Many Americans are persuaded by persistent claims that crime is rising, even when they are not. Critics say the media’s rampant coverage of violent crime has helped to warp their perceptions. (more…)
Category: Politics
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Why Trump lashes India but holds back on China – Asian Media Report
In Asian media this week: US hopes Beijing might lean on Putin. Plus: Work starts on Xi-Trump summit in China; Former first lady jailed on gifts-for-influence charges; Japan looks to become regional weapons supplier; Indonesia deploys ballistic missile system; Hong Kong “suffering climate whiplash”. (more…)
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A better and fairer school system? Just look to Canada
Ontario implemented needs-based funding a quarter of a century ago, and the benefits go beyond student achievement. (more…)
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Europe: From great market to satellite continent
The tariff deal between the EU and US signals a major setback for Europe’s autonomy. (more…)
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Fight no longer just in the trenches, it’s in the narrative
Since Cambodia and Thailand signed the ceasefire agreement in Kuala Lumpur on 28 July, Thailand has moved on us in six ways. (more…)
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Prefab housing evolution: Higher quality, greater affordability, broader acceptance
A new kind of residential landscape is taking shape, not with the chaotic clang of construction, but with the rhythm and precision of a symphony – each piece arriving on time, perfectly in tune and ready to play its part. (more…)
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Where is the outrage? Israel’s systematic mass assassination of journalists
The killing of Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif is shocking but that it is a culmination of planned mass assassination of journalists by the Israeli Government is an outrage. (more…)
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What is the Yokohama Commonwealth War Cemetery and what was Australia’s response to it?
Anniversary events commemorating the end of the Asia Pacific War continue to focus on populist themes of victory, defeat, military prowess, 80 years on. (more…)
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Recognition of Palestine: A neocolonial, feel-good gesture
Recognition of Palestine is a “feel-good” gesture that will not achieve any tangible benefits for the Palestinian people and amounts to a neocolonial denial of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination. (more…)
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On the siege of Gaza
All the dire predictions at the time Israel banned the UN Relief and Works Agency in January 2025 have come to pass. (more…)
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White House to vet Smithsonian exhibits to ensure they ‘align with Trump’s interpretation’ of US history
Smithsonian exhibits should be “accurate, patriotic, and enlightening – ensuring they remain places of learning, wonder and national pride for generations to come”, the White House demanded. (more…)
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Breaking: Chilling ‘News Virus’ sweeps Australia
Chikungunya is a virus first identified in 1952 in what is now Tanzania, carried by mosquitoes, long since a globetrotter. (more…)
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Israeli officials reportedly held talks about displacing Palestinians to war-torn South Sudan
“If implemented, the plans would amount to transferring people from one war-ravaged land at risk of famine to another,” the Associated Press said. (more…)
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Albanese’s recognition of a Palestinian state implements a long-held Labor ambition
Those who accuse the Albanese Government of breaking with a historic Labor position of opposing recognition of a Palestinian state are wrong. (more…)
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Clinton to Trump: How Putin has met, courted and frustrated US presidents
Vladimir Putin has met five US presidents over 25 years. But jazz and fishing have given way to threats and tension. The Alaska summit will be the Russian leader’s 49th meeting with a US counterpart. (more…)
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Labor vulnerable nowhere in particular, everywhere in general
The best attempt at a post-election pendulum was published recently by Dr Kevin Bonham, who also did a terrific job explaining developments during the preference count in the recent Tasmanian election. (more…)
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As deadline looms, advocates call plastics treaty draft ‘nothing short of a betrayal’
“The process has been completely captured by swarms of fossil fuel lobbyists and shamefully weaponised by low-ambition countries,” said the chief executive of the Environmental Justice Foundation. (more…)
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An open letter to the Jewish Board of Deputies
I am part of a small group of people who intended to hold an event to discuss the situation in Gaza. Shortly before our event was scheduled, the Jewish board of Deputies pressed our venue operators to cancel the event. This incursion into our right to gather was a striking example of the ethos that informs so much of the Zionist lobby’s methods of silencing any departure from what is perceived as pro-Israel lines of argument. Thus: (more…)
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Recognition of Palestine only a start
Prime Minister Albanese’s announcement on 11 August that Australia will recognise the state of Palestine is a dramatic break with the past. (more…)
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The great human brain fade
Evidence is piling up that the human brain can no longer keep up with the overshoot crisis which human greed has engendered. (more…)
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Dates are ‘luxury’ – and other ways Israel hinders aid trucks from reaching starving Gazans
From restricting truck crossings to preventing proper cargo securing, Israel has imposed layers of bureaucratic and physical obstacles that hinder every stage of delivering food and medical supplies to Gaza. (more…)
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Albanese is crying poor, but we’re losing billions a year from untaxed gas
It’s likely much will be said, but little done, at next week’s economic roundtable. (more…)
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Israel bars entry of specialist medical teams into Gaza
As the world leaders produce yet more words and pass yet more resolutions on the genocide on Gaza, more than 12,000 children now are severely, dangerously malnourished as Israel continues to deny sufficient food into the Strip. (more…)
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Open letter to Israeli foreign minister Sa’ar
The great threat to Israel’s survival is not the Arab nations, the Palestinians, or Iran, but the policies of Israel’s extremist government. (more…)
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Burning wood for power Is a dangerous step backward
The NSW Independent Planning Commission is currently considering an application to reopen the Redbank Power Station near Singleton. (more…)
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China’s consumption weighed down by weak expectations
China’s economy registered a respectable GDP growth rate of 5.3% in the first half of 2025. (more…)
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Recognition of Palestine: UN challenges
During the past weeks, media coverage of Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza, including the creation of widespread famine and instances of starvation, has motivated a majority of Western countries to support a permanent end to the war in Gaza, potentially through a UNGA-endorsed Palestine/Israeli two-state solution. (more…)
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How transparent is Australian aid?
Aid, by its very nature, is harder to monitor than domestic spending. This makes transparency integral to good aid practice. Transparency makes it easier for the donor public to track how their taxes are being spent. (more…)
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The sham of Australia’s recognition of Palestine: Hope, but light on glory
Australia’s recognition of Palestine, like that of other Western countries, is a step in the right direction, but it remains a sham. (more…)
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Tributes, condemnation pour in over slain Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza
Israel’s killing of five Al Jazeera staff in Gaza prompts global outrage and calls for accountability. (more…)