Western commentators constantly highlight the strategic importance of the Middle East because of its huge oil reserves, ongoing turmoil and strategic location. However, a leading American strategist contends the region is now “less relevant than ever” and so should be downgraded. Joseph Poprzeczny reports. A leading American strategist, who is neither an isolationist nor amongst the…
How could Australia slash its carbon emissions with minimum adverse effect? Colin Teese looks at the options. The debate about climate change and its causes isn’t so much raging as plodding along. Meanwhile, a certain scepticism remains in the minds of some, including, that of the Prime Minister John Howard, notwithstanding his apparent conversion. Not that the views of prime ministers – or, for that matter, opposition leaders – matter much any more. Circumstances and responsible opinion seem to have taken over the issue, not merely here in Australia, but also abroad. In Australia, the prestigious CSIRO has linked arms…
Colonel Wal Riley (ret’d) draws parallels between the Islamic precept of jihad, as applied in the contemporary world to terrorism, and Mao Zedong’s concept of revolutionary guerrilla war which put the Communist Party into power in China, and was subsequently exported throughout the Third World. To fight terrorism, he says Australia must learn the lessons of guerrilla war. The current and major threat identified in the Defence Update 2005 is, not surprisingly, terrorism, and it quite rightly refers to a whole-of-government approach to dealing with this threat. For the first time in over 30 years, defence planners have been able…
Kevin Rudd has accepted the right of state and territory Labor governments to veto his new uranium policy. The ALP national conference decision to lift the party’s current ban on the development of new uranium mines was widely praised as a change of direction, as Mr Rudd imposed his new agenda on the Labor Party.…
Iran is enraged at a new Hollywood film, 300, about the heroic Greek stand against invading Persians at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. Film reviewed by Damian Wyld. A clash of civilisations. The new film 300 may not go down as one of the great epic films, but it is nevertheless a reminder of some timeless events and values – and it has created some waves of it own. Based on Frank Miller’s graphic novel of the same name, the film tells the true story of 300 heroic Spartan soldiers and their handful of allies, who held the…
China, now the world’s fourth largest economy, is quite clearly ambitious to replace the US as the dominant power in the region, writes Sharif Shuja. China’s economic success, its billion dollar trade surpluses and its massive market penetration are enormously impressive. The year 2006 saw China acquire the largest foreign exchange reserves in the world, worth a mind-boggling $1 trillion. It also saw China firmly establishing itself as the world’s fourth-largest economy, an achievement based on two decades of solid economic growth. According to a recent report by Citigroup, China could be the world’s largest economy in the next 25…
