Australia should be proud of its vote in the General Assembly in November last year to condemn the ongoing US blockade of Cuba. The writer’s attention has been drawn to a vote in the U.N. General Assembly in November 2022. It is a matter of concern that it was not known to me, but more Continue reading »
International Relations
Every time we Palestinians, despite all the compromises we offer, try to gain a modicum of justice we find not only is it denied to us, but that we are the ones to blame for this lack of progress for a peaceful co-existence with our occupiers. In May of this year, I will reach the Continue reading »
If Australia sleepwalks into a war with China, as many analysts fear is happening right now, then amid our strategic slumber we should at least ask one question: what would war with China mean for Australia? Put bluntly, the repercussions of Australia joining the US in any war with China over the status of Taiwan Continue reading »
On Tuesday, General Mark Milley, chair of the American joint chiefs of staff declared, in effect, that Russian had been militarily defeated in Ukraine. Russia, he said, was now a global pariah, and the world remained inspired by Ukrainian bravery and resilience. “In short, Russia has lost,” he told a press conference after a NATO Continue reading »
China continues to lead the world in trust, according to the influential Edelman Trust Barometer. The 2023 latest survey repeats similar previous rankings and gives the lie to commentators who continually maintain that the Communist Party of China is losing its legitimacy in the eyes of its citizens. One may and should question the assumptions Continue reading »
Journalists Matthew Knott and Andrew Tillett and other anti China hawks cultivated by Yamagami-san will be particularly disappointed that they will lose their anti China news feed as well as their sushi and sake. At Japan’s National Day Reception last Tuesday night, Yamagami-san made a long speech, in which he lauded former Australian PMs present Continue reading »
We know little of the views of Teals on foreign and strategic issues. There are some big issues coming, on which they will need to focus. At the 2022 elections for the Australian parliament a new phenomenon was evident. A group of female candidates stood in conservative electorates with core concerns about climate change and Continue reading »
The Order of Australia system is a bunyip aristocracy that reflects the hierarchies of British society in which the high and mighty get the cream and others are left with the skimmed milk. Just before the country slipped into its raucous celebrations for Australia Day last month, Mr David Hardaker served up in Crikey a Continue reading »
Surely the Australian people are entitled to an explanation as to why in December last year the government voted against an International Court of Justice advisory opinion on the legality of Israel’s occupation of Palestine. On 30 December a vote was taken in the UN General Assembly whereby the International Court of Justice (ICJ) was Continue reading »
The western sanctions weapon is not new to Syria, but since 2019 it has become a lethal one, destroying entire Syrian sectors and killing its people. First published in The Cradle February 6, 2023 Some 83 years after being employed against Germany in 1940, economic sanctions have become the most widely-used tool in Washington’s arsenal Continue reading »