Posts in ‘International Politics’

Trump’s tax losses are not tax avoidance

Monday, October 3rd, 2016

If the Donald wants to come back from his tax debacle he will admit to having really screwed up in the ’90s. He will tell people he isn’t proud of his mistakes, but he has learned from them.

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Posted by Graham at 8:29 pm | Comments (3) |

Why Sam Dastyari must resign from parliament

Wednesday, September 7th, 2016

There is no universe in which China’s attempted annexation of the South China Sea can be morally justified. Everyone knows that. Malcolm Turnbull  knows it. Bill Shorten knows it. Hillary Clinton knows it. Donald Trump knows it. Xi Jinping knows it. And Sam Dastyari knows it. That is why Sam Dastyari needs to resign from […]

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Posted by Graham at 9:27 pm | Comments (8) |

We are at war with radical Islamists – Newt Gingrich

Friday, July 22nd, 2016

This is an excerpt from Newt Gingrich’s speech to the Republic convention. To read the whole speech click here. Now what I want to focus on is a subject that has dominated my thinking for decades, how do we keep America safe? Keeping America safe is the first responsibility of the American president. There have […]

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Posted by Graham at 11:01 am | Comments (2) |

Theresa May on her return from Buck Palace

Thursday, July 14th, 2016

Theresa May, the newly appointed PM of Great Britain, gave this speech on her return from Buckingham Palace after being commissioned by the Queen. It strikes interesting notes that would resonate well in the Australian context, assuming of course that the politician delivering them could deliver on them. I have just been to Buckingham Palace, […]

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Posted by Graham at 9:09 pm | Comments (3) |

Brexit is not analagous to Trumpism

Monday, June 27th, 2016

I think that much of the analysis of the Brexit is completely off-beam. Perhaps the worst is the comparison drawn between the success of the Leave campaign and the success of the Trump campaign for the US Presidency. In fact, the Leave campaign is the sort of thing that creates movements like the one that […]

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Posted by Nick at 12:52 pm | Comments (2) |

Q&A mistake a category killer

Thursday, June 25th, 2015

By putting Zaky Mallah to air the ABC made a category mistake. They categorised an existential threat to Australia as being just an ideological disagreement. They are not the only ones making category mistakes about terrorism and terrorist organisations, and until we sort them out our response to Islamic State, and it’s certain successors, will […]

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Posted by Graham at 8:42 am | Comments (35) |

You be the judge on Ferguson

Tuesday, March 31st, 2015

The shooting of a young black male in Ferguson, and the ensuing riots, is generally portrayed as a racist event, but depending on where you stand, the racists can be white or black. Verbatim Theatre is a genre where you take the actual evidence and lay it out in front of an audience. In Ferguson […]

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Posted by Graham at 11:06 am | Comments Off on You be the judge on Ferguson |

The Downer two-step

Wednesday, October 2nd, 2013

The chance that Alexander Downer was playing a lone hand in his comments on Indonesia is about as close to zero as possible. Australian commentary and political leadership had got to the stage where the goal of foreign policy was not to offend anyone and not much else. Abbott  needed that to change. Downer’s comments […]

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Posted by Graham at 10:35 pm | Comments (8) |

Carr’s first test

Tuesday, March 6th, 2012

Barack Obama has been telling the Iranians that “Yes we can” and that the US will take military action against them. I’m not sure whether the “we” includes “us” as in Australian, but I hope it doesn’t. While there were arguable reasons for going into Iraq and Afghanistan, there aren’t any with Iran. At least […]

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Posted by Graham at 11:22 pm | Comments (4) |

Will Yingluck be the first Female Prime Minister of Thailand?

Saturday, July 2nd, 2011

by Nattavud Pimpa   Ms.Yingluck Shinawatra, the sister of ousted PM Thaksin Shinawatra, has brought various interesting dimensions to the contemporary Thai politics. Apart from being the potential first female Prime Minister (PM) of Thailand (and 16th female PM in the World), Yingluck focuses on her political policies, not the segregation between the yellow-shirt and […]

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Posted by Nattavud at 11:33 am | Comments (2) |