On the last day of January 2019, the Free Papua Organisation (OPM) announced in Port Moresby that it recognized that West Papua was in a state of war with Indonesia and supported the OPM’s military wing, the National Liberation Army of West Papua (TPNPB) is its own declaration of war against Indonesia early in 2018. […]
Category Archives: Community
In the next day or so, Indonesia’s Abu Bakar Bashir, the so-called ‘spiritual head’ of Jema’ah Islamiya which launched the 2002 Bali bombing which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, will be released from prison. He will be released under a presidential pardon by President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo. Unsurprisingly, Bashir’s impending release has generate much […]
The vote by the UK parliament on whether to accept the European Union deal for an agreed exit of the UK from the EU on Tuesday (UK time) will mark the most important decision to be taken in that country’s post-war history. And it is very likely that the UK parliament will take the worst […]
West Papua is in turmoil with the killing of 31 construction workers and a soldier, widespread protests and the arrest of 537 West Papuan activists across Indonesia. These events follow what West Papuan sources say have been the killing of numerous villagers in recent weeks. Taken together, these events mark a significant escalation of the […]
Russia’s firing on and then seizing three Ukrainian navy vessels attempting to pass through the Kerch Straits has raised fears of direct confrontation between Ukraine and Russia, following Russia’s intervention in the separation of Crimea and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. The blocking of Ukrainian naval access to the Sea of Azov has sparked […]
Timor-Leste started 2018 in political chaos and ended the year with a return to the confrontational politics of the past. What appeared to be the cooperation between key parties CNRT and Fretilin in the ‘government of national unity’ between 2015-17 was shattered following the 2017 elections. The political stalemate that arose under the 2017 minority […]
Sri Lanka’s constitutional crisis has deepened, with a split between President Maithripala Sirisena and the man he has, allegedly illegally, appointed as Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa. This follows President Sirisena’s decision on Friday to call a snap election for 5 January, which appears to be in breach of the country’s constitution. The new elections are […]
It may not have been the ‘tremendous success’ that President Donald Trump claimed for it, but the US mid-term elections have positioned him well to be returned as president in 2020. Having control of the House of Representatives go over to the Democrats might play in President Trump’s favor, rather than against it. It is […]
(First published today in Crikey.com) While the world wasn’t watching, Sri Lanka has had a coup, which may or may not be constitutional. On Friday, the president replaced an elected prime minister with one who had been voted out of office on the back of war crimes allegations, human rights abuses and corruption allegations. Following […]
Angela Merkel’s resignation as leader of Germany’s Chistian Democratic Union has signaled an end to her 13 year reign as Germany’s chancellor and de facto leader of the European Union. It has also marks a victory for Germany’s populist politics, effectively claiming the scalp of its biggest prize yet. Germany’s far right populist Alternative for […]