Within 24 hours of the US air strike on an air base in Syria last week, the US claimed it was not pursuing regime change. That was a ‘kiss of death’. Four days later, as he landed on Russian soil, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that Syria’s President Bashar al Assad must go. […]
Category Archives: Uncategorized
1. Assad has used chemical weapons in the past, including Sarin (of which there is documented evidence). He is a monster and has abrogated his right to rule. 2. Assad’s key opponents are, now, largely salafi-jihadists, which is at least as much of a problem, for Syria as well as elsewhere. 3. There was an […]
China’s regional assertiveness has entered a new phase with the Dalai Lama provoking China in its long disputed border region with India. China has warned India ‘not to complicate issues’ by allowing the Dalai Lama to use a visit to a border area to promote Tibetan separatism. Tibet has long been a sensitive issue for […]
AUSTRALIA TIMOR-LESTE ELECTION OBSERVER MISSION (ATLEOM) 2017 TIMOR-LESTE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS, 20 MARCH 2017 OFFICIAL STATEMENT 23 March 2017 Damien Kingsbury and Michael Maley The Australia Timor-Leste Election Observer Mission, auspiced by the Victorian Local Governance Association and supported by the Australia Timor-Leste Friendship Network, is pleased to announce that the conduct of Timor-Leste’s presidential election […]
Timor-Leste goes to the polls on Monday to elect a new president. After a profoundly troubled history, this small and still impoverished country the election should, happily, be relatively unproblematic. The elections have so far seen limited conflict, with a Fretilin-PD disturbance in Dili’s outer west reportedly leaving some homes burned. Election rallies have otherwise […]
The Netherlands goes to the polls next Wednesday in what is likely to establish a new model for European politics as it increasingly confronts the rise of the far right. As far right parties appeal to larger blocs of votes, political competition is becoming one of centrist parties banding together to block political extremism. ‘Godwin’s […]
The battle for Iraq’s second city, Mosul, is entering its final phase, signalling a significant shift in the status of politics in the Middle East. The eventual, if still lengthy and bloody, capture of the city will mark the Iraqi Army’s most significant victory since its post-Saddam Hussein inception, as well as a more clear […]
It was no surprise when East Timor’s former resistance leader, president and prime minister Xanana Gusmao announced he would support the Fretilin Party’s candidate for the presidency, Francisco Lu-Olo Guterres. Gusmao had said as much more than a week ago, and the move had been expected since last year. Gusmao’s party, CNRT, is now also […]
As 2017 begins to unfold, the persecution of Myanmar’s ethnic Rohingyas has accelerated. Since the beginning of the year, the UN says more than 20,000 Rohingyas had fled Myanmar’s western Rakhine state into neighboring Bangladesh ahead of state-organised violence, bringing the recent total to close to 70,000. Human rights groups have described reports of organized […]
East Timor has won a significant moral victory over the Timor Sea dispute with Australia agreeing to scrap the controversial 2006 Timor Sea treaty. However, East Timor’s optimism that this now spells the beginning of the end of that dispute, much less securing its economic future, may be optimistic. The agreement to scrap the treaty […]