What a twenty-five-year-old memo by Daniel Ellsberg says about the past failures of Lyndon Johnson and the current horrors of Benjamin Netanyahu. The conversion of my friend Ellsberg, who died last June of cancer, from avid supporter of and adviser on the Vietnam War to perhaps its most important critic is well known. One of Continue reading »
politics
Liu Bin, chief expert of China Automotive Technology & Research Centre (CATARC), explained that raising the temporary tariff rate on imported cars with large engines can further accelerate the green transition in China’s auto industry; and an article analysing the Biden Administration’s Section 301 Tariffs on China by a think tank affiliated with China’s Ministry Continue reading »
John Shipton has been in London, observing his son Julian Assange’s appeal against extradition to the United States. The UK High Court had granted Assange’s Defence three grounds of appeal. The first one was that Assange could be exposed to the death penalty in the United States and the US hadn’t given any assurances that Continue reading »
It sounds wonderful. Politicians and fossil fuel companies love it. But more often than not carbon capture and storage (CCS) is raised as a smokescreen for something that will harm the world. What do Anthony Albanese, Angus Taylor, David Littleproud, Barack Obama, West Virginia senator Joe Manchin and Joe Biden have in common? All are Continue reading »
“The Australian government and its most senior officials have both failed to prevent or respond to the genocide committed by Israel against Palestinians in Gaza and been complicit in the carrying out of this genocide in a manner which falls squarely within Article 25 (3)(c) and/or (d) of the Rome Statute of the ICC,” state Continue reading »
The sentencing verdict of David McBride gives rise to question that, if unaddressed, will haunt the Australian Defence Force (ADF) forever. Justifiable anger is so easy to come by these days that any more reasons are gratuitously excessive. Nevertheless, they are not only intruding on daily life but to such an extent and significance that Continue reading »
Russian weakness has enabled China to emerge as Eurasia’s dominant power. But it also limits the partnership of the two. Visits by heads of state to each other are cloaked in symbolism. But insensitivity to cultural or historical nuances can see the best of intentions go awry. In March 2013, when Xi Jinping made his Continue reading »
The Ghost Shark, a new underwater drone being developed for the Australian Navy, could kill off the deeply flawed plan to acquire eight nuclear submarines for a projected cost as much as $360 billion. Australia’s defence department says the new undersea drone would provide the navy with “a stealthy, long-range autonomous undersea warfare capability which Continue reading »
We are confronting a deep structural crisis in our society. We have confused the idea of democracy with the institutions of political parties and representative democracies. The major parties have become structures representing economic and security elites to which only second rate personalities flock, incapable of navigating the huge challenges we face globally. Meanwhile, the Continue reading »