Two of my recent themes collided with each other on Stephen Crittendon’s Religion Report this morning, and also with the release of the US Army report into Abu Ghraib prison. On the OnLineOpinions list I have recently been arguing that you cannot understand classical liberalism outside of the context of original sin. In a couple […]

Winning the peace in Iraq isn’t just a US problem, it is a problem for all of us. If it is lost, then we in Australia should share some of the blame, and the press more than most. How do I expect the press to play a role in winning the peace and why should they?

The following post is from Stewart Mills. To understand F 9/11 you need to understand satire The other night I saw Fahrenheit 9/11. It gave me a clear image of the self-interest that is determining the course of US and global events. It made my blood boil. How could Bush, Rumsfeld and Cheyney get away […]

I mightn’t like Michael Moore’s films, but millions do, and many of them read On Line Opinion. In response to our invitation to send in reviews of Fahrenheit 9/11 we had 8 responses. Two longer ones and 6 shorter. So I’m going to publish them in three posts. A summary of the shorter ones tonight, […]

Well if Graham and I were not having an argument about American imperialism, then we are having one now. I say America is an imperial power and he says it is not. Let us go through the arguments in some detail. To start with I take a position that empires and imperialism are bad. I […]

Gary says that he and I are having an argument about the word “empire”. I’m not sure that either of us has directly used the word in debate against the other, but I take it as being encapsulated in the word “imperialism”. Gary appears to think that the US is acting in Iraq to extend […]

Graham and I are having something of a dispute over the word Empire. I have pointed out that I am not alone in using the term to describe current American policy. Scholars of all political hues have employed the expression. Among the most distinguished is Rashid Khalidi who is Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies […]

Gary, You say “However I will not from behind my lap top lecture those who seek to resist violence with violence,” but that is in fact what you are doing. The US, British and Australians resist violence with violence and you condemn them, even though this is done more closely in accordance with the laws […]

Some of the critical commentary on the war in Iraq seems to show the same lack of concern for human life that the accusers level at “warmongers” such as George Bush, Tony Blair and John Howard. The AFR’s Geoffrey Barker described as hardline Howard’s June 4 speech to the Washington Press Club, where Howard said […]

Mistah Kurtz – he dead I was greatly heartened lately to hear that the neo-cons at the Pentagon had arranged a showing of Pontecorvo’s the Battle of Algiers, before launching their current “war on terror”. (The latter phrase is a classical piece of Orwellian New Speak and can be roughly translated to mean “Bombing and […]