Iran has carried out its long-promised retaliation for Israel’s attack on its consulate building in Damascus, launching a massive barrage of drones and missiles which it claims hit and destroyed Israeli military targets, while Israel says they dealt only superficial damage with a few injuries. The US and its allies reportedly helped shoot down a Continue reading »
politics
Ian Bremner argues convincingly that the American Dollar remains embedded as the global reserve currency since: “you can’t replace something with nothing”. Nevertheless, intensifying US misuse and abuse of the dollar’s standing has expanded the worldwide search for one or more “alternative somethings”. Now an intriguing argument has been advanced that a central reason Western Continue reading »
There are five major and hundreds of minor religions in the world. But don’t worry – yours is the right one. – Anon After Christianity the second biggest global faith is Islam. The nation next door has a quarter of a billion followers; that’s more than any other international state. This fact sets Australia’s xenophobic Continue reading »
Jacqui Lambie tried to turn her idiosyncratic brand into a sort-of-party. But, like so many of those arrangements before, it’s quickly falling apart. In the past few weeks, the political wreckage has been piling up even faster than usual. Both major parties got a drubbing at the recent Tasmanian election and, for a few days, Continue reading »
One month ago, three Extinction Rebellion protesters led by Deana ‘Violet’ Coco blocked the Westgate Bridge to deliver a desperate plea to all Australians. ‘Climate Breakdown has Begun.’ ‘Declare a Climate Emergency!’ they urged. Despite 1.15 degrees of warming confirmed in 2022 and the drastic effects of climate change currently affecting global communities, the Federal Continue reading »
Our society is failing the seriously mentally ill. In the wake of the Bondi junction shopping centre attack, reporters expressed surprise that a person with a serious mental health illness could be living in cars and hostels. Ask anyone in mental health services they will tell you it’s common for people with serious mental illness Continue reading »
By mid-May, Budget time, the Albanese government will be a week short of two years in power. Albanese is moving into the zone where he could confidently approach the Governor-General, new or old, for an early election, perhaps as early as July, unexceptionably in October or November. I can’t see any parliamentary problem needing to Continue reading »
With the addition of Japan, AUKUS ceases to be a device to supply nuclear powered submarines to Australia several decades in the future but a stark reminder of the oppressive powers that abused Chinese sovereignty in the 19th and 20th centuries. It was Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles who first suggested that the inclusion of Continue reading »
UNSC approval of the application for Palestine to become a full UN member state this week would necessarily lead to the end of the occupation. One UN member state cannot occupy the land of another. In the present circumstances, a US veto of Palestinian statehood would make America look ridiculous. It would be seen as Continue reading »
In a recent official Declaration on Human Dignity, Dignitas Infinita, the Pope has endorsed a document that effectively outlaws sex change for transgender Catholics. The Declaration is both harsh and unrelenting in its tone, dismissive of new science and judgemental of those Catholics who in good faith make life choices contrary to the edicts of Continue reading »