Labor will have – already has – squandered its time and its opportunities. It needs leadership of guts and vision, not timidity, caution and mortal terror of offending anyone. The holiday season, about midterm in the life of the Albanese government is a good time for academics and journalists to begin making notes, commencing diaries Continue reading »
politics
by Dror Goldberg* Where and when did modern currency originate? My book Easy Money: American Puritans and the Invention of Modern Currency (University of Chicago Press, 2023) tackles this fascinating question. I discover and explain the origin of modern currency in 1690 in the English colony of Massachusetts Bay — an unimportant place, compared to […]
A bright star in the firmament of justice has gone out. One of the greatest journalists of our era has passed away. John Pilger was always on the side of the oppressed. He denounced Empire and all its violent predations–war, genocide, exploitation–as well as its endless lies and propaganda. Till his death, he fought tirelessly for Continue reading »
The African country, one journalist noted, “fought for its own liberation against an apartheid regime supported for decades by the U.S.” “No one knows apartheid like those who fought it before,” said one Palestinian rights advocate on Friday in response to the news that South Africa has taken a “historic” new step to hold Israel accountable for its Continue reading »
An Israel supporter walks up to a guy at a restaurant, grabs his sandwich, starts eating it. Israel supporter: [Walks up to a guy at a restaurant, grabs his sandwich, starts eating it.] Guy: Hey! Israel supporter: What? Guy: That’s my sandwich! Israel supporter [still eating]: Sandwich? What sandwich? Guy: Right there! You’re eating it right now! Israel supporter: No I’m not. Guy: Oh Continue reading »
Why Gaza urgently needs a plan B. (A repost from December 2023). War will drag on… It’s now clear that the Gaza War is far from over. Hamas refuses to surrender. Israel has rejected the UN General Assembly’s call for a cease fire and American pressure to lower the intensity of the war because it Continue reading »
Three days before Christmas, Treasury’s Centre for Population has without much fanfare issued its 2023 Population Statement. As this is only weeks after the ABS issued its population estimates for 2022-23 and its long-term population projections, and a week after the Government issued its new migration strategy (in conjunction with the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Continue reading »
China looms large in the Australian psyche. On a practical level, what happens in China largely determines the success of global action to deal with climate change, the profitability of our rural economy and the financing of our universities. Our national leaders are concerned about rising tensions in our region and the interplay of US-China Continue reading »
Former U.S. Ambassador Charles Freeman questions the true intentions of Israel’s renewed bombing of Gaza. Charles “Chas” W. Freeman Jr. is an American retired diplomat and writer. He served in the United States Foreign Service, the State and Defence Departments in many different capacities over the course of thirty years. Most notably, he worked as the Continue reading »