It has been overlooked during Garma festival that, under current policies, global warming would render aboriginal lands in central and northern Australia unliveable and the top-end a nuclear target… In his classic book The Fate of the Earth speaking for humanity Jonathan Schell describes the horror of a full-scale nuclear holocaust where human beings and Continue reading »
politics
We are under constant bombardment. Hardly a day goes by without some news of a military nature. If it is not about sending more equipment to prolong the war in Ukraine, it is about Australian minerals being domesticated to serve Americas military interests. It may shift to the Talisman Sabre Exercises, with the expectation that Continue reading »
Arguably the single most egregious display of war propaganda in the 21st century occurred last year, when the entire western political/media class began uniformly bleating the word “unprovoked” in reference to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. On February 23 of last year, the day before the invasion began, the New York Times editorial board wrote that Continue reading »
Like his mentor Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein is effectively banned from entering the Palestinian territories by Israeli authorities. This constitutes a very exclusive club: Jews welcome in Ramallah but not in Tel Aviv. The day the City appointed a rat Czar was a good time to leave Manhattan, at least for a few hours. The Continue reading »
The Australian Energy Market Operator has made a rare foray into the mainstream media debate around the green energy transition, saying claims that its cost assessment of renewables does not include transmission and storage are “wrong.” Conservative media, led by the Murdoch press but also including others, has been seeking to suggest that AEMO’s 30-year Continue reading »
The Productivity Commission has released a draft report on its review of progress on closing the gap. The review arises from the terms of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, in particular, clauses 121 to 124. There are a number of problematic issues with the draft review, and most particularly with its proposed solutions. Continue reading »
Pearls and Irritations (P&I) is a tremendous addition to an Australian publishing scene in which propaganda is increasingly replacing accurate news and analysis. P&I’s large pool of experienced analysts, including many former high-ranking public servants, gives a growing band of readers a rare perspective on the big issues facing Australia. Because it relies solely on Continue reading »
It is becoming increasingly unlikely. Julian Assange is in prison; the dissenting voices of Seymour Hersh, John Pilger, Glen Greenwald and Tucker Carlson have been excluded from the mainstream, moving into self-publishing; and Mick Hall has resigned from Radio New Zealand after it tightened control to safeguard the pro-American narrative. “You haven’t been here long Continue reading »
For Syrians, hope lies in the fact that – given time and effort – people outside their country will learn of the deleterious effect of sanctions, will question the justifications given for imposing them, and will see them as breaching human rights. Returning to Syria in 2019, I visited a private girls high school in Continue reading »
Whether Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will visit China in 2023 remains uncertain, but the odds are favourable. Beijing has issued an invitation and Albanese said that the trip remains ‘likely’. Foreign Minister Penny Wong has confirmed that Canberra ‘would look to make sure that a visit can occur’. But there remain two factors that might derail a visit. Continue reading »