From a war of Independence comes the hope of Reverse Dependence in the Anglosphere herald by a Murdoch Media(ODT)
““English-speaking people have a shared history, heritage, culture in common. It was shameful that we turned our backs on Australia. We now need to build the alliance, in terms of military, trade, security and culture” (Nigel Farage to Sky News Outsiders program 11th August 2019). Farage
via Nigel Farage and the Anglo-American Dream – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Dutton from Australia’s worst Health Minister to Australia’s worst Minister. When does the message sink in? (ODT)
For an agency that was created to better co-ordinate Australia’s national security across agencies within the portfolio, only 35 percent said they routinely engage with other agencies in the portfolio.
This surely is a wake-up call even for the tone deaf Dutton and Pezzullo.
Hardly surprising the two of them refuse to release the details of the $5 million review of Home Affairs.
And what is their solution to all this dysfunction? Privatisation of visa processing, apparently.
It looks like we’re going from the frying pan and into the fire.
his recent criticism of the network shows that he doesn’t understand the con at the heart of the network’s model. Fox is a propaganda outlet whose success depends on maintaining just enough trappings of journalism to avoid that label. And if Trump turns his warning shots into a sustained assault, the result could spell disaster for the network.
Fox and Trump have enjoyed a mutually beneficial, symbiotic relationship. The network helped drive Trump’s political rise, all but fused with his administration after his election, and regularly cheerleads for him. Trump, in turn, is obsessed with the network, whose programming and personalities shape his worldview and frequently impact his decision. He regularly promotes Fox’s coverage and has given its hosts unprecedented access, lifting the network’s ratings.
via Trump’s Fox criticism puts the network’s entire con in jeopardy | Media Matters for America
MAKE AMERICA WHITE AGAIN- ONLY TRUMP CAN (ODT)
via Trump Shares Fan Video Featuring White Nationalist Logo | Crooks and Liars
Claim: President Trump says three million jobs have been lost in China as a consequence of the trade war with the United States.—-FAKE NEWS
Verdict: While estimates for China’s employment vary widely, they do not generally support Mr Trump’s claim. When asked, the White House directed us to a survey that gave a lower figure.
Look who’s advising Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on tax. The Australian Government’s “High Level Advisory Panel” is stacked with five tax types from EY, three from Deloitte, five from KPMG and seven from PwC. Michael West reports.
For the uninitiated, the reason this High Level Advisory Panel is funny is because a key activity of the Big Four accounting firms is advising their multinational clients on how to skive out of paying tax in Australia, a task which they undertake with flair, and by the billions.
via Josh’s Shark Pool: meet the Treasurer’s tax advisors – Michael West
Thousands of public servants want to quit Peter Dutton’s home affairs department, with a new report finding staff are suffering low morale, poor engagement and high levels of bullying and harassment.
Sweden and Norway, for example, both experienced a major power shift in the 1930s after prolonged nonviolent struggle. They “fired” the top 1 percent of people who set the direction for society and created the basis for something different.
via How Swedes and Norwegians Broke the Power of the ‘1 Percent’ | Common Dreams Views
US Footprint on Venezuala financing and strategising the opposition, Who thinks they aren’t doing the same in Hong Kong (ODT)
via New push to ‘restore democracy’: US launches Venezuela affairs unit … in Colombia — RT World News
Order from the DON (ODT)
When aides have suggested that some orders are illegal or unworkable, Trump has suggested he would pardon the officials if they would just go ahead, aides said. He has waved off worries about contracting procedures and the use of eminent domain, saying “take the land,” according to officials who attended the meetings.
Related Article
White House officials were now expecting a long, drawn-out battle with Chinese leaders.
Trump’s White House
Trump increasingly relies on himself, not his aides, in trade war with China
“Don’t worry, I’ll pardon you,” he has told officials in meetings about the wall.
‘Take the land’: Trump wants a black border wall, with spikes, by election day
MUKGA isn’t considerationhere at all win at all costs no matter is (ODT)
Brexit: Boris Johnson’s plot is bold, barely legal and politically high risk
This study leaves me with questions about it’s accuracy.
We are told by the government that the population of Chinese students here in Australia is 400,000 plus this study quotes half that number yet makes no mention of why the huge difference?
No mention that this generation of mainland Chinese has never experienced anything other than an economic boom of no less than 6% growth, a shrinking in poverty and the once opportunity gap between rural and urban China. There has been a massive increase in freedoms never experienced previously before. So a strong sympathy shouldn’t be unexpected for it’s government. Nor should the anger felt when western media portrays them in ways they don’t experience as students or tourists let loose on the world. Meanwhile Australia is currently experiencing the reverse.
Australians are grinners when winners and readily proud. Are the Chinese not meant to feel the same? To suggest the Chinese are mentally bound simply by a moral and restrictive mindset foisted on them seems to reflect more on the narrowness of the researchers to want to establish some significant correlation between Chinese Civics, History taught in schools which makes the ultimate difference between HK students and Chinese mainland students.
The riots in HK began over an extradition law which was revoked. The current and continued riots have however have been transformed into something much different with foriegn influence involved. It’s not difficult to guess whose footprint is the biggest and who wants to make China look bad in the eyes of the western press and the world.
I doubt if and when peer- reviewed this study’s methodology and it’s narrow context will recieve anything but criticism of it’s bias to prove what’s a univeral norm and generational bias “sympathy for one’s country’s culture whether HK,China,Aus, USA and particularly in times of an economic boom. (ODT)
The protests in Hong Kong have led to some open clashes here in Australia between students from mainland China and others from Hong Kong.
There were angry scenes between pro-China and pro-Hong Kong groups in Sydney and Melbourne, as well as at universities in Brisbane and Adelaide.
These clashes are troubling for the Australian university sector, which enrols 182,555 mainland Chinese and 11,822 Hongkongers as international students at various educational institutions.
Our research suggests differences in the curriculum studied by mainland Chinese and Hong Kong students may help to explain the beliefs underpinning the protest movements.
The rest of the media is catching on to the fact that there is a paradigm shift underway in economics.
This won’t be a surprise to you if you are a regular reader of Independent Australia. I’ve written about two dozen articles on the main challenger to the old paradigm, which is modern monetary theory (MMT). Others have also written on this topic for IA. If you’ve been relying for news and current affairs on the usual suspects, however, the current controversy might have crept up on you.
For the most part, the rest of the media has been asleep on this one, even if they are latterly waking up.
A thought
The current destruction of the Brazilian rain forests, as alarming as it is might be, or could turn out to be, might just be the catalyst for an event of monumental proportions.
One that might force us into action. The lungs of the earth, as the rain forests are called, as I write are experiencing 7,300 fires and the illegal harvesting of the trees is beyond tally.
Something will have to give sometime.
My thought for the day
On the subject of climate change. Think about this. If we fail to act and disaster results, then massive suffering will have been aggravated by stupidity.
via Being conned with bullshit – » The Australian Independent Media Network
President Trump and his aides are sending two simultaneous, contradictory messages about the economy: That it is booming, and everything is fine. And that it is time for emergency measures to keep this boom going.
It’s also certainly quite interesting that Team Trump, in private meetings with wealthy donors, is warning that a recession is coming. Meanwhile, on social media—where the regular people who like him get their information—Hair Twitler said the economy is “very strong.” You know that when the shit does hit the fan, Trump’s donors are going to end up much better off than his average Twitter follower.
via Trump Is Just Plain Bad at Managing the Economy | The Smirking Chimp
Reducing wildfires requires going beyond addressing the ignition sources and fighting the flames themselves, and also encouraging actions that limit forest flammability. Tackling deforestation remains key as it exposes forest edges to the hotter and drier microclimate of agricultural land, and contributes to regional reductions in rainfall.
Selective logging also plays a key role in making tropical forests more flammable. Walking in a selectively logged forest in the dry season, you feel the sun’s heat directly on your face and the leaf litter crackles and crunches underfoot. In contrast, unlogged primary forests are a shadier world where the leaf litter remains moist. Fire prevention needs to be a key condition of long-term forest stewardship. This will only work if widespread illegal logging is effectively controlled, as cheaper timber undermines the viability of best-practice forest management.
Finally, climate change itself is making dry seasons longer and forests more flammable. Increased temperatures are also resulting in more frequent tropical forest fires in non-drought years. And climate change may also be driving the increasing frequency and intensity of climate anomalies, such as El Niño events that affect fire season intensity across Amazonia.
Addressing these challenges requires integrated national and global actions, collaboration between scientists and policy makers, and long-term funding – approaches that the current Brazilian administration seems intent on destroying.The Conversation
via Horrific Amazon Wildfires: How do they Threaten Us, and how can we stop them?
Jakarta ia Colonial remanant left by the Dutch(ODT)
Having successfully tamed low-lying Holland, the Dutch believed they could also tame tropical Jakarta.
Why is Jakarta, Indonesia’s soon to be former capital city, sinking?
China regards intellectual property as just another factor of production and wants to lower its price to a minimum. By contrast, high-tech American firms often derive their profits by obtaining higher and higher prices for intellectual property.
US diplomatic cables leaked to Wikileaks in 2010 reveal the high priority American diplomats give to the surveillance and defence of intellectual property regimes around the world. Thousands of cables and millions of words are devoted to this subject.
Australia, as a net importer of intellectual property, has good reasons to side with the developing world, which has been calling for a “development agenda” that facilitates technology transfer as a key enabler of development. Instead, Australia sides with the “patent agenda” of the US, the EU and Japan even though it comes with a high price.
via Australia backs wrong horse as IP rights loom large in US-China trade war – Michael West
What else but Scott Morrison’s belief in the words of Donald Trump would have been the inspiration behind his decision to expose Australian troops to a possible armed conflict in the Strait of Hormuz?
Is it the ‘Coalition of the Willing’ all over again? Same players: the US, the UK and Australia and an oil-rich nation. Same catalyst: believe whatever a POTUS says.
But more to the point, why does Morrison feel we need to join the US in Iran on Trump’s “say so”?
Is Morrison one of the few remaining individuals on the face of the Earth who believes anything Trump says? It appears as though he is.
Perhaps Scott Morrison could tell us what else he believes from the mouth or mind of Donald Trump.
This should be easy.
Tell us, Scott:
Australian universities are heavily dependent on overseas students for their survival, leaving them vulnerable to political and economic change in Asia, in particular, and disadvantaging domestic students, writes John Menadue.
via Australia’s universities are over-reliant on overseas students
In Australia our Universities are as Multicultural as as Australia is so what is “foreign interfernce” on campus? Conservatives like Andrew Bolt claims Universities as structurless free for all places of opinion any thing goes and he could be appointed a Professor. That would be “foreign interferance” (ODT)
Other advocacy efforts worked to grow the dark underbelly of American paranoia. American Future Fund was one of several groups that received over $10 million in 2010 from a Koch-financed nonprofit to run attack ads, including spots that spread the bigoted lie that a victory mosque was planned near the former World Trade Center.
The Chosen One is just joking again(ODT)
Defending himself against accusations of seeking to profit off the presidency by planning to host a G7 summit next year at one of his resorts, Donald Trump on Monday estimated that being president had cost him $3bn to $5bn and said: “I don’t want to make money. I don’t care about making money.”
Sixty-seven percent said they do not feel confident that our children’s generation will face a better life than ours; that’s up from the 61 percent who felt that way in 2017.
Respondents’ views of race relations were grim as well.
The poll finds that 60 percent believe race relations are bad in the nation. That view was expressed by 56 percent of whites, 81 percent of African Americans, and 61 percent of Hispanics.
Since President Donald Trump took office, 56 percent said race relations have gotten worse. While 47 percent of whites felt that way, 86 percent of African Americans and 74 percent of Hispanics said race relations worsened under Trump.
Views on the issue were markedly different under Trump’s predecessor.
How is it Trumphas sooo much time to devote to teweeting during the G7? Does he tweet at meetings? After all the last time he went home early and out of his way to meet Kim. (ODT)
Key Points
Trump has put US companies on alert that he might force them to withdraw from China, where they have $256 billion invested. He says he is given this power by the 1977 law called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA.
The Republican Party has spent over a century warning against government involvement in the private sector, but now their leader is doing it big time. Trump ordering companies around about where they can invest is a form of fascism or rightwing national socialism. Left socialism is about public sector economic activity for the good of people. National socialism is the state usurping economic resources on behalf of a small corporate and high-official elite.
The US Congress has given up many of its constitutional prerogatives over the years to the imperial presidency, something connived at by major party leaders such as Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. Trump should not have the ability to set tariffs on foreign countries by tweet. The regulation of interstate commerce is a congressional prerogative.
via China: How the Republican Imperial Presidency Led to Trump’s Trade Socialism
Uhlmann’s arguments hardly do justice to the Age as it’s senior political editor reminding me of the 60’s cry of ” All the Way with LBJ”.
Yes, we might have politically different systems the CPA of China recognises that. However, it has nevertheless raised the tide in China for everyone so much, so poverty and starvation for 1.3 billion people is something relegated to the past. Kids from rural China can be educated and are today’s Teachers Doctors and Lawyers in Shanghai, sending money home. These kids have never seen anything less than a 6% GDP in their life, so why shouldn’t they love and be proud of their country. Nationalist demand we all be here. The tiny population of Hong Kong and Uyghurs are they worse off than Indigenous Australians or people in detention on Manus and Nauru? We stole children and never sent them back to their families. China isn’t doing that. Does Uhlmann a political editor really believe that in the current world atmosphere nobody hasn’t an interest to keep the HK demonstrations ongoing? They started over a single law about extradition, which was stopped. Who has the most to gain by making China look bad?
Uhlmann’s talks of China’s aggression it has one military post outside the country we have more than they do and our closest ally the US has 8oo in some 160 countries. Australia and China really have a defence system. America has a business a military-industrial complex which is central to its economy. If that business of war grinds to a halt, so does America. So to talk of China’s aggressive interests seems stupid and hardly thought out to me. Is Uhlmann a paid propagandist for Murdoch and Trump?
As for 400,000 Chinese students and the mass of Chinese tourists flooding the world today does that really look like the moves of an increasingly totalitarian government or a decreasing one. It seems to me Peter Dutton is fast removing freedoms of Australians and becoming more paranoid than China. The CPA knows what it has done that freedom is dangerous and they know they are an anachronism, but they are still providing their people increasing freedom and allowing their citizens to do business across the world without an army to back them as the Americans do. Meanwhile, poverty is growing here as is debt and savings are falling we, in fact, seem to be heading in the opposite direction handing the country to the control of our corporate mandarins.
Universities had the funding cut and were told shape up or ship out to raise their own funds and maintain affordable education for Australians. They didn’t volunteer to do it so yes the Chinese are revenue forced on them by largely the Howard government. How mismanaged is our tertiary education system? It’s as mismanaged as the Australian governments have forced them to be? Are these Foreign students expected to stay on as graduates Uhlmann seems to think so? No, they are meant to go home yet he expects their standard of English is meant to be as good as his. When Australian University staff can’t be guaranteed tenure, how can the teaching at any level be regarded as first class?
What we hear today is the drum that was beaten back in the 50’s ban the Communist Party, the dominoes are falling, They are stealing our ideas is the anything new Uhlmann, and Ch9 it seems is taking us backwards (ODT)
“Australia is at an inflection point. For the first time our major trading partner is not a liberal democracy and it is a strategic rival of our key ally. We need to have a serious debate and have a right to expect more of those who lead our academic institutions.”
A recent IMF blog entitled “Cashing In: How to Make Negative Interest Rates Work”, explains its motive in wanting negative interest rates — a situation where instead of receiving money on deposits, depositors must pay regularly to keep their money with the bank.
“Without cash, depositors would have to pay the negative interest rate to keep their money with the bank, making consumption and investment more attractive,” it said.
But one year on from the banking royal commission, faith in our financial institutions — and the regulators who failed to police the banks’ bad behaviour — isn’t exactly at an all-time high.
TOTAL CONTROL FORCED SPENDING INCREASED DEBT
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