The arrest of 53 persons on January 6-7 this year in Hong Kong on suspicion of subversion has, once again, raised a frenzy of condemnation by western leaders and the media. All the arrested persons have been released on police bail as investigations continue. These...
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Fake news abounds in the misguided war on the digital media platforms
Opposition is growing both locally and globally to media laws introduced by the Coalition Government requiring tech giants Google and Facebook to pay for displaying original news content. Why should our domestic monopolists get preference? Not only is there no good...
Sleepwalking into a fascist alliance
Those critically engaged in understanding and debating the future of Australian defence and national security strategies should pass two votes of thanks: the first is to former President Donald Trump; the second to the recent political-strategic proclamations of the...
Pompeo and Blinken are wrong: China is not committing genocide in Xinjiang
On his last day as US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo declared China’s human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region constituted “genocide” against ethnic Uighur Muslims. This outrageous declaration was the last of many that Pompeo has issued in a deliberate attempt to...
Japan’s kow-towing to US is leading to ecological destruction on a majestic reef.
Japan, in consultation with the US, is trying to build a huge military facility for the US Marine Corps by reclaiming a large part of the wondrous, biodiverse Oura Bay. It is akin to Australia offering part of the Great Barrier Reef to the Pentagon to establish a...
Let the JobKeeper rorts roll
Where do we start when considering the $100 billion JobKeeper scheme? Should we focus on the opaque nature of the scheme in which less than 3% of JobKeeper payments have been disclosed in public company accounts and there is no way of finding out who got what and how...
Is Trump’s 1776 Commission report an extremist manifesto?
The 1776 Commission Report released on 18 January 2021 is a time bomb of extremist propaganda; a source document for the arguments and recruitment of white nationalists and white supremacists, and for the apologists of radical libertarianism. It will give succour to...
Biden’s economic centrism isn’t exciting, but it’s right for these divisive times
In an age of hyperpartisan politics, the Biden presidency offers a welcome centrism that might help bridge the divides. But it’s also Biden’s economic centrism that offers a chance to cut through what has become an increasingly polarised approach to economic...
Not ‘Apartheid in the West Bank.’ Apartheid
For just six months of its 73 years was Israel a democracy. Six months, and not one day more. This shocking fact, which most Israelis and the wider world repress and truth-seekers have no way of denying, must resound in every civics lesson and every debate in Israel....
PETER SAINSBURY. Sunday environmental round up, 24 January 2021
The land this week: strategies to reduce agricultural land and habitat loss, and improve human health, even as the global population increases; the massive carbon footprint of dairy products; problems in Asia – slow-onset impacts of climate change to displace...
We have the tools to help control the pandemic; we have to use them
The arrival of more infectious Covid variants means more of us need to be vaccinated than previously thought, with an uptake of at least 80%. The federal government must now drive that promotion campaign with a focus on vaccine safety. Fortress Australia Our priority...
The strategic thinking behind the EU-China investment deal
Washington was understandably perplexed that a China-EU investment agreement was concluded a few weeks before the Biden administration, especially a president who has been advocating for multilateralism and the restoration of trust and an alliance with the EU. Some...
US presidents love to play a round
The US presidency is said to be the office of the “leader of the free world” yet, as highlighted by the dying days of Donald Trump’s presidency, one of the most challenging handicaps for US presidents seems to have been on the golf course. The president of the United...
Vale Andrew Mack
The many Australian friends and colleagues of Professor Andrew Mack will be deeply saddened to learn he passed away in Vancouver on 20 January 2021 after a year of serious illness. As those of us who knew him well can attest, Andy was not only a brilliant and...
Australia can phase out coal power while maintaining energy security
The end of coal-fired generation in Australia is inevitable. The key is for an orderly transition to spread the costs fairly. Zero marginal cost, zero emissions energy is now a reality. In most case, wind and solar are cheaper sources of new electricity than coal,...
There’s nothing entrepreneurial about Rentier Capitalism, as it sucks up more of the wealth pie
‘Rentier Capitalism’ is a cracking thesis on a cruel economic order. Read it and you’ll start seeing rentiers everywhere, hearing them in every news bulletin, all involved in massive anti-competitive behaviour and impoverishing the rest of society....
Meanness versus mindfulness: Trump versus Biden
The contrast in the content and tone of the final days of Trump’s Presidency and the early days of Biden’s is stark. Trump bungled, blamed, and bullied; Biden already seems competent, considered, and compassionate. Apart from Me-ness, Trump’s Presidency was also...
The US Money Tree: The Untold Story of American Aid to Israel
On December 21, the United States Congress passed the COVID-19 Relief Package, as part of a larger $2.3 trillion bill meant to cover spending for the rest of the fiscal year. As usual, US representatives allocated a massive sum of money for Israel. While unemployment,...
Call of Duty: Capitol insurgents playing the role of heroic avengers who kill without consequence
Donald Trump and the Republican Party alone have the capacity to restore stability to the United States. They have to acknowledge that the game is over, and their claim that the election was “stolen” was a big lie. When the insurgents began their march towards the...
Let’s build something decent from the rubble of this empire
The US empire will fall sooner or later. All empires do. So, this crisis, just at the start of the Biden and Harris years, is a fine time to begin thinking about what might be built in its place. Even in California, one of its richest states we have gross economic...
Saturday’s good reading and listening for the weekend
What people in other forums are saying about public policy America’s long road back to sanity Biden’s inaugural address You might care to invest 22 minutes listening to Biden’s inaugural address – maybe watching it because the Americans excel in the theatrics of state...
Republicans Discover Dangerous New ‘Covid-19’ Virus Sweeping America
Republican Party leaders say they have become aware of a deadly new virus called ‘COVID-19’ which has been devastating America since Wednesday. Outraged GOP lawmakers said the virus was getting out of control, and blamed the Biden administration for doing nothing to...
Rambling, Deranged Florida Man Claiming To Be President Of United States
A Florida man, believed to be in his 70s, has been telling passers by that he is the leader of the free world. As authorities were called to the scene, witnesses say the man was erratic and anxious, at one point claiming he had been robbed. “He kept saying ‘They stole...
A Letter to President Biden: Rebuilding US credibility
You will be acutely aware that, after the ravages of the Trump years, you have a big healing job ahead of you, not only at home but abroad. Too often in recent times America’s allies, partners and friends around the world have found ourselves regarded as...
China-Australia trade conflict is not all China’s doing
Post Covid, it will be hard for Australia to grow quickly without China’s market, capital, people exchange and know-how. Finding a détente is essential. However, Australia targeted China before it targeted us. After signing a free trade and investment agreement with...
Joe Biden’s Inauguration: “We must end this uncivil war”
Racism was the core of Trump’s politics. The country divided along the lines of the Civil War and of post-reconstruction America. In his inaugural address, Biden acknowledged this reality. His Administration will prioritise tackling the pandemic but success with that...