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 »
World
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 »
No issue in the forthcoming election is as important as Australia’s international identity and the crisis in the Western alliance about its senior partner, the United States. The alliance is fragmenting and, it appears, President Trump is daring Europe to defend Ukraine against Russian aggression independently. He wants NATO members to double their defence spending Continue reading »
A dozen days ahead of this Chinese New Year, a large-scale exhibition opened at the Hong Kong Museum of Art. The event, “Cezanne and Renoir Looking at the World – Masterpieces from the Musee de l’Orangerie and the Musee d’Orsay,” showcased 52 masterpieces, featuring how the pair innovatively reinvented the art of their time and Continue reading »
“Physical violence can’t exist without violence of language.” Omar El Akkad The language of genocidal intent You say Israel/Hamas war. We say genocide. “Those are animals, they have no right to exist … they need to be exterminated.” You say self-defence against terrorists. We say elimination. “Erase them, their families, their mothers, their babies. Continue reading »
Ukraine will have to cede more territory than it would have in April 2022 — when the US and UK talked it out of a peace deal — but it will gain sovereignty and international security arrangements. There should be little doubt about how a lasting peace can be established in Ukraine. In April 2022, Continue reading »