Category: Middle East
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Alex Mitchell’s Weekly Notebook – Tony Abbott is channelling the Joh for Canberra fiasco
Slipping into Federal Election year, the Liberal Party of Australia is split between two hostile forces. Supporters of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull are on one side and disciples of sacked prime minister Tony Abbott are on the other. In Liberal Party terms the split is a “left” (Turnbull) versus “right” (Abbott] affair. The intensity of…
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Alex Mitchell’s Weekly Notebook – Richo threatens to spill the beans on Hawke and Abeles
Graham Richardson, aka “Richo” or “Robespierre”, is in a race against a deadly cancer to complete a second volume of autobiography. The former NSW ALP general secretary, senator and Cabinet minister in the Hawke and Keating Governments plans to reveal information about the financial relationship between Hawke and his patron, TNT boss Sir Peter Abeles,…
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Alex Mitchell’s Weekly Notebook – China’s slowdown starts to hit home
Surely, it’s time that the saying, “When Wall Street sneezes, the rest of the world catches pneumonia”, was updated. It retains some veracity because the New York Stock Exchange is the biggest in the world, US banks are the largest and the US economy is the global heavyweight. But what about China? What if Beijing…
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Alex Mitchell’s Weekly Notebook – Jihadist Abbott on mission to poison political debate in Oz
Tony Abbott, aka The Mad Monk, has positioned himself as PM-in-exile and adopted a sick-minded agenda to poison political debate and destabilise his successor, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. He launched the campaign this week with two “exclusives”: in Rupert Murdoch’s Sydney Daily Telegraph and on his Sky News, a demented Oz version of the media…
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Alex Mitchell’s Weekly Notebook – It’s bombs away in Syria as invaders grab spheres of influence
Warplanes from the United States, Russia, Britain, France, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Bahrain are now taking part in a war against Syria. All members of the war party have different agendas. Some are fighting ISIS while others are fighting the Damascus regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Others are supporting the…
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Alex Mitchell’s Weekly Notebook – Decision time: more war or global deal on climate?
The world is at a crossroads. The battle for our attention and support is between two opposed camps: global action on climate change or global war on terror. Or put more explicitly, it is a choice between: a) Saving life on earth by changing the way we live and moving to renewable energy such as…
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Alex Mitchell’s Weekly Notebook – Guess what? The Martin Place gunman was an ASIO agent
It is now obvious to everyone except Blind Freddy that the Martin Place siege gunman Man Haron Monis was an ASIO agent from the time he arrived in Australia in 1996. Final proof came this week when the NSW government-ordered inquest was recalled without notice and then banned the press and public from hearing ASIO’s…
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Alex Mitchell’s Weekly Notebook – Oz cremates Abbottry; Canada ends Harperism
Stephen Harper, the insufferably arrogant conservative Canadian politician, has been chucked out of office by the neophyte Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau. Trudeau has scored a treble victory: as the son of the late Pierre Trudeau, he has restored the family name to a place of honour in Canada’s political history; he has ended the…
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Alex Mitchell’s Weekly Notebook – Turnbull’s mission to woo wets, dries and Murdoch
It is not unusual for political leaders to mould their parties in their own image. In the Australian context we need only mention Robert Menzies, Gough Whitlam, Bob Hawke and John Howard. These politicians moulded the course of their respective parties, redirecting policies and priorities. As a result they changed the way Australians thought and…
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Alex Mitchell’s Weekly Notebook – Oz drawn deeper into Middle East graveyard
Twelve months ago the Tweeters and Facebookers were in full cry demanding the bombing of Damascus and the public execution of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. They were also howling for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin on war crimes charges following the downing of Malayasia Airlines Flight MH17 over Ukraine. At the same time,…