Quick link – 60th anniversary of the Slansky Trial: Stalinism, anti-semitism and “anti-Zionism”.
Here is a very interesting article about the emergence of anti-semitism (parading as anti-Zionism) as a key element of Soviet and Eastern European Stalinism after WWII.
Defence and security links post
The reaction to Barack Obama’s announcement of the Defence Strategic Guidance document is as good an opportunity as any to open a thread to discuss defence-related matters. The document puts a little bit more meat on the bones on some [...]
Disease eradication: polio and guinea worm
The world continues to inch towards the eradication of two more diseases. The number of Guinea worm cases continues to decline. According to the latest WHO bulletin, in January through September 2011, there were 1,008 cases of dracunculasis reported, compared [...]
Foreign policy week: Uranium sales to India
It seems like this is foreign policy week – or, perhaps we’ll call it “fall into line with the USA” week.
The undiscussed refugee never-never
When Tony Abbott promises to cut bureaucracy, I rather doubt ASIO is at the top of his list of places to look for savings. It should be, given that its budget has grown from 60-odd million dollars in 2001 to [...]
What now for Libya?
“For Libya’s interim government, the National Transitional Council (NTC), the aftermath of the bloody nine-month conflict may prove as difficult and treacherous as the conflict itself.”
Quick not-link: Australia’s biggest music funding body
…is the Australian Defence Force, according to some figuring by Brian Toohey in the Fin Review today.
Libya: The politics of the ‘endgame’
As the Revolution in Libya appears set to succeed, a number of notions have become instant common wisdom, the most prominent of which is that “we” somehow have a responsibility to ensure that Libya does not become another Iraq.
Nancy Wake, RIP
New Zealand born, Australian raised Nancy Wake, awarded just about every decoration under the sun for her work with the French resistance in the Second World War, has died of a chest infection. Her wartime exploits were widely recounted, for [...]
Power shifts East?
Political and military power lags behind economic power, but the bill falls due. This could be the way the hegemon ends, not with a bang but with a Tea Party.
CIA’s fake vaccination drive to get bin Laden
The Guardian reports that the CIA set up a fake vaccination drive in Abbottabad, Pakistan to obtain DNA samples from individuals in the bin Laden compound. The CIA organised a fake vaccination programme in the town where it believed Osama [...]
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