Journalist Chris Hedges delivers the 2025 Edward Said Memorial Lecture, “Requiem for Gaza” in Adelaide, Australia. (more…)
Category: Politics
-
Trump is pushing allies to buy US gas. It’s bad economics – and a catastrophe for the climate
The price of partnership with the United States has changed. Washington is now using assurances of defence and trade access to pressure allies in Europe and Asia to buy more of its fossil fuels under decades-long contracts. (more…)
-
The Pope, the media and the ‘normalisation’ of Trump
As world media and leaders normalise US President Donald Trump’s erratic behaviour, Pope Leo XIV must resist and keep his distance. (more…)
-
Readying the north for war
Few Australians realise that the tropical north occupies more than 40% of our land mass while holding only 5% of the population. But governments — colonial, state and national — have speculated about its destiny since the middle of the 19th century. (more…)
-
Trump CIA intervention in Venezuela risks another US war of choice, experts warn
“Using covert or military measures to destabilise or overthrow regimes reminds us of some of the most notorious episodes in American foreign policy,” said a former adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders. (more…)
-
At best, a respite for Gazans
Reading Donald Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan is like venturing into the world of the eccentric early-twentieth-century British cartoonist, Heath Robinson, who unwittingly lent his name as a descriptor for any “unnecessarily complex and implausible contrivance”. (more…)
-
China’s FDI, not the BRI, drives a global green transition
Over the past few years, outward Chinese foreign direct investment commitments in green manufacturing have grown rapidly and now dwarf the Marshall Plan in their scale. (more…)
-
Indonesia-Australia economic partnership can power Indo-Pacific resilience
Amid intensifying great power rivalry, middle powers like Indonesia and Australia face a critical question – can economic co-operation help them hedge against strategic vulnerability? (more…)
-
The problem of climate change denialism
It is one of the great public debates of our time: is climate change happening or not? If it is, is humanity partly responsible? Either way, is it problematic and, if so, should we act? (more…)
-
After the bombing: The shape of life left by the genocide in Gaza
Since the ceasefire came into effect, I’ve been searching for a way out of all the horrors that surrounded us in Gaza, but I can’t find one. (more…)
-
If you go down to the forests today, you’re in for a big surprise (mass deforestation)
Visit many areas of state forest in parts of Victoria and you might get a shock – the forest isn’t there. (more…)
-
Australia’s political parties are moving to their use-by date
Sooner or later Anthony Albanese or his successor will lead the Labor Government to defeat. (more…)
-
The migration debate in Australia
Australia’s population growth rate is returning to normal. Instead, of cutting migration, the solution to Australia’s housing crisis is to increase the rate of new dwelling approvals and completions. (more…)
-
Palestinian Mandela beaten unconscious. Our leaders yawned and looked away
Israel and the West pretend they want a real peace in Israel-Palestine yet the Israelis just beat unconscious the man most likely to help realise a sustainable end to the conflict: Marwan Barghouti. (more…)
-
‘We can do this’: Rio Tinto’s rapid switch to renewables shows path for quick exit from coal
You might be able to imagine the scene: An Australia sporting minister stands up in front of a vast audience to announce that something is simply not possible – it might be running 100 metres in 10 seconds, kicking a drop goal from 50 metres, or a swimming relay team beating a world record. (more…)
-
The armistice of 1918 and the ‘ceasefire’ of 2025
Remembrance Day is coming. More accurately it is Armistice Day. The armistice between Germany and the Western Powers was signed at Compiègne in France on the morning of 11 November 1918, after four years of war. Sadly, there are heart-chilling parallels to today. (more…)
-
China-US critical minerals war an opportunity for Australia to get smart
As the Trump administration deepens its tariff trade war with China, the latter has placed fresh curbs on exports to the US of the rare earths and critical minerals indispensable to the production of clean energy tech, as well as defence, computing and AI capabilities. (more…)
-
What a surprise spike in the unemployment rate means for interest rates and the economy
The rate of unemployment in Australia is on the rise again. Official labour force data released on Thursday shows that in the month to September, Australia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate jumped from 4.3% to 4.5%. (more…)
-
The onus is on Israel and its allies to end the genocide, not their victims
It’s actually never legitimate to withhold aid from starving civilians. It was never legitimate at any time. (more…)
-
Gaza has a ceasefire, now Palestine needs self-determination
Whether it’s the Israeli Government, an international peacekeeping force, or a post-conflict reconstruction authority for Gaza chaired (grotesquely) by Donald Trump, the fate of Palestine still rests in the hands of outsiders. (more…)
-
Message from the editor
Readers are well aware of our special interest in calm and rational coverage of China. Often we focus on geopolitics, and the change in China’s position in a world of continual, swirling change is fascinating. (more…)
-
As Gaza starts to rebuild, what lessons can be learned from Nagasaki in 1945?
At first, there might not seem to be any immediate similarities between a devastated Nagasaki after the US atomic bombing in 1945 and Gaza today, aside from massive destruction. (more…)
-
Albanese meets Trump: A fly to a wanton schoolboy
Paul Begley looks at how the Australian prime minister might “manage” his scheduled meeting with Donald Trump this week. (more…)
-
Countering Trump, Pacific Islanders are leading on climate change
The leaders of the Pacific Islands are forging a united front against President Donald Trump’s climate denialism and leading the world in the battle against the climate crisis. (more…)
-
India’s American dream in tatters
The last couple of months have exposed the humiliating realities of the subordinate alliance that India has been gradually sliding into with the US over the last three decades. (more…)
-
An immodest proposal for an ideal source of strategic policy advice
In the various debates and arguments on Australia’s defence, one thing is at least is settled: the government has agreed to continue funding national security strategic policy work undertaken by a sector composed of think-tanks and university centres that is significantly compromised. (more…)
-
APEC Summit opens a window for Korea – and for Australia
On 1 November, the leaders of the nations of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum will meet in the historic South Korean city of Gyeongju. (more…)
-
Rooftop solar takes its biggest bite yet out of coal generators’ lunch, as home battery rebates hit 89,000
Rooftop solar on homes and businesses took its biggest bite yet out of the traditional “baseload” midday lunch on Wednesday, as the combined output hit a record of 15,597 megawatts (MW) at noon AEST. (more…)
-
Proposed housing development in Ipswich raises red flags
A proposal to build about 500 apartments on flood-liable land on the banks of the Bremer River in Ipswich, west of Brisbane, raises many questions about our continuing lack of respect for the potential severity of the consequences of flooding. (more…)
-
Was the gospel preached at Charlie Kirk’s memorial service?
It is now more than a month since Charlie Kirk’s murder (10 September) and memorial service (21 September). (more…)
