It’s banners and bunting season in Southeast Asia as our neighbours celebrate independence. Singapore finished its wavings on 9 August and Malaysia’s moments of pomp will come on 16 September. Like Australia, both won sovereignty through diplomacy. Next up is Indonesia on 17 August and the 78th birthday party will be brimming with exuberance we’d Continue reading »
politics
When Barnaby Joyce forced the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) to relocate from Canberra to Armidale, he couldn’t have chosen a more vulnerable, complex or vital institution to damage. APVMA’s job is to safeguard the health and safety of people, animals and the environment by regulating dangerous chemicals used in veterinary medicines, pesticides, Continue reading »
Newspapers decry it; yet market-led inflation more broadly is tut-tutted away as a ‘sacred mystery’ central to a free and working capitalist system. Government mandated inflation however, which society must pay to maintain a balanced economy, does not please anyone. As more and more social and economic ‘data’ is captured in society, details of trends Continue reading »
The double standard continues. Russian collaboration with China in naval exercises in the north Pacific are presented in United States media as creating ‘a dangerous world’. But far larger military exercises in the south Pacific by ‘free’ countries are presented as ‘promoting peace, security and stability’ in the Indo-Pacific region. On 8 August 2023 the Continue reading »
The 1948 Palestinian catastrophe, known to Palestinians as the Naqba, saw 750,000 of their predecessors driven from their lands, over 500 villages and towns destroyed, the extent of the killings, destruction and dispossession denied and no-one held accountable. How should Australia respond? Powerful countries’ collusion with decades of Israeli governments’ racist based cruelties towards Palestinians Continue reading »
As Labor heads into the 2023 National Conference in Brisbane I trust there will be movement on two issues close to the heart of every Australian who cares about global justice and peace: the long overdue recognition of Palestine and Australia signing the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. It shouldn’t be too Continue reading »
“At the height of the Cold War, Prime Minister Menzies agreed to the British request for a permanent site to test nuclear weapons… This was a political decision by a government that was subservient to the British government, and today there are parallels, with the Australian government being once again subservient to the decisions of Continue reading »
The U.S. ambassador to Australia said there could be a “resolution” to the Justice Department’s pursuit of Assange.
The post U.S. Official Hints at Possible Plea Deal for Julian Assange appeared first on The Intercept.
The main contest between the US and China will play out in the economic arena. At the end of the day, the winner will be seen to be the country with a bigger economy. Editor’s Note: In his book, The Asian 21st Century, Kishore Mahbubani (Mahbubani), a former diplomat who served as Singapore’s permanent representative to Continue reading »
Peace groups campaigning against a US war on China might be paid foreign agents, the New York Times alleged. But the allegation triggered a backlash from readers shocked at what some people are calling a neo-McCarthyist stance. In a separate story, a senior HSBC executive has been forced to apologise after he said that the Continue reading »