President Donald Trump recently announced plans to pull the United States out of a landmark nuclear arms pact with Russia in a move that could spark a new arms race. President Ronald Reagan and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 1987. The INF banned all nuclear and non-nuclear missiles with short and medium ranges. The treaty helped to eliminate thousands of land-based missiles. We speak to world-renowned political dissident, linguist and author Noam Chomsky about the significance of the INF treaty and the impact of Trump’s plan to pull out.
Some may wonder what the relevance of the US midterm elections is to Australia. Unfortunately, Australia is so tied hand and foot to the American political system that whatever happens there, has an impact here. It is unfortunate, because the effect has often not been a positive one. Continue reading Democrats midterm election win has some importance for Australia too→
Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, who will be in Australia next week to receive the Sydney peace prize on 15 November and talk about the lessons the rest of the world can learn from America’s mistakes, was interviewed by Gareth Hutchens. This was published in the Guardian 5 November 2018. Stiglitz will also be speaking at the Athenaeum Theatre in Melbourne on 19 November
Saudi Arabia, is being backed by the United States and the other of the feudal kingdom’s supporters, including Australia, in the carrying out of a genocidal war that is targeting civilians. Following is a graphic illustration of the impact of a recent air strike.
Israel is continuing its war against Palestinian civilians in Gaza. A block of flats is repeatedly targeted by missiles (see bottom video clip). The victims are not combatants. In this case one man died and a woman lost her unborn child and toddler son. This raid carried out last week is only one instance of the continuing bombardment that is going on. There was conflict with Hamas and some missiles were fired into Israel. But it should be noted that was is a response to military action against civilians that has been continuous for some time. Continue reading Video: Israeli airstrikes have been targeting civilian neighbourhoods in Gaza→
This article by Eric Levitz(New York Magazine 9 July 2018), is about the real effect of the Trump cut to company tax, just 6 months after it was put into effect. It has not led to a revival in positive investment. On the contrary. Bad investment has been the result and of squandering money that could have been alternately put, to better use making lives better for Americans, concludes the writer.
The following published by Byline Investigationson 7 July 2018, outs senior figured in Murdoch’s media empire in the U.K., who have been named as being involved in unlawful news gathering activities. Evidence provided in the High Court in London is the source of the information. This exposure is important, because it provides a window into the modus operandi of the media giant, which is not confined to only one country. There have been calls for an investigation into whether similar methods have been used in Australia. Perhaps this will contribute to bringing more pressure for this to come about.
