As this week comes to an end, Australia votes in the UN General Assembly for permanent sovereignty for Palestine. Ben and Jerry’s to sue Unilever for silencing their voice, while the youngest MP in New Zealand raises the voice for Maori in the New Zealand Parliament. Israel bombs menace Beirut Airport while James Elder, UNICEF, Continue reading »
politics
The death and displacement of millions of Muslims in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Libya and Yemen mean little. But if they are Muslims in Xinjiang, suddenly, their lives take on phenomenal value – propaganda value. Someone sent me a statement signed by 15 Western and allied countries denouncing China’s human rights records in Continue reading »
Donald Trump’s re-election as the US president last week comes at a time of extreme volatility in the Middle East. The president-elect has promised to end all wars. In his usual impulsive and unpredictable manner, he has pledged to resolve the Ukraine war within 24 hours of taking office and help Israel finish its Gaza and Lebanon operations quickly. Continue reading »
Many Australians will be surprised that voters across the US could cast a vote for Donald Trump after a (poorly) attempted coup on January 6, 2021. The only reason we might find this shocking is because we don’t talk about the Dismissal of the Whitlam government in 1975 as what it really was – a Continue reading »
A handful of years ago, South Australia’s Whyalla steelworks, owned by British industrialist Sanjeeev Gupta, was touted as the potential birthplace of an Australian green iron and steel industry. Today, the mounting crisis at Whyalla brings sharply into focus both the risks and opportunities of this pivotal moment in Australia’s energy transition, and the transition Continue reading »
Around 18 months ago, The Economist applied uncommon energy to advance the narrative that the US economy was in outstandingly good shape. Very recently, we have been instructed by the same influential British weekly that, “America’s economy is bigger and better than ever” [paywall]: Which makes one wonder, what primary anxieties are prompting these distinctive, Continue reading »
The climate crisis is much more severe than most people and politicians realise. Most information, education and media reporting around climate change (global heating) focuses on reducing our annual emissions to a target based on a ‘trajectory of progressive reduction’, and eventually ‘net’ zero annual emissions by 2050 or some other date. But this ignores Continue reading »
The APEC Peru agenda has been hijacked by the spectre of a Trumpian attack on its foundational principles. China provides the only viable counterbalance. APEC Peru is a unique opportunity to prepare for the global trade disruption that commences on January 20 when Donald Trump formally becomes the 47th President of the United States. The Continue reading »
John Whitbeck’s plea for sanity – UN Membership for Palestine Now, 14 November 2024, should not be put into the too hard basket. At present, of course, the State of Palestine has only non-member observer status, having failed in an application for full member status in 2011. Whitbeck cites only three international instruments in advancing Continue reading »
National treasure (yep, he officially is), Clive Palmer, has been seen walking aimlessly around Indooroopilly shopping centre trying to decide what to splash his cash on now that spending money on politicians is no longer an option. ”Poor Clive, he... Read More ›