Both The US and Israel have turned out to be exceptionally brutal, exceptionally authoritarian and exceptionally unjust. The zeitgeist is peace, and Israel and the U.S. will be left behind when the world moves towards humanity and cooperation. Meanwhile they are going to dig in, stand firm on their use of blood curdling violence against Continue reading »
politics
Israel’s membership of the United Nations was approved in 1949. Unlike other states, it was approved conditionally upon Israel complying with Partition Resolution 181 as to the limits of the Israeli State, and UN Resolution 194, allowing the return of refugees. Israel has complied with neither condition. It refuses to define its borders and is Continue reading »
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The non-profit collective of high-powered scientists, Climate Central, has released a new report demonstrating that the past 12 months have been the hottest on record, and inferring that they are the hottest in 125,000 years. They find that during the past year, 73% of the world’s population suffered through at Continue reading »
Demand is exploding for materials used in clean technology and IT. Amid worries that China dominates supply of many of these, Australia is developing a $4 billion program to expand their mining and processing. In Washington, our PM and the President announced a joint “Compact” on critical minerals. There are hazards here, including possibly tying Continue reading »
Everyone’s talking points have in bold type – ‘Israel has the right to defend itself’. This simplistic American militarist jargon is treated as if there was an untrammelled right. International law hasn’t emerged to facilitate war, but to constrain it. The rich body of international law is the product of several centuries of reflection and Continue reading »
Australia’s offer to Tuvalu, allowing residents facing displacement from climate change to resettle in Australia, was clearly a good deed. It was an act of humane generosity. But the good deed was besmirched by the conditions attached to it. In return for this good humanitarian deed, Australia will have effective veto power over Tuvalu’s security Continue reading »
In January 2021, the Morrison government changed the way university fees are set with the Job-ready Graduates scheme. The idea was to steer students into courses that would lead to “the jobs of the future”. So the scheme made some fields (such as history and journalism) more expensive and some (such as nursing, teaching, computer programming and engineering) Continue reading »
China is very important for Australia. The recent Prime Ministerial visit to Beijing, the first in seven years, underscores that. The fundamental question we need to ask ourselves across all the various sectors of Australia’s multi-faceted China-interested community is, are we getting China right? Do we know as much as we think we know? If Continue reading »