Let’s be clear: both major sides of Australian politics are seemingly willing to let the Wikileaks head out to dry if the order comes from Washington. We’re an obedient client state, after all: Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith says he has not been asked by the United States to put Wikileaks founder Julian Assange under…
Showing all posts tagged Australia
Afghan war isn’t some noble exercise; it’s empire building
Afghanistan is essentially absent from the Australian election campaign. In fact, any foreign affairs are missing in action. Parochialism is the name of the game. Today’s Australian features a mindless quote from Julia Gillard that the risk of further Australian deaths in Afghanistan is real. Very insightful. A foreign affairs “expert”, Michael Fullilove, offers this…
Green new world?
The following article is co-written with Lee Rhiannon, New South Wales Greens Senate candidate in the forthcoming collection and appears in Online Opinion: The bottom line for big business is return on investment for shareholders. However, the way a business is perceived as environmentally friendly or destructive seriously affects their profits. This is why corporations…
Talking on ABC TV about elections, Obama, Greens and trains
Last night I appeared on ABC TV’s News24 channel on The Drum panel alongside The Chaser’s Chas Licciardello and former Liberal leader Kerry Chikarovski (video here) We talked about the Australian election campaign and why personality politics is seemingly the name of the game. Policies are mostly secondary items (though there are exceptions). Even those…
Why the Greens actually have a vision for the future
Great ad for the Greens Party aired tonight on the ABC’s The Gruen Nation. Clean, straight to the point, displays humanity and proves why the party is set to score very well on election day, 21 August. They actually believe in something:
Complete Labor MP Julia Irwin’s views on the Middle East
Following my article in yesterday’s Crikey about departing ALP MP Julia Irwin speaking honestly about Israel/Palestine – check the comments on the original piece that shows the massive interest in these rare statements – please find below the complete transcript of the interview with Irwin: ALP Policy: While some of my former colleagues may disagree,…
Shutting Wikileaks is almost pointless now
A clear sign that Wikileaks is feared and will remain so. If Wikileaks is shut down, rest assured rivals will land and take its place. The genie is well and truly out of the bottle: The Obama administration has asked Britain, Germany, Australia, and other allies to consider criminal charges against Julian Assange for his…
Do Australian leaders care about anything beyond our borders?
Although this piece in the International Herald Tribune is written by “Jacob Ramsay, a senior analyst at an independent risk consulting firm”- the publication really needs to tell readers far more about their contributors than this – his point about the Australian election campaign and the absence of foreign affairs issues is spot-on. It’s as…
Departing ALP member tells of deep Zionist influence in party
My following article appears in today’s Crikey: The departing Labor member for Fowler, Julia Irwin, has revealed the deep influence of the Zionist lobby on the ALP and the inner workings of her party towards the Middle East in an exclusive interview with Crikey. Irwin says Israel must engage with Hamas, argues that the two-state…
How an Australian unionist fell in love with occupation Israel
Australian unionist, close to the Labor party and rabid Zionist Paul Howes has a long history of embracing everything about Israel – its occupation, murder of opponents etc – and seems to place himself as a new Australian spokesperson for the glories of the Holy Land. It’s utterly embarrassing and believed by fewer people every…