Opinion

Unnecessary Fussing: China, the United States and APEC Tuesday, November 20th, 2018

Charges under Seal: US Prosecutors Get Busy With Julian Assange Monday, November 19th, 2018

Those with a stake in the hustling racket of empire have little time for the contrariness that comes with exposing classified information. Those who do are submitted to a strict liability regime of assessment and punishment: you had the information (lawfully obtained or otherwise) but you released..

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DO MEDIA IN INDIA NEED CHECK AND CONTROL ? Sunday, November 18th, 2018

A few decades back when Mrs. Indira Gandhi imposed national emergency, applied restriction on free speech and severely curbed the press freedom, it caused considerable unhappiness around the country. Of course, most section of media after some initial protest ( highly popular political journal..

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The Jerusalem Tangle: ScoMo’s Recognition Policy Stumbles Friday, November 16th, 2018

Jerusalem, deemed a holy city, and seen as trade item, bargaining chip and bartering tool over the centuries. Sought by the major faiths, despoiled at stages by various empires, revived and chalice of poison in international law. Australia’s Scott Morrison, charmless in his ignorance, has come to..

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Losing A Winnable War – OpEd Thursday, November 15th, 2018

The Afghan government and its allies are winning battles in Afghanistan but not the war. The Afghan war started as the “good war” and as President Obama termed it later as “war of necessity” and was won in less than two months. Quickly the success of the Afghan war was termed as an..

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Time For Medicare For All – OpEd Wednesday, November 14th, 2018

In the midterm elections, most Democrats who were elected or reelected to the House supported Medicare for All. As Trump and Republicans in Congress try to undermine the Affordable Care Act and raise the costs of health care, the American people continue to push back. Over 70% of Americans–and..

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The War to End War 100 Years On: An Evaluation and Reorientation of our Resistance to War

British author and social commentator H.G. Wells may have coined the expression that originally popularized World War I as The War that Will End War, as his book, based on articles written during that vast military conflict, was titled. In any case, in one version or another, the expression was one..

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The War to End War 100 Years On: An Evaluation and Reorientation of our Resistance to War Tuesday, November 13th, 2018

British author and social commentator H.G. Wells may have coined the expression that originally popularized World War I as The War that Will End War, as his book, based on articles written during that vast military conflict, was titled. In any case, in one version or another, the expression was one..

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Remembering the Peace Makers: What the Armistice Commemorations Forgot Monday, November 12th, 2018

Those in the war industry and the business of commemorating the dead have little time for peace, even as they supposedly celebrate it. For them, peace is the enemy as much as armed opposing combatants, if not more so. Dr Brendan Nelson of the Australian War Memorial is every bit the propagandist in..

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The Khashoggi Crisis: Saudi Arabia Braces For Tougher Post-Election US Attitude – Analysis Sunday, November 11th, 2018

Saudi Arabia is bracing itself for a potentially more strained relationship with the United States in the wake of Democrats gaining control of the House of Representatives in this week’s mid-term elections and mounting Turkish efforts to corner the kingdom in the Khashoggi crisis. To counter..

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DEMONETISATION IS NOW PAYING DIVIDEND IN INDIA Saturday, November 10th, 2018

With the next Indian parliamentary election only a few months away, critics of Narendra Modi government and opposition parties are leveling several criticisms and allegations which are not adequately backed by reliable facts and figures. In the coming months, it is likely that the criticisms will..

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Mid-Term Divisions: The Trump Take

President Donald J. Trump has a special, strained take on the world. Defeat is simply victory viewed in slanted terms. Victory for the other side is defeat elaborately clothed. Both views stand, and these alternate with a mind bending disturbance that has thrown the sceptics off any credible scent...

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Strange Bedfellows: Ideology Trumps Defense Of Ethnic, Religious And Minority Rights – Analysis Thursday, November 8th, 2018

A global rise of nationalist and populist tendencies has not only given anti-migrant, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic and racist tendencies a new lease on life, but opened the door to alliances between groups that once would have had nothing to do with one another. Developments in Israel, Indonesia and..

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Masquerading Reforms: The Tricks of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Wednesday, November 7th, 2018

The surgical dismembering of Jamal Khashoggi has sent the military establishments of several countries into a tizz. Arms manufacturers are wondering whether this is an inconvenient blip, a ruffling moral reminder about what they are dealing with. Autocratic regimes indifferent to the lives of..

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Closing Loopholes: Taxing the Digital Giants Monday, November 5th, 2018

The treasurers of various countries seem to be stumbling over each other in the effort, but taxing the digital behemoths has become something of an obsession, the gold standard for those wishing to add revenue to state coffers. Back in May, when Australia’s then treasurer Scott Morrison oversaw..

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HAS SRI LANKAN PRESIDENT ACTED RESPONSIBLY? Saturday, November 3rd, 2018

Sudden decision of Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena to sack the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and later on induct the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the new Prime Minister has made many people wonder as to whether Maithripala Sirisena has acted responsibly and with the..

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Losing Users: Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook Problems Friday, November 2nd, 2018

His detractors and enemies have been waiting some time for this, but it must have given them moments of mild cheer. Facebook, the all-gazing, accumulating system of personal profiles and information, poster child, in fact, of surveillance capitalism, is losing users. At the very least, it is..

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Moving Right in Brazil: The Rise of Jair Bolsonaro Thursday, November 1st, 2018

Moving left has been a Brazilian political tendency for some time, a tendency affirmed through the 1990s and 2000s with the presidential administrations of Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. But this is the same country also famed for its share of murderous military..

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China’s Game Of Chess And Romance In Central Asia – OpEd Tuesday, October 30th, 2018

In the 19th century Central Asia was the region called “Great Game,” the contest between British Empire who settled their footprints in India and the Imperial Russia. The game of dominance continued for many years due to abundant of natural resources in the form of oil, gas and hydrocarbons,..

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Julian Assange, Ecuador and the Dangers of Farce

This is the next stage of the Julian Assange chronicles: from the summit of information disclosures and meddlesome revelations on classified state matters, the Australian rabblerouser now finds himself the subject of a new round of jokes and ribbing. WikiLeaks, in short, must be wary of the dangers..

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