This is bad news for all the Hong Kong/China critics. (more…)
Category: World
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Republican Albanese imprisoned by royal protocol
I was arrested at a visit by then Prince Charles to Alice Springs in 1977 for handing out press statements on Aboriginal living standards. I avoided jail, but the less fortunate Albanese government has been imprisoned by royal protocol and constitutional custom.
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The wealthy pollutors inflict pain and death on the poor of Pakistan
Even if we measure cumulative emissions just from the 1992-2020 period, the US share is 19.6%, the high-income group’s share is 46.9%, and Pakistan’s share is 0.4%. (more…)
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A feast of new reading outside the grip of corporate western media
John Menadue has drawn attention to how our views of the world are dominated by ‘white man’s media’. (more…)
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Charles III, the billionaire and owner of the Oval cricket ground
Once the fixated adoration with the late Queen Elizabeth II starts cooling, the accountants of public welfare and decency will be stunned to realise the costs and wealth associated with the royal institution. Her successor, Charles III, is continuing in that vein, a jarring note of wealth and pomp even as prices rise and the hefty bills for citizens (should we say subjects?), bite. (more…)
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Provoking China is dangerous for Australia as a US proxy: former Australian official
Editor’s Note:
After the Anthony Albanese government took office, there are voices from both China and Australia saying that it is time for China-Australia relations to reset, and there are some signs of thawing. To what extent will Australia continue to follow the US in provoking China? (more…)
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Russia’s underperforming military- the same as the US military with disaster after disaster
In Washington, wide agreement exists that the Russian army’s performance in the Kremlin’s ongoing Ukraine “special military operation” ranks somewhere between lousy and truly abysmal. The question is: Why? The answer in American policy circles, both civilian and military, appears all but self-evident. (more…)
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Sleepwalk to war: Another view
In Sleepwalk to War (Quarterly Essay Issue 86), Hugh White explores the potential responses of America and Australia to the growing strength of China. The latest Quarterly Essay (Issue 87) contains nine comments on Hugh White’s essay. Like White, all the commentators discuss the issues from the viewpoint of Australia and America.
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Personality and power in Brazil’s elections
Brazil has the largest population and economy in South America and is a member of BRICS. It is as important to the continent as Indonesia is to South-East Asia. Brazil’s national elections will be on 2 October. Elections will select the President, the Congress, a third of the Senate, State Governors and State Legislatures. If there is no clear victor, there will be a final round of voting on the two leading Presidential candidates on 30 October. (more…)
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It is time to question the US alliance
The US wars for the most part have been concocted on lies, illegally declared, and mostly lost. (more…)
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Caitlin Johnstone: Ukraine crawling with CIA & Co
The previously unthinkable idea that the U.S. is at war with Russia has been gradually normalised, with the heat turned up so slowly that the frog doesn’t notice it’s being boiled alive. (more…)
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The Defence Strategic Review – We are becoming a proxy or is it a patsy for the US in a possible conflict with China
The Defence Strategic Review must warn Minister Marles about the dangerous path he is committing Australia to. We are becoming a spear carrier for the US. (more…)
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Labor, Palestinian statehood and the UN General Assembly
With the ALP platform now formally supporting Palestinian statehood the Albanese government soon faces a tricky question. When the UN General Assembly convenes in mid-September (UNGA 77) will Australia put its vote(s) on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict where its declared policy is? (more…)
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Death of Elizabeth marks return to Little England
The passing of the beloved monarch will herald the inevitable descent of this once-powerful nation from global empire to no more than a fractured island. (more…)
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The Defence Strategic Review: Can we rely on the US?
Strategy: ‘a plan designed to achieve a particular long-term aim’. The strategic defence review is presumably intended to produce a plan that will guide decisions by the new Labor government on the acquisition of weapons and the use of other resources (such as people) to protect Australia against future threats to its people, its territory and its interests. (more…)
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The other side of Elizabeth II’s reign: How to profit from plunder while disclaiming responsibility
Reactions to the death of Queen Elizabeth II from victims of atrocities during her reign were less than warm. Did the British Crown derive profits of plunder yet disclaim responsibility for colonisation, they asked? The Westminster shroud, in this regard, is thick indeed, a layer of forced exculpation.
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Will Russia join China in the Pacific?
‘For Russia, China is the key’ was a claim made for the recent Eastern Economic Forum held in Vladivostok annually, and attended by Russia’s President Putin. (more…)
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The Defence Strategic Review: What suffering will we accept to keep America in first place?
Do we want to risk incalculable suffering to prevent America from slipping to ‘second place’ among the nations of the world? Without serious assessment of what cost we are willing to pay in the Defence Strategic Review – how much death and destruction we can tolerate – planning for war is little more than a vacuous exercise.
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America the great? How the decline of the US will affect Australian policy
Courtesy of the Financial Times early last year, we ran what I regarded as the graph of the first two decades of this century. (more…)
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A new world order is emerging and Australia has some decisions to make
Australia’s world is changing. With the decline of US hegemony, a new world order is emerging led by the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the BRICS and the Eurasian Economic Union. Will the Albanese government choose to realign with this new world order, or will it maintain its alliance with the fading hegemon of North America?
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Chinese Australians still have hopes for the Federal Labor Albanese Government
The Government needs to keep in mind that Labor won office significantly due to the ‘Chinese Australian’ vote in 5 to 6 key electorates. The government’s inaction on China could see those ALP votes disappear.
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We urgently need to give Ukraine peace talks a chance
Six months ago, Russia invaded Ukraine. The United States, NATO and the European Union (EU) wrapped themselves in the Ukrainian flag, shelled out billions for arms shipments and imposed draconian sanctions intended to severely punish Russia for its aggression. (more…)
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The Defence Strategic Review: We should regard the Taiwan issue as one for us to ‘sit out’
It is almost impossible to imagine any realistic circumstances, short of general war in the Asia-Pacific, under which China would launch a military attack on Australia. (more…)
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Silencing the lambs. How propaganda works in the West
Isn’t it time that writers who are meant to keep the record straight declared their independence and decoded the propaganda? The urgency is greater than ever. (more…)
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The Defence Strategic Review – we need to urgently reduce conflicts and global warming
Cabinet needs to insist Marles’ return to Labor’s previous support for an independent foreign policy and recognise there is no guarantee an arms build-up won’t lead to a calamitous war. Crucially, the Albanese government needs to give a clear priority to helping reduce conflicts and global warming that cause horrendous suffering to innocent people around the globe. (more…)
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We have to learn to co-exist with China
None of the ASEAN countries wants a US-led conflict over Taiwan, which if it occurs, is likely to accelerate America’s decline in East Asia and the Western Pacific. (more…)
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Tomorrow’s adults want democracy ‘but not the western kind’
The people of Africa are joining folk around the world to speak out against the policy of insisting that western liberal democracy is the only acceptable form of government. (more…)
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A final word on NATO expansion and Ukraine
Mr Jon Richardson has written a piece commenting on some of the points that I made in my critique of an earlier piece by him, and while I think exchanges often reach the point of exhaustion, some of his comments do warrant a response. (more…)
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In decline, can the US escape the Thucydides Trap?
Conflict is far more likely to be initiated by a United States under threat of the loss of its top status. (more…)
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Getting away with mid-air murder
Studying in Europe was to be a highlight of Munir Said Thalib’s career. The voice of the Indonesian activist and forceful critic of the army’s human rights record was being heard internationally. His opponents hoped a spell abroad might silence the censure. Instead, it was amplified. Now it’ll be turned off as time for action expires. (more…)