I’m walking around the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam. I’ve looked at the military aircraft in the front courtyard which looms large but doesn’t yet give too much away of what the Vietnam War was all about. It feels very American with each piece of used equipment stamped with U.S. Army Continue reading »
politics
As we approach St Patrick’s Day, politically aware readers should know that in Brisbane on March 17 1948, Australia’s only Communist Party MP Fred Paterson was savagely smashed from behind by a Queensland policeman. Some time after it occurred, this attack on Paterson became known as The Great St Patrick’s Day Bash. Yet most Australians, Continue reading »
You would think that the suffering we are now seeing, including on and after October 7, would also compel international leaders to negotiate a peaceful future. There is no future in hate. In his vibrant State of the Union address the U.S. President, Joe Biden, referenced what he loves about America. This includes the way Continue reading »
History will prove that the Russo-Ukrainian war and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were catalysts for paradigmatic changes in the international landscape and the driving force behind the eventual demise of the US-led “liberal international order.” During the Cold War period after World War II, two “international orders” emerged in the world, namely the “socialist international order” Continue reading »
Shrinking demand signifies rocky times ahead for many individual oil and gas producers but the industry will survive for decades yet. Emissions from farming and forestry aside, Australia’s emissions have been stagnant for 20 years. Feral pigs are destroying our wetlands and rivers. Drilling into the oil and gas industry (1) Over the next few Continue reading »
Beijing has been slow to address the visa and e-payment woes of foreign travellers, and some officials remain complacent about the exodus of foreign investment. China’s Luckin Coffee, founded in 2017, is the country’s largest coffee chain, with more stores and higher revenue than Starbucks. Its cashless grab-and-go model, where customers order on the app Continue reading »
With fuel emission standards Toyota Land Cruisers to cost more than Lamborghinis, economic advice from a wise lady for Treasurer Chalmers, consumer advice from a Minnesota Lutheran. Read on for the weekly roundup of links to articles, podcasts, reports and other media on current economic and political issues. Care of the aged Financing a growing Continue reading »
The recent announcement by the Federal Minister for Education, Jason Clare, that the government wants to raise the percentage of young people achieving a tertiary education to 80% points to the huge stakes at issue in the current negotiations between the Federal and state governments on the next school funding agreements. To have any chance Continue reading »
There is no argument that funding for aged care has to increase or that equitable funding requires that those with higher means pay more. The recommendations of the Aged Care Funding Taskforce fail to provide solutions on both counts, for older people needing care and their carers, providers, taxpayers, or government. The first fail is Continue reading »
There has been significant media discussion (including P&I) of Defence Minister Marles’ recent announcement of the Surface Ship Review for the RAN – a step towards remedying the Defence procurement shambles inherited by the Albanese government and conducted by yet another retired US admiral! But there has been scant attention to the rabbit out of the Continue reading »