Foreign Minister, Penny Wong has asserted that Australia does not accept that Israel is an apartheid State. Freedom of information (FOI) documents have exposed that this position is not based on DFAT legal advice. The concerns of many Australians that their government, through trade and other dealings, or by even visiting Israel, might be making Continue reading »
World Affairs
A war in East Asia provoked by American intransigence would be no less disastrous for Australia than one caused by China’s ambitions. While China’s intentions and plans are inaccessible and should generate prudent caution, the well-researched drivers of America’s strategic policy should also produce grave reservations within the Albanese government. Suggestions of the deeper ideational Continue reading »
Since 2010, Xi Jinping has met Vladimir Putin on 40 separate occasions, but this last visit may prove to be their most significant meeting yet. The stakes for both have never been higher. Conscious of the rising risks of confrontation with the United States, Russia and China are intent on nurturing their comprehensive partnership. Each Continue reading »
HERE WE STAND: We are standing here, as people were in Melbourne yesterday, to recall one of Australia’s worst days: the start of our first war of aggression. We joined a small coalition to invade Iraq. We left that country in physical, social, economic and political ruin. No Australian government has inquired into why we Continue reading »
The International Criminal Court’s conduct in the Ukraine-Russia conflict, characterised by unusual alacrity for an international legal institution, is in stark contrast to the feet dragging on alleged war crimes by Israel against the Palestinians in 2014. The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Karim Khan has injected himself into the Ukraine-Russia conflict Continue reading »
March 19th marks the 20th anniversary of the U.S. and British invasion of Iraq. This seminal event in the short history of the 21st century not only continues to plague Iraqi society to this day, but it also looms large over the current crisis in Ukraine, making it impossible for most of the Global South to see the war Continue reading »
Wellington 26 January 2035: Ten years ago this week the first nuclear-armed missile landed on Australian soil, remembered as Invasion Day. Duncan Graham recalls what happened. The surprise attack was the People’s Republic of China’s reaction to Australia’s involvement in opposing the ‘Ring of Steel’ blockade of Taiwan. Washington had earlier begun an airlift of Continue reading »
In Asian media this week: Developing world rejects nonsensical Cold War; Japan moves from ‘shield’ to ‘spear’; opinion against military build-up; court asked to review new penal code; vote-buying an investment in graft; and differing views of Xinjiang. The world is divided into three blocs as a new Cold War starts, says commentator Andrew Sheng. Continue reading »
“The U.S. government believes that the only democratic institution in Venezuela is an assembly that has not met in seven years and whose term has expired,” writes Vijay Prashad, an Indian historian, editor and journalist in a recent article from Consortium News. Without a single word of dispute for Vijay’s presented view of the United Continue reading »
Soledar has fallen to Russian troops. Bakhmut (Artymovsk) will follow soon. This constitutes the breach of Ukraine’s second defence line within the Donetzk and Lysichansk oblasts. I will discuss those lines with the maps below. The first map shows the range of land taken by Russian forces by April 1 2022 (Kiev region not shown). Continue reading »