On 7th April 2018 an incident occurred in the Syrian city of Douma, 10 km North east of the capital Damascus. It was alleged, initially by the jihadi extremists occupying the city that a nerve gas attack had been carried out by Syrian government forces. (more…)
Category: Politics
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RICHARD BUTLER. Trump/Putin : Finnish Rhapsody
In a most unusual Trump/Putin media conference in Helsinki it seemed that the notably absent participant was Robert Mueller. (more…)
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BRAD CHILCOTT. It’s not size that matters, it’s what you do with it.
Members of the Australian Parliament are rich. All of them – from the $200m Prime Minister down to the backbencher earning $203 020 a year and regardless of political affiliation – are in the top 0.5% of the richest people in the world. Although Senator Lucy Gichuhi believes her annual income is “not a lot of money” it’s still four times Australia’s median salary ($55 063) – which means that 50% of Australian adults live off less than a quarter of the Senator’s earnings. She’s not doing it tough. (more…)
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DAVID VAUX, PETER BROOKS, SIMON GANDEVEA. Weakened code risks Australia’s reputation for research integrity (The Conversation, 29.06.18)
In 2018, Australia still does not have appropriate measures in place to maintain research integrity. And recent changes to our code of research conduct have weakened our already inadequate position. (more…)
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PEPE ESCOBAR. China’s silky charming of Arabia (Asian Times, 11.07.18)
President Xi Jinping has promised more than $23 billion in loans and aid to Arab states, as Beijing ramps up ties with the Middle East; this includes aid for Palestine; Beijing foresees importing a whopping $8 trillion from Arab states up to 2025. (more…)
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MUNGO MACCALUM. ACCC Report ignites squabbling.
Just when you might have thought you were getting a grip on the tin full of worms masquerading as the government’s energy policy, along comes yet another authoritative report. (more…)
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GEOFF RABY. Lessons from China’s 40 years of reform – a very personal reflection
I am delighted to have been asked to open this conference [the China Economists’ Conference] which is occurring on the 40th Anniversary of the launching of China’s reforms and open-door policies, policies that have changed China and the world. (more…)
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KARL WILSON with Steve FitzGerald – Opening-up: The view from down under (China Daily 12/07/18)
Stephen FitzGerald (right) and former Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam meet Chairman Mao Zedong on Nov 2, 1973, in Beijing.
Australia’s first ambassador to the People’s Republic of China reflects on decades of transformation
Editor’s note: This year marks the 40th anniversary of the launch of China’s reform and opening-up policy. China Daily talks to some people from overseas who have experienced or witnessed the important drive. (more…)
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MUNGO MACCALLUM. Three Stooges ride again.
Our older readers – the really old ones – may remember The Three Stooges, Larry, Curly and Moe. (more…)
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KIM WINGEREI. Democracy is not just about elections!
A flood (by my modest standards) of social media comments to my recent post – We have to talk (about) Turkey – was a poignant reminder that so many believe that democracy is mainly about free elections. The way many local commentators (and politicians) respond to President Trump’s actions also indicate the same misapprehension among those that should know better. Democracy is a system of government designed to protect and uphold the rights of the people. And to protect the people from government. In that sense, the case of the ‘Canberra Two’ is both scary and illuminating. (more…)
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HANKYOREH EDITORIAL. President Moon’s vision for peace and prosperity after denuclearization
In a “Singapore Lecture” during the final day of his state visit to Singapore on July 13, President Moon Jae-in outlined his vision for an inter-Korean economic community and peace on the Korean Peninsula. It could be seen as his second “vision for peace,” after the one he presented in the German capital of Berlin in July of last year. It is deeply significant that he shared this vision for a future of Korean peace and prosperity in the same place as the historic North Korea-US summit one month ago. (more…)
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PAUL MALONE. Justification for Syrian airstrikes evaporates.
The justification for the US, British and French airstrikes on Syria on April 14 has evaporated with the new finding by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons that “no organophosophorous nerve agents or their degradation products were detected in the environmental samples or in the plasma samples taken from alleged casualties.” (more…)
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Get-tough rhetoric has denied us any sway with Beijing (AFR, 10/07/18)
As foreign minister I recall an irritating flare-up in our relations with one of the Pacific states. There had been a “misunderstanding” at Sydney airport that upset the island state’s prime minister. The anger ran strong and the state contemplated a big anti-Australian gesture: terminating an arrangement under which we trained their police. And, here’s the rub, inviting China to fill the gap. (more…)
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ELIZABETH HLAVINKA. High Opioid-Use Counties Voted Trump in 2016 (Medpage Today 22/6/2018)
Opioids are symptom, symbol of ‘larger social and economic problems’. Counties with the highest rates of chronic prescription opioid use were far more likely to back Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, a new study of Medicare claims data found. (more…)
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GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND
A regular collection of links to writings and broadcasts covered in other media. (more…)
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JOHN MENADUE. The litany of anti social and failed privatisations. ( Edited repost from 21 July 2017)
Coalition politicians, bankers, accountants and lawyers still persist with their fixation with privatisation despite the fact that it is failing in one area after another and the electorate shows very clearly that it does not want it. (more…)
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‘Being Muslim’ lifestyle sweeps Indonesia (La Croix International, 07/07/18)
Japanese electronics manufacturer Sharp is claiming a first in Indonesia — halal refrigerators — after the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) granted the manufacturer halal status.
It’s the latest indication that Islam is being commoditized in the world’s most populous Muslim nation. (more…)
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PETER DRYSALE AND SHIRO ARMONSTRONG. Getting Australia’s geopolitical and economic strategies aligned (Australian Financial Review, 08/07/18)
Australia, it has been said, is faced with hard choices in strategic policy because its principal security partner is the United States and its major trading partner, China. By defining Australia’s national interest comprehensively where both China and the United States matter – and where security and economics are integrated into strategic decision making from the outset – Australia would be better placed to deal with the ongoing challenges from both countries (and others) in a complex world. (more…)
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ANDREW GLIKSON. On the flooded Thai cave and the Hiroshima deluge
The heroic rescue of 13 young people from the flooded Chiang Mai cave in Thailand represents everything which is wonderful about humans cooperating and helping each other, and where they are at their best. By stark contrast the cover-up by the authorities and the media of the underlying reasons for the unfolding tragedy of the Hiroshima deluge, in which to-date more than 200 people have died or are missing, tells of an indifference vis-a-vis the advancing spate world-wide of extreme weather events, related to global warming. Not that every single storm, flood or fire can be attributed to climate change, but as indicated by global data the trend is ominous, as in the figure below. (more…)
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TERRY BARNES. Pharmacy power is a paper tiger (AFR 4/7/2018)
If something looks, walks and acts like a duck, it’s a duck. In the case of pharmacy giant Chemist Warehouse, however, it’s anything but. (more…) -
TOM HUSSAIN. In Pakistan’s currency crisis, China is the problem and the solution. (South China Morning Post 7/7/2018)
Having racked up unsustainable bills in supporting Beijing’s infrastructure master plan, Islamabad is bailed out by China to the tune of US$1 billion – leaving it more dependent than ever on its ‘all-weather ally’.
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BERTIL LINTNER. As Trump turns away, China gains in Myanmar (Asia Times 4/7/2018)
US leader has left predecessor Obama’s engagement policy to wilt on the vine, giving Beijing an opening to renew its trade and security agendas
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ANDREW FARRAN. BREXIT. Where’s Boris?
It was mid-afternoon on the Monday (9th July) and the assembled Eastern European Foreign Ministers had visited London to hear an address by Foreign Minister Boris. But where was he? Boris had a major distraction from his day job. (more…)
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BHIM BHURTEL. India’s myopic ‘muscular’ neighborhood policy (Asia Times 2/7/2018)
Despite one “muscular diplomatic” debacle after another, India has been unrelenting in its bullying attitude toward its small and weak neighbors. India is imposing another economic blockade on a third South Asian country, Maldives.
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FINTAN O’TOOLE. The long Irish 19th century is finally over (Irish Times)
We are, finally, reaching the end of Ireland’s long 19th century. I don’t mean that Ireland didn’t have a 20th century or that many momentous things did not occur within it. The visible landscape changed dramatically and so did social mores. But the rock underlying modern Irish society – the social geology, as it were – was formed in the 19th century. And it is now gradually slipping away. In at least four major respects, 19th-century Ireland is dying. (more…)
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ANDREW SALMON. South Korea unveils plan for N Korean economic enrichment (Asia Times 3/7/2018)
Ideas for the North’s development and regional integration, while ripe with promise, face obstacles and remain dependent on the US and denuclearization
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TONY SMITH. Hostage to the masculine sense of entitlement.
When a society seems unable to ameliorate its social problems, something is obviously amiss. People in the USA might despair of ever breaking free of the pervasive firearms culture which is implicated in frequent mass shootings. In Australia, we have at least two persistent catastrophes: horrific road tolls and the scourge of domestic violence which leaves a woman dead every week and creates lives of misery for survivors. (more…)
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GEORGE BROWNING. Domestic Violence
Last week we were confronted with domestic violence in the most tragic of circumstances as a NSW father became the brutal killer of his two teenage children. Most Australians will have found this news inexplicable. How could a father submerge natural feelings of paternal care and responsibility in an ocean of anger and bitterness to enable such a terrible act? If the chief role of Government is to ‘keep its citizens safe’, as politicians from the Prime Minister down constantly remind us to justify the enormous spending on national defence; is enough being done to combat what is a far greater threat to citizen safety? (more…)
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JOHN QUIGGIN. Westward, look, the land is bright (Inside Story)
Amid more bad news from Washington come signs that attitudes are hardening against much of what the Trump presidency stands for. (more…)
