A dozen days ahead of this Chinese New Year, a large-scale exhibition opened at the Hong Kong Museum of Art. The event, “Cezanne and Renoir Looking at the World – Masterpieces from the Musee de l’Orangerie and the Musee d’Orsay,” showcased 52 masterpieces, featuring how the pair innovatively reinvented the art of their time and Continue reading »
China
You have to admire Australian media. While the rest of us are busy paying $8 for a flat white and wondering how to stretch a pack of IndoMie for a week, our intrepid journalists are fearlessly focused on the real threats – like Chinese naval ships operating in full compliance with international law. 1. China’s Continue reading »
The Australian labels Albanese a “jellyfish” in the face of Chinese naval vessels, ironically the barbs came from a faceless columnist. Kudos to The Australian for keeping tabs on a US nuclear submarine in our waters, but the headline act for the Murdoch masthead was hosting its own event for weapons makers and China hawks. Continue reading »
The Chinese Embassy in the US underlines the country’s differences with the US. Marco Rubio and Boris Johnson refer to the war in Ukraine as a proxy war, while Rubio also reaffirms Trump’s warning to Hamas. Ohad Kozminsky of the Jewish Council of Australia shares his views on Western colonialism and Gaza. The U.S. needs Continue reading »
There is a certain cadence to decline, a rhythm of arrogance and desperation, of miscalculation and delusion. The late-stage empire, unmoored from reality yet clinging to myths of its own indispensability, lashes out at perceived threats not because they are real, but because it cannot conceive of a world in which it is no longer Continue reading »
"The Cook Islands is small, and when you sign deals with economic giants like China, you have to question the long-term consequences."
History rarely surprises those who pay attention. The trajectory of the current geopolitical order — from the war in Ukraine to the economic realignments centred on China and the Global South — follows patterns as old as recorded time. Yet, in the West, political elites and media institutions remain bewildered. How could the unchallenged dominance Continue reading »
The leading US journal Foreign Policy has just published an extended profile, written by Jonathan Landreth, of Professor Jerome A. Cohen, entitled: “The Last China Hand. Jerry Cohen will be 95 in July this year. The article lucidly explains how he “has spent a lifetime trying to understand the People’s Republic of China”. I first Continue reading »
So, US Secretary of Defence Hesgeth has made it clear that what most of us knew three years ago will come to pass. Ukraine is getting no more support, Trump has declared he wants their mineral rights and Putin has declared he’s not giving up territory, Ukraine will not become a NATO country and half Continue reading »
Jeffrey Sachs, the American economist and public policy analyst who is also a professor at Columbia University, gave an unconventional address to the EU Parliament last week. Below is a short version of his comments; the full version is here. Text: The NATO enlargement, as you know, started in 1999 with Hungary, Poland and the Continue reading »