The Chinese Embassy in the US underlines the country’s differences with the US. Marco Rubio and Boris Johnson refer to the war in Ukraine as a proxy war, while Rubio also reaffirms Trump’s warning to Hamas. Ohad Kozminsky of the Jewish Council of Australia shares his views on Western colonialism and Gaza. (more…)
Category: USA
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Downsizing of NOAA: consequences for the planet
News out of the US on the firing of public servants by the Trump administration has consequences worldwide. Downsizing of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will potentially impact many nations including our capacity to forecast extreme weather events and understand the consequences of climate change. (more…)
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Russophobia and Sinophobia: projection, narcissism and denial
There is a certain cadence to decline, a rhythm of arrogance and desperation, of miscalculation and delusion. The late-stage empire, unmoored from reality yet clinging to myths of its own indispensability, lashes out at perceived threats not because they are real, but because it cannot conceive of a world in which it is no longer the gravitational centre of history. In this way, Russophobia and Sinophobia function not merely as ideological constructs, but as symptoms of systemic decay, the fever dreams of a civilisation struggling to process its own obsolescence. (more…)
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Resolving insolvency: Tariffs are key to Trump’s solution
Donald Trump has resorted to tariffs, imposed against friend and foe alike. There are no compromises or special deals because it’s not about favours for friends, or compliance, or punishment. Tariffs are part of a desperate bid to stave off insolvency. (more…)
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A five-minute scroll
Justin Trudeau eloquently calls Trump’s tariffs a trade war. Miko Peled questions why the allies aren’t liberating the concentration camp that is Gaza, Jeffrey Sachs asks how many wars China has been in in the last 40 years. Peter Cronau lists our eclectic list of defence priorities. (more…)
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WEU redux?
NATO was, in part, established to prevent moves by France and Germany towards independent European defence and foreign policies, such as the West European Union. This has been a geo-political priority for Washington since the end of World War II. (more…)
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What is an American with TDS to do?
Donald Trump is an awful person and a terrible president. But he may provide an enduring breath of fresh air when it comes to the black/white posturing about freedom versus authoritarianism. (more…)
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Ukraine deal: Beware of Americans bearing gifts
Witnessing the extraordinary cage fight this week between Volodomyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump in the Oval Office provided an eye-popping glimpse into what is normally kept behind closed doors when world leaders meet to nut out matters of great consequence. (more…)
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Why I signed an ad urging rejection of Trump’s Gaza plan
In the swirl of horrendous news following the US president-elect’s taking his oath of office, there’s been one shining light. On 13 February, an ad boldly declaring “No to Ethnic Cleansing” appeared in the New York Times. More than 350 American rabbis, creatives and activists put their names to it, protesting against the president’s blithe announcement that Gaza could be changed from a pile of rubble to the Middle East’s “Riviera” – that is, if neighbouring countries would agree to accept the remaining Palestinian inhabitants who have managed, miraculously, to stay alive. (more…)
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The fate of US allies hangs in the balance under Trump 2.0
Kudos to President Donald Trump! He thinks he has solved the security problems in Europe and the Middle East. His ideas for peace by in Gaza via force and land grabbing, however, have not augured well with key powers in the region. The Arabs felt they have been betrayed by Trump who gave Israel carte blanche to deal with Iran, Syria, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon, for example. (more…)
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Alex Carey: a century of business taking the risk out of democracy
Jeff Bezos recently announced that the Washington Post would henceforth dedicate its op/ed pages to “free markets and personal liberties”. His Whole Foods business also asked the National Labor Relations Board to “set aside the results of a union election” that endorsed collective bargaining. The Australian social psychologist Alex Carey explained these interrelated events in the 1970s and 80s. We owe a debt to former Tasmanian Speaker Andrew Lohrey for making Carey’s explanation available after his premature death. (more…)
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Trump Mk II, McKinley and late-imperialism
Donald Trump’s first term as president tested the US’s political boundaries, but his second term has demolished them. A month in and his second presidency is already notable for upending US domestic democracy and completely recasting US foreign policy. Some of this was predictable. (more…)
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There will always be an enemy
The English often sing There’s Always Been an England. For America the song would probably be something along the lines of there will always be an enemy. (more…)
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Donald Trump’s axis of authoritarianism
Even for those of us who feared the worst about a possible second coming of Donald Trump, the pace and nature of the changes his administration is undertaking are astounding and alarming in equal measure. We can’t say we weren’t warned, though. (more…)
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A five-minute scroll
Trump give his first views on China policy. Sarah Henderson criticises ABC for including Jewish Council of Australia in their programs.The LNP has confirmed that Australians will pay to see their GP under Dutton. Penny Wong welcomes 25 Somare-Whitlam scholars to Australia and a call for truth to be a key factor in political advertising. (more…)
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Just how bad can Trump 2.0 get?
Even those of us who feared the worst have been astounded by the Trump administration’s attack on the rule of law, democratic principles and even morality – not to mention America’s long-suffering allies, of course. (more…)
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Jeffrey Sachs’ explosive address at the EU Parliament sends shockwaves across Europe!
Jeffrey Sachs, the American economist and public policy analyst who is also a professor at Columbia University, gave an unconventional address to the EU Parliament last week. Below is a short version of his comments; the full version is here. (more…)
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What US wants for Ukraine must serve as a warning to Taiwan, Australia and others
So, US Secretary of Defence Hesgeth has made it clear that what most of us knew three years ago will come to pass. (more…)
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An empire in denial
History rarely surprises those who pay attention. The trajectory of the current geopolitical order — from the war in Ukraine to the economic realignments centred on China and the Global South — follows patterns as old as recorded time. Yet, in the West, political elites and media institutions remain bewildered. How could the unchallenged dominance of the post-Cold War era erode so rapidly? How could NATO’s eastward expansion provoke conflict? How could the Western-designed financial order face credible challenges from Eurasian powers once dismissed as marginal players? (more…)
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Jerry Cohen: An inspiring scholar
The leading US journal Foreign Policy has just published an extended profile, written by Jonathan Landreth, of Professor Jerome A. Cohen, entitled: “The Last China Hand. Jerry Cohen will be 95 in July this year. The article lucidly explains how he “has spent a lifetime trying to understand the People’s Republic of China”. (more…)
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The fragility of Australia’s security
This time it’s different. America has detailed plans for Australia to play a role in breaking China. Not unlike the role of Ukraine against Russia. Or countless other parallels. That’s what is in the pipeline for Australia. Decades of war at oscillating levels, designed to drain China, mounted largely by America’s friends in Asia, under supervision. (more…)
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Trump has ruled out allies, implying too that with AUKUS we have bought a ‘pig in a poke’
What President Donald Trump has been saying about his friends and our allies recently clearly suggests that both the AUKUS arrangement (it is not a treaty), along with last month’s down payment of some $US500k, has been and will prove to be a terrible mistake. (more…)
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USAID withdrawal: Rethinking how we tackle poverty
The withdrawal of USAID has sent shockwaves through the NGO sector in Cambodia, sparking concern about the future of vital programs. (more…)
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China: Still ahead of the curve in the global economic game
US President Donald Trump’s decision to first place, and then delay, a 25% tariff on goods from neighbouring Canada and Mexico, along with his hitting China with an additional 10% tariff increase has made quite a splash in the news. (more…)
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Back to Russia with love – détente is a win for everyone
One key fact was absent from virtually all of the reporting around the astonishing events of this past week. It was scarcely mentioned in stories about the Munich Security Conference, the call between Presidents Trump and Putin, the freezing out of the Europeans, the jaw-dropping statements by US Defence Secretary Hegseth, the ending of cherished plans to expand NATO into Ukraine, and the historic face-to-face meeting between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Riyadh. The missed central point: Russia has, in effective terms, won the war where it counts – on the battlefield. That more than anything is driving the calculus in Washington. (more…)
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‘Activist judges’: in the US and Australia, the Right intends to make the law its slave
One of the key strategies used by the transnational authoritarian Right to subvert democratic projects is “playing the refs.” Their strategists work to discredit journalists and media platforms that hold them to account. They tarnish academics, civil servants, agencies and charities that are expert in their inconvenient fields. Fact-checkers are made to look partisan, so nobody is left to call out lies. One target in America and Australia is the judiciary which they disparage with the label “activist judges”. (more…)
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The human cost of Trump’s cuts
Too many commentators are looking at the administrative changes Donald Trump is making at USAID rather than focusing on the tragic human consequences of the underlying policy changes. (more…)
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Trump – the wannabe king of America?
Some Americans have said it’s okay that Trump is effectively America’s king. After all, according to a 2017 survey, some 23 million Americans believe chocolate comes from brown cows. (more…)
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How new is Trump’s foreign policy outlook?
It was offensive, thoughtless, and ridiculous for President Donald Trump to ponder aloud at a press conference with Benjamin Netanyahu about America colonising Gaza, moving out the existing population, and turning it into a seaside holiday destination. Given how many statements like this Trump has made as president, not just as a candidate, it is tempting to see him as uniquely dangerous. (more…)
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Tariff politics, then and now
As Australia faces the threat of significant US tariffs on its aluminium and steel, it is worth remembering that 50 years ago our nation faced a choice between aligning itself with either a group of other nations, mostly from the Third World, that produced bauxite and wanted to set a price for this prime ore of aluminium, or with the US and the International Monetary Fund, then as now controlled by the US, which wanted bauxite prices to be determined on an open global market. (more…)