The biggest problem with Artificial Intelligence will be the way we use it, writes Dr Richard Hil. (more…)
Category: World
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America’s displacement anxiety and the decade of living dangerously
The 2020s was once described by former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd as a “decade of living dangerously”. He was talking about the bilateral tensions between the U.S. and China. I would suggest that it’s a dangerous decade in large part because the collective west, led by the neocon political elite in Washington, are experiencing a protracted bout of “displacement anxiety”*. (more…)
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Democrats are demented genocidal war sluts
President Biden is reportedly preparing to begin a new weeks-long bombing campaign in the middle east in retaliation for a drone attack which killed three US troops this past weekend. These strikes are expected to include Iranian targets, tempting the nightmare scenario of a full-blown war with Iran, despite the public acknowledgement that there’s no evidence Iran was behind the drone strike. (more…)
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Enough is enough for Gaza and Assange
The International Court of Justice has responded rather toothlessly to South Africa’s appeal to the Genocide Convention. In less than a month, a similar result can be expected when Britain’s Royal Courts of Justice hear for Julian Assange’s last appeal against extradition to the United States. (more…)
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On the precipice: The US pushes allies towards a Middle East war
Netanyahu and his supporters in Washington are playing for very high and dangerous stakes indeed as the Middle East war threatens to widen beyond Gaza. (more…)
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Why I believe what I believe about the Chinese Revolution
Late last year, a colleague sent me a letter decrying some of my writings about China, notably the last newsletter of 2023. This newsletter is my response to him. (more…)
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Doomsday clock stays at 90 seconds to midnight: Still poised on the brink, closer than we’ve ever been
Nuclear risk reduction, abolition, more, urgent than ever. (more…)
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Towards an unliveable planet: Climate’s 2023 annus horribilis
The heat and extreme climate records of 2023 shocked scientists. So where are we heading? Given current trends, the world will zoom past 2°C of warming and the Paris climate goal of limiting warming to 1.5-2°C. (more…)
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As Australia joins the US war on Yemen, Labor is a house divided
Not since the DLP split in 1955 has Labor been so divided on foreign and defence policy. And always for the same reason. (more…)
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Humanity’s new era of “global boiling”: Climate’s 2023 annus horribilis
For climate change, 2023 was an “unprecedented” year, “absolutely gobsmackingly bananas” and “scary” and “frightening”. And that was what climate scientists said! The UN Secretary General called it the year in which humanity crossed into a new climate era — an age of “global boiling”. (more…)
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US military pays $300M to divert Australian communication cable through Diego-Garcia
The US military paid $300 million to divert an Australian undersea communication cable to Oman through Diego-Garcia, writes Phil Miller, as facilities at a UK GCHQ surveillance station in the Middle Eastern country have been upgraded ahead of a potentially devastating new war with Iran over Israel. (more…)
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The four horsemen of Gaza’s apocalypse
Joe Biden relies on advisors who view the world through the prism of the West’s civilising mission to the “lesser breeds” of the earth to formulate his policies towards Israel and the Middle East. (more…)
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American elites may fear Trump return, but the rest of us need not
The US has become a more dangerous nation and Donald 2.0, with his instinctive aversion to war, may even be less threatening to the world. (more…)
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Is climate change too hard for democracy?
We have all heard that 2023 was the warmest year ever for the world, by some margin. (more…)
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Division, terrible suffering, and learnings about peacebuilding
Amplified by the terrible sufferings in many places, and by the divided voices, especially as regards Israel/Gaza, we have some learnings about peacebuilding that it might be timely to reflect on. ‘Cease-fire,’ of course, is just a less vivid way of saying ‘we will stop killing people we don’t know.’ (more…)
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Can China escape a deflationary trap? Economic outlook 2024
Last year was the most widely anticipated recession in history because tight monetary policy, slower government spending and higher oil prices normally spell doom. Yet total economic output (GDP) in both America and Australia kept growing in real (after inflation) terms. So, what can we expect in 2024? Will economists get it right this year or miss the mark again? Here is the outlook for leading economies based on what most forecasters are saying. (more…)
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The remarkable global impact of the Chinese car industry: Trade beats war every time
Around 25 years ago, wise commentators said China may, in due course, be able to produce acceptable basic, manufactured white-goods but making motor cars that would sell globally was not conceivable. Far too many complex inputs went into making a modern family sedan compared to a refrigerator. As for landing a rover on the Moon and Mars – unimaginable. Those rovers successfully landed in 2013 and 2021 respectively. And now China has become the largest builder and exporter of motor cars on the planet. The Global West, especially, is widely surprised, indeed, startled. (more…)
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No country for old men: Why ignore our elder statesmen?
I am currently reading a book by Jeffrey Sachs whose articles often grace these pages. I am struck by the wealth of his experience having advised governments over many years, and his ability to take a long view of world events, in particular the deterioration in the United States position in the world since the end of World War 2. But he, like many in his generation, is routinely ignored. I do not see his name listed as one of President Biden’s advisers. (more…)
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We need to shift from ‘Indo-Pacific’ back to ‘Asia-Pacific’
The difference between “Asia-Pacific” and “Indo-Pacific” is not just geographical. These are entirely different notions with entirely different economic and geopolitical implications.
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The Trias Politica and Australian governance
In recent years a growing number of Australians have lost confidence in their system of governance, but few journalists and political theory academics have suggested alternatives. If Australia is to improve its governance system and its democracy, it should look to European alternatives. (more…)
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Decolonisation is our safeguard against genocide
To ensure Aboriginal Peoples’ freedom from genocide and ecocide, we need decolonisation. (more…)
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China: Perspectives beyond the mainstream media
China looms large in the Australian psyche. On a practical level, what happens in China largely determines the success of global action to deal with climate change, the profitability of our rural economy and the financing of our universities. Our national leaders are concerned about rising tensions in our region and the interplay of US-China relations. How are we to find our way through media doom and gloom and come to grips with the reality of China? (more…)
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We spend billions on ‘wellness’ crap. Why?
‘Alternative’ medicines and therapies comprise the biggest scam in the country. But if you think that industry is going to be cleaned up … you’re joking. (more…)
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Christ is born in Gaza
Why was Christ born in a stable? Because the Israelis bombed all the houses. Truly. Every year Jesus is born, dies and is reborn. He is reborn into our world – that is part of what makes Christian symbology meaningful. This year Christ is a brown skinned Middle Eastern man about to be born in Gaza. (more…)
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US hypocrisy results in persistent Western failures in resolving the Palestinian crisis
The Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which spans over seven decades, serves as a potent illustration of the persistent failures of Western nations, particularly the United States, to facilitate an equitable and enduring resolution. (more…)
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What happened to the UN’s ‘Responsibility to Protect’?
The world watches the destruction of Gaza as 13,000 thousand Palestinians are killed including 5,600 children. The world watches as Gazan hospitals are invaded, patients ordered to flee south where there is neither water, food nor safety. The world watches while Israeli spokespersons claim they never target civilians, and then comes the propagandist fig leaf to conceal all the cruelties. An Israeli spokesperson points to a hole in the ground beside a hospital as evidence of Hamas’ headquarters. (more…)
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UN Security Council can end Israel-Palestine, Ukraine, Syria, and Sahel wars
All P5 members, and indeed the whole world, suffer adverse consequences from the continuation of these wars. All are paying a price in terms of financial burdens, economic instability, risks of terrorism, and risks of a wider war. For the sake of global peace, let the Council now choose to end these wars. (more…)
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The world needed the Xi-Biden meeting
Western media reports about China are of tensions and animosity, restrictions and sanctions, balloons and drugs. So, it’s easy to believe the China-US relationship has fallen apart. However, look beyond the headlines and political rhetoric, there is a different picture. (more…)
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The right to violent resistance and a false Western morality
If I had lived under a siege all my life in a tiny open air prison camp – if I had no hope for the future – I too might be tempted to violently resist a brutal, unrelenting and illegal occupation, which is my right under international law. (more…)
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Gutless leaders without faith, hope or charity
People often say that we get the politicians we deserve, but I am not sure that even the Australians who voted no at the recent referendum deserve what passed for political leadership and quality representation that has been on recent display. (more…)