AUSTRALIA’S FOREIGN POLICY NOT SO INDEPENDENT AFTER ALL Travelling to the US during Covid-19 is no small effort and by doing so Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Payne and Defence Minister Reynolds demonstrated just how important the Australia-US alliance is. The agenda at the Australia-US Ministerial … Continue readingAUSMIN 2020
Setting the scene: Since its inception, Russia has had the same geopolitical objective: push the West out and put as much distance between itself and the threatening great powers of Europe. Whilst this strategy has served Russia incredibly well by allowing it to reach its … Continue readingA SHIELD AGAINST THE RUSSIAN BEAR
The War on Drugs has arguably created more problems than solutions. The futile war on drugs campaign started with President Nixon’s announcement on June 18th, 1971 in an attempt to stop the rising drug imports into the United States and use of narcotics, particularly marijuana … Continue readingTHE WAR ON DRUGS FIVE DECADES ON
A growing ecological disaster is occurring as oil continues to leak from a grounded bulk carrier ship off the south-east coast of Mauritius. While the event is minor proportionate to the quantity of oil leaked, this event is believed to be one of the most … Continue readingIN THE WAKE OF CATASTROPHE
RECONCILING CULTURE, HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY “We do not, and cannot, aim to be ‘Asian’ or European or anything else but Australians.” – Paul Keating, 1994, Prime Minister 1991-1996. Who we are as a country and how we present ourselves to the world are questions Australia … Continue readingTHE AUSTRALIAN IDENTITY
AN INSIGHT INTO PRISON LABOUR BY HAMAH HOSEN These days, consumers are paying more attention to where and how products are made and it’s not uncommon to see products with labels identifying their country of origin, or occasionally a label identifying that it is ethically … Continue readingMADE IN PRISON
Last year, the War in Afghanistan became the longest war the United States had participated in. In 2020, there still seems to be no clear end in sight for the conflict, 19 years in. The Negotiations Thus Far: Sporadic peace-making efforts have occurred since the … Continue readingFALSE DAWN: THE PROSPECT OF PEACE IN AFGHANISTAN
In the face of numerous simultaneous crises – medical, financial, social and environmental – anxieties continue to mount. With this prolonged stress, fatigue begins to set in. For activists, the precarious balance between the stresses of fighting and the dangers of passivity presents an impossible … Continue readingTHE FATIGUING FIGHT FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE
The monstrosity of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) was evidenced by the droppings of ‘Little boy’ and ‘Fat man’ upon the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 75 years ago. Since then, good traction has been made by both state and non-state actors in the global … Continue readingTHE FIGHT FOR NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION MUST CONTINUE
You would be forgiven to think that the Islamic State has ceased to exist. The organisation no longer controls any significant swaths of territory in either Syria or Iraq. Coordinated and motivated terrorist attacks abroad, particularly in Western countries, has declined considerably. The organisation’s leader, … Continue readingINSIDE SYRIA’S AL-HAWL REFUGEE CAMP