It is worth considering when exactly deploying our military assets in Australia’s interests becomes a test of fealty to the United States, and an act of ‘‘mateship’’. The Australian government is being pounded by the federal opposition, pro-US think tanks and some media for not sending a single ship to help out the international naval Continue reading »
politics
Warmongering think tanks, self-appointed members of the military commentariat, and the whole stable of security-minded cognoscenti in the Anglosphere are terrified about one thing come November 2024. Will AUKUS, that boil on Australia’s policy landscape but boon for the US military industrial complex, be lanced by Donald Trump? Were the orange monster of misrule to Continue reading »
These last three months have made it apparent that there has to be a major change to what we know of as Israel/Palestine. But it has been coming for some time – perhaps since the enactment of Israel’s Basic Law of 2018 which conferred a right of self-determination exclusively on the Jewish people thereby asserting Continue reading »
The US proudly proclaims its exceptionalism and leadership of the free world, but in the latest Israeli-Palestinian flareup US leadership has been absent. A lasting peace settlement will require the US to take the lead in pushing forward the widely supported two-state solution. The war in Gaza is now three months old, and the violence Continue reading »
Weary Australian’s embarking on their first week back in the office have begun to wonder what culture war Opposition leader Peter Dutton is fighting this week, as they are bombarded with his face on tv, radio and in print. ”It’s... Read More ›
A shadowy network of dark-money junktanks is delivering the same disastrous political package around the world. By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 6th January 2024 There are elements of fascism, elements borrowed from the Chinese state and elements that reflect Argentina’s history of dictatorship. But most of the programme for government announced by Javier […]
We find ourselves in a peculiar place. We are more interconnected, yet more misinformed. At ease with more advanced technologies, but more easily mislead by them. “Doing our own research”, but ending up deeper in conspiratorial rabbit holes.
When discussing complex topics — pandemic, war, the housing crisis, or some thorny family affairs — it is surprisingly easy to jump to conclusions, to oversimplify, ignore crucial nuance, and thus get untethered from reality. To label someone as “evil”, “unethical”, fall back on tribalism. Our brains are always looking for a shortcut, and many of these shortcuts lead us astray. Sometimes we get fooled, sometimes we fool others. Neither helps in the long run.
Now that the dust has begun to settle, we can look at the referendum result with a little more clarity. Those of us who supported the Voice saw with some dismay how the initial widespread support in favour of a yes vote began to wither away. yet we should not be fooled by the headlines Continue reading »
Hamas was voted in by Palestinians in Gaza in a fair election (as agreed by international monitors). It was primarily a welfare organisation providing services and infrastructure for the general population. It primarily still has this role, with an attached small military wing. It reminds me of my time in Sri Lanka working for CARE Continue reading »
If we forget the lessons of the Holocaust, we forget who we are and what we are capable of becoming. Israel’s lebensraum master plan for Gaza, borrowed from the Nazi’s depopulation of Jewish ghettos, is clear. Destroy infrastructure, medical facilities and sanitation, including access to clean water. Block shipments of food and fuel. Unleash indiscriminate industrial violence to Continue reading »