Reading

The mass media got itself into a flap this week (28, 29 Feb & 1 March) over ASIO Director, Mike Burgess’ claim that a former Australian politician “sold out their country, party and former colleagues” after being recruited by spies of a foreign regime. “Name the traitor,” former Treasurer and former Ambassador to the US, Continue reading »

Last year the head of the ASIO, Mr Mike Burgess’s annual threat assessment was blighted by errors of fact. This year he’s enlarged his repertoire to errors of judgment. In a speech which: rambles to the point of incoherence is self-congratulatory and self-serving is bulked up with pointless historical nostalgia, and contains more corn than Continue reading »

Australia’s relationship with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is now 50 years strong. On 4 March Prime Minister Albanese will welcome the 10 member nations to Melbourne for a Special Summit to celebrate our role as the first dialogue partner of ASEAN. The theme of the Summit is ‘A Partnership for the Continue reading »

In Asian media this week: Conscription law sparking Thailand exodus. Plus: Rich West building fences against the Rest; Pakistan poll-rigging whistleblower arrested; Economist says Hong Kong glory days over; Indonesian election ‘one of the darkest days’; High price paid for saving the tiger. Myanmar’s recent imposition of military conscription for younger people threatens to cause Continue reading »

The bucolic stupidity of nuclear energy, repairing the damage after the Coalition’s war on learning, why Dutton would be a lousy baby-sitter. Read on for the weekly roundup of links to articles, podcasts, reports and other media on current economic and political issues. Australia’s energy transition A leading entrepreneur calls out the National Party for Continue reading »

30 years ago, then Premier Jeff Kennett told Victorians the grand prix would not cost taxpayers a cent. $1 billion later, it is obvious he was wrong. This is what Victorian taxpayers have paid so far to host a four-day Formula 1 car race. And the bill just keeps growing. The race is now costing Continue reading »

Pearls and Irritations is widely read outside Australia. In particular, its content is now reviewed by certain media writing and presenting in Chinese in Hong Kong. The latest example is a story written by Chen, Jingli, published in the leading Chinese newspaper (by circulation) in Hong Kong, the long-established Oriental Daily. The translated title of Continue reading »

“The international community is facing a moral and humanitarian test to stop the genocide in Gaza,” said a Gaza Health Ministry official. In what Palestinian officials on Wednesday called “‘an international failure to protect humanity” from Israel’s genocidal assault and blockade, at least six Palestinian children and infants have died of starvation, dehydration, and poisoning Continue reading »

Amanpour expressed “real distress” over Israel stories being changed, while other staffers described a climate that is hostile to Arab journalists.

The post In Internal Meeting, Christiane Amanpour Confronts CNN Brass About “Double Standards” on Israel Coverage appeared first on The Intercept.

British-Palestinian families are appealing to the Home Office to institute visa programs for relatives stranded in war torn Gaza

I don’t care a much about the notion of “American dominance” or “prestige” but I do care a lot about the prospect of the planet being blown up and destroying the institutions and alliances that make it possible to reverse catastrophic climate change. All of that is becoming closer to reality as Donald Trump continues to dictate American foreign policy from his gaudy social club in Palm Beach. One of the best things about the Trump administration is how copiously it leaked to the press, so in real time and later through the many books and articles that were written about that tumultuous term, we have a very detailed understanding of the man’s worldview went he went in and what it is today. We know that even after four years in the most important job in the world, he didn’t learn a thing about world affairs. According to “A Very Stable Genius” by Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker, by July of 2017 it had become clear to Trump’s national security and economic team that he desperately needed some tutoring in order to understand the importance of America’s key alliances.

By refusing to condemn Lee Anderson’s comments about Sadiq Khan as Islamophobic, the Prime Minister exposed the cynical fallacy at the heart of ‘the most diverse Cabinet in history’ 

One story here and one there don’t make the point I’m just going to leave these right here. Did an Abortion Ban Cost a Young Texas Woman Her Life? (January 2024) Republican Officials Openly Insult Women Nearly Killed by Abortion Bans (January 2024) Ohio Woman Who Miscarried Faces Charge That She Abused Corpse (January 2024) Woman suing Texas over abortion ban vomits on the stand in emotional reaction during dramatic hearing (July 2023) She was denied an abortion in Texas – then she almost died (June 2023) Two friends were denied care after Florida banned abortion. One almost died. (April 2023) Ohio abortion law meant weeks of ‘anguish,’ ‘agony’ for couple whose unborn child had organs outside her body (February 2023) She had ‘a baby dying inside’ her. Under Missouri’s abortion ban, doctors could do nothing.

I’ve written for UnHerd about NATO’s dangerous military escalation against Russia. Over the past few days, we’ve had Macron raise the possibility of sending NATO troops to Ukraine, Scholz confirm that Western specials troops are already in Ukraine — and actively participating in the targeting and firing of Western missiles on Russian targets, as the New York Times reported —, Stoltenberg say that NATO has …

Continue reading

I’ve written an article for Compact expanding on my recent carbon farming paper written for the think tank MCC Brussels.

I’ve written for UnHerd about the two-day hearing starting today in which the UK High Court will announce its final decision on Assange’s extradition to the US. If the court rules out a further appeal, Assange could be immediately extradited to the United States, where he will almost certainly be incarcerated for the rest of his life on …

Continue reading

Would a future Trump presidency represent a threat or an opportunity for Europe? Neither, as I argue in my latest UnHerd column. The notion that Trump would pull the US out of NATO is ridiculous. But even if he were to do so, it wouldn’t make much of a difference considering that Europe’s political elites have internalised America’s …

Continue reading

In Bong Joon-ho’s 2013 blockbuster Snowpiercer, scientists release aerosols into the sky in a last-ditch attempt to stop global warming. However, the plan catastrophically backfires, plunging Earth into a new ice age and killing most life on the planet. When I first saw the film, I remember thinking: “Thank God no one would be crazy enough …

Continue reading

I’ve written for Compact about the latest showdown between the EU and Hungary, which resulted in Viktor Orbán finally dropping his veto to the EU’s latest financial aid package for Ukraine.

I’ve written for UnHerd about Germany’s astonishing fall from grace — from economic powerhouse and unquestioned European hegemon to economic basket case and geopolitical laughing stock.

In my latest article for Compact, I look at the violence spreading like wildfire across the Middle East, which took a particularly worrying turn after Sunday’s deadly attack on an American base in Jordan, which claimed the lives of three US soldiers — and brought us one step closer to the terrifying scenario of an all-out war …

Continue reading

When COVID struck Rebecca Saltzman’s family, the virus unmasked a life-changing discovery: her husband and two of their kids had genetic heart disease. The kind where people drop dead. As their healthy wife and mother, Saltzman had a new role too—guiding her family through what Susan Sontag called the Kingdom of the Sick. In this column, she’ll explore the anthropological strangeness of this new place, the mysteries of the body, and how facing death distills life into its purest form: funny, terrifying, and sublime.

Read Part I
Read Part II

No more Mr. Nice Guys It’s clear from clips from Trump rally “The Daily Show” and “The Good Liars” that MAGAstan is a peculiar country with a history wildly divergent from our own and worthy of the Marvel Cinematic Multiverse. Those clips are selectively chosen for maximum comedic effect, of course. But what those clips drive home is that what many Americans think they know about recent events is not just bizarre but harmful to their futures. and their children’s. With the Supreme Court this week aiding and abetting Donald “91 Counts” Trump’s effort to ensure that justice delayed is justice denied, Greg Sargent believes those of us committed to truth, justice and the American way must double down on ensuring that even MAGAstan residents know that it is their rights Trump means to trample. Consider Liz Cheney’s response to the court’s decision to hear Trump’s presidential immunity appeal: It is our right as citizens to know whether the man (some of us) will be voting for this fall is a felon indicted by and convicted by juries of his peers, everyday Americans like the residents of MAGAstan.