Pearls and Irritations
@johnmenadue.com
Progressive analysis on politics, foreign policy, the economy, media, and culture, with a focus on peace and justice. John Menadue, Publisher & Editor in Chief
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Best of 2025: The cloud of American involvement in the events of November 1975 is unlikely to ever clear. Especially while US presidential libraries continue to block access to critical documents that might shed further light on the shenanigans going on. #auspol #Whitlam #theDismissal
Best of 2025 - What Washington really thought of Whitlam before the dismissal
The cloud of American involvement in the events of November 1975 is unlikely to ever clear. Especially while US presidential libraries continue to block access to critical documents that might shed light on the shenanigans.
johnmenadue.com
January 15, 2026 at 10:46 PM
Best of 2025: The cloud of American involvement in the events of November 1975 is unlikely to ever clear. Especially while US presidential libraries continue to block access to critical documents that might shed further light on the shenanigans going on. #auspol #Whitlam #theDismissal
The post-war political order is dead. We're entering an era where stable coalitions fragment, where new movements rise rapidly, where the urban-rural divide hardens into incompatible political cultures. Gen Z is building the future in cities with left populism. #auspol #GenZ #Mamdani
Best of 2025 - Burn it all down movements
When a 34-year-old democratic socialist defeats a political dynasty in the nation's largest city, we're witnessing more than another electoral upset.
johnmenadue.com
January 15, 2026 at 10:31 PM
Best of 2025: The far-right has embraced Zionism for its own supremacist reasons, and Zionists have accepted the applause — until, inevitably, those same extremists turn on Jews, as they do on every minority. The far-right always eats its allies. #auspol #antisemtism
Best of 2025 - The boy who cried antisemitism
For two years, we’ve been told Australia is drowning in antisemitism. Every protest for Palestinian human rights, every mural, every chant criticising Israel has been hauled up as “evidence.”
johnmenadue.com
January 15, 2026 at 9:30 PM
Best of 2025: The far-right has embraced Zionism for its own supremacist reasons, and Zionists have accepted the applause — until, inevitably, those same extremists turn on Jews, as they do on every minority. The far-right always eats its allies. #auspol #antisemtism
Western talk of “help” and “regime change” in Iran has a familiar pattern. Foreign interference risks escalation, violence and war, writes Eugene Doyle.
#Iran #MiddleEast #RegimeChange #InternationalLaw #auspol #PearlsAndIrritations
#Iran #MiddleEast #RegimeChange #InternationalLaw #auspol #PearlsAndIrritations
Iran in the vortex: what's really happening
As protests unfold in Iran, Israeli and US figures openly talk of regime collapse. Foreign interference risks worsening violence and derailing change from within.
johnmenadue.com
January 15, 2026 at 9:15 PM
Western talk of “help” and “regime change” in Iran has a familiar pattern. Foreign interference risks escalation, violence and war, writes Eugene Doyle.
#Iran #MiddleEast #RegimeChange #InternationalLaw #auspol #PearlsAndIrritations
#Iran #MiddleEast #RegimeChange #InternationalLaw #auspol #PearlsAndIrritations
New South Wales' push to ban slogans risks criminalising political speech and eroding democratic freedoms, writes Sawsan Madina.
#auspol #NSWPol #FreeSpeech #SocialCohesion #Palestine #PearlsAndIrritations
#auspol #NSWPol #FreeSpeech #SocialCohesion #Palestine #PearlsAndIrritations
Banning slogans won’t build social cohesion
After Bondi, New South Wales politicians want to ban words and slogans. But rushed laws could punish political speech, not protect the public.
johnmenadue.com
January 15, 2026 at 9:00 PM
New South Wales' push to ban slogans risks criminalising political speech and eroding democratic freedoms, writes Sawsan Madina.
#auspol #NSWPol #FreeSpeech #SocialCohesion #Palestine #PearlsAndIrritations
#auspol #NSWPol #FreeSpeech #SocialCohesion #Palestine #PearlsAndIrritations
The Dismissal pushed me more to the left politically. I had been too trusting of the powerful and wealthy. I saw first hand that a governor-general, justices of the High Court and subsequently the Queen and her advisers were untrustworthy. JM #Auspol #theDismissal #Whitlam
Best of 2025 - The second Dismissal – the loans affair and meetings with Kerr
The second part in a series of first-hand accounts of the Dismissal, from the man who was there: John Menadue.
johnmenadue.com
January 14, 2026 at 11:16 PM
The Dismissal pushed me more to the left politically. I had been too trusting of the powerful and wealthy. I saw first hand that a governor-general, justices of the High Court and subsequently the Queen and her advisers were untrustworthy. JM #Auspol #theDismissal #Whitlam
Best of 2025: Though Labor is likely to remain in government for at least one more term, it is still struggling to move beyond rhetoric and appears far from having a coherent strategy to counter the surge of the far-right. #auspol #Multiculturalism #Socialcohesion
Best of 2025 - Australia’s fragile multicultural consensus under threat
Anti-immigration rallies around Australia in late August and mid-October exposed public divides over migration, social cohesion and national identity.
johnmenadue.com
January 14, 2026 at 11:01 PM
Best of 2025: Though Labor is likely to remain in government for at least one more term, it is still struggling to move beyond rhetoric and appears far from having a coherent strategy to counter the surge of the far-right. #auspol #Multiculturalism #Socialcohesion
Best of 2025: Now is the right time for Australian politicians, policymakers and academic theorists to come together, learn and set new directions for policy. #auspol #Economics #Analyticaltools
Best of 2025 - The new political economy of innovation: Why Australian policymakers need better tools
When the Commonwealth Government reorganised its innovation responsibilities for the fourth time in a decade, public servants made jokes about updating their email signatures again.
johnmenadue.com
January 14, 2026 at 10:46 PM
Best of 2025: Now is the right time for Australian politicians, policymakers and academic theorists to come together, learn and set new directions for policy. #auspol #Economics #Analyticaltools
Best of 2025: Conversation at the Crossroads will be an opportunity to address issues of critical significance: freedom of speech, the role of the media, human rights and solidarity with the oppressed. #auspol #Media #Human rights #Freedom
Best of 2025 - When truth can no longer be silenced
In Australia, secretive and remote institutions armed with increasingly restrictive laws are seriously eroding civic freedoms.
johnmenadue.com
January 14, 2026 at 10:31 PM
If Israel passes this horrific death penalty law, it is yet another reason for Canberra to end its timidity and impose sanctions on this rogue state. #auspol #Israel #Palestinian #Death penalty
Best of 2025 - OFFICIAL – Israel’s proposed death-penalty law is a war crime
Not satisfied it seems with the continued genocide of Palestinians, Israel is now looking to execute Palestinian prisoners by introducing a death penalty law.
johnmenadue.com
January 14, 2026 at 10:15 PM
If Israel passes this horrific death penalty law, it is yet another reason for Canberra to end its timidity and impose sanctions on this rogue state. #auspol #Israel #Palestinian #Death penalty
Best of 2025: The outcome to this matter that saw a mother in custody for two months on three serious charges that were all dropped? A non-conviction order: no (further) penalty for the defendant – but surely pause for thought for the office of the DPP. #auspol #ACT #Appeal #DPP
Best of 2025 - 'We don't do that in this country': judge slams DPP
An appeal by ACT director of Public Prosecutions, Victoria Engel, SC, has been dismissed by a Full Bench of the ACT Court of Appeal after only three minutes of deliberation.
johnmenadue.com
January 14, 2026 at 10:00 PM
Best of 2025: The idea of a G2 as an economic relationship was developed by economist Fred Bergsten some 20 years ago and embraced by former US national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski. But it has fallen out of use, replaced by a strategy of great power competition. #auspol #US #China #Trump
Best of 2025 - US-China power shift: a G2 world – Asian Media Report
In Asian media this week: Trump hints at changing great-power relationship. Plus: Beijing wresting control of the global narrative; Myanmar’s scam centre raids dismissed as a smokescreen; Prabowo considers declaring Soeharto a national hero; US approves South Korean nuclear-powered submarine; China’s modern women need new men.
johnmenadue.com
January 14, 2026 at 9:45 PM
Regime change riots in Iran fail faster than expected
Regime change riots in Iran fail faster than expected
Iran cut Starlink traffic and blocked communications as unrest faded and pro-government marches filled the streets.
johnmenadue.com
January 14, 2026 at 9:30 PM
Regime change riots in Iran fail faster than expected
Australians for Humanity is calling on the Albanese government to withdraw President Herzog’s invitation to visit Australia.
#auspol #Gaza #InternationalLaw #PearlsAndIrritations #SocialCohesion
#auspol #Gaza #InternationalLaw #PearlsAndIrritations #SocialCohesion
Australians for Humanity – Demand that the invitation to the President of Israel to visit this country be immediately withdrawn
A call to withdraw President Herzog’s invitation, uphold international law, and defend free speech and the right to protest.
johnmenadue.com
January 14, 2026 at 9:15 PM
Australians for Humanity is calling on the Albanese government to withdraw President Herzog’s invitation to visit Australia.
#auspol #Gaza #InternationalLaw #PearlsAndIrritations #SocialCohesion
#auspol #Gaza #InternationalLaw #PearlsAndIrritations #SocialCohesion
Cancelling the Australian Palestinian author Randa Abdel-Fattah from Adelaide writers’ week weakens freedom of speech and is the harbinger of a less free nation, writes Louise Adler.
#auspol #FreeSpeech #ArtsAndCulture #PearlsAndIrritations
#auspol #FreeSpeech #ArtsAndCulture #PearlsAndIrritations
I cannot be party to silencing writers, which is why I resigned as director of Adelaide writers’ week
Cancelling the Australian Palestinian author Randa Abdel-Fattah weakens freedom of speech and is the harbinger of a less free nation.
johnmenadue.com
January 14, 2026 at 9:00 PM
Cancelling the Australian Palestinian author Randa Abdel-Fattah from Adelaide writers’ week weakens freedom of speech and is the harbinger of a less free nation, writes Louise Adler.
#auspol #FreeSpeech #ArtsAndCulture #PearlsAndIrritations
#auspol #FreeSpeech #ArtsAndCulture #PearlsAndIrritations
Best of 2025: Fifty years after the dismissal of #Whitlam, it is a national disgrace that the full story is still yet to be told, as more than a thousand files relating to the dismissal remain closed by the National Archives of Australia. @palaceletters #auspol
Best of 2025 - Whitlam dismissal secrets unearthed from the archives of the Canadian governor-general
This newly uncovered material, exclusively published by Crikey, is the first indication from Sir John Kerr himself that Queen Elizabeth II approved of the position he had taken during his dismissal of Gough Whitlam.
johnmenadue.com
January 13, 2026 at 11:16 PM
Best of 2025: Rather than making America Great Again, there is every chance that Trump’s economic policies will so damage the US economy, that the US will lose its leadership status, and the US will go backwards. #auspol #USPolitics
Best of 2025 - Trump’s risky American economy
Trump’s tariffs, migration and fiscal policies are endangering the American economy, and risk destroying American claims to global leadership.
johnmenadue.com
January 13, 2026 at 11:01 PM
Best of 2025: Rather than making America Great Again, there is every chance that Trump’s economic policies will so damage the US economy, that the US will lose its leadership status, and the US will go backwards. #auspol #USPolitics
Best of 2025: If there is no consequence for Israel and all the nations that facilitated this genocide, there is every reason to believe that genocide will become the form of war for this century. Israel gets away with murder. #auspol #complicit #Israel #genocide
Best of 2025 - Getting away with murder
What happens in Australia if Israel gets away with genocide?
johnmenadue.com
January 13, 2026 at 10:46 PM
Best of 2025: If there is no consequence for Israel and all the nations that facilitated this genocide, there is every reason to believe that genocide will become the form of war for this century. Israel gets away with murder. #auspol #complicit #Israel #genocide
As the largest American warship, the USS Gerald Ford, heads towards Venezuela, the Trump regime’s actions and intentions have domestically been questioned by both a bunch of Democrats and a handful of Republicans. #auspol #USpolitics
Best of 2025 - Gunboat hypocrisy in the Caribbean
Even as Donald Trump crisscrosses the globe, bringing his purported peacemaking skills to parts of the world that did not even know they were at war, his administration has openly been preparing for militarised regime change in Venezuela. Neighbouring Colombia too isn’t safe.
johnmenadue.com
January 13, 2026 at 10:30 PM
As the largest American warship, the USS Gerald Ford, heads towards Venezuela, the Trump regime’s actions and intentions have domestically been questioned by both a bunch of Democrats and a handful of Republicans. #auspol #USpolitics
An open letter to David Marr as a respected senior journalist regarding the hatchet job interview he conducted with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges in the wake of the cancellation of his National Press Club address. #auspol
Best of 2025 - Open letter to David Marr on his interview with Chris Hedges
Well-known journalist Chris Hedges, whose talk scheduled to be delivered at the National Press Club was suddenly cancelled, was confronted by the ABC's Late Night Live host David Marr in an unexpectedly ferocious interview. One reader took exception to this.
johnmenadue.com
January 13, 2026 at 10:15 PM
An open letter to David Marr as a respected senior journalist regarding the hatchet job interview he conducted with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges in the wake of the cancellation of his National Press Club address. #auspol
Best of 2025: History, law and international consensus all point in one direction: #Taiwan has always been part of #China. From ancient documentation to post-war treaties, UN resolutions to US diplomatic commitments, the evidence is overwhelming.@commiepommie #auspol
Best of 2025 - Taiwan as an integral part of China: A historical, legal and geopolitical analysis
The status of Taiwan remains one of the most contested topics in modern geopolitics and one of the most misrepresented.
johnmenadue.com
January 13, 2026 at 10:00 PM
Best of 2025 #Gaza is not just a battlefield. It is the living proof of a people resisting a century-long attempt to erase them, showing that Zionist colonialism is not a coincidence, but a systematic project refined over more than a hundred years. #auspol #Israel #Palestine
Best of 2025 - Gaza under siege: The continuation of Zionist demographic cleansing policies since the 19th century
Israeli propaganda tries to present the war on Gaza as a “defensive reaction.” Yet the historical record tells a very different story: systematic genocide, the destruction of civilian life and deliberate attempts to uproot entire populations. All of this is a direct continuation of Zionist colonial policies that began in the late 19th century.
johnmenadue.com
January 13, 2026 at 9:45 PM
Best of 2025 #Gaza is not just a battlefield. It is the living proof of a people resisting a century-long attempt to erase them, showing that Zionist colonialism is not a coincidence, but a systematic project refined over more than a hundred years. #auspol #Israel #Palestine
Best of 2025: Our most trusted public broadcaster and our biggest media empire have both reduced the biggest geopolitical shift of our time into a B-grade thriller. The costs are strategic. #auspol #Chinathreat #MSM
Best of 2025 - The ABC and News Corp finally agree on something: China panic
Last week, a friend asked if I was worried about Chinese “nuclear threats.
johnmenadue.com
January 13, 2026 at 9:30 PM
Best of 2025: Our most trusted public broadcaster and our biggest media empire have both reduced the biggest geopolitical shift of our time into a B-grade thriller. The costs are strategic. #auspol #Chinathreat #MSM
Trump’s actions in Venezuela and beyond show a US that no longer respects international law or its allies. That makes AUKUS an unnecessary and dangerous bet, writes Gareth Evans.
#auspol #AUKUS #DefencePolicy #InternationalLaw #PearlsAndIrritations
#auspol #AUKUS #DefencePolicy #InternationalLaw #PearlsAndIrritations
Why Australia should walk away from AUKUS
Trump’s actions in Venezuela and rhetoric elsewhere confirm that the United States no longer respects international law or allied interests. Australia should rethink its strategic dependence accordingly.
johnmenadue.com
January 13, 2026 at 9:15 PM
Trump’s actions in Venezuela and beyond show a US that no longer respects international law or its allies. That makes AUKUS an unnecessary and dangerous bet, writes Gareth Evans.
#auspol #AUKUS #DefencePolicy #InternationalLaw #PearlsAndIrritations
#auspol #AUKUS #DefencePolicy #InternationalLaw #PearlsAndIrritations
Trump believes Venezuela’s oil will bankroll US intervention and political control. The economics, infrastructure and global energy transition suggest otherwise, writes Michael Keating.
#auspol #GlobalPolitics #EnergyPolicy #Venezuela #PearlsAndIrritations
#auspol #GlobalPolitics #EnergyPolicy #Venezuela #PearlsAndIrritations
Trump is delusional about Venezuelan oil
Trump is banking on Venezuela’s vast oil reserves to justify US intervention. But the state of the industry, global energy shifts and basic economics point to failure.
johnmenadue.com
January 13, 2026 at 9:00 PM
Trump believes Venezuela’s oil will bankroll US intervention and political control. The economics, infrastructure and global energy transition suggest otherwise, writes Michael Keating.
#auspol #GlobalPolitics #EnergyPolicy #Venezuela #PearlsAndIrritations
#auspol #GlobalPolitics #EnergyPolicy #Venezuela #PearlsAndIrritations