Such terms and phrases as a rules-based system, de-risking, democracy vs autocracy, and coercive behaviour are not exhaustive but still expose obfuscation and double standards. Politicians campaigning for election love to use buzzwords and catchy phrases to explain what they stand for and what their policies are. They do that because they assume, probably rightly, Continue reading »
International Relations
The Chinese character for China, denotes China as the middle kingdom and understandably so: It borders 14 sovereign states. To the north- Russia, Mongolia and Korea (since there is no formal separation of North and South Korea). To the west – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan To the south west – Pakistan, Afghanistan To the south – Continue reading »
Somewhere, somehow, China became the number one enemy of the world, or at least to the world that is run by the USA. For many the ‘reason’ has been the challenge that China poses to US economic hegemony, but might not America’s fear of China be based on ideological causes; a battle of ideas? Why Continue reading »
You could hear, when Biden squibbed the Quad, the Austral-Americans deflate. They watched aghast when Captain Ahab abandoned them, and the sinking big idea of Austral-American grand strategy, the Indo-Pacific, disappeared somewhere in the China Sea. The idea of an international order espoused by the Austral-Americans, to honour Paul Keating’s term, is the free and Continue reading »
In Asian Media this week: India Special: West’s one-two soft-soaping of country’s leader; anti-colonial Modi pushes ‘new’ future; forecasts of Indian century ‘magical thinking’. Plus: tighter US, Japan, South Korea ties; Timor-Leste’s ASEAN ambitions; Bangkok backing key to poll winner’s survival. India I: Anthony Albanese’s gushing greeting last month for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Continue reading »
Atrocities don’t happen overnight. They ramp up over time. The Nazi death camps, were preceded by at least a decade of smaller, selective and escalating removals of human rights for Jewish and LGBTIQ+ peoples. Similar patterns allowed for the genocides in Rwanda and Cambodia – incremental and selective removals of minority rights built momentum and Continue reading »
The situation in the South China Sea is on the verge of becoming a game of chicken between the U.S. and China with the Philippines in the middle. This would be very dangerous and could cause China to miscalculate. Either one blinks or they clash. More than 60 years ago, the U.S. claimed that on Continue reading »
There are distinct parallels between I F Stones’ exposé of the ongoing Korean War and both the Ukraine War and preparations for a second war with China. Izzy Stone did not travel to war zones like the intrepid Wilfred Burchett, nor had he the whistleblowing ‘sources’ that Sy Hersh uses. His approach is different and Continue reading »
In Turkiye, deep polarisation and the long struggle between the Atlanticists and the Eurasianists over Turkiye’s soul seems to be ending in victory for the latter. The EU has little appeal for Turks now. It lives in vassalage to the US, which itself seems to be thrashing around in the last days of empire. The Continue reading »
The arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan on May 9th sent shockwaves throughout Pakistan, igniting widespread and violent protests across the nation. The unprecedented backlash against the military establishment unfolded in a series of alarming images that flooded the internet. Imran’s supporters from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party stormed the General Headquarters, wreaking havoc Continue reading »