Russia, helped bring the world closer to nuclear war
The West has effectively been challenging Russia’s right to be a hegemonic power.
What if the proxy US campaign in Ukraine doesn’t lead to Russian regime downfall but instead to a desperate Putin using nuclear weapons? (more…)
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US hanging fire on Australia’s nuclear subs
High-ranking US naval official points to shipyard and labour constraints that could push delivery well beyond 2030. (more…)
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The Defence Strategic Review and the challenge of synchronising with foreign policy.
A reshaped foreign policy for Australia and the Defence Strategic Review are inextricably linked. (more…)
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Nuclear testing and colonisation explain Pacific Island Nations’ alignment with China
Pacific Island Nations encompass many countries in regions we know as Melanesia, literally, the Black Islands, from Papua New Guinea to New Caledonia, apparently so named because the inhabitants were darker skinned! Micronesia, which extends from the Philippines to Hawaii and Polynesia, geographically further south and extending to New Zealand. (more…)
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Paul Keating on Australia’s national interest, Taiwan, and the absurdity of war
Australia is still trying to find its place in Asia, Paul Keating says, which explains why we’re so preoccupied with Taiwan and China. (more…)
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It’s only a ‘Conspiracy Theory’ when the US Government is accused of the likely sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines
The western political/media class has been dismissing as “conspiracy theories” all claims that the US is likely responsible for last month’s sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, even while levelling the exact same accusations against Russia without ever using that term. Which probably says a lot about the way that label has been used over the years, if you think about it. (more…)
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We won’t recognise the annexation
Does any country buy Israel’s self-righteousness – it doesn’t recognise the annexation of the four provinces – at a time when Israel is trying to persuade world leaders to recognise its own annexations. (more…)
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25 Years ago, I warned expanding NATO ranked with the errors that led to WWI and II
Expanding NATO’s military demarcation point to the very borders of the former Soviet Union was an error which may rank with the strategic miscalculations which prevented Germany from taking its full place in the international system at the beginning of this century. (more…)
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US ring-fencing of Russia weakened those prepared to give liberal democratic principles a go
When the Russians surrendered their empire in 1990, wouldn’t it have been better to have Russia as part of an enlightened framework of intelligent co-existence, to invite their people, battered by the twentieth century, into the comity and wealth of nations?
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A decade in the making, an inquiry into how Australia goes to war
After years of public efforts to get politicians to concentrate on changing how Australia goes to war, the Albanese government has now responded by taking the first step. (more…)
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Learning to hate China – how well have we learned the lessons
Toward the end of 2019, an article titled Lessons in how to hate China was published in Pearls and Irritations. Those lessons have been learned and learned well. Three years is a short time but the collective memory is also short. China is now the accepted enemy and the likelihood of war is spoken of more openly. (more…)
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The Defence Strategic Review: National strategy or weapons shopping list?
Governments don’t hold inquiries to get unwelcome answers. The Defence Strategic Review is no exception. So what does the Albanese government want it to achieve? (more…)
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The great game in Ukraine is spinning out of control
Former US National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski famously described Ukraine as a “geopolitical pivot” of Eurasia, central to both US and Russian power. Since Russia views its vital security interests to be at stake in the current conflict, the war in Ukraine is rapidly escalating to a nuclear showdown. It’s urgent for both the US and Russia to exercise restraint before disaster hits. (more…)
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Defence Strategic Review – Is defending Australia dead?
The last decade of Australia’s defence policy has swung from successful focus on our own defence, by ourself, to one heavily influenced by the US strategic determination to dominate China militarily. Thereby conservative governments have invited risk to our nation needlessly and been wrong-headed enough to subsidise it. (more…)
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Beijing ‘won’t be threatened’ into changing Taiwan plans, analysts say
China’s foreign ministry lodged ‘stern representations’ with the US after President Joe Biden again said American troops would defend the island if the PLA attacks. (more…)
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Who are the war criminals?
One of the few heartening things to come out of Russia’s war against Ukraine is the renewed emphasis on how it’s a crime for national leaders to start a war of aggression. Putin is not the only one who can reasonably be accused of committing war crimes. Most US president since World War II have done so. So have some Australian Prime Ministers. (more…)
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Defence Strategic Review-Prometheus bound – China the constrained superpower
Several contributors to this series have argued that China should not be seen as a military threat to Australia. Their arguments are based on historical, political, and cultural grounds, or all three. Henry Kissinger in his 2011 book On China concluded similarly. (more…)
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We are at war and it may soon be nuclear war
We are in a far more dangerous situation than the Cold War, or either of two world wars. (more…)
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Almost 90% of the world is not following America on Ukraine
A remarkable recent article in Newsweek, has documented concisely and convincingly how: “Nearly 90 Percent of the World Isn’t Following Us on Ukraine” – and what consequences follow from this. (more…)
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Dealing with the ‘China threat’: An Asian perspective
Forcing Asian countries to choose between the USA and China is unlikely to work. Even close Asian allies of the US have shown that they prefer to go their own way in geopolitics. (more…)
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The dangerous civilian-military chasm in America
Several weeks ago, the mainstream media carried a statement from eight former secretaries of defence and five retired four-star generals that stated the obvious: military officers have a duty to support and defend the Constitution. The statement credited the “civil-military system” with the ability to “respond quickly to defend the nation in times of crisis.” On January 6, 2021, however, the civil-military system deliberated for hours while a seditious mob attacked the Capitol, the citadel of freedom in the United States. We still do not know who was responsible for this failure to act. Nor do we know who was responsible for deleting messages from the cell phones of high-ranking officials at the Secret Service, the Department of Defence, and the Department of Homeland Security. (more…)
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The Defence Strategic Review: China is not a military threat
Australia’s defence policy is based on an assumed “China Threat”. If this assumption is maintained, it will be used to justify increased defence spending and a closer defence engagement with the United States and other “like-minded” countries, including Quad and AUKUS partners. (more…)
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The US empire is accelerating toward global conflict on two fronts
The situation is very serious. Since 1700 three people have tried to take Moscow: Karl XII who lost his Swedish empire, Napoleon who lost his, Hitler who lost his… and now NATO / AUKUS, in which we are mindlessly participant. The US budget year begins with 830 billion for defence, 600 billion for nuclear refurbishment. Not news in Australia. (more…)
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“I do not think, I know”: Scott Morrison’s submarine deception
When it was revealed that former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison had not only shown contempt for his own government in secretly appointing himself, via the Governor-General’s approval, to five portfolios, the depths of deception seemed to be boundless. His tenure had already been marked by a spectacular, habitual tendency to conceal matters. What else would come out? (more…)
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AUKUS agreement a threat to peace
Reflecting the prevalent view, that the AUKUS agreement is a threat to peace, a conglomeration of peace groups (under the banner ‘Raising Peace’) brought together opponents of the agreement from the three nations involved, for an on-line discussion on September 19. (more…)
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Biden keeps pledging direct US war with China over Taiwan
The president of the United States has once again committed the US military to direct hot war with China in the event of an attack on Taiwan, a commitment that was once again walked back by his White House handlers. (more…)