Pearls and Irritations

Why patriotism should worry us more than it does Often treated as an unquestioned virtue, patriotism can easily slide into nationalism, exclusion and hostility towards others.

Patriotism is widely treated as an unquestioned virtue. But history shows how easily it can turn into jingoism, exclusion and hostility towards those seen as outsiders, Chas Keys writes.
#auspol #patriotism #nationalism #politics #society

Going for the jugular – the energy shock is coming The Strait of Hormuz carries the lifeblood of the global economy – and war with Iran risks turning a geopolitical conflict into a worldwide economic shock.

The Strait of Hormuz carries the lifeblood of the global economy – and war with Iran risks putting that artery in a chokehold.
If the Strait closes, the result could be an energy shock, soaring prices and a global economic crisis, Eugene Doyle writes.
#auspol #Energy #MiddleEast #Iran #GlobalEconomy

If China is Iran's 'most powerful ally,' then Australia must be China's A media analysis asks why China hasn’t defended Iran. But the real puzzle is why anyone assumes Beijing has a military obligation to do so.

Why hasn’t China come to Iran’s aid?
The question only works if China is Iran’s military ally – which it isn’t. There’s no defence treaty, no alliance and no obligation to fight Tehran’s wars, Fred Zhang writes.
#auspol #Iran #China #Media #ForeignPolicy

How to lose an election: The 2025 Liberal Party election review The leaked review shows how chaotic campaign management and policy announcements ignoring key demographics cost the Coalition the election.

A leaked review of the Coalition’s 2025 campaign paints a picture of chaos – weak policy development, poor strategy and a failure to understand women, younger voters and multicultural communities, Marian Sawer writes.
#auspol #AustralianPolitics #Liberals #Election #WomenInPolitics

Albanese’s politics of avoidance From AUKUS to Gaza and now Iran, the government’s instinct has been to avoid political traps rather than confront hard choices – and voters are drifting away.

From AUKUS to Gaza and now Iran, the Albanese government’s first instinct has been to avoid being wedged.
But a politics of caution and compromise risks hollowing out support as voters look elsewhere for leadership, John Menadue writes.
#auspol #ALP #AustralianPolitics #AUKUS #ForeignPolicy

Rising seas could menace a billion people this century Accelerating sea level rise driven by warming oceans and melting ice threatens coastal cities worldwide, placing up to a billion people at risk before the end of the century.

Sea levels are rising faster than expected. By the end of the century, up to a billion people living in coastal regions could see their homes and livelihoods threatened, @JulianCribb writes.
#PearlsAndIrritations #ClimateChange #SeaLevelRise #Environment #auspol

Cowardice and kowtowing risk Australia becoming the fall guy in Trump’s wars and deals As the US–Israeli war on Iran unfolds, Australia faces the danger of being drawn into American power politics while sacrificing its independence and credibility in the region.

As the US–Israeli war on Iran unfolds, Australia risks becoming entangled in American power politics while weakening its independence and regional credibility, Jack Waterford writes.
#PearlsAndIrritations #auspol #Iran #ForeignPolicy

‘Intentional chemical warfare’: Toxic black rain in Tehran after US-Israel bomb oil facilities Air strikes on oil storage facilities in Tehran have triggered massive fires, toxic rainfall and choking pollution, raising fears of a major environmental and humanitarian disaster.

Bombing of oil depots in Tehran has left the city under choking smoke and toxic black rain, forcing residents indoors as fires continue to burn across the capital.
Jon Queally reports on the environmental catastrophe unfolding after the strikes.
#Iran #MiddleEast #War #Environment #auspol

War on Iran signals urgent need for Australia to end risky imported oil dependency The widening conflict in the Gulf has exposed Australia’s extreme reliance on imported oil. With minimal fuel reserves and a $12 billion annual diesel subsidy to mining, energy security has become a national security emergency.

With just weeks of diesel reserves and 90% reliance on imported refined fuel, Australia remains dangerously exposed to global shocks. Reforming the $12bn Fuel Tax Credit is now a national security imperative.
#auspol #EnergySecurity #FuelTaxCredit #ClimatePolicy #NationalSecurity

Why I risked prison to add a 'Losing Sound' to poker machines Poker machines are designed to celebrate wins but stay silent on losses. A new project aims to disrupt that psychological design by introducing a simple losing sound – and to push for legislative reform.

Poker machines celebrate wins but stay silent on losses. A new project aims to break that trance by adding a losing sound – and is pushing for parliamentary reform.
#auspol #GamblingReform #Pokies #PublicHealth #Addiction

Australia’s shameless support for the US attack on Iran makes us gullible, duplicitous, or both For Anthony Albanese – as well as Mark Carney and Keir Starmer – to go along with Trump and Netanyahu’s cynical ploy negates any sense of moral authority we possess – a catastrophe for the rules-based order.

If Australia champions a rules-based order, it cannot selectively abandon it. By backing US strikes on Iran, Canberra risks trading moral authority for reflex alignment, Allan Behm writes.
#auspol #InternationalLaw #Iran #RulesBasedOrder #ForeignPolicy

The Liberal review explains the defeat – but not the path back The leaked review of the Liberal Party’s 2025 election defeat details campaign failures and organisational problems. What it avoids is the harder question: what policies or direction might rebuild support.

The leaked Liberal Party review dissects the failures of the 2025 campaign – leadership, organisation and messaging. But it offers little about the policies or direction needed to win voters back, David Solomon writes.
#auspol #LiberalParty #Election2025 #AustralianPolitics

We have been here before – and we never learn From Afghanistan to Iraq and Libya, repeated military interventions have weakened rather than strengthened US power. With new strikes on Iran launched without congressional authorisation, the pattern of executive overreach and strategic miscalculation deepens.

From Afghanistan to Iraq, history shows the limits of military power. With new strikes on Iran launched without congressional authorisation, the US risks repeating the same strategic mistakes – at immense cost.
#USPolitics #Iran #WarPowers #MiddleEast #InternationalLaw

Thirty years on, the Howard legacy still defines our limits John Howard marks 30 years since the Coalition’s 1996 victory with a familiar story of stability and economic management. But the deeper legacy is the set of political and economic defaults both major parties now treat as common sense.

Thirty years after the 1996 election, John Howard celebrates stability and economic management. But the deeper legacy is the bipartisan “common sense” that narrowed Australia’s political imagination, writes Stewart Sweeney.
#auspol #JohnHoward #EconomicPolicy #Politics #Australia

Migration scare campaign ignores Coalition’s own targets The Coalition is trying to turn migration into a political flashpoint. But the long-term net overseas migration target under Labor is identical to the one projected under the Morrison government.

The Coalition is attacking migration levels that are identical to the long-term target set under the Morrison government’s own projections, writes Michael Keating.
#auspol #Migration #Population #Economy #PublicPolicy

Royal Commission gets off on the wrong foot The Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion has begun by adopting the IHRA definition as uncontroversial. Yet that definition – and its application to criticism of Israel – remains hotly disputed and politically charged.

The Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion has begun by declaring the IHRA definition of antisemitism uncontroversial, despite sustained and fierce debate over its use and its effect on criticism of Israel.
#Antisemitism #IHRA #SocialCohesion #Australia #FreeSpeech

War is the opiate of the Israeli masses Israel has once again entered war to solve its “existential problems once and for all”. History suggests those promises of total victory rarely survive contact with reality.

Israel has launched another war framed as decisive and unavoidable. But past “historic victories” have delivered neither lasting security nor long-term achievement, writes Gideon Levy.
#Israel #Iran #MiddleEast #War #Geopolitics

Happy Chinese New Year? Fine for Howard, treason for Albanese Mocking a prime minister for wishing Chinese Australians a happy new year says less about foreign policy than about how national identity is being weaponised in domestic politics.

When “Happy Chinese New Year” is treated as a geopolitical signal, the real target is not foreign policy but multicultural belonging. Chinese Australians should not be props in a domestic culture war, writes Fred Zhang.
#auspol #MulticulturalAustralia #ChineseNewYear #Media #NationalIdentity

Another poor US intelligence call? As the US strikes Iran while Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drags on, questions grow about selective enforcement of international law and a long record of flawed intelligence assessments.

If the US is the world’s enforcer, why are some aggressors punished and others not? From Vietnam to Ukraine and now Iran, repeated intelligence failures and selective intervention carry a heavy cost, writes Crispin Hull.
#Iran #Ukraine #USPolitics #InternationalLaw #Geopolitics

The US-Israeli attack on Iran is also an assault on the United Nations The US–Israel war on Iran is a direct breach of the UN Charter and a blow to international law. But the attempt to impose global hegemony and hollow out the UN will ultimately fail in a multipolar world determined to resist domination.

The US–Israel war on Iran violates the UN Charter and exposes deep fractures in the Security Council. But attempts to destroy international law and impose global hegemony will ultimately fail, write Jeffrey D Sachs and Sybil Fares.
#Iran #UnitedNations #InternationalLaw #MultipolarWorld #Geopolitics

Newly created accounts made around $1 million betting on the precise timing of US strikes on Iran, prompting calls for investigation into whether prediction markets are being used to profit from war, writes Jake Johnson.
#USPolitics #Iran #PredictionMarkets #WarProfiteering

Abbott’s finger pointing on overseas students is pure hypocrisy Tony Abbott blames record numbers of temporary residents and international students on recent governments. But policy changes introduced and maintained under his own leadership played a central role in driving that growth.

Tony Abbott says temporary residents and student numbers are out of control – but key policy changes that accelerated growth were introduced and maintained under his government, writes Abul Rizvi.
#Migration #InternationalStudents #VisaPolicy #Australia

Albanese’s decision will follow him into the history books – and define us too Anthony Albanese’s refusal to assist Australian women and children in Syrian detention camps may prove to be the defining act of his prime ministership – not for its prudence, but for what it reveals about leadership, moral courage and the limits of political calculation.

Anthony Albanese’s refusal to assist Australian women and children in Syrian detention camps will define his prime ministership, not as caution but as moral failure and political smallness, writes Jack Waterford.
#AustralianPolitics #Syria #HumanRights #Leadership

Trump and Netanyahu want regime change, but Iran’s regime was built for survival. A long war is now likely The US–Israel strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader have pushed the Middle East into open war. But regime change in Tehran is far from assured and the conflict could trigger prolonged regional instability with global consequences.

The US–Israel strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader have pushed the Middle East into open war, with regime change far from assured and the risk of prolonged regional instability growing, writes Amin Saikal.
#Iran #MiddleEast #InternationalRelations #Geopolitics #GlobalSecurity

If Iran resists, the global economy will pay Western governments, including Australia and New Zealand, have backed US and Israeli strikes on Iran. But the decision risks economic catastrophe, regional escalation and the further erosion of international law.

Western governments, including Australia and New Zealand, have backed US and Israeli strikes on Iran, risking economic shock, regional escalation and further erosion of international law, writes Eugene Doyle.
#Iran #InternationalLaw #MiddleEast #Australia #NewZealand

From Minneapolis to Africa – how states fracture when legitimacy fails From Nigeria to Ethiopia, African conflicts show how federations unravel when force loses accountability. Minnesota’s standoff with Washington reveals the same warning signs.

Conflicts in Nigeria, Ethiopia and the DRC show what happens when force operates without accountability. Minnesota’s standoff with Washington reveals the same warning signs, Christopher Burke writes.
#PearlsAndIrritations #USPolitics #Federalism #Africa #RuleOfLaw #StateFailure

Jeffrey Sachs on the US and Israel war with Iran The US is fighting to maintain hegemony, in a war that will have shocking global ramifications, says Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs in conversation with Glenn Diesen.

The US is fighting to maintain hegemony, in a war that will have shocking global ramifications, says Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs in conversation with Glenn Diesen.

Louise Adler sets the record straight on Adelaide Writers' Week The Adelaide Writers’ Week (AWW) debacle might have served as a “life lesson” to politicians and lobbyists about the risks involved in interfering with the independence of arts organisations. But as we have seen at Newcastle and the Sydney Writers Festival some are apparently slow learners.

The Adelaide Writers’ Week saga was about lobby groups, false equivalence and pressure on cultural institutions to bend to political demands, Louise Adler writes.
#PearlsAndIrritations #auspol #ArtsIndependence #WritersFestivals #CulturalPolitics #FreeSpeech

Punishment politics and the suppression of restorative justice Decades of 'tough on crime' policy have expanded prisons while narrowing reform. Restorative justice has been repeatedly constrained not for lack of evidence, but because it redistributes authority away from the state.

Australia’s prison crisis is not accidental. Decades of punitive expansion have crowded out restorative justice – not because it fails, but because it diffuses control away from the state, Jane Anderson writes.
#PearlsAndIrritations #auspol #JusticeReform #RestorativeJustice #PrisonPolicy

Difficult women, comfortable power When women refuse to soften their demands on violence, inequality and unpaid labour, the response is often to question their temperament rather than the broken system they are challenging.

When women demand safety, economic parity and structural reform, they are often labelled “difficult”. That word shifts attention from inequality to temperament – and protects power from scrutiny, Janine Hendry writes.
#PearlsAndIrritations #auspol #GenderEquality #WomensSafety #PoliticalCulture