By entering the AUKUS Partnership in 2021, Australia has undertaken to co-operate with the United States and the United Kingdom, two nuclear-weapon states, with objectives that include acquiring nuclear-powered submarines that would be armed with conventional weapons. This has the potential to weaken both the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), by setting a Continue reading »
Defence and Security
The United States has been going all-out to sanction and isolate Russia ever since the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out in February last year. This, however, did not deter 49 of the 54 African countries from attending the Russia-Africa Summit on July 27. Russia is barely attractive to Africa if only economic factors are considered: Russia Continue reading »
How ever did it come to this! It is familiar to all that Scott Morrison, Prime Minister and Minister for Everything at the time, pulled the AUKUS rabbit out of his Akubra as a wedge issue for the forthcoming 2022 Federal Election. It appears that he did so with only a small inner circle in Continue reading »
The federal Coalition’s dissenting report on a Senate inquiry into nuclear power claims that Australia’s “national security” would be put at risk by retaining federal legislation banning nuclear power and that the “decision to purchase nuclear submarines makes it imperative for Australia to drop its ban on nuclear energy.” The Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Continue reading »
The double standard continues. Russian collaboration with China in naval exercises in the north Pacific are presented in United States media as creating ‘a dangerous world’. But far larger military exercises in the south Pacific by ‘free’ countries are presented as ‘promoting peace, security and stability’ in the Indo-Pacific region. On 8 August 2023 the Continue reading »
“At the height of the Cold War, Prime Minister Menzies agreed to the British request for a permanent site to test nuclear weapons… This was a political decision by a government that was subservient to the British government, and today there are parallels, with the Australian government being once again subservient to the decisions of Continue reading »
The main contest between the US and China will play out in the economic arena. At the end of the day, the winner will be seen to be the country with a bigger economy. Editor’s Note: In his book, The Asian 21st Century, Kishore Mahbubani (Mahbubani), a former diplomat who served as Singapore’s permanent representative to Continue reading »
The Government’s abandonment of Australian sovereignty to the US through AUKUS and the Force Posture Agreement (FPA) enmeshes Australia in US war plans and endangers the peace in our region on which our national prosperity relies. It is up to the ALP rank and file members attending the National Conference, 17-19 August, to stand up Continue reading »
For the record: I was born in Ukraine, studied in Russia, and worked in America as a laser fusion researcher and Professor of Mathematics and Physics. I have relatives and friends in all three countries, and for the last 35 years, I have been trying to do my best to make them friends, partners, or even allies. Continue reading »
If we learn anything from history it should be that the many efforts to destabilise countries by the USA have had very limited success. Taiwan is no different, it is being misread, misinterpreted and consequently, the “international community” are being misled. Having failed to recruit Taiwan’s neighbours to a proxy war against China, this leaves Continue reading »