Americans don’t understand: China is not afraid of the US
China knows that, if it has to, it can stand alone and that it can defend itself. It knows, too, that most nations of th…
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The Israel dilemma
As a gentile with an historical association with Israel, I must admit to being greatly puzzled by the double standard that is evident in the destruction of Gaza. Continue reading »
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The court decides; doom to follow?
As predicted in Pearls & Irritations earlier this month, an appeal by the two losing candidates in the 14 February Indonesian presidential election has been trounced this week by the Constitutional Court. Continue reading »
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Worse than the Nakba: A wilful, deliberate, total genocide in Gaza
Lies and impunity paved the way for the worst time in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Hanan Ashrawi says Gaza is “worse than even the Nakba, because it is a wilful, deliberate, total genocide”. Continue reading »
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UN rights chief demands international probe of mass graves near Gaza hospitals
“Hospitals are entitled to very special protection under international humanitarian law,” said Volker Türk, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights. Continue reading »
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From imperial romance to practical security history
At the levels of public ritual and private observance, the ANZAC narrative is much about processing loss and assuaging grief. But let us recall here its nature as an imperial romance, and what that might mean for our place in the multi-polarity of the current world order? Continue reading »
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ANZAC Day 2024: Better balanced assimilation or war reports fatigue?
Perhaps it is my imagination, but in the days immediately preceding Anzac Day 2024, there seems to be less media exhortation to observance than has been usual in recent years. Continue reading »
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‘Impactful projection’, 1915 style: Lest we forget Anzac Cove
Anzac Day. We mark it respectfully. True respect demands that we also not forget the essential question about the first ‘Anzac Day’ – 25 April 1915. Why were Australian soldiers at Anzac Cove in the first place? Continue reading »
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Will the freedom flotilla sail to Gaza?
The non-violence training to join the Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s ships to Gaza has been intense. As hundreds of us from 32 countries gathered in Istanbul, we were briefed about what we might encounter on this voyage. “We have to be ready for every possibility,” our trainers insisted. Continue reading »
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ASPI chief takes exception to being singled out by China
The director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a lobby group for big tech and foreign agencies, claims that China’s alleged targeting of the agency “should be of concern to all Australians”. Continue reading »
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Red poppies and bare ground: Why do we discriminate among our war dead?
The 100 000 or so dead men and women in Australia’s overseas wars are symbolised by red poppies, on the Roll of Honour at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, in shrines around the nation, on the more than 5000 war memorials in our towns and suburbs, in war cemeteries overseas, and worn on Anzac Continue reading »
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World’s biggest democracy expels ABC journalist but little noise in Australia
One wonders how the Australian mainstream media will react to the news that India, the so-called biggest democracy in the world, has thrown out ABC correspondent Avani Dias from the country. Continue reading »
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Australia’s group think epidemic and the Adelaide AUKUS fairytale
The idea that nuclear submarines can be built in Adelaide under AUKUS has the characteristics of the “group think” that led to invasion of Iraq in 2003, and has been described by former Foreign Minister Alexander Downer as a “bit of a fairytale”. “Some government in the future will make the obvious decision and not Continue reading »
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Education, Government, International relations, Politics//=$this_post['view']?>
Our entire view of the world remains insular. How can Australia change?
Unlike virtually every non-Anglophone country on the planet, Australia still has no mandatory teaching of foreign languages in its schools. Why do we assume, as a matter of colonial entitlement, that people from non-Anglophone countries will understand us, but it is not even a matter of decency to make the same effort to understand them? Continue reading »
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Government, Politics//=$this_post['view']?>
Lehrmann and the engagement of ministerial staff
In the oceanic commentary on the Bruce Lehrmann cases, little attention seems to have been given as to how he got into Minister Linda Reynolds office in the first place. If he hadn’t all could have been spared the terrible things that have happened as a consequence of his admission – the catastrophic ignominies he Continue reading »
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Israel / Palestine, Politics, World Affairs//=$this_post['view']?>
Iran just destroyed US power in the Middle East
Former US ambassador Chas Freeman argues that Iran’s strike “changes all the rules of the game in the Middle-East”. Continue reading »
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Israel / Palestine, Media, Politics, World//=$this_post['view']?>
Israel is turning hospitals into mass graves while the West fixates on ‘Antisemitism’
A mass grave created by the IDF has been uncovered at a Gaza hospital, where Palestinian civilians appear to have been the victims of a gruesome massacre. Continue reading »
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Economy, Government, Media, Politics//=$this_post['view']?>
The costs of living and the price of death: Spare a thought for Gaza and Sudan
In response to questions about starvation in Gaza and Sudan, a Federal Labor MP has explained, ‘In Australia, the cost of living is the issue. It’s voters’ major concern, and a political priority.’ Continue reading »