Published in Crikey.com today: US President Donald Trump has led global anger over the presumed murder of Saudi Arabian, US resident journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Istanbul Saudi consulate by threatening sanctions. The Saudis have replied they will retaliate more strongly. But, as with so much of President Trump’s bluster, it is unclear how much […]
Category Archives: Community
Symbolism is about conveying emotive meaning. So, when North Korea’s Kim Jong-un and South Korea’s Moon Jae-in stood at the peak of the locally venerated Paektu Mountain in North Korea, near the Chinese border, and held their raised hands together, the symbolism was powerful; the two Koreas could, and would, work together. The gesture, at […]
The Pacific Ocean may have been named for its peaceful winds, but this year’s 18 nation Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) has been among the most combative in its five-decade history. At issue was a confluence of sharply competing interests, with China’s growing role at the centre of them. China’s delegation stormed out of the meeting […]
The visit to Indonesia by the Prime Minister Scott Morrison, within days of taking office, has been widely hailed as a success, with the signing of an effective free trade agreement and a further tilt towards a closer strategic relationship. The five point agreement visit was said to ‘add ballast’ to the bilateral relationship, reprising […]
Most Australians are right now fairly exasperated with what they reasonably regard as the infantile, ego-driven behavior of their political leaders. But, in many respects, what is happening is not confined to Australia and is, at base, a product of a shared set of political problems. In the United States, the election of President Donald […]
Afghanistan President, Ashraf Ghani’s proposed month-long ceasefire with the country’s Taliban insurgents to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha is looking like an act of desperation. Regardless of whether it is taken up, or not, the proposed ceasefire is a sign of a government in trouble and grasping at straws. The proposed ceasefire follows […]
Malcolm Turnbull has brought the question of his leadership to a head by calling for a party room vote which, as expected, he won, if narrowly. However, the vote has shown that there is open division within the Liberal Party’s parliamentary ranks. The PM has just been challenged by one of his most senior ministers, […]
CNBC: Does Mr Anning’s speech have any broader significance for Australian politics? DK: It is part of a debate being held by some politicians and individuals at the margins of Australian political thinking and, as with all such calls for bigotry, tries to capitalise on a sense of racial division among some of the most […]
Pakistan’s elections have been run and won … by the Pakistan Armed Forces. The adage that it takes more than elections to have democracy is ringing true in what many are calling Pakistan’s ‘silent coup’. Former test cricketer and serial political candidate Imran Khan’s Pakistan Movement for Justice (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf ,or PTI) was on track […]
When it comes to asylum seeker policy in Australia, one of its biggest blind spots concerns Sri Lanka and the people, mostly ethnic Tamils, who have been fleeing there in fear of their lives. Sri Lanka continues to marginalize and persecute Tamils, continuing to chase the ghost of the long destroyed Tamil separatist organization the […]