Across the Indo-Pacific, as well as in the escalating Ukraine War, humanity stands an accident or miscalculation away from the calamity of nuclear war. (more…)
Category: World
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America’s cruel game with Australia
Australia’s security policy is a mess. We have been betrayed by our national leaders. Without exception, from Prime Minister Gillard on – with Anthony Albanese shaping up to join – the sell-out to America’s war neurosis is complete. Our leaders have been party to the fabrication of China as a military threat to Australia, by inviting a US military offence against China to settle here and be developed. (more…)
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Europe and the legitimisation of deception
The U.S., having no need of or gift for statecraft, has long practiced what I’ve taken to calling the diplomacy of no diplomacy. You can’t expect much from bimbos such as Antony Blinken or Wendy Sherman, Blinken’s No. 2 at the State Department. All they can do is roar, even if they are mice next to any serious diplomat. (more…)
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The new world economy
Belém, Brazil – I inaugurate this new series of columns in a New Year and a new beginning for Brazil with the inauguration of President Lula da Silva, His well-wishers poured out across the country in a revival of hope for Brazil after four years of disastrous rule under his right-wing predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, who had fled Brazil for Florida on the eve of Lula’s inauguration. Bolsonaro left behind a mob that rampaged government office buildings before being arrested in large numbers by the police. (more…)
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Will engaging China in WTO multilateral trade discussions help reset relations?
The current WTO rules were negotiated during the Uruguay Round without China involved or even in mind. The expectation was that China would evolve into a market economy and WTO rules would apply. China has not evolved as expected; should China change its state-controlled economy, or should WTO rules be rewritten to accommodate China? (more…)
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Can ‘Bazball’ save Test cricket?
Test cricket is sometimes its own worst enemy, regularly shooting itself in the foot. Can ‘Bazball’ save it? And can the playing conditions be applied more effectively? (more…)
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Follow the money: ASPI is a front for US propaganda
What is the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), what are its sources of funding, and why does it so consistently advocate for positions favourable to the United States and the weapons industry? Follow the money trail. (more…)
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Blaming Morrison for Liberal’s disastrous collapse is a facile critique
We see a tendency to blame individuals for the crisis in our politics across the AUKUS nations. This is facile. Donald Trump did not create the farce of a Republican party seen in the vote for the Speaker in early January. Boris Johnson did not create the catastrophe that is the British Conservative party displayed over the Liz Truss moment. Blaming Scott Morrison for the Liberal Party’s disastrous collapse is another shallow critique. (more…)
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Western journalists are cowardly, approval-seeking losers
Research conducted by New York University’s Center for Social Media and Politics into Russian trolling behaviour on Twitter in the lead-up to the 2016 US presidential election has found “no evidence of a meaningful relationship between exposure to the Russian foreign influence campaign and changes in attitudes, polarisation, or voting behaviour.” (more…)
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Australia’s ‘optimal pathway’ on AUKUS
Just in time, the fundamental faults of AUKUS are being exposed in Canberra and Washington. (more…)
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Qassem Soleimani in Venezuela: The lesser known motive behind his assassination
Why was Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani assassinated by the US? His visit to Venezuela in 2019 may provide some answers. (more…)
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Wars and more wars: the sorry U.S. history in the Middle East
The American republic morphed well over a century ago into an empire of many endless wars. With U.S. troops still in Syria, Iraq, Somalia and numerous African countries, with over 800 military bases in more than 70 countries and a war budget of roughly one trillion dollars a year, it’s no surprise that one of our main exports is weapons and that arms merchants call the shots in Washington. Presidents come and go, but the wars don’t: they drag on. And when a president does manage to extract the country from one of these military quagmires, as Biden did in Afghanistan, he gets nothing but grief. (more…)
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Rules-based international order: What rules? Whose rules?
When interviewed on Great Game on Russia’s state-run Channel One (8 Dec. 2022), Russia’s Foreign Minister, Secretary Lavrov, was given ample opportunity to set out Russia’s views on its role in the Ukraine and on the differences his country has with its many adversaries. (more…)
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Reduce consumption, or face reality of civilisational collapse
An important debate is developing in Pearls and Irritations on the need to reduce consumption. In his article “Labor’s Environmental Denialism”, Stephen Williams acknowledged several positive steps being taken by the Labor government to help protect the environment, and then argued that Labor was failing to address the fundamental drivers of environmental disaster, which he identified as growth in the economy and population. (more…)
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2022 will go down as the year of ‘de-Westernisation’
From China’s socialist path to Latin America’s left turn and Asean’s neutral stance, more countries are quietly but firmly spurning the Western world order. (more…)
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Where are China-U.S. relations going? Must watch interview
“There is a battle in the US between so called hardliners, so called neocons or neoconservatives, and those who want cooperative relations with China.”
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Seeking justice in the name of hate: In Defence of BDS
“As long as Germany declares the Jews to be an inferior race, poisoning and persecuting them, decent, self-respecting Jews cannot deal with Germany in any way, buy or sell or maintain any manner of commerce with Germany or travel on German Boats.” (more…)
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Will prospects for long-term human survival improve in 2023?
What can we expect in 2023 about future human prospects? Will current threats to long-term human survival, continue to increase or will they begin to diminish as a consequence of responses to current threats?” (more…)
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‘Boys will be boys’: why consumers don’t punish big polluters for greenwashing lies
Stigma is an awful burden for business. But what if – for some companies – stigma is an asset? (more…)
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Russia warns Japan on ‘openly unfriendly positions’
Moscow has now warned that Japan’s ‘openly unfriendly positions’ make delayed peace treaty talks impossible. Australia has some connections with those ‘unfriendly positions.’ (more…)
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Eurasia’s middle corridor: An Atlanticist frenzy to stifle Europe-Asia integration
Geopolitical interests between the Anglo-American establishment and the Sino-Russian-led axis will clash over the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route. (more…)
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As crimes of apartheid worsen, the West’s exceptionalism toward Israel must end
Israel’s new administration will be one that does not conceal its intention to preserve and further entrench the apartheid tyranny over the Palestinians, while fully cultivating Jewish supremacy as a political and legal credo. (more…)
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Western commentators are blind to their limits on China, Russia
When watching or listening to experts on international affairs—especially those speaking on China or Russia and the war in Ukraine — there’s one question you should keep asking yourself. How do they know? (more…)
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Awakening from the Western Narrative
Western analysts spent years warning that western actions would provoke a war in Ukraine, westerners spent four years being propagandised into hating Russia, then Russia invades and now western imperialists say the war is advancing US interests. But remember: it was an “unprovoked invasion”. (more…)
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Why Japan is not an acceptable military ally
There is some terrible double-foolishness afoot, that is certain to be widely noticed beyond the Western bubble. Australia is stepping forward with gusto to secure its position as a best-military-buddy not only with America, the most warlike nation in history, according to Jimmy Carter, but also with Japan, one of the 20th century’s most infamous warmongers, presently rearming with alarming relish. You are, as they say, known by the company you keep. (more…)
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Myths and facts about China’s current COVID-19 situation
The Chinese government refined its COVID-19 prevention and control measures recently, ushering in a new phase of the country’s efforts to prevent and control the disease. The refined measures are in line with people’s wishes, conducive to China’s economic and social development and world economic recovery, and will inject more stability and positive energy into today’s volatile world.
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Labor’s environmental denialism? Should we limit population and economic growth?
The call for a steady state global and national economy and even degrowth is a distraction unhelpful to the environmental cause. The challenge is to inspire and sustain ingenious strategies to decouple economic growth from environmental harm. The sorts of programs championed by Environment Minister Plibersek are heading in the right direction. (more…)
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‘Antisemitism’, mendacity & zionist propaganda in Australia
Propaganda is a dark and devious art. It exploits ignorance to peddle dogma. It violates truth, logic and right reason. It is the negation of philosophy and science. (more…)
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We’ve reached peak Zelensky. Now what?
After the farcical, almost psychotic over-promotion, Robert Freeman says the only place for the Ukrainian president to go from here is down. And, that is surely coming. Soon. (more…)
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Protecting nature: art of the impossible?
In recent months governments around the world, including ours, have been striving to reach agreement on “protecting nature”. The UN summit held in Montreal aimed at reaching a global deal to secure the protection of 30 per cent of the planet by 2030. (more…)