Australian Politics

Last night we saw the SinoAmerican Cold War intensifying, via the FT: China has accused Donald Trump of engaging in “misguided actions”, laying bare the mounting tensions between the world’s largest economies as their trade war threatens to escalate into a broader regional confrontation.

Via the Kingslayer today: Everywhere I go, people tell me the economy isn’t working for everyday Australians.

Let’s recall the huge Bloomberg story on Friday about Chinese spy chips that went unreported in the kowtowing Australian press: In 2015, Amazon.com Inc.

Via the ABC comes Opposition finance spokesman Jim Chalmers: “The housing market is softening in some of the major markets, but we don’t make this policy for one market or another or one set of market conditions or another.

From Foreign Policy comes Salvatore Babones an American sociologist at the University of Sydney and the author of The New Authoritarianism: Trump, Populism, and the Tyranny of Experts: Since the global financial crisis of 2008 to 2009, the U.S.

Via CNN: The US Navy’s Pacific Fleet has drawn up a classified proposal to carry out a global show of force as a warning to China and to demonstrate the US is prepared to deter and counter their military actions, according to several US defense officials.

Via Catherine MacGregor today who is one of the few to have noticed the exploding Sino/US Cold War: …The People’s Liberation Army was humiliated and shocked at its inability to locate the US naval carrier groups that sailed into the Taiwan Straits during the crisis of 1996.

Via Bloomie today: In 2015, Amazon.com Inc.

Via The Australian: Divisions have emerged within the Greens over Chinese government influence in Australia, with Tasmanian leader Cassy O’Connor rejecting claims from within the party of a “racist”, “reds under the bed” mentality.

Via Stars and Stripes: “At approximately 0830 local time on September 30, a PRC LUYANG destroyer approached USS DECATUR in an unsafe and unprofessional maneuver in the vicinity of Gaven Reef in the South China Sea,” said Capt.

Via the ABC: An academic has warned Australia is at risk of becoming a “client state” of the People’s Republic of China and has called for a proper and respectful debate in Tasmania about the nature of its relationship to the country.

Yesterday we had Kevin Rudd blathering nonsense about media.

The US/China Cold War is here and how.

The Fake Left just loves to blame the messenger.

So says ASPI at The Australian which recommends the following: • We want to continue our close and growing economic relationship because both countries benefit.

Peter Hartcher wrote an excellent piece on the weekend: “The practitioners of the politics of resentment recognise one another,” writes [Francis] Fukuyama in his new book on identity politics, helpfully titled Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment, to be published in Australia by Profile Books.

Via The Guardian: State bans on political donations from developers and stricter caps on donations, expenditure and disclosure will be overridden by new Coalition amendments to a campaign finance bill, academics have warned.

The wheels of government turn slowly but they do turn.

The Guardian, along with much of the world’s press, had a sneerfest at Donald Trump’s expense yesterday: For the rest of the world, President Donald Trump’s America is a laughingstock, not a leader.

Via the AFR yesterday on Santos: The company is targeting a final go-ahead for the Barossa project by the end of 2019, while an investment decision on the PNG LNG expansion is also due around that time.

By Leith van Onselen Following the massive cost blow-outs and delays hitting the Eastern Suburbs Light Rail Project, as well as multiple reports of incompetence, Miranda Divine believes Light Rail will derail the Berejiklian Government’s bid for re-election.

Via the AFR: The mental image of urbane fund manager Geoff Wilson taking up a placard and protesting outside parliament is enough to put a smile on the face of anyone in the market.