Quick Quips: What Is a Lie?

18/06/2019

The Economist posted a video a couple of months ago discussing whether or not politicians lie. I didn’t agree with most of it, seeing as their conclusion was that something was only a lie if the person telling it had the intent and knowledge they were doing so. They instead try to palm certain things off – even Trump’s antics – as things like ‘exaggeration’, ‘untruths’ (isn’t that just synonymous with lies?), ‘nonsense’, or (quoting the academic prowess of a philosopher) ‘bullshit’. How trite.

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Israel Isn’t Building, It’s Demolishing

17/06/2019

Headline after headline shot across social media and the news earlier this week about Ramat Trump – Trump Heights. This apparently new town was announced and celebrated by Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the US Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman. Only, there is no new town.

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US Declarations Are Not Law

15/06/2019

To the contrary, much of what the US does on an international stage (and some may argue national as well) is in blatant opposition to international law. Nowhere is this more obvious than its unconditional backing of Israeli colonial dreams against the Palestinians.

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Time to Rethink ANZUS?

13/06/2019

Since the election of Donald Trump, there have been two main approaches in Australia regarding our relationship with the US. The first is backing away from them entirely and reconsidering how we interact with an increasingly erratic global superpower, and the other is the argument whereby all of Australia will be prone to imminent security risks should we so much as cough without American protection. One aspect of this is discussing how relevant the ANZUS Treaty is.

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The “National Security/Interest” Myth

10/06/2019

As the last couple of weeks have been quite busy with university assessments, admittedly the frequency of my posts here has dropped considerably. Equally as regrettable, or perhaps worse, is the lack of time I’ve set aside to read the books I have literally piled around me. So this week I plan on getting back into the swing of things to catch up on the missed days. The big news this week is the AFP raids, but how much does ‘national security’ really play into this?

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Quick Quips: Blame America – I Do

03/06/2019

Having been busy with university work the last two weeks, I have regrettably let my daily post spree falter yet again – although dare I say the 2000 words in the previous post counts for three or four standard posts? I think not, but I should have more time in the coming weeks. There’s no real limit to the number of things to talk about these days – mostly due to the US, as always.

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Molecules of Anything but Freedom

30/05/2019

If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it is that any topic can be made comedic with little to no exception. The problem today is, instead of hearing these kinds of jokes from actual comedians, they come from our governments. And actually, they aren’t even joking, they’re serious. It’s just better to laugh ourselves to extinction than dwell on the future. It’s a free world, after all.

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Double Standards: Attacks on Jeremy Corbyn

28/05/2019

In my very first piece I referred to a disagreement (over North Korea) I had with an American I generally respect, although his political opinions sometimes baffle me. This week, in the wake of Theresa May announcing her resignation, he had the same thought I did – Boris Johnson will likely take control, for ill, of course. But in the comments of that post he completely discarded the Labour Party and smeared Jeremy Corbyn with shaky accusations – mainstream media accusations.

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WikiLeaks and Whistleblowers: Attacks on Press Freedom

27/05/2019

Julian Assange has now been charged under the US’ Espionage Act, potentially facing over 170 years in prison and being the first person to be charged under this Act for merely publishing material leaked to WikiLeaks. A number of whistleblowers have faced this charge, from Daniel Ellsberg (who leaked the Pentagon Papers) to Daniel Hale (who revealed the assassination and drone programs implemented by Obama). But where is the media outrage? The public interest?

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Soundbites: One Reason Commercial Media Fails

23/05/2019

On this site I frequently criticise the role of the media in society, and a major aspect of that is the commercial TV stations. Channels 7, 9, and 10 here in Australia, or mainstream channels like CNN, Fox, or MSNBC, while they may have different ‘political leanings’, in the most superficial meaning of the phrase, they are all guilty of one particular flaw: soundbites.

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