Fuelled by well armed pro Israel groups and by university administrators’ decision to move police and riot squads to break up peaceful encampments, a terrible thuggery has invaded US universities. On Australian campuses, despite the arrival of counter demonstrators at Monash and Sydney, university Vice Chancellors appear to have decided that resort to police intervention Continue reading »
politics
Grassroots anti-AUKUS campaign, Labor Against War, has called on the Federal Labor Government to come clean about just how much it is pouring into US and UK coffers to rebuild their ageing nuclear shipyards, both of which build nuclear-armed submarines. Marcus Strom, national convenor of Labor Against War, said: “It’s quite telling that the budget Continue reading »
Australia’s most severe China knowledge gap is the virtual collapse of University-level advanced Chinese language study, together with the study of Chinese society, politics and culture. This is the major finding of a report, Australia’s China Knowledge Capability, published in 2023 by the Australian Academy of the Humanities. The main program that provided this expertise Continue reading »
Imagine being Tony Blinken, and facing the arduous responsibility as US Secretary of State to rule the globe! This seems a daunting task, but fortunately, Blinken doesn’t have to strain his brain too much because he has a manual already written to instruct him. This manual is called The Grand Chessboard. It tutors you to Continue reading »
How long can Australian politicians continue with the pretence that the American alliance aligns with the nation’s interests? Trump or Biden? It doesn’t really matter except for determining the path of America’s decline into illiberalism. ANZUS must be exited. There are three compelling arguments for leaving the ANZUS alliance. The first is cynical but persuasive; Continue reading »
The jailing of military whistleblower David McBride, who exposed alleged war crimes by Australian troops in Afghanistan, for 5 years and 8 months by the ACT Supreme Court shines a light on a number of issues and one of them requires urgent consideration. The need for a public interest defence to protect individuals like McBride. Continue reading »
Climate scientists reveal data that earth’s heating is accelerating, heat extremes are increasing and 1.5C has been breached faster than forecast. We are failing to treat climate change as the single greatest threat to humanity. At the same time our government has announced a gas strategy which increases emissions and the earth’s heating. Either we Continue reading »
The Opposition’s shadow Treasurer (yep, he’s the best they could manage), Angus Taylor, has moved to assure the Nation that he’ll make a great Treasurer, as he has all his fingers and toes to count with. ”Australian’s need to rest... Read More ›
This evening, Israeli residents set fire twice to the perimeter of the UNRWA Headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem. This took place while UNRWA and other UN Agencies’ staff were on the compound. While there were no casualties among our staff, the fire caused extensive damage to the outdoor areas. The UNRWA headquarters has on its Continue reading »
This year our federal members of parliament will vote on a new National Schools Reform Agreement (NSRA). Before voting they might consider what happened to the schools they once attended. Their alma maters reveal what went wrong. Public interest in where MPs went to school isn’t new and often comes with judgments based on the Continue reading »