An attempt by certain Labor affiliated left-wing unions to put a motion critical of AUKUS at the recent ALP Victorian State Conference was deferred by factional bosses even before it was put. That it was deferred tells us as much about the hierarchy ignoring the rank and file of the party as it does about Continue reading »
politics
I was rather amused, or to use the American expression “tickled pink”, when I read the article titled “Coexistance: the only realist path to peace” by Stephen M. Walt in Pearls & Irritations. The article’s claim to the “realist path” to peace would make sense only to those who have dominated others for so long Continue reading »
Greens leader Adam Bandt has condemned Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for refusing to join the party in a drum circle to hash out the differences the two parties have over the Government’s housing policy. “When it comes to taking things... Read More ›
Any plan to try and end the Ukraine war needs to be welcomed if sincere, well-considered, unencumbered, and authored by a respected source. None of those criteria applies to the peace proposal from Prabowo Subianto at the 20th Asia Security Summit this month. The Singapore speech was outside his portfolio. It was delivered without clearance from Continue reading »
There are no genuine homosexuals in Uganda. They don’t exist. And if it they do, it’s the fault of foreign (read Western) influence. If straight men are recruited into being homosexual, then it must be eradicated before it infects all Ugandan men. Stephen Fry went out of his way in 2022 to dispel such nonsense; Continue reading »
It’s easy to gain the impression that there are just two school sectors in Australia: elite private schools and public schools, the former being exclusive and over-funded, the latter inclusive and cash-strapped. True to a point, but in dwelling on this dichotomy we are missing bigger policy issues that cry out for resolution. The contrasts Continue reading »
Every woman in Australia, and not a few men, should experience a shiver of apprehension about the Bruce Lehrmann case. It’s not just a story about whether a particular woman was raped at parliament house in 2019. It’s even less a story about whether former defence minister, Linda Reynolds, her employer at the time, was Continue reading »
The Defence Strategic Review reflects a profound failure of the Australian leadership to understand and accept the breadth and complexity of the range of strategic threats confronting Australia, the region, and the world. How can a realistic defence policy be determined without first understanding the risks it is supposed to address? On 24thApril 2023 the Continue reading »
The final revelation of whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, who died on Friday at the age of 92, was to reveal details of top secret US plans to launch a nuclear invasion of China. Millions would have died in the bombing, planned for 1958, which was set to start with Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs on the Chinese mainland Continue reading »
After enduring chronic illness for many decades, Dennis passed away peacefully at 11:10pm (AEST) on Tuesday the 13th of June. Dennis was born in 1943 and was an example of “some people DID know better back then”. He was curious, funny, fiercely intelligent, committed to social justice, and fairly often the world had to catch Continue reading »