Is Trump mad? If declining to share the joys and troubles of the whole human race, to decline a seat at humanity’s common table is a form of madness – then yes, Donald J Trump is mad. What is madness? To order the confinement of a person for their safety and well-being, as well as Continue reading »
World
Democracy has just been overthrown in an EU nation for the first time ever – with the tacit backing of the European Union itself. Buckle up: if the pre-emptive coup in Romania is allowed to stand, this means that the EU has torn up its own rule book and welcomed a dictatorship into the community. Continue reading »
Trump’s bid for regime change in Yemen should be anathema to both America Firsters and Democrats, but will anyone speak out?
The post Trump Reasserts U.S. as the World’s Policeman With Massive Yemen Escalation appeared first on The Intercept.
In trying to understand US President Donald Trump, the proposition has been put that he is sultanistic. In many respects, Trump’s second presidency does appear to be “sultanistic”. Sultanism requires all individuals, groups and institutions to be subject to what appears to be the unpredictable and despotic intervention of the ruler who does not operate Continue reading »
Volodymyr Zelenskyy reports on the peace talks in Saudi Arabia, saying if President Trump can get Russia to agree, a ceasefire will take effect immediately. After weeks of reported antisemitic attacks, police reveal the events were an organised crime hoax. Malcolm Turnbull defends his free speech on 7:30 report while Israel, cutting off electricity is Continue reading »
A significant intelligence failure to detect live-firing by Chinese warships near Australia, has exposed Defence weaknesses, and the fact that when it counts, we are all alone. Australia is caught in a jam, between an assertive American ally and a bold Chinese trading partner. America is accelerating its pivot to the Indo-Pacific, building up its Continue reading »
“All murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.” Voltaire “I’m fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in.” – George McGovern (Politician, USA) We seem in this age, in what is deceptively described as the West, to be constantly Continue reading »
I don’t intend to move these round-ups into international relations. There are excellent Australian sources with a foreign policy orientation – Pearls and Irritations, the Lowy Institute and Australian Foreign Affairs. But events around Trump’s betrayal of Ukraine should have repercussions not only for our foreign policy, but also for our domestic policy, particularly in the way we Continue reading »
Europe’s panicked response to the shift in Washington’s priorities raises a number of intriguing questions, not least why its leadership was so ill-prepared for the second coming of Donald Trump. One of the most circulated images from his first term showed a peeved but defiant US president, arms crossed, seemingly being berated by European leaders Continue reading »
In 1997, the World Health Organisation invited me to be a short-term consultant to visit Iran and advise on HIV control among people who inject drugs and the spread from them to the large low-risk general population. At the time, HIV was spreading rapidly in Iran. I felt honoured to be invited to a country Continue reading »