“What convinces masses are not facts, and not even invented facts, but only the consistency of the system of which they are presumably part.” Hannah Arendt This article is based on notes following a visit to Crimea in April 2018. The contrast between what I had understood, formed by accepted narratives over many years, with Continue reading »
Defence and Security
Australia is now at a key point in our Defence major project acquisitions planning. We are looking at a very dodgy AUKUS scam which will be the driver of our largest ever Defence expenditure. Brian Toohey in this publication recently pointed out some of the serious problems of buying obsolete 2nd hand nuclear submarines from Continue reading »
The claim that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a proxy war is not borne out by recent history, nor supported by Russian democrats, Ukrainians of all stripes nor most Western Russia specialists. They mostly see its roots in an authoritarian Russian state and the revanchist views of Putin and his acolytes. Several recent articles in Continue reading »
The North Atlantic military alliance has no business in the continent and it should just stop going on about the so-called China threat. As Nato and its boss, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, keep banging on about “the China threat”, you really have to wonder what the real game plan is. A joint communique by Nato’s Continue reading »
The Israeli army’s recent attack on Jenin refugee camp resulted in 13 deaths (12 Palestinians, including four children, and one Israeli soldier killed by suspected friendly fire). An additional 143 Palestinians were injured, with 20 in critical condition, and up to 4,000 displaced. While this mass displacement has received less media attention than other aspects Continue reading »
Around a week ago the Financial Review confirmed what many observers had taken for granted: the US offered nuclear propulsion technology to Australia under the AUKUS arrangements in order to lock it into the anti-China coalition. Reporting on comments made at a public forum by White House strategic adviser Kurt Campbell, the article highlights his Continue reading »
I have yet to meet an Australian voter willing to go to war over Taiwan. Further, I haven’t heard of any Australian military leader with a clear idea of Australia’s role in a showdown between China and the US. Earlier this year, NASA’s survey satellite discovered an Earth-sized world within the habitable zone of a Continue reading »
The Australian Defence Department’s new Frigates project is a jobs merry-go-round for former military officers, bureaucrats, and weapons makers. Integrity concerns with Australia’s $46 billion procurement from BAE Systems of nine warships were examined in Part One of Declassified Australia’s special ‘Sinking Billions’. The Defence contract management process was revealed to be flawed and suffering what the Australian Continue reading »
According to the UN Human Rights Office, 9,083 civilians have been killed in 500 days of fighting in Ukraine, and 15,779 wounded. These figures are likely to increase dramatically once American cluster munitions are deployed. Invented by Germany and deployed in World War Two, cluster bomb technology spread to the United States, Russia and Italy Continue reading »
The world has just spent two decades paralysed by fear. Ever since 11 September 2001, the ‘war on terror’ has changed the lives of most people for the worse. Millions have been killed, either by terrorists or by militarists fighting them. Fearing violence, many people have fled their homelands as refugees. Others have absorbed repeated Continue reading »