PM’s pragmatism on Trump’s Iran fury risks Australia following US into Operation Epic Fail | Zoe Daniels
By Zoe Daniel
Anthony Albanese’s support for actions that do not adhere to international law stands in stark contrast to the principles demonstrated by Labor two decades ago
#Australianpolitics #Australianews #AnthonyAlbanese #DonaldTrump #Iran #Laborparty #Australianforeignpolicy #ZoeDaniel
OUR DEMOCRACY IS UNDER THREAT
"The major parties have re-written the rules to rig elections in their favour. Independents Zoe Daniel and Rex Patrick are fighting back, and taking their case all the way to the High Court."
https://www.climate200.com.au/the-fair-elections-case
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#Trump’s ‘new normal’ leaves #Australia marooned. We can no longer pretend otherwise.
The rules-based global order is rapidly disintegrating. It’s time for middle powers to stand together.
The #French president Emmanuel #Macron borrowed some lines from #HughGrant about bullies at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
His target was Donald Trump, who had leaked a conciliatory text message from Macron who, evidently, was trying to get the US president to the table to shore up the rapidly disintegrating global order.
In the love-it-or-hate-it Christmas film, Love Actually, Grant – playing the foppish #British prime minister of the day – confronts the US president, saying: “A friend who bullies us is no longer a friend, and since bullies only respond to strength, from now onward, I will be prepared to be much stronger.”
We are now in an era where truth is stranger than fiction, if you can find the truth at all.
Macron’s text message was about #Greenland, which has been at the centre of a classic Trumpian play to use his position to provoke a reaction thereby illustrating his power. His threat to impose tariffs on #Denmark, #Norway, #Sweden, #France, #Germany, the #UK, the #Netherlands and #Finland because of their opposition to #American control of Greenland achieved its aim.
#Europe scrambled to respond, considering retaliatory tariffs, increased customs duties and limiting or blocking access to US goods, services or companies. Troops were sent to Greenland.
Trump then cited a vague “deal” with #NATO and dropped the #tariffs.
“We probably won’t get anything unless I decide to use excessive strength and force, where we would be, frankly, unstoppable,” Trump said, before adding: “But I won’t do that.”
But let’s be honest: had he acted on his threats on Greenland – either economic or military – who could have stopped him?
We can no longer pretend. The global order is built on trust. The #UnitedStates, under Donald Trump, cannot be trusted. And removing that lynchpin from the global order is a catastrophe.
As Mark #Carney, the #Canadian prime minister, said in his watershed speech at #Davos, “the old order is not coming back”.
It’s notable that this speech has received so much attention when all Carney did was state the obvious.
Trump’s actions in the Northern Hemisphere are highly relevant to Australia, and they represent more than flexing.
As I wrote here last March, the Atlantic alliance, which has protected peace in western Europe for almost 80 years (albeit imperfectly) is evaporating before our eye. It’s deluded not to think this has profound and alarming implications for Australia.
Arguably events in #Ukraine and #Gaza over the last few years have been part of the ruination of the rules-based order that has been in fragile existence since world war two. The rules of war and humanitarian and democratic principles have been variously ignored by #Putin, #Netanyahu and most recently the #TrumpRegime administration in #Venezuela. The boundaries are very frayed.
In this, Trump has form.
He’s been shifting boundaries inexorably since he first entered the presidential race in 2015, testing tolerances and controlling and rebuilding the information landscape in such a way that ever more unprecedented actions become accepted even if they had not been expected.
It’s the new normal. From a values and principles point of view, this leaves Australia marooned.
With our closest ally threatening other #allies with no regard for rules, systems, protocol, ethics or consequences our defence, security, information, technology and economic systems are so intertwined that disentangling them appears at worst impossible, at best extraordinarily complicated.
And what of our own alliance with America? What is the value of Aukus, which to date is making us a greater first-strike target while we shovel billions of dollars to Trump, just as he ditches article 5 of the Nato pact without so much as a flick of the wrist?
Reports that #Canada has modelled a hypothetical US invasion may seem wild, but as Carney said, his nation was amongst “the first to hear the wake-up call” that historic alliances are no longer guaranteed.
“Middle powers must act together because if we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu,” he said.
Agree with it or not, he is walking the talk, cutting a trade deal with China – and saying in its defence: “We take the world as it is, not as we wish it to be.”
In other words, hope is not a strategy.
Trump’s buddy Steve #Bannon conducted an apparent strategic intervention on behalf of the #MAGA brigade, according to reports this week, saying Australia’s response to #Covid meant our image was damaged among Trump supporters.
“People in your country should understand you went from beloved to kind of shot,” he said, with breathtaking lack of self-awareness.
It cuts both ways. And Australia can’t expect to fall back on mateship under Trump.
#ZoeDaniel is a three-time #ABC #foreigncorrespondent and the former independent member for Goldstein. She is the chair of Mental Health Victoria. #uspol #auspol
Tim Wilson "Shitting Bricks" About Goldstein Election Result
(Headline has been updated to reflect reality)
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/may/16/australia-news-live-ben-roberts-smith-appeal-verdict-ntwnfb?page=with%3Ablock-6826b2d98f0862c2eaa33f18#block-6826b2d98f0862c2eaa33f18
I heard from my sources that approximately 2/3 of international postal votes are for Teal independent Zoe Daniel. She needs just 258 votes to beat smarmy RWNJ candidate Tim "Freedom Boy" Wilson. 474 votes are yet to be counted, plus 50-100 estimated to arrive before the cutoff midnight tonight.
#AusPol #AusVotes #AusVotes2025 #ZoeDaniel #TimWilson #GoldsteinVotes
Ugghhhh that smarmy cunt is back
Former Liberal minister Simon Birmingham calls for the party to consider quotas for women, as Arthur Sinodinos says the state of his party is dire but not terminal following Labor's landslide election win. Follow live.
Australia’s key ally has gone rogue – and Trump has us expertly wedged. We need a plan B
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/03/australias-key-ally-has-gone-rogue-and-trump-has-us-expertly-wedged-we-need-a-plan-b
Zoe Daniel is a "Teal Independent" who made history by beating former Federal Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, to become the Federal Member for Goldstein. He couldn't read the room; she can. Zoe Daniel also has extensive experience as a foreign correspondent for the ABC. I think that combination of considering local and global matters gives her excellent insights.
Zoe Daniel's insights in this article are well worth your time, in my opinion. She deftly shows the interrelationships between Trump, Trumpism, Peter Dutton, and Dutton's mindless mimicry of Trump when he talks about DOGE and DEI. Zoe Daniel wants you to think about our values and history, and the regional implications for ANZUS, AUKUS, Five Eyes, NATO's slow and rudimentary action to help defend Ukraine from Russia, and more.
#AusPol #ZoeDaniel #Teals #TealIndependent #PeterDutton #JoshFrydenberg #USPol #Trump #Trumpism #DEI #DOGE #ANZUS #FiveEyes #AUKUS #NATO #Ukraine #Russia
@sister_ratched @HardBeingGreen
Excellent! I would vote for Zali as PM, but as you say Paul it is a tough choice!
#MoniqueRyan & other independent MPs (#KyleaTink, #ZoeDaniel, #SophieScamps and #ZaliSteggall) will hold a press conference later this morning to call on the major parties to release their 2035 emissions reduction targets before the next election.
Ryan told ABC Radio that Australians want to know “what the major parties think about #climateChange and how they plan to act on it”.
Industry wants certainty, she says, adding that people want to understand the timelines and the economic benefits. In a press release, she said:
Australians want the major parties to demonstrate a strong commitment to action on climate change. #Emissions reduction targets give industry certainty and will help guide the energy transition. Voters deserve to know exactly where the parties stand, before the next federal election.
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