The nominally “Australian” think tank behind the widely reported accusations that China is using its Uyghur Muslim minority as forced labour is itself sponsored by American and British arms companies that have profited from forced prison labour.
While the mainstream media provides non-stop coverage of the unrest occurring in Hong Kong, recent turmoil in Ecuador barely rates a mention, yet seven protestors are dead, 1,340 injured and 1,152 have been arrested. Ecuadorians took to the streets en masse after President Lenín Moreno implemented a brutal austerity package as part of an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Veterans who have suffered years of underpayment from their Defence Force Retirement and Death Benefits Scheme (DFRDB) deserve much better. Many have put their lives on the line in times of conflict, but while the government glorifies troops as it sends them to war, it too often treats veterans of those wars with contempt in the bureaucratic way it deals with their financial and medical needs.
The successful soft-landing of China’s Chang’e-4 lunar spacecraft on the far side of the Moon promises further space development to benefit all nations, just as NASA’s Apollo Program (1963-72) made technological breakthroughs from which all nations on Earth have reaped the rewards.
Australia’s political class is quick to criticise the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for its control of China, but when it comes to foreign policy, Australia is no less a one-party state.
