One of the most important developments in economics is something in which economists had no hand: the identification of the environmental limits which humans, busily producing and consuming, cross at their peril. (more…)
Category: World
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“Inhumanity in its vilest form”: There’s no time to lose for crisis-hit Myanmar
Each day the people are enduring horrifying attacks and flagrant human rights violations by a genocidal, criminal regime. (more…)
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The brave man
There was a time not so long ago, especially after the Vietnam War, when leaders in the advanced countries such as the United States, Britain, France and Germany gave us hope that the mistakes of the past had been learnt and that we were heading for a fairer and more ethical system: when Nelson Mandela led negotiations to end apartheid ended in South Africa; when the Soviet Union ended in 1991; and when Angela Merkel led Germany as Chancellor (2005 – 2021); and when China opened up its economy (1978) to the world. (more…)
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Beyond the neocon debacle to peace in Ukraine
We are entering the end stage of the 30-year US neocon debacle in Ukraine. The neocon plan to surround Russia in the Black Sea region by NATO has failed. Decisions now by the US and Russia will matter enormously for peace, security, and wellbeing for the entire world. (more…)
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Facing existential threats, raging wars highlight our failure to co-exist
The world recently saw the hottest day in 120 thousand years, mainly driven by climate change arising from our addiction to fossil fuels – sustaining economic growth and maintaining our lifestyles. We are consuming more oil than ever before in human history – enough to fill 6,500 Olympic swimming pools every day. (more…)
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The future will be decided by economic influence, not military dominance
America is falling into a trap. It thinks the future will be decided by military dominance, despite losing one war after another. China, on the other hand, recognises that the future will be decided by economics. (more…)
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Planned degrowth is needed to stop the collapse of civilisation
An opinion piece (‘Degrowth approach is disastrous’, Canberra Times, 9 September, p.38) by authors from the Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) attacked the concept of degrowth to a steady-state economy (SSE) and defended the notion of continuing economic growth on a finite planet. (more…)
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A divided US needs an ‘enemy’ like Beijing more than it ever did
When something becomes too complicated, psychologists say we go for ‘rules of thumb’. In Washington today, that rule is ‘the China threat’. (more…)
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Rethinking China and the new world order
The world is now experiencing a new era of multilateralism. The Quad (India, US, Japan, Australia) now sits alongside the G20, the G7, and has been joined by AUKUS (Australia, UK, US), and the great new vision of the Indo Pacific. BRICS, around for almost two decades, looks like it might expand to become a gathering for the newly emerging global South. That is before we take on board the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Asia Pacific Economic Conference (APEC) and the collection of other acronyms that increasingly dot across the world. (more…)
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How has the Belt and Road Initiative changed the world?
The ten years of the Belt and Road Initiative has proven that the rise of China has not brought colonialism, disaster, war, refugees, and crises. Instead, it brought the world trade, commodities, tourists, infrastructure, economic growth and civilisation. No matter how Western politicians, media, and think tanks vilify the BRI, they cannot cover up a basic fact—that is, when China is strong, it does not take the old path of aggression and expansion we see in the histories of Europe, the US, Japan, and others. (more…)
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The news has nothing to do with newsworthiness
I don’t mention it often but I actually have a degree in journalism. I graduated with distinction from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 2003, and while it would be another 13 years before I’d ever put my degree to any use, the experience played a massive role in forming my opinions about the mainstream press. (more…)
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Militarising exclusive maritime zones – a new global US security doctrine?
International law of the sea is set to be subverted as America seeks to exercise extraterritorial defence claims over foreign exclusive economic zones beyond those of three Pacific island states. (more…)
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Why China is not a threat: Sinophobia Unites Americans
Hatred of China is now the single issue that unites Democrats and Republicans. Having a perceived foe helps unite a deeply divided America internally, unless, of course, it becomes a losing cause. This three-part series explores how US narratives on the ‘China threat’ have become entrenched in the West, and why China is not a threat – unless we make it one. (more…)
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Did Penny Wong really just suggest China is an ‘existential’ threat?
The Australian Government has a big problem with its security narrative. Preparing for a putative war with China is the nation’s top security priority, while the government’s knowledge of the growing existential threat of climate disruption and their security consequences remains a closely-guarded secret. (more…)
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The west destroyed Africa, Eurasia will revive it
Africa’s renaissance is already underway through partnerships with Eurasian powers Russia and China, whose significant contributions are already visible in security, economic, and institutional sectors throughout the continent. (more…)
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Why Rupert Murdoch came to New York
With the announcement that Rupert Murdoch is stepping down from the board of FoxNews and Newscorp, I thought was it an apt moment to reprint one of the most detailed portraits ever written of the press mogul: Alexander Cockburn’s 1976 profile and interview with Murdoch published in the Village Voice in 1976, shortly after Murdoch had acquired the New York Post. Alex’s interview with Murdoch was liberally mined by William Shawcross for his otherwise demur biography of the carnivorous tycoon.–JSC (more…)
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On Nord Stream anniversary, Ukraine war at a turning point
Tuesday 26 September is the anniversary of the Biden administration’s destruction of three of the four pipelines of Nord Stream 1 and 2. There is more I have to say about it, but it will have to wait. Why? Because the war between Russia and Ukraine, with the White House continuing to reject any talk of a ceasefire, is at a turning point. (more…)
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America can’t stop China’s rise
There’s little doubt that the American government has decided to slow China’s economic rise, most notably in the fields of technological development. To be sure, the Biden administration denies that these are its goals. Janet Yellen said on April 20, 2023, “China’s economic growth need not be incompatible with U.S. economic leadership. The United States remains the most dynamic and prosperous economy in the world. We have no reason to fear healthy economic competition with any country.” And Jake Sullivan said on April 27, 2023, “Our export controls will remain narrowly focused on technology that could tilt the military balance. We are simply ensuring that U.S. and allied technology is not used against us.” (more…)
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Health impacts of sanctions deleted from UN declaration on universal health coverage (with Australian support)
In the lead up to the high-level UN meeting on universal health coverage (UHC) Australia has joined the US, UK and the EU in blocking any acknowledgement that ‘unilateral coercive measures’ (sanctions) can have negative impacts on the achievement of universal health coverage. (more…)
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Earth Systems Treaty: John Hewson calls for action on ‘mega threats’
Former Liberal party leader John Hewson, in a letter to the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, enquired why the United Nations was not acting on proposals to deal with a series of well documented and interacting catastrophic threats. (more…)
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Okinawa disproves the US narrative about overseas bases
Okinawa governor Denny Tamaki has implored the UN for international backing in his opposition to the prefecture being overrun with US military bases. (more…)
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Strategic ambiguity: a weapon of mass destruction
Strategic ambiguity is the greatest oral weapon of mass destruction that the Western world has ever invented. (more…)
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The mass-media memory hole: Ukraine, Libya and war crimes
A key function of state-corporate media is to keep the public pacified, ignorant and ill-equipped to disrupt establishment power. (more…)
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Freedom of the press barons?
The ‘disinformation’ (read: lies and bullshit) being propagated about the indigenous Voice to Parliament by the Murdoch media, among others, harms our society. It promotes division, celebrates and cultivates ignorance and bigotry, oppresses a minority and diminishes us all. Why do we tolerate such behaviour? (more…)
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Trudeau ruins India’s global triumph – Asian Media Report
In Asian media this week: Canada, India tensions have sorry history. Plus: BRI shows most countries shun ‘decoupling’; Myanmar rebels ‘will never give up’; China to dominate green car market; Putin and Kim lead ‘axis of outcasts’; China decline the fashionable chatter in Washington. (more…)
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A climate of insanity
Inherent in the nature of insanity is the fact that those inflicted by it are unaware of their mental state. (more…)
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War profiteers are a sign of a profoundly sick society
“War is good for business.” So reads a quote from an arms industry executive in a recent Reuters article titled “At London arms fair, global war fears are good for business” about Europe’s biggest arms show, the biennial Defence and Security Equipment International. You will probably be unsurprised to learn that Reuters does not name the war profiteer whose quote inspired their headline. (more…)
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Shadow boxing in the Universal Health Coverage debate
Shadow boxing around “universal health coverage” instead of “universal access to healthcare” in the UN General Assembly reflects deeper tensions around the direction of the world economy. (more…)
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Overthrowing Allende: Australia’s special role in destroying a democracy
Every September 11, those in the United States mourn the 2001 attacks that reduced the Twin Towers to rubble and holed the Pentagon. Some 3,000 people perished. US President George W. Bush declared in a speech following the attacks that the US had been targeted for being “the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world.” (more…)
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Australia’s secretive defence establishment: the real enemies of truth and freedom
Australia, with fewer secrets to hide, is more compulsively secretive than the US, China or NATO. (more…)