International diplomacy is a game. When we remember that war is a tool of politics, and diplomacy is the language of politics we get a better understanding of how peace comes through chaos.
In 1981 Israel bombed Iraq’s nuclear rector at Osirak ending its nuclear ambitions. In 2007 Israel bombed Syria’s nuclear reactor at Al Kibar ending its nuclear ambitions. In 2010 Israel and the United States destroyed the Iranian centrifuges at Natanz with a computer virus crippling its nuclear ambitions. No protests. Why?
On June 7 Australian time, a day later than Europe, I started watching the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers for what must be my fifth tour. It tells the story of Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment in the 101st Airborne Division during World War Two: from its jump into Normandy on D-Day June 6 1944, to the end of the war in Europe less than a year later. It’s a dramatic masterpiece that rends my heart every time.
Tagged: Band of Brothers, Covid-19, Gaza, History, WW2
Yesterday the Sydney Morning Herald ran a headline, “‘The time is right’: Labor luminary calls for Netanyahu sanctions, Palestine statehood”. The Labor luminary was Australia’s former foreign minister of the 1990s, Gareth Evans. In it journalist Matthew Knott did a good job explaining Evans’ crusade but got one point wrong. It read:
Tagged: Australia, Gareth Evans, Palestine, Palestinianism, Penny Wong
Last week, around May 14 2025, word broke of Covid-19 numbers on the rise in Southeast Asia. It told observers what most knew: the five-year-old pandemic wasn’t just still underway, it was about to get worse and it promised a new ride.
Tagged: Australia, China, Covid-19, Epidemic, Work From Home
If there’s a socialist geopolitical cabal in motion these days, it’s the left wing governments of the United Kingdom, France and Canada. They form the first tier of an opposition to Israel outside the Arab World. The second tier includes their favourite sycophant Australia, whose foreign policy barely downplays Marxism, and the antisemitic socialist governments of Ireland, Spain and the Nordic bloc.
Francesca Albanese and the UN are in trouble. The money for antisemitism is drying up. Yesterday Qatar gave $96 billion instead to Boeing in an historical deal for 787 jets powered by US-made engines. Saudi Arabia promised $600B in US investment, and the UAE promised $1.4 trillion more. Hence, the special rapporteur for Palestine posted on X today that it “breaks” her heart that there is no genocide in Gaza. She can only report on the Israeli “occupation”, forgetting that prior to October 7 2023 there was no Israeli occupation of Gaza either. Lying is a hard vice to break.
Tagged: Australia, Francesca Albanese, Genocide, Israel, Palestine
Diplomacy and war are the languages of politics. Their difference is that diplomacy is best waged by the wise, too old for the battlefield. There’s that scene in the classic film Lawrence of Arabia where prince Feisal, soon to be king of a newly created Iraq from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire, says about his impetuous British field commander Lawrence:
Tagged: Diplomacy, Islam, Israel, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Trump, Trump Visit, UAE
With a new Indo-Pakistan War in motion over Kashmir, Sky News Australia this morning did something interesting. It employed the resources of (the differently owned) Sky News UK to explain how these two countries came into dispute, with a video by UK’s National Correspondent Alex Rossi. Thing is they’ve never done this with the current Arab-Israeli War. No media outlet has, but why? The answer comes with Rossi’s approach below.
The public rejection of Greens Leader Adam Bandt at the ballot box is a warning to all political narcissists. You will be shamed, disgraced and shunned in Australia because our country isn’t built on hate or civil war. When Australia fights, it does so to help end the wars of its allies in the pursuit of shared values of tolerance and mateship.
Tagged: Adam Bandt, Antisemitism, Australian Election, Greens, Penny Wong
Adam Parker Presents
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