Our journalism at Sky News is under attack from pro-Palestinian activists.
— Sharri Markson (@SharriMarkson) November 13, 2025
It was deeply disturbing to be told two months ago that a group of pro-Palestinian activists had lodged a formal complaint with the Australian Human Rights commission about my reporting in the wake of the…
Showing posts with label world news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label world news. Show all posts
Friday, November 14, 2025
Down in the gutter
Monday, June 23, 2025
Tense times
Some up to the minute analysis on the Israel-Iran conflict. It also draws on just war theory.
Saturday, June 21, 2025
Schoolyard antics
You may have seen or heard about American Senator Ted Cruz's interview with the former Fox News anchor turned alternative media contrarian, Tucker Carlson. If this interview is any indication, Carlson is less concerned with journalistic credibility than he is with generating clickbait.
Sunday, March 02, 2025
Vranyo
Some thoughts on the Russia-Ukraine War, in light of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's ill-fated meeting with American President Donald Trump.
Very few self-styled experts on this situation, which proliferate in the alternative media these days, are saying anything about malevolent state actors like Russia. How many people naively thought that Russia would become a viable democracy after the collapse of the USSR in 1991? That will never happen now.
These experts give Russia and President Vladimir Putin a free pass, but seem very concerned about corruption in Ukraine, Zelenskyy’s corruption, suppression of civil liberties, and its neo Nazism. They conveniently ignore that under Putin's 25 year rule, corruption, fascism, and suppression of individual freedoms are all massive problems in Russia. Freedom House, a think tank that monitors levels of freedom in countries around the world, rated Russia as not free in its 2024 annual report.
If social media was a thing during the Second World War, there would be plenty of people unwittingly parroting Axis propaganda, like the radio propagandists Lord Haw-Haw, or Axis Sally.
The point is that those who pile on Zelenskyy, but condone Putin’s actions, like to make out that they are free thinkers, immune to brainwashing by what they see as the completely untrustworthy mainstream media.
It pays to check the sources of the material you post, such as memes, articles, or videos. Who is the original author, and is it credible information? Someone with the time and inclination could do this work, tracing it to its original source. What if it was shown that they were uncritically and unwittingly parroting Kremlin propaganda? The Kremlin has a sophisticated online propaganda factory. It has the ability to underhandedly influence Western public opinion on the war.
In the Second World War, the Axis powers paid people to spread propaganda for them. Now, Putin’s regime can use social media to instantly and rapidly spread its propaganda to millions of people around the world. Investigative journalists have looked into this, such as Shannon Bond of NPR. Her work, without access to intelligence agencies, who would be right across all this, would only scratch the surface of what Russia is doing. International relations think tanks, such as the Center for Strategic and International Studies, are also monitoring this activity.
https://www.csis.org/analysis/cyber-operations-during-russo-ukrainian-war
Friday, October 18, 2024
Government funded pile on
From the latest edition of the Media Watchdog blog. The current situation in the Middle East is not helped by biased, partisan journalism.
Saturday, March 09, 2024
Get your facts right
In response to the vandalism at Cambridge University of a portrait of Lord Balfour by a pro-Palestinian protestor, Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, posted the following statement on X, formerly known as Twitter. Balfour served as Foreign Secretary in the government of former British Prime Minister, Lloyd George, when in 1917, a declaration was made supporting the establishment of a Jewish homeland in what was then Palestine.
Contrary to contemporary propaganda, the Balfour Declaration didn’t give Palestine to the Jews. It didn’t give anything to anyone. It favoured the idea of a liberated Ottoman colony which had been held by various foreign empires for 2,000 years, becoming an independent Jewish… https://t.co/6RxylsltpB
— Alex Ryvchin (@AlexRyvchin) March 8, 2024
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-68515368
Saturday, April 08, 2023
A hot take on the Trump indictment
The indictment of former American president Donald Trump was certainly historic. He is the first former President to face criminal charges.
Writing on his Substack, Steven Beschloss, the well known writer, journalist, and film maker, and brother of the prominent historian, Michael Beschloss, is not celebrating; rather, he sees it as a sad occasion, not only because a former president has been indicted, but also:
"that he was voted into office in 2016 despite his history of criminality—and that we spent the following four years watching his shameless degradation of American justice, the rule of law and the presidency itself. While I am not in the mood to celebrate, I am nourished by this assertion of justice in which this man—no matter his station in life or the office he held—has been criminally indicted and now must attempt to defend his plea of innocence."
Trump has always come across to me as volatile. While I was glad that he defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, I was concerned that he would do something self destructive during his presidency, just like Nixon before him, or that eventually, his past would come back to haunt him. There was always the risk that his character, with highly credible allegations of womanizing, his well documented impulsive temperament, together with unanswered questions about his business ethics, would bring him undone. The constant conflict and polarisation he has brought to political discourse is also tiresome.
Even if these charges are a political hit job, Trump has brought it on himself by letting his long list of enemies exploit his weaknesses. He could have avoided it by being honest. Then, whatever mud was thrown at him would not stick.
https://america.substack.com/p/donald-trump-is-a-criminal-defendant
Saturday, January 14, 2023
Gullibility?
Even if we concede that nothing is ever black and white in war, one would hope that Bernardi is not an apologist for Russia's Putin regime, or that he is condoning Putin's unjust attempts to annexe Ukraine. In any case, other sources that have a higher level understanding of the complexities of this situation than Bernardi, such as Monash University scholar, Alasdair McCallum, state that the Azov regiment simply cannot be credibly describe as Nazi or neo-Nazi. It is depoliticised. Nor is there widespread neo-Nazism or anti-Semitism in Ukraine. This disproves Russia's claim, a prominent theme in its propaganda, that its invasion was necessary to "de-Nazify" Ukraine. On the other hand, as Dmitry Kozhurin of Radio Free Europe has proven, there are actual neo-Nazis fighting on the Russian side, such as the paramilitary Rusich group, and other extremist militia groups.
Social media may give you access to lots of information, but on the downside it creates too many armchair experts commenting on issues that they don't understand properly, but they weigh in on them anyway for reasons known only to themselves.
https://www.latrobe.edu.au/news/articles/2022/opinion/russias-long-history-of-neo-nazis
https://www.rferl.org/a/russian-neo-nazis-fighting-ukraine/31871760.html
Wednesday, November 16, 2022
Fire and fury redux
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/11/16/trump-files-paperwork-for-2024-presidential-bid
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/16/politics/trump-presidential-bid-analysis/index.html
Saturday, October 01, 2022
In the tradition of Stuart Littlemore
The American state of Florida can't get a break. An eagle-eyed American friend brought this to my attention.
Sunday, September 11, 2022
Saturday, September 10, 2022
Watershed moment
An address by His Excellency, General the Honourable David Hurley, AC, DSC, FTSE, Governor General of Australia, to mark the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.
Thursday, April 21, 2022
Across his brief?
US President Joe Biden continues to be dogged by rumours surrounding his cognitive health. Today he announced further military aid for Ukraine.
As a distant observer, I have no idea whether or not there is any basis to these rumours. We will find out eventually when he leaves office. In making this announcement, he mispronounced the surname of his predecessor, Theodore Roosevelt.
In several letters Theodore Roosevelt himself specifies the correct pronunciation. In a letter to the Rev. William W. Moir dated October 10, 1898 he writes:
As for my name, it is pronounced as if it was spelled "Rosavelt." That is in three syllables. The first syllable as if it was "Rose."
Surely Biden's minders would be aware of this fact. Somebody in his office isn't doing their properly.
Tuesday, March 01, 2022
Get it right
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In widely reported comments, Kamala Harris, Vice President of the United States, was mocked for apparently giving a childish and simplistic description of the Ukraine crisis. She said:
“So, Ukraine is a country in Europe. It exists next to another country called Russia. Russia is a bigger country. Russia is a powerful country. Russia decided to invade a smaller country called Ukraine. So, basically, that’s wrong, and it goes against everything that we stand for.”
This analysis, quoted without attribution from The Little Golden Book of Foreign Policy, feeds the conservative narrative that Harris is a lightweight who is way out of her depth. I don't know whether or not this is a fair comment. After some digging, I discovered that this story is based on Harris's words being taken out of context. She appeared on a podcast, and was asked to explain the conflict in layperson's terms. According to Nikki Ray Ramirez, writing for the Media Matters website, Vice President Harris definitely does understand the gravity of this situation, also clearly stating that Russia’s unilateral, unprovoked invasion of Ukraine constituted a violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty, and explained that sanctions were being put in place by the American government in an effort to levy consequences on Russia for the decision to invade an independent nation.
By all means scrutinise and criticise political leaders, which is exactly what should happen in a democracy, but please do so using accurate informatoin.
Sunday, February 20, 2022
Schreibfehler
Without wanting to be flippant about the serious threat of Russia invading Ukraine, which, at this time appears to be imminent, one would expect a better standard of quality control on website articles from a repected international news organisation such as CNN. When was the title of the head of Germany's federal government changed to "chanellor?"
Thursday, August 19, 2021
Nothing to celebrate?
 |
| Putin pretending to be a nice man |
Thirty years after the failed coup attempt then Soviet Premier, Mikhail Gorbachev, which led to the final collapse of the Soviet Union, a cursory reading of journalistic reflection on this event mainly reflects on the dashed hopes for democratic freedoms. After the Yeltsin years, and the rise of Vladimir Putin, Russia has merely exchanged one form of autocracy for another.
Saturday, April 10, 2021
Warts and all
Saturday, January 30, 2021
Irreverence
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| Andrew Cuomo, and not Andrew Cuomos |
Who is Andrew Cuomos? I have only ever heard of New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo.
Thursday, October 08, 2020
Do as you're told
"Communist party officials in China have rewritten one of the Bible’s most powerful accounts of Jesus Christ’s grace and divinity by blasphemously claiming the Saviour stoned to death the woman caught in adultery.
The well-known New Testament account in John's Gospel (8:3-11) is completely altered to depict Jesus Christ as a devious murderer, and self-proclaimed “sinner”, in a “professional ethics and law” text book used in Chinese vocational secondary schools.
The textbook’s amended version of the account states, “The crowd wanted to stone the woman to death as per their law. But Jesus said, ‘Let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone.’ Hearing this, they slipped away one by one. When the crowd disappeared, Jesus stoned the sinner to death saying, ‘I too am a sinner. But if the law could only be executed by men without blemish, the law would be dead.’”
The Biblical account describes how the scribes and Pharisees attempt to set a trap for Jesus in the temple courts, asking if an adulterous woman should be stoned as Moses commanded in law. Jesus replies, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Each of the men drops his stone on the ground and departs. And Jesus, who has been stooping down write on the ground, looks up and asks the woman, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
My prayer is that one day, persecution of Christians, or indeed other religious minorities in China, will come to an end. This pariah state must change.
Friday, October 02, 2020
Kicking people when they're down
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