Independent Commentary > John Menadue >
The war in Ukraine is the culmination of a 30-year project of the American neoconservative movement. The Biden Administration is packed with the same neocons who championed the US wars of choice in Serbia (1999), Afghanistan (2001), Iraq (2003), Syria (2011), Libya (2011), and who did so much to provoke
read now Professor Hugh White argues, in an essay, ’If growing US-China rivalry leads to ‘the worst war ever’, what should Australia do?’ published in Pearls and Irritations on 26 June, that, ‘..the very real possibility that a war with China launched to preserve the US’s position in Asia might end up
read now How did it come to this? Australia’s defence policy has been baldly sacrificed to US interests via AUKUS with little public discourse. Mostly, those that present as security experts have mumbled support as the US entangles Australia in its planning for war with China. Not a word from the serried
read now Less than three years ago President Macron said NATO was afflicted with ‘brain death’. When Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced that he would be attending the NATO meeting in Madrid on 29 June “as a priority” and denounced the “thuggish, illegal behaviour” of Russia in Ukraine the coverage accorded his
read now Many Catholics are concerned that the current Plenary Council is overly focused on internal Church matters and neglecting Pope Francis’s call to engage more vigorously with pressing social issues in dialogue and collaboration with all people of good will. Some 278 Catholic bishops, clergy, religious personnel and lay people will
read now NSW Liberals have a bit of a thing about ICAC. It was, more or less, a Liberal Party brainchild – seen as a counter to seemingly obvious corruption in the Labor government of the day, three decades ago. Perversely, some thought, incoming Liberal Premier, Nick Greiner, popularly regarded as a
read now Inflation is outside the target zone in all developed economies. Central banks are responding by increasing interest rates. But the critical question is whether monetary policy can bring inflation down without causing a recession. The latest data for countries’ consumer price indexes, show inflation running at over 8 percent in
read now Spare a thought for Michael Coutts-Trotter, the Secretary of the NSW Premiers Department. He has been asked, in effect, to decide which of several versions of how John Barilaro was appointed “on merit” to a cushy $500,000 trade commissioner job in New York most closely approximates the truth. One way
read now From Malcolm Turnbull’s first day as Prime Minister in 2015, the bombings on Iraq increased. We all became responsible for killing great numbers of Muslims. For years putrid skeletons were being dug out of the rubble. Lovers, sons and daughters, soldiers old and young, men and women, children. Most of
read now Aid agencies say the Myanmar junta is attacking villages and wiping out communities as collective punishment against those who it cannot identify but who the military claims allegedly support the People’s Defence Forces. Reports in local media say regime forces carried out arson attacks on at least 30 villages along
read now The Greens have the right and the duty (a “mandate” if you will) to use the numbers in which they were elected by Australian voters, to go hard on getting the climate policy outcomes they proposed. The Greens have clearly annoyed a lot of people. Just in the past week,
read now Chinese investors are fast abandoning Australia as a frosty bilateral relationship dampens trade, with a report showing Chinese investment in Australia nosedived by almost 70 per cent last year to the lowest level since 2007. Key points: Chinese firms are turning away from investing in Australia in favour of Europe and
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