Nearly everything the Labor government says about nuclear subs is ludicrous and highly damaging. Despite Defence Minister Marles apparently saying Australia will not participate in a war over Taiwan, Hugh White (ex- Dep Head Defence) says the US would never sell nuclear submarines to Australia without guarantees they will always be used in a US Continue reading »
International Relations
"What else do you call it when an elected official is given an envelope filled with money after a meal at the PRC Embassy or after an inauguration?"
The biggest threat facing the USA is not the collapse of democracy. Even though a twice impeached former president talks of death and destruction if he is arrested, while New York’s Attorney General seeks his indictment. Wokeism isn’t the biggest threat, although, due to death threats to staff, the Florida Education Department is cancelling the Continue reading »
Early this month, the Daily Mail published a story online implying three Chinese men taking photos at the Avalon Airshow in Melbourne were spies. After complaints and an open letter condemning the paper for racially profiling the Chinese communities and throwing around baseless accusations, the story disappeared from the Mail’s site without explanation. Then, The Sydney Morning Continue reading »
At first sight, the Chinese President’s twelve proposals to achieve peace between Russia and Ukraine appear plausible. Claims about common interests are supported by references to parties working together for peace and security, abiding by international humanitarian law, sustaining an existing world economic system and insisting that nuclear weapons not be used. These sound like Continue reading »
With the cancellation of the much hated “Mask mandate” on March 1, Hong Kong is now onto the final strait of its recovery from both the 2019/2020 western supported insurrection and the subsequent pandemic. And as I have previously predicted in Pearls and Irritations the hysterical western narrative, be it from governments or from western Continue reading »
The AUKUS nuclear submarine deal presents New Zealand with a difficult dilemma. On one hand old allies are forming a military alliance to confront an emergent China, ramping up their AUKUS relationship and their rhetoric magnifying China’s threat. On the other hand is New Zealand’s long standing carefully nurtured relationship with its major trading partner. Continue reading »
Inexorably, the war on Syria is coming to a close. Arab governments that supported the war in 2011 are sending delegations to Damascus, while Syria is sending delegates to Arab capitals, with Bashar al Assad recently visiting Abu Dhabi and Oman. Saudi Arabia and Iran have taken the first steps towards reestablishing diplomatic relations, hastening Continue reading »
India holds this year’s presidency of the Group of 20 and has boldly stated its vision as Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (One Earth, One Family, One Future). This is a departure from the previous (and often dry) themes of the G20 which are dominated by geopolitical issues and economic priorities of Western powers. India’s tagline demonstrates the Continue reading »
The criticisms of the AUKUS arrangements announced by the government are entirely warranted, as is the outrage that has accompanied them, but, strangely, they miss a point which should have preceded them. And that has to do with the political complexion of the United States itself; in brief, it faces the world as a troubled Continue reading »