With some honourable exceptions, most of the media and the parliament enthusiastically support almost everything the Director General of the Australian Secret Intelligence Organisation Mike Burgess has to say. Although Burgess is not an extreme hardliner in the Australian intelligence world, many of his statements should not go unchallenged. Earlier this year, Burgess said foreign Continue reading »
politics
I do not believe that anything I say about what is happening in Gaza will affect Israeli or American policy in that conflict. But I want to be on record so that when historians look back on this moral calamity, they will see that some Americans were on the right side of history. What Israel Continue reading »
From the destruction of Gough Whitlam’s ASIO file, Sir John Kerr’s burnt Royal letters of support reduced to ash in the Yarralumla incinerator, to the missing 1975 Government House guest books, these lost archives raise serious concerns about the care with which our vice-regal records are maintained, and our capacity to write a full and Continue reading »
It is urgent to end the loss of life and destruction in Gaza, but as the joint Statement by the Prime Ministers of Australia, Canada and New Zealand recognises, a sustainable ceasefire will require agreement to a balanced set of conditions consistent with eventually achieving a lasting peace based on a two-State solution. This is Continue reading »
A provision in the annual defense bill would have the Pentagon run clinical trials for members of the military with post-traumatic stress disorder.
The post Congress Is Pushing Revolutionary Research on Psychedelic Treatments for the Military appeared first on The Intercept.
At a key meeting, U.S. stage management stops the world from hearing critics of Israel’s war on Gaza.
The post How Biden’s State Department Conceals Its “Human Rights Black Hole” in the Middle East appeared first on The Intercept.
The revelations in recent weeks of Indian government involvement in the assassination in Vancouver of a Sikh separatist – and in a conspiracy to murder another in New York – may turn out to be what those in the diplomatic business call “manageable.” The United States and India need a relationship in working order. But Continue reading »
“The world looked away during the World War, and Jews, 6 million of our people, were murdered in that looking away… It is incumbent upon humanity to look at what is happening in Gaza now and to say we will not accept this. We will say no. Not in our name.” – Louise Adler The Continue reading »
Pearls and Irritations’ weekly roundup this week commented on the paucity of analysis regarding the House of Representatives Select Committee’s report Rebuilding Employment Services. This is not surprising given the number and complexity of its recommendations. However, it is hard to pin down many specifics in the report other than the current system is useless. Continue reading »