There’s no spin or ex-post facto interpretation of the likely defeat of the Aboriginal Voice referendum able to disguise a resounding setback for Aboriginal Australians. And for the principal Labor proponents of the ballot, and for Australians generally, not least in international reputation. Supporters should, of course, fight to the bitter end. But realists must Continue reading »
Government
The impressive US Congressional Research Service (CRS) has just released another batch of independent analyses of the daunting challenges the Pentagon – especially the US Navy – face in meeting the demands to upgrade significantly its force capabilities in the Indo Pacific. All of which is now confronted by the extraordinarily chaotic legislative environment occasioned Continue reading »
There was a time not so long ago, especially after the Vietnam War, when leaders in the advanced countries such as the United States, Britain, France and Germany gave us hope that the mistakes of the past had been learnt and that we were heading for a fairer and more ethical system: when Nelson Mandela Continue reading »
Tel Aviv is estimated to have up to 400 nuclear warheads in its arsenal, making it the sole possessor of non-conventional arms in West Asia. First published in THE CRADLE September 30, 2023 Qatar has called for intensifying international efforts to subject all Israeli nuclear facilities to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards and for Continue reading »
Things did not go so well this time around. When the worn Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy turned up banging on the doors of Washington’s powerful on September 21, he found fewer open hearts and an increasingly large number of closed wallets. The old ogre of national self-interest seemed to be presiding and was in no Continue reading »
Culturally most events seem random. But sometimes there are a constellation of events that seem meaningful. Which makes this month’s triptych of Ted Gurner, Russell Brand and Rupert Murdoch so intriguing. Now who do these three remind us of? If one name doesn’t spring to mind, then really we are not paying attention. For anyone Continue reading »
To truly serve all students, we’ll have to rethink how schools ‘do school’. The disability royal commission has reported. The commissioners want greater inclusion of disabled children in mainstream schools, with some wanting to eventually phase out special schools altogether. That could happen, but not without a serious rethink about how schools ‘do school’. The Continue reading »
Pumped hydro storage is the ideal complement to wind and solar electricity generation: versatile, modest in scale, cost and build-time, little environmental disruption, mature component technologies, few toxic chemicals, durable. Yet it is consistently overlooked in mainstream discussion in favour of gas-fired power stations, batteries and the nuclear zombie. It is also shackled by out-of-date Continue reading »
In 1888 Lowe Kong Meng, Cheong Cheok Hong and Louis Ah Moy took the moral high ground in The Chinese Question booklet. They were ignored, of course. It was the time. A century later, in 1998, the Queensland Chinese Forum denounced the Queensland Liberal Party for its decision to preference Pauline Hanson One Nation Party at the Continue reading »
In Asian media this week: America must show it has answers to global problems. Plus: Thai government talks of gun control; Australia-China de-coupling is impossible; Myanmar military’s killing, torture and rape; Cold War returns to Korean Peninsula; China’s EV makers have edge over US. The battle between the US and China has moved to a Continue reading »