In the final of this three-part series, I explore why China’s emphasis on expanding land and naval forces suggests its focus is on defence of its borders and seaborne trade, not offence. In the first two articles of this series, I explored how US narratives on the ‘China threat’ have become entrenched in Western security Continue reading »
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My mates and I, growing up in our happy, homogenous and very white suburbia in the 1960s and 70s, would probably not have met an indigenous Australian but for playing footy. Without our great game, we might, at least as kids and teenagers, have remained stuck in the fearful ignorance that was pretty common at Continue reading »
If stress has its own Richter scale, the people standing outside political offices of late seem to be under massive pressure. Vigils by stranded refugees have been ongoing for the past fortnight outside the Victorian electoral offices of Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil and Immigration Minister Andrew Giles. These events have been characterised by chants, music, heart signs Continue reading »
Commentary on the tenure of Secretaries of Commonwealth Government departments is becoming perilous territory as those wading into it continue to make basic errors of fact. Geoffrey Hawker is the latest to do so (“Tenure and its Troubles”, Pearls and Irritations, 17 September 2023). Let’s take four of Hawker’s statements. “The trajectory from Whitlam through Continue reading »
The RSL was once one of the most influential lobby groups in Australia. Today it is better known for the number of poker machines it operates. Back in the day, as they say, they were knocking on doors in Canberra where the people they met to lobby often had returned service badges in their lapels. Continue reading »
It was OK with ASIO, the Defence Department, the Treasury Minister of the day (Scott Morrison) and it was definitely OK with the Northern Territory government to lease the Port of Darwin to a Chinese contractor. It was even OK with the Obama Administration who would have vetoed it for sure if they had a Continue reading »
There’s a heartbreaking graphic going around right now showing the almost microscopic changes that have occurred to the frontline of the war in Ukraine this year despite nonstop death and destruction of unfathomable horror the entire time. The graphic comes from a New York Times article titled “Who’s Gaining Ground in Ukraine? This Year, No Continue reading »
And that says everything Betraying Ukraine is her issue. It’s all she’s been talking about and she told her boy MyKevin that there was no way she would ever vote for a bill that contained funding to support it. And as I write this, the only continuing resolution MyKevin believes may pass with all GOP votes is one that keeps everything going except her pet issue — abandoning the Ukrainian people: Just hours before a government shutdown, the House planned to vote on a measure to keep the government open for 45 days at current spending levels, adding money for U.S. disaster relief but none of the billions of dollars for Ukraine that the White House has sought, Rules Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told reporters. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the bill would pass the House or what its fate in the Senate would be. The government will shut down at 12:01 a.m. Sunday if a deal is not reached. She is evil. And she is very powerful in the Republican Party right now. She’s no gadfly like Michele Bachman. She’s the real thing. I don’t know if this will pass.
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“We are voluntary servants.” Capitalism is over and ‘social democracy is finished’, says Yanis Varoufakis, economist, author and former Greek finance minister. He tells Hugo Rifkind what’s taking its place. 📻 Listen to Times Radio – https://www.thetimes.co.uk/radio
The post Interviewed by Hugo Rifkind, for TIMES RADIO, on my TECHNOFEUDALISM appeared first on Yanis Varoufakis.
Politico Playbook took a look at the feud between McCarthy and Gaetz. Nobody really knows why they’re so hostile but whatever it is, it’s definitely personal: To hear him tell it, Rep. MATT GAETZ is on a good-government crusade. The 41-year-old Florida Republican has railed against continuing resolutions, the short-term spending stopgaps that he blames for Washington’s fiscal dysfunction. He has insisted on regular order for appropriations bills and the devolution of power to the House rank-and-file. That’s why, he says, he’s spent months relentlessly hounding House Speaker KEVIN McCARTHY — to the point that he’s almost certain to lead a charge to remove him in the coming weeks. Most other House Republicans watching as Congress lurches toward a federal shutdown see something else entirely: “This isn’t a function of him being concerned about process,” Rep. MIKE LAWLER (R-N.Y.) told Playbook. “This is a function of personality.” “He wants Kevin,” added a Gaetz friend.
A time for choosing again pic.twitter.com/inYmHcu0Pt — mike luckovich (@mluckovichajc) September 26, 2023 President Joe Biden routinely expresses a kinder, gentler American exceptionalism. “This is the United States of America!” Uncle Joe begins. He tells us there is nothing Americans cannot do if we do it together. How many of us in our accustomed cynicism roll our eyes at the naivete of it? But on the other hand…. Maybe Biden’s sunny vision reflects a defense mechanism that is now part of him. The working-class kid from Scranton who overcame his childhood stutter has confronted so much tragedy in his life, so much deep personal loss. Perhaps his Catholic faith tells Biden there has to be a plan. God has a deep purpose we cannot always see. We just have to have faith. Personally, and as a nation. Biden’s most likely presidential opponent in 2024 has no faith, endured no sobering personal losses, never learned empathy. Donald Trump was born on third base with a sliver spoon up his ass. And a trust fund in the hundreds of millions.
Tick, tick, tick….
Hollywood writers make a deal, nurses back public power, and children keep their health care.
In today's BCTV Daily Dispatch: Loki, Star Trek: Picard, Gen V, Stranger Things, Doctor Who, X-Men '97, Rick and Morty, Heels, OFMD & more!
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The post George W. Bush Is Building a Memorial to the War on Terror. He Wants Your Feedback. appeared first on The Intercept.
The FTC launch a antitrust lawsuit against Amazon while the DOJ’s trial against Google is underway.
The post The Feds Take Big Tech to Court appeared first on The Intercept.
As a budget showdown looms in Congress, MAGA Republicans are alone in challenging the vast quantities of American weapons and cash being funneled to Kiev, with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene warning The Grayzone that increasing escalation could turn the proxy war into a “potential nuclear conflict.” When approached for comment, progressive members of the ‘Squad’ dodged our questions. When the US House of Representatives passed a stopgap funding measure Tuesday evening, the lone Republican no-vote against it was cast by […]
The post As conservatives ramp up opposition to Ukraine war, Dems dodge The Grayzone first appeared on The Grayzone.
The post As conservatives ramp up opposition to Ukraine war, Dems dodge The Grayzone appeared first on The Grayzone.
The other day, after glancing out at their walkup front porch, a family in Wellington, New Zealand, happened upon an adorable scene of peace and tranquility. There, curled up next to their door mat, the family saw a tuckered-out animal — a little fur seal, dozing away without a care in the world. But arriving to that cozy locale, a short ways from the sea, had been no easy task. “[The seal] had been on a bit of a mission,” New Zealand’s Department of Conservation (DOC) wrote, “climbing up the seawall stairs, crossing a road, hiking up a footpath, a driveway, and finally another set of stairs, before reaching its nap spot.” While conservation officials note that resting seals may be mistakenly perceived as needing rescue, they evidently agreed that this little guy’s choice of sleeping spot wasn’t so ideal. So, an officer was called out to help him find a better one. “[He was taken] further around the coast, to a safe place away from dogs and traffic,” the DOC wrote. Fortunately, the seal looked to be only slightly groggy following his unplanned awakening.
Today’s mammals would not survive the heat of Earth’s next supercontinent. But in evolution, there’s hope.
The post Pangea’s Second Coming Won’t Be Chill appeared first on Nautilus.
The NY Times: “I’d shut down the government if they can’t make an appropriate deal, absolutely,” Mr. Trump said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Mr. Trump’s view of how shutdowns work was shaped by his own experience as president, when the longest government shutdown in history took place from December 2018 to January 2019. He incurred the public blame for it, as he publicly embraced the idea of a shutdown while holding contentious talks about a budget agreement with two Democratic leaders, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York and the House speaker at the time, Nancy Pelosi of California. “I’ll be the one to shut it down,” Mr. Trump told the leaders in a contentious Oval Office meeting in December 2018 shortly before the shutdown. “I will take the mantle. And I will shut it down for border security.” There is no reason to believe that Mr. Biden would be granted outsize blame, if any at all, for a shutdown that a group of Republican holdouts in Congress are encouraging. Mr. McCarthy has privately noted what Mr. Trump said publicly at the time in 2018, according to a person with knowledge of Mr.