Faced with war across Europe, nineteenth century poet William Wordsworth asked, ‘What a fair world were ours for verse to paint, if Power could live at ease with self-restraint?’ He was following sixteenth century John Donne’s recognition of human interdependence, ‘No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continue reading »
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For China these days it doesn’t get much easier to pursue it geostrategic objectives. With the US distracted on two fronts in Europe and the Middle East, and Russia mired in its intractable invasion of Ukraine, among the great powers, China is largely free to advance its interests on an increasingly global scale. Sabre rattling Continue reading »
Countless numbers of Gazans are facing or dying from famine, while Israel continues to make extreme statements and settler violence against Palestinians continues. There is outrage in the Australian community about Israel’s actions. It is time for Australia to act on its severe concerns. The AJDS calls for the Australian Government to ban the importation Continue reading »
US lawmakers have introduced a bill that would bar US mutual funds from investing in indexes that track Chinese stocks (Bloomberg). According to Bloomberg “The legislation targets mutual funds that invest in indexes tracking primarily Chinese stocks, rather than those investing in indexes that only include some Chinese companies, according to Sherman’s office. However, the Continue reading »
Of course, at this time of rising living costs, economic uncertainty, and impending climate disaster, subsidising the British and American submarine construction industrial bases is the obvious priority. At least it seems that way to the Albanese government. The lack of a convincing strategic justification for the AUKUS-SSNs is a separate matter from the approach Continue reading »
The best argument against having an explicit legislated or constitutional right of freedom of religion in Australia comes right out of the playbook of the No campaign during the referendum on a constitutional Voice for Indigenous Australians. There’s no particular problem of giving expression to one’s beliefs in this country, and almost any attempt to Continue reading »
Downplaying the seriousness of the Covid-19 sequelae known as “Long Covid” is a serious mistake. Last week much publicity was given to the suggestion from one team of researchers that the symptoms of “Long-Covid” were not significantly different from those that followed many viral infections and the term should be dropped. Long-Covid was just another Continue reading »
The recent decision by PM Albanese not to proceed with an important ALP election promise unless the Opposition supports the proposal surely runs counter to the two-party culture often claimed to be a holy aspect of the Westminster political system. At issue is the ALP’s promise to protect the right of religious schools to practice Continue reading »
On Palm Sunday, diverse refugee activists were literally running rings around reflexive fear mongering politicians. Palm Sunday rallies bring together Jew and Moslem, Hindu, Buddhist, many varieties of Christian, humanists and atheists to share a vision of ecumenical cooperation and tolerance. The rallies traditionally promote human rights and equity while also condemning war. Thinkers, believers Continue reading »
Saul Eslake, the renowned and independent economist, has updated his China chart pack which was last prepared in January 2023. The chart pack gives a bird’s eye view of the economic challenges China needs to address. By using the term ‘Peak China’, he does not mean that China will collapse, but that its future economic Continue reading »
By Kathleen McClellan - Jesselyn Radack: Salon.com
It happened under Trump — and under Obama: The U.S. is using bad law to crack down on investigative journalism
Though utilizing it recently to promote the long-running show, BBC says that it will no longer use AI to promote Doctor Who moving forward.
Trump gets another break: A New York appeals court agreed to slash millions off of the bond Donald Trump must post to cover a $454 million civil fraud verdict while he appeals it, reducing it to $175 million after the real estate mogul claimed he’d have to sell properties at a loss to raise cash. The ruling Monday comes on the day Trump faced a deadline to either pay the fine or post a bond for 120% of the judgment to put it on hold while he appeals. That would have amounted to nearly $545 million dollars. He has 10 days to post the bond, the court ruled. The decision means Trump may be able to push ahead with his appeal without the risk of his assets being seized by New York Attorney General Letitia James for lack of payment. The appeals court did not offer any explanation behind their decision. Read the order. There’s more. This is a huge win for Trump. They don’t call him Teflon Don for nothing.
Hey there, it’s me. The CamelBak you bought in 2012 before a post-grad backpacking adventure. Remember that? You used to show me off to all your friends. I was a twenty-five-ounce, dishwasher-safe piece of proof of your commitment to the environment. You used to take me on trips. You even took me to work. We were inseparable.
Sure, I’ve been languishing in the back of your cupboard for the better part of a decade, but every relationship has its peaks and troughs, and I figured we’d get through the dry spell eventually. So imagine my surprise when I discovered that there was someone else—a pastel-colored interloper by the name of Stanley. A real blow to my confidence, that was.
We’ve been through a lot together, so I’m giving you an opportunity to be honest: Are you breaking up with me? I just need to know.
Musk made hay of his legal battle against secret surveillance but continued selling X user data to a company that facilitates government monitoring.
The post Elon Musk Fought Government Surveillance — While Profiting Off Government Surveillance appeared first on The Intercept.
MPs are expected to vote for the Investigatory Powers Amendment Bill (IPAB) when it returns to parliament today. The Bill could force tech companies to apply to the Home Office prior to introducing updates that improve the security and privacy of their products. The Home Office could then serve notices preventing the updates from being […]
Never forget This was a common refrain: How about this nonsense? You can’t make this stuff up: This is ridiculous. I don’t know if Pompeo has a larger agenda. They do seem to be looking for a confrontation with China out of this whole thing but it’s unclear exactly what they think they’ll get out of it. But first and foremost, this is being done to appease Little Lord Fauntleroy in the White House who constantly needs to be reassured that his juvenile, re-election “branding” is being carried out at the highest levels of government. I guess it doesn’t matter if they can issue a joint statement. But you would think that international cooperation would be a top priority during a global pandemic. Apparently not. This response was catastrophic. It divided the nation even more than it already was and resulted in a massive number of unnecessary deaths and ongoing trauma which he is making worse each day by refusing to go the fuck away.
No ordinary election, a plebiscite Sunday is not one of our heaviest traffic days at ye olde blog. For any readers who missed Digby’s repost of Brynn Tannehill’s long Twitter thread (sorry/not-sorry, Elon) about what another Trump presidency would mean, take a gulp of strong coffee and go read it. Take the warning seriously. Seen in one place, the detailed string of changes Trump, his MAGA followers, his oligarch backers, and Christian nationalist organizations behind Project 2025 mean to enact to remake this republic into something more resembling Hungary, if not Russia, shook me up. It’s like a murder of a country or a democracy: we see that they have the motive (Christian Nationalist vision for the US requires that democracy die), the means (replacing everyone + Insurrection Act + ignoring the courts), & the opportunity (amoral Trump as President) We have intent, and boy howdy have they telegraphed this one.
In his latest book, Technofeudalism, the maverick academic-turned unlikely Minister of Finance-turned enfant terrible of European politics Yanis Varoufakis argues that capitalism has ended. It has not, however, been destroyed by the workers of the world – it has been killed by capital itself. The idea, in a nutshell, is the following. As a response […]
Famous for its repression and torture, Teodoro Obiang’s Equatorial Guinea got an aid delivery from U.S. Special Operations forces.
The post Squeezed by African Coups, Biden Cozies Up to the World’s Worst Dictator appeared first on The Intercept.