For the second year running, lies have emerged as the primary risk facing humanity, in the Global Risks Survey 2024-25 conducted by the World Economic Forum of 900 experts worldwide. Disinformation and misinformation are now deemed more dangerous, in the short run (next two years), than violent climate events, wars and societal disintegration. Even over Continue reading »
politics
Return to the hell of conflict or forward to peace and security? Just when the world was hopeful that the war of genocide was coming to an end, the Israeli government launched a new round of violence, destruction and bloodshed against Palestinians in the West Bank. Israelis often talk about their quest for security and Continue reading »
The “privacy-first” company surprised its user base when CEO Andy Yen lauded Trump on social media.
The post Proton Mail Says It’s “Politically Neutral” While Praising Republican Party appeared first on The Intercept.
In late February 2022, I was walking on a street in Irkutsk (in the middle of Russian Siberia) when I met a former female student of mine who had just come from her work office. She was upset by the invasion of Ukraine but even more so by the attitude of some women in the Continue reading »
Humphrey McQueen (Pearls and Irritations, ‘The lucky Aborigines’ 26 January 2025), has reminded us of John Howard’s opinion that “the luckiest thing that happened to this country was being colonised by the British. Not that they were perfect by any means, but they were infinitely more successful and beneficent than other European colonisers.” Really? Infinitely Continue reading »
In his address to the National Press Club on 24 January 2025, Prime Minister Albanese reflected on his Government’s decision announced a year earlier to change “the tax plan we inherited from the Morrison Government to make it better and fairer”. It is likely to be a major selling point in the coming Federal election. Continue reading »
For many government employees, merely owning cryptocurrency is off-limits. Not for Trump, who created a “very grifty” meme coin.
The post Trump Appointees Can’t Own Crypto. That Rule Doesn’t Apply to Trump Himself. appeared first on The Intercept.
The Alien Enemies Act provides sweeping powers to detain or deport foreign nationals. It’s ripe for abuse, experts say.
The post Trump Leans on WWII Japanese Incarceration Law to Deport Immigrants appeared first on The Intercept.
The buzz around Xiaohongshu and then DeepSeek has had an unusually high volume of westerners speaking positively about China for the last couple of weeks, which of course means we’re also seeing many westerners falling all over themselves to say “Well actually China is actually quite bad actually” in response. Western liberals who fancy themselves Continue reading »
For more than 40 years Hugh White has been an important analyst of Australian defence and foreign policy. After working in the Office of National Assessments he became an adviser to Defence Minister Beazley and Prime Minister Hawke, He was a deputy secretary in the Department of Defence and the first head of the Australian Continue reading »