politics

Created
Fri, 01/12/2023 - 04:59
Henry Kissinger’s death draws to a close the epoch of intellectualism in foreign policy to which he was committed following his early study of and belief in a system of organised strategic balance and restraint of the kind that emerged from the Treaty of Westphalia in the 17th century. I first met Henry Kissinger in Continue reading »
Created
Tue, 28/11/2023 - 04:51
Giora Eiland is one of the “thinking officers” in the Israeli Defence Forces. He has an idea – epidemics in Gaza are good for Israel. “After all, severe epidemics in the southern Strip will bring victory closer and reduce fatalities among IDF soldiers.”  One only has to wait for the daughters of Hamas’ leaders to Continue reading »
Created
Tue, 28/11/2023 - 04:55
While there is much hysteria from Peter Dutton and the Murdoch press associated with the 12 asylum seekers who recently arrived by boat (it’s a catastrophe apparently), there was less excitement about a new post-pandemic monthly record for primary asylum applications set in October at 2,322. That is now approaching the monthly record of over Continue reading »
Created
Tue, 28/11/2023 - 04:57
The failure of the latest round of government-funded research grants to include any topics related to China weakens Australia’s capacity to understand and manage relations with the region’s biggest power, writes Louise Edwards. The latest Australian Research Council Discovery Grants were released in October to very little fanfare. The federal government didn’t veto any grants; Continue reading »
Created
Tue, 28/11/2023 - 04:50
If somehow all those ‘rules-based’ systems work overwhelmingly to the benefit of the US and its Western allies, the rest of the world may wonder why they should follow them. The latest meeting between presidents Xi Jinping and Joe Biden was covered all over the world. And yet, the Western media have been strangely silent Continue reading »
Created
Tue, 28/11/2023 - 04:58
Confronted by the horrors occurring in the Ukraine, Ethiopia, Sudan, Myanmar and now the Middle East, it’s hard to contemplate that an even more imposing global tragedy is already here – climate breakdown. Numerous reports indicate that we’re careering inexorably toward climate catastrophe, with the lives of billions of people and umpteen non-human species at Continue reading »