In 2019, I was Australia’s Consul-General in Makassar, and I remember meeting a group of Muslim Australians from western Sydney: they were planning to make a film about the Makassar-Northern Australia relationship. Their leader was Sheikh Wesam Charkawi, a tall, bearded man of middle-age, in haji cap and long white robes. Sheikh Wesam was born Continue reading »
International Relations
In my condemnation of the attack on the synagogue in Melbourne, I said, “This is not acceptable by any means. Unlike the Zionists who kept silent and never condemned Israel’s destruction of 819 mosques and 3 churches in just over a year in Gaza, many of which are historic, Palestinians do not condone attacks against Continue reading »
Earlier this month, the Sydney Morning Herald published a cartoon by the irrepressible Cathy Wilcox. I gazed at the image for a long time. My first thought was that she’ll pay a price for this, and so might the Herald. And, true to form, there was indeed a strong reaction in some quarters. The cartoon Continue reading »
I have yet to fully understand how the collapse of the Syrian government could happened at the speed it did happen: Syrian government falls in stunning end to 50-year rule of Assad family -AP, Dec 8 2024 BEIRUT (AP) — The Syrian government fell early Sunday in a stunning end to the 50-year rule of the Continue reading »
A non- prejudicial clause can end internal bickering. President Prabowo Subianto’s proposal for a joint development project in the South China Sea (SCS) with China has hit a snag. His foreign Minister, Pak Sugiono, was lynched before a parliamentary Committee on 3 December by lawmakers demanding answers to why Indonesia agreed to the term “overlapping Continue reading »
The Adass Israel synagogue in Ripponlea, Melbourne was firebombed this week in a horrific attack. When this synagogue was set ablaze, the incident also took a match and gasoline to our news cycle. The debate around antisemitism was already primed to blow. Only a week before the Executive Council of Australian Jewry had published a Continue reading »
Australia and the United States believe China is hegemonic. China uses a different approach to international engagement, and that means Australia fails to understand China’s appeal to the region and the global south. Increased tariffs on China and 100% tariffs on any country that backs any other currency to replace the US dollar. The Trump Continue reading »
There should be a Christmas truce/ceasefire (Orthodox Christmas or western doesn’t matter) in the war between Russia and Ukraine. Last Western AND Orthodox Christmas, there was discussion of the possibility of a truce or ceasefire over one of the Christmases. The precedent quoted was of course, the spontaneous ceasefire that took place over December 1914, Continue reading »
Almost certainly not, but someone really ought to try while it’s still possible. Geography isn’t everything in international relations, but it does explain a lot. You can’t choose the neighbours. Having a border with Russia understandably leads to well-founded paranoia or shameless, self-serving attempts at ingratiation these days. The leaders of Canada and Mexico are Continue reading »
I have a friend Julian King, who Duncan Graham reports has been subjected to a stun grenade as our Australian Federal Police burst through his door to seize his PhD research, phone and computers. Reportedly, the AFP are concerned about OPM (Organisasi Papua Merdeka _Free Papua Organisation), the indigenous independence movement in West Papua. I Continue reading »