Much has been said about the impending trade war amid Donald Trump’s threats to implement new tariffs against China, Mexico and Canada. But while many fear this could exacerbate tensions between China and the United States, we could find China is not as impacted as first thought. (more…)
Category: USA
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Australia must choose between economic prosperity and subservience to the US trade and military agenda
Australian Government cabinet papers from 30 years ago show that Australian leaders suspected that the claims of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq were probably false. However, Australia committed troops because Australia wanted to ingratiate itself with the United States and was prepared to break international law to do so. This sets the standard for Australia’s willingness to co-operate with any Trump-led escalation of efforts to undermine China economy with tariffs and sanctions. (more…)
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A five-minute scroll
A new day in the world. Israel rewrites history by criminalising the truth of events of October 7, 2023. In the US, Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde delivers a sermon for the ages to the new President, whose thoughts on Gaza were recorded from the Oval Office. Meanwhile Australia’s media is called out for its lack of balance. (more…)
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Elitists touched up by one of their own – The Callick case
The Murdoch Press sure knows how to whip up an eye-catching headline – it may be its longest suit. True to form, on 19 January 25 The Weekend Australian ran a corker – “HOW THE AMERICAN HATERS IN OUR MIDST GO EASY ON CHINA.”
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Vassal states of the imperial order pay homage to their US master
The spectacle of Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Ambassador Kevin Rudd lining up for their security passes to the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th President of the United States is nauseating. It is a grotesque example of hypocrisy and the deviant practices of realpolitik. Both leaders have previously criticised Trump for what he is. Both would argue they are now merely serving Australia’s interests by their ‘honoured’ presence as he takes power again. (more…)
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Will Trump’s hard line on Beijing ‘blow up’ Canberra’s China policy?
Canberra insiders fear the second coming of Donald Trump could bring pressure on Australia to disown its “stabilisation” policy with Beijing. (more…)
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Thanks Trump, for helping make China great again
Donald Trump’s second term may not be all bad for all nations, including and especially China. For many Chinese internet users, Trump’s policies have unwittingly strengthened their country. This is why he has earned the popular nickname “Chuan Jianguo,” which means “Make China Great.” (more…)
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Humpty Dumpty and the Rules Based International Order
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”
“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”
“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that’s all.”Lewis Caroll-Through the Looking Glass.
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Confidential letter to Trump on AUKUS
Dear Donald, I know that you are a great deal-maker, but you will be seen as even greater if you do as I suggest. Australia is already providing $4 billion to the United States under the AUKUS deal without any guarantee that Virginia class nuclear submarines will ever be provided to it. I suggest that this amount be doubled or even tripled to even $12 billion.
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‘Damning’ new poll shows price Kamala Harris paid for backing Israeli genocide in Gaza
“Israel is a liability,” said one Palestinian-American rights advocate. (more…)
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The ceasefire charade
Israel, going back decades, has played a duplicitous game. It signs a deal with the Palestinians that is to be implemented in phases. The first phase gives Israel what it wants — in this case the release of the Israeli hostages in Gaza — but Israel habitually fails to implement subsequent phases that would lead to a just and equitable peace. It eventually provokes the Palestinians with indiscriminate armed assaults to retaliate, defines a Palestinian response as a provocation and abrogates the ceasefire deal to reignite the slaughter. (more…)
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President Trump and Australia’s National Security
Australia needs to try and persuade the Trump Administration that no country can expect to dominate our region and the benefits of cooperation. But if, as is likely, Trump refuses to accept a multipolar region then Australia must be prepared to act on its own and seek its security within Asia. (more…)
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“Barbarians and their accomplices”- Israel and Western media
The year just past, and we had all better face this, will be remembered as the year the Zionist regime in Israel dragged the Western post-democracies into a state of barbarism we, the inheritors of “the Judeo–Christian tradition,” were supposed to have left behind many centuries ago. I offer this assertion after lengthy reflection. In its suggestion of the historic magnitude of our moment, I do not consider it in the slightest hyperbolic. (more…)
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Joe Biden’s legacy? The Palestinian genocide
American presidents are big on talking about what they believe to be their legacy, even if there is no substance to the claims they make. With Joe Biden, it is crystal clear what he can claim as his legacy: the genocide that has resulted in close to 70,000 Palestinian lives being snuffed out.
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With friends like these…
Despite the decades both major parties have spent ingratiating themselves with the leaders of the United States, Australia is unlikely to receive any favours from the Trump administration.
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Western media believe 24 Californians matter more than 46,000 Palestinians
Last week, news headlines heralded the disaster of 24 lives lost in Californian wildfires. Yet the same media outlets petered out the news of thousands more being killed by deliberate man-made bombing, starvation and destruction of homes and hospitals by Israel in Gaza.
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Another victim of the United States’ obsessive anti-China strategy
The law and politics can be callous. And it certainly has been in the case of 56-year-old Dan Duggan, a former US Marines pilot, now an Australian citizen. Five days before Christmas the federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus announced Mr Duggan would be extradited to the United States to face charges relating to allegations, vehemently denied by Mr Duggan, that he breached arms trafficking laws and engaged in money laundering and conspiracy offences, by training Chinese pilots in South Africa between 2010 and 2012. On Tuesday, Mr Duggan’s family announced it was appealing Mr Dreyfus’ decision. (more…)
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Entering the ‘Pyrocene’: Devastation in California is the harbinger of the apocalypse
Wildfires in California replicate the massive fire storms in the boreal forest in Canada and Siberia, the lungs of the earth. Our addiction to fossil fuel has ignited an age of fire. (more…)
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The US war on terror strikes home
Americans were shocked by two fatal events in the United States on New Year’s day 2025, and one was quickly called ‘Islamist terrorism’. Yet the US supports Muslim terrorist groups in Syria.
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Beggars as choosers
By blocking Nippon Steel’s $14.9 billion purchase of US Steel, the Biden Administration has turned international economic policy inside out. On this point, the incoming Trump Administration is in rare agreement. Like many conflict-prone moves in recent years, this action has been justified on the basis of alleged national security concerns. Yet in the end, it is nothing more than a blatant political move at odds with the core economic and financial needs of the United States. (more…)
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A clear and present danger to the peace of the world
Donald Trump is still to be sworn in for his second term, but is already confirming that he remains a menace to world peace, security and stability.
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Trump is cutting the last threads of the tattered cloth of ‘the rules-based international order’
What do Panama, Canada and Greenland have in common? Could Donald Trump be getting the US back to brass tacks, to a core strategy of dominating the Western Hemisphere? Possibly, and he may be blowing away the fraudulent rhetoric about rules-based international order, territorial integrity, international law and the crusade to expand democracies.
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Lunar New Year predictions for Xi and Trump
The Year of the Snake begins on 29 January. Over the next couple of weeks, fortune tellers will flood the press with their views, each with as much weight and reliability as the mottos in fortune cookies.
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Ukraine war: President Trump confronts a decision
In less than two weeks, when Donald Trump takes office, he will confront sharply conflicting advice on Ukraine from pro-war and anti-war camps in his incoming administration. We cannot predict the outcome, but here is relevant analysis of the choices facing him. (more…)
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A US-China war is just around the corner. True or false?
Before asking whether we are on the precipice of a calamitous war between the United States and China, we need to query who wants such a conflict and who will benefit from it.
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The disruptions to come: Australian foreign policy in the Trump era
As the Trump presidency looms across America and the world, Australia faces major foreign and security policy challenges on three fronts: (i) How would a Dutton government respond? (ii) How would a renewed Albanese government respond? (iii) How would a minority Labor government respond?
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When will the Trump Musk bromance end?
How long will Elon Musk last in the Trump orbit? Currently he seems to be ubiquitous but that presents a problem for Donald Trump and his massive ego. (more…)
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Netanyahu as an American stooge
The war about Israel and its right to exist is not really between Israel and the leading terrorist militias whose aim is to destroy Israel. It is now, more clearly than ever, between the US and Iran. (more…)
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The US sees China through the dark mirror of its own unbridled aggression
As China grows and prospers many in the US want us to believe that China will follow the same path that the US itself pursued – global military aggression, the overthrow of numerous governments around the world and persecution of minorities at home. (A repost from February 2023.)
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Global order in flux: What Trump’s return could mean for trade, allies, and the Middle East
The re-emergence of Donald Trump in the American political landscape has reignited discussions surrounding his “America First” policy, a hallmark of his leadership. This policy, which initially focused on reshaping America’s economic and foreign priorities, has evolved and could have deeper global implications. Trump’s tenure as president and his current campaign suggest that his approach, particularly in terms of trade, immigration, and military strategy, would be significantly more stringent in his second term. (more…)