Archive for September 2016
SA outage and the politics of renewables – and survival
It pretty much sums up the state of politics in Australia. Thousands are still without power and there are now flood warnings across Australia. Instead of coming up with practical solutions like battery storage and micro-girids to store electricity in the next blackout, Malcolm Turnbull and the Liberals have turned a natural disaster which has turned…
Read MoreBrexit: a tale of historical divorces
The issues of sovereignty, a costly self-appointed bureaucracy on the Continent and a break with the European status quo. Sounds familiar in the lead up to Brexit? Think again. These were the headlines in the early 16th century when Henry VIII led the last campaign to leave Europe. That was in 1534. Only the target…
Read MoreWhy Syria is important for you
The war in Syria could transform the world. It is important in two ways. First, it can reshape the Arab world. More importantly, it has implications for the world order and western society. It’s a war that has drawn the US, Russian, Iranian, Turkish, and French forces. That’s along with the Islamic State (IS), al-Qaida, and secular…
Read MoreWhy Australia’s unemployment is worse than it looks
So the big news for the week was Australia’s unemployment slipping down to 5.6 per cent, the lowest rate in three years. The Coalition has been bragging about it with Christopher Pyne telling Parliament that the Government had create over 200,000 jobs over the last 12 months (actually the figure is closer to 190,000 but why let facts…
Read MoreUS double standards on Russia
When it comes to Russia, the US is playing a double game. Take for example the focus lately on Donald Trump’s extraordinary support for Russian president Vladimir Putin. As reported by Politico, Trump inflamed the situation on Thursday by criticizing US foreign policy during an interview broadcast on RT America, a television network owned by the…
Read MoreThe age of post-truth politics
We are now seeing the collapse of truth in politics. The system is being ripped apart by the outrageous lies of Brexit on one side of the Atlantic and the rise of Donald Trump on the other. As Jonathan Freedland writes in The Guardian, we are now in the era of post-truth politics where an unhesitating…
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