The recent Robert Gregory blog in Australian Jewish News demands a response. Gregory introduces his piece with the observation ‘Australia/Israel relations are at a tipping point’. He goes on to draw attention to some important but nevertheless modest decisions by the present Labor government in the first twelve months in office. They at least evidenced Continue reading »
International Relations
YET ANOTHER G-7 meeting has passed with yet another embarrassing show of insecurity by a group that is well past its sell-by date. The G-7 is such an anachronism, a relic of the past clinging on to a crumbling façade of make-believe power in a rapidly changing world. The images and the narrative all speak Continue reading »
Let’s see how Europeans respond when they are told their peace dividend is henceforth to be spent on the machinery of war — when it’s “howitzers instead of hospitals” now, as a New York Times article puts it. Maybe you recall all the post–Cold War talk of a “peace dividend” and maybe you don’t: It depends on Continue reading »
With the passing of the 75th remembrance of the Nakba this May, Palestine and its Occupation can often be forgotten from one May to another. May will come around next year, the Palestinian flag will be waved, Palestinian supporters will rightfully demonstrate in capital cities around the world while the US and UK recommence their Continue reading »
Predatory capitalism has become visible across the world as neo-liberalism becomes fully transnational. Consultancies working to authoritarian rules have consumed big business by making executives richer. They may be set to engulf governments and even entire societies. In the 1920s and 1930s fascist Germany and Italy were the darlings of business across the democratic world. Continue reading »
We now have a Defence Strategic Review. But where is the National Risk Assessment, the National Security Strategy, and the Plan? A failure to resource the DSR changes adequately could mean that our deployable military operational capability will in reality be less at the end of this decade than it is today. On the 24th Continue reading »
As Canada grapples with allegations of foreign interference by China, John Price writes that politicians would be wise to read Australian academic David Brophy’s new book: ‘China Panic: Australia’s Alternative to Paranoia and Pandering’. When announcing public consultations with the intention to set up a foreign influence registry in March, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Continue reading »
The Philippines publicly announced that it is deploying navigational buoys near some of the rocks it claims and occupies in the South China Sea. It says the buoys signify “the country’s sovereign rights and jurisdiction over our EEZ” and has warned of “serious repercussions” if China removes them. This was just its latest provocative and Continue reading »
US primacy is being replaced by two orders led by Washington and Beijing. Canberra’s job is to make the US understand what has happened. One meeting fell over last week, but another one stood up. Joe Biden’s dash back to Washington to deal with the debt ceiling is not the end of the Quad, and Continue reading »
60 Minutes Australia has been playing a leading role in saturating Australian airwaves with consent-manufacturing messaging in support of militarising to participate in a US war against China. A segment they ran a year ago is titled “Prepare for Armageddon: China’s warning to the world,” and features an image of Xi Jinping overlaid with war Continue reading »