In late February 2022, I was walking on a street in Irkutsk (in the middle of Russian Siberia) when I met a former female student of mine who had just come from her work office. She was upset by the invasion of Ukraine but even more so by the attitude of some women in the Continue reading »
USA
Neither State Department nor MOFA is gonna like this piece. Wang Yi and Marco Rubio, the respective top diplomats of China and the U.S., held their first phone call on Friday, January 24, 2025. Below are a few points I want to make. First, the State Department, now under Rubio, misidentified Wang’s job title in Continue reading »
Addressing Donald Trump at the National Cathedral’s inauguration service, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, looking the incoming president in the eye, pleaded with him: “to have mercy on people who are scared and help those facing persecution”. Bishop Mariann Budde did not mince her words. In particular, she referenced the LGBTQI community following the president’s Continue reading »
Donald Trump’s return to power for a second term has sent ripples across the globe. On his first day in office, he wielded executive authority with vigour, signing many executive orders, including withdrawing the US from the Paris Agreement for the second time. This move reversed the country’s climate commitments yet again, signalling Trump’s prioritisation Continue reading »
Seems like in all the chaos after the power transition in the US, this was largely missed: Musk-led “Department of Government Efficiency” will have access to all unclassified US government records.
It’s always the unassuming, irrelevant looking stuff like that that people need to pay attention to.
The rise of Joseph Stalin as the leader of the Soviet Union really got going when he became the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. At the time, the position was what it said on the can, a purely administrative job with no real political power.
Throughout the history of the Soviet Union, a position of Premier (roughly a “Prime Minister”) existed. Premiership was the ultimate post in the government and whoever held it was the leader of the country. At least initially.
Much has been said about the impending trade war amid Donald Trump’s threats to implement new tariffs against China, Mexico and Canada. But while many fear this could exacerbate tensions between China and the United States, we could find China is not as impacted as first thought. As Trump’s second presidential term begins, there is Continue reading »
World leaders have been trying to stay calm whilst seemingly on edge, after it was reported that new American President, Elon Musk, has been seen to be showing a lot of interest in Poland lately. ”They say those that do... Read More ›
Australian Government cabinet papers from 30 years ago show that Australian leaders suspected that the claims of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq were probably false. However, Australia committed troops because Australia wanted to ingratiate itself with the United States and was prepared to break international law to do so. This sets the standard for Continue reading »