Labor came to office last May, replacing a government that had steered Australia’s relationship with the United States to new heights of servility. Our ties with China were in tatters. Many had hoped that the change of government would usher in a shift to a more imaginative and less subservient foreign policy. Nine months later Continue reading »
International Relations
Secrets make us paranoid. We should do away with secrets and spies and become a truly open society. We have become so obsessed with the so-called ‘China threat’ that our fears are now totally irrational. The decision by the USA to shoot down a Chinese balloon might have had a strange logic to it, but Continue reading »
Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published a story Wednesday alleging that the United States was behind the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline system last year, citing a source “with direct knowledge of the operational planning.” The Biden White House adamantly denied the veteran investigative journalist’s reporting, calling it “complete fiction.” Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative Continue reading »
Foreign Minister Penny Wong invoked the power of shared colonial histories in a speech during her recent visit to the United Kingdom. The statement was clearly carefully prepared and framed but, judging from her recorded comments, it seems that she has not thought through the implications of the adoption of radical post-colonial diplomacy. Rather, she Continue reading »
Three years into the Covid -19 pandemic the many weaknesses and disconnections within the jurisdictional decision-making arrangements are clear. These fault lines significantly impair our national capacity to reliably detect and respond to this ongoing outbreak in a timely, effective and efficient manner. We urgently need to develop integrated national and international responses to disease Continue reading »
In Ukraine and in other parts of the world, Western violence and supremacy has been abetted by its educated more than any other group. This has been clear for the history of the British Empire, one of the most violent to traverse the globe along with its offspring; even the warmongering and provocations of the Continue reading »
On January 27, Israeli forces kill 10 Palestinians in Jenin, including two youths and an elderly woman. The following day a lone Palestinian gunman shoots dead seven Israelis as they leave a synagogue in a settlement in East Jerusalem. In response to the murdered Israelis, the US ambassador to Israel refers to the synagogue attack Continue reading »
"(The plan) shows direct disregard for the sovereignty and self-determination of Pacific peoples and the ocean their livelihoods depend upon."
A break away from Australia can do much to restore one’s hope that growing militarism and the militarisation of society does not have to be the way of things. Writing from Costa Rica, I’ve enjoyed the absence of news featuring blatant China-bashing, grandiose but ill-suited plans for nuclear-powered submarines, proud announcements about new military hardware Continue reading »
It is self evident that the US: China relationship – with Taiwan at its core – will be the most pressing strategic issue for Australia in 2023. But the volumes of military planning effort, think tank hours, media commentary and the like have added to the uncertainty rather than clarified the scene – beyond a Continue reading »