A Day That will Live in Infamy.

 
It happened on a weekend. While representatives of the two nations were still negotiating, a fleet of aircraft carriers from one of the negotiating parties approached the territory of the other.

Acting with cold premeditation, early in the morning of that fateful day, the attacking forces did their deed causing devastating damages on the other side.

A Little Bragging.

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To help de-escalate the Gaza crisis António Guterres, the United Nations Secretary General, has pleaded for:

1. Release of hostages.
2. Ceasefire.
3. Humanitarian access to Gaza, so that essential supplies of food, water, medicine, and fuel are delivered immediately.

That sounds reasonable to me. More importantly, Australian organisations, ranging from the ACTU to charities – independently of the UN – were already asking the Albanese Government to lobby “like-minded” nations for something like that. So, I wasn’t surprised when last week two UN Security Council members proposed draft resolutions reflecting similar requests.

A week ago today, on Monday 16th, the Russian Federation submitted to the SC a draft resolution calling for “a humanitarian ceasefire, release of all hostages, aid access, and safe evacuation of civilians”.

To be approved such proposals need no less than nine votes from the 15 SC members (ten non-permanent members[*], plus the five permanent members with veto power: China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States).

Four countries voted against the draft (France, Japan, the UK, and the US – unsurprisingly) and six abstained (Albania, Brazil, Ecuador, Ghana, Malta, and Switzerland). With only five votes (China, Gabon, Mozambique, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates) the proposal was rejected.

The Looming Genocide? (Updated).

Part of a museum exhibit in Rwanda about the country's genocide [A]

Over-use of a word leads to it losing meaning. Think of “neoliberalism”. More recently no current affairs show goes by without the word “trauma” being heard.

Let’s Take a Stroll Down Memory Lane.

Do you remember this?



If you do, congrats. People have short memories. But, yep, once upon a time, George W. Bush was the butt of everybody’s jokes. For very good reasons too, as you can see.

As a matter of fact, that wasn’t an exclusively American thing. Down Under Dabya was cause of much hilarity.

This clip, however, never made it to a top-10 list of Bushisms:



In part, I suppose, that was because people were not in a laughing mood less than two weeks after 9/11.

The Star-Spangled Roo, LOLZ.

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The newest US Navy warship — allegedly built Down Under — was named USS Canberra and commissioned in Sydney (Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi!) a few days ago. To symbolize the US-Oz “alliance” nothing better than to overlay the Stars and Stripes on the kangaroo, the Australian Defence Force national marking (quite appropriately, actually).

Oz just gave another step in the road to become the 51st State of the Union. We’re neck to neck with Puerto Rico (eat your hearts out, Latinx!) and we’re gaining ground fast, because we’re buying our membership.

A high-ranking official, speaking on condition of anonymity, revealed to Magpie News that Albo’s been promoted, from Prime Minister to Governor.

“Why now?” — I asked the source. “If not now, when?” — was the answer.

Un-fucking-believable!

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Sovereignty!

Explaining the Russo-Ukrainian War.

Choose one:
“Destruction of Ukranian w:BMP-3 IFV by Russian troops in Mariupol” or
“A destroyed Russian BMP-3 near Mariupol, 7 March 2022”. [A]

You know the conventional wisdom about the Ukrainian war: it’s all entirely Putin’s fault. That story is easy to understand, isn’t it? Politicians and journos and pundits for hire never cease to drive home the message.

It has its weaknesses though. One of them is that it needs Putin – who on top of having Parkinson’s disease and at least two different flavours of terminal cancer – to be both bad and kooky … never mind that madness precludes responsibility. Depending on who you hear, the bloke is a Machiavellian master manipulator … or an inept tin pot dictator. Incidentally, the same applies to the Russian military, at times described as a serious and imminent threat to the security of Europe, at times lambasted as useless, clumsy, incompetent and corrupted – sometimes by the same people, at the same time.

On Embarrassment and Humiliation.

Quad minus one (source)

You live and you learn. I never thought that a person’s embarrassment and humiliation was one of the most important things to consider when commenting on international events.

However, judging by how frequently Aussie journos have used the words “humiliation” and “embarrassment” lately, I might have been mistaken.

War Schizophrenia (Updated).

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Today Australians and New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day: the anniversary of the tragic Anzac Corps landing in Gallipoli, in 1915.

Since then, however, Australians also commemorate today all the wars and engagements of the Australian military since Federation: from World War 2 to Iraq and Afghanistan – all of them, without exception, overseas, most of them in far flung places around the world.

The official ceremonies start before dawn. As you might expect, they’re a solemn even sombre affair, where Australians are warned “lest we forget”.

The Pot and the Kettle: the Iraq War.

People living in Western liberal democracies have short memories. That makes them self-righteous. Perhaps a stroll down memory lane is due.

This week was the twentieth anniversary of the Iraqi War. Use your memory, my friend.



Twenty years ago your TV screen was showing that or something very much like it.

As a consequence of that war, the whole Arab world, from the Tigris River in the east, to the Atlantic Ocean in the west, was destabilised. Already poor countries lost valuable infrastructure. Millions of people were displaced or left disabled, orphaned or destitute.

But let’s talk about deaths only. Nobody knows how many people died in that war. The lowest partial death estimates range from some 100 thousand to 113 thousand civilians killed between 2003 and 2021. A higher estimate shows some 600 thousand civilians and combatants killed between March 2003 and June 2006 alone (roughly two thirds of them, civilians, including women and children).

How did we get there?

55 Years Ago: My Lai.

I’m sure experts can say many deep things about war crimes. Alas, I’m no expert. And yet, that caveat in place, I think I’ve noticed two things about war crimes. It’s up to you to judge how interesting they are.

The first thing I can say about war crimes is that for years we hear next to nothing about them, even during wartime. It’s almost like wars became civilised affairs.

Then, suddenly, news reports are full of alleged war crimes.

That’s what happened since February 2022, when the Russian Federation invaded the Ukraine: the term “war crime” became almost as frequent on our TV screens as the daily appearances of the Ukrainian President.

The second thing I’ve noticed is that current news coverage of war crimes is inevitably framed within a cosmic good versus evil conflict – sorry – Western liberal democracies versus autocratic regimes narrative. In this story war crimes are the preserve of the Other: autocratic regimes (aka, the bad guys). Western liberal democracies (We), the immaculately good guys, abhor such things. Living under the rule of law, We promote an “international rules-based order”.

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If you are young enough (and certainly, many Aussies old and young do their best to erase this episode from public awareness) you probably never heard of My Lai, let alone remember it, but today is its anniversary.

Fifty five years ago the military of the United States of America, our ally, the world’s richest and most democratic nation, did this:

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Between a Rock and a Hard Place.

I couldn’t suppress a smile when I saw this:

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First, I despise that bloke. Second, I despise his fans (including the Aussie ones). To see the evil bastards look like the fools they are feels good.

Quotable Quotes: Zelensky and Biden.

A small nuclear explosion: only 23 kilotons. [A]

“But what is important – I once again appeal to the international community, as I did before February 24 – we need pre-emptive strikes, so that they [the Russians] will know what will happen to them if they use nukes, and not the other way around.

“Don’t wait for Russia’s nuclear strikes, and then say, ‘Oh, since you did this, take that from us!’ Reconsider the way you apply pressure. This is what NATO should do – reconsider the order in which it applies pressure [on Russia]” – Volodymir Zelensky (English translation, as reported here).

With that Zelensky was answering Michael Fullilove, executive director of the Lowy Institute, in Sydney on Thursday 6th. During the question and answer session following Zelensky’s speech Fullilove had asked: “Mr President, in your remarks you mentioned nuclear blackmail. Mr Putin told us the other day that he’s not bluffing. So may I ask you, do you believe that the likelihood of the use of Russian nuclear weapons against Ukraine has risen, and what more do you want NATO to do to deter Russia from using nuclear weapons?”

We’re on a Roll: three Niñas, One After the Other!

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Since records began in 1900 Australia had only two triple La Niña events. Now we have three: the Bureau of Meteorology just declared the third La Niña. Like I said, we’re on a roll. Kate Doyle has the story.

Meteorological services overseas had declared the start of La Niña last August, but our BOM follows a slightly more conservative methodology and had refrained from following them. No more.

This third La Niña comes after two extremely rainy years (see above) and the ground is saturated, rivers and creeks and dams are full.

The Bad and the Good Foreign Interference.

Australia was sidelined by the US. America completely disregarded the concerns of its supposed ally under the Anzus Treaty, Australia was treated with contempt … And the end result of this war was that Australia lost 41 soldiers killed, 241 wounded and over 500 who have since committed suicide, for the Taliban to be replaced with the Taliban” – Hugh Poate, whose son, 23-yo Robert Poate, was murdered in Afghanistan by an Afghan National army soldier in 2012. Our American “friends” let the murderer go without even warning their Australian vassals mates.

Foreign interference and, more broadly, influence is something that worries well-informed Australians. Well, to be precise, only some foreign interference worries Aussies. Apparently, we prefer to remain uninformed about some of it. You know, we don’t need to worry about foreign interference from our “friends”. You see, they love us and are benevolent, thus their interference is good. Australia and the US are “like-minded” nations, as has become fashionable to say.

Worried about agents of foreign influence? Just look at who owns Australia’s biggest companies

Most of Australia’s biggest companies are majority-owned by US investors. www.shutterstock.com

Clinton Fernandes, UNSW Sydney

The Inmates do Run the Asylum (Updated).

Maybe my GP is right. I might be worrying too much. I shouldn’t follow the news so closely.

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Judge by yourself.

The English Revolution is Being Televised (Updated).

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Rejoice, largely white and male, generally straight, often old, and invariably educated, upwardly mobile and relatively affluent progressive, identitarian and Liberal-Leftish intellectuals from English speaking rich nations! The revolution is happening in your lifetime!

Quotable Quotes.

“I don’t know how they want to get undressed, above or below the waist, but I think it would be a disgusting sight in any case”, Volodya Pew-teen, as quoted by AP.

I’m just a low-income, sort-of white, ageing, male, semi-educated Aussie worker: a pleb. To rub shoulders with such VIPs is not one of my many privileges, so I have no direct, personal knowledge on those matters and it’s impossible for me to say either way.

Hoisted with Our Own Petard (Updated).

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There’s little need for words: Western economic sanctions on Russky gas and oil. Fuel prices go up. Price of everything follows (“Putin’s price hike”). Fed lifts interest rates. RBA follows.



Next … recession?

Climate Change: Who Promises What?

In this election campaign the COALition has set the debating agenda. And they have done their best to bury climate change.

Permanently on the defensive, the Australian Labor Party has done little to change that. An attempt by Labor’s Penny Wong (considering climate change implications to Australia and our Pacific neighbours’ national securities) was rather embarrassing (not because she wasn’t right on her criticism to the COALitiion, but because after her criticism an eventual Labor government had little more to offer). You really should see “Postcards from the frontlines of climate change”, by the ABC’s Asia Pacific Newsroom.

This may have been a blessing in disguise. Scientists have more relevant things to say.

Where is that Building?

The New York Times’ Visual Investigation team released a comparison of a video recently filmed by a local councilman showing bodies scattered along Yablonska Street, Bucha, of what looks like civilians and corresponding but older satellite imagery provided by Maxar Technologies, to argue that those bodies have laid there since at least mid-March.

This would contradict official Russian claims that no civilian had been harmed during the Russian occupation, which ended in March 31.

The photo below shows the whole area studied. It comes from France24. I must highlight that that image is not supposed to show the location of the bodies.

To that photo, I added where the video starts (red oval, near the lower border of the photo) and the general direction the councilman travelled on Yablonska Street (red arrow pointing upwards).