Make no mistake, had the Australian Government not changed last year, Chen Lei would still be languishing in her miserable detention cell, denied access to her children, relatives, and friends. From the outset, the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister made it clear that they would change the tone of the relationship with China which, by Continue reading »
Australian foreign affairs
Engaging China: How Australia can lead the way again (Sydney University Press 2023) reviews most aspects of the Australia-China relations and proposes useful ways to develop them for the national benefit. Jointly edited by Jamie Reilly and Jingdong Yuan, it includes contributions from thirteen scholars, journalists and former diplomats, a foreword by former Foreign Minister Continue reading »
It was a short stint, involving a six-member delegation of Australian parliamentarians lobbying members of the US Congress and various relevant officials on one issue: the release of Julian Assange. If extradited to the US from the United Kingdom to face 18 charges, 17 framed with reference to the oppressive, extinguishing Espionage Act of 1917, Continue reading »
2025 America won’t be like 1933 Germany and they won’t be wearing brownshirts. But the program of the reactionary forces in America is as radical as that of the interwar fascists. And they have a plan for taking over. The Weimar Republic provides an example of how quickly a determined, organised group can subvert and Continue reading »
‘I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice’ ~ Abraham Lincoln The UK High Court decision in the Assange case may be just over a week away. The delegation of Australian politicians currently in Washington DC have reportedly been granted audience with Republicans Rand Paul, Thomas Massie, & Vivek Ganapathy Ramaswamy and Continue reading »
In the early 1960s, the then USSR started building missile sites in Cuba, near enough to Florida for endurance swimmers. This almost led to the Cold War turning flaming hot. Now Australia is to buy more than 200 US missiles and stage them close to Indonesia. The Arafura Sea is too wide to swim, but the Continue reading »
Australia’s minister for foreign affairs, Penny Wong, has announced Australia will return to use of the term “occupied Palestinian territories”. The Australian government will use this phrase to describe the territories in the West Bank and Gaza that Israel occupied in 1967. Australian officials have generally avoided the use of “occupied” and “occupation” in relation to Palestine since 2014. This move Continue reading »
For Syrians, hope lies in the fact that – given time and effort – people outside their country will learn of the deleterious effect of sanctions, will question the justifications given for imposing them, and will see them as breaching human rights. Returning to Syria in 2019, I visited a private girls high school in Continue reading »
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 »