Ukraine drones damage Russian warplanes and facilities

If this happened as reported, it would be an excellent outcome for Ukraine. Russia deserves every effective retaliatory strategy Ukraine can muster.

University priorities

Partying … this seems to be so much of what university is about in these modern times.

Comparing defence forces

China’s defence system reminds me of strong, stainless, reinforced steel.

Russia’s defence system reminds me of unreinforced steel.

America’s defence system reminds me of iron.

Britain’s defence system reminds me of weathered iron.

Australia’s defence system makes me think about tissue paper.

Senator Canavan and taxing inequities

Senator Canavan is right to call for this tax to be reasonable in its application. As he says, taxing unrealised gains that are forecasted but not realised is unfair. It simply reinforces the notion that the government is about grubbing money from wherever retrieval is possible.

Australia’s defence is as resistant as tissue paper

Australia IS totally defenceless and in the face of any military aggression directed toward us, would be compromised into submission whith a week. Our defence policy is about talk but no action in readiness terms. We are as vulnerable to attack as Taiwan

Ukraine a dogged adversary

Good on Ukraine. Remember back to February 24 2022, when Russia was going to blow Ukraine out of the water in three days. Now 1197 dasys later … ! 

Musk and Trump and separation

I am so desperately sad that a barbed wire fence seems to be being built between Mr Musk and President Trump. I hope that, like the Australian Coalition, the separation will be temporary and that these two brilliant men will again allow their ambitions to be joined in oneness and unity.

Shakespeare is missing glorious literary fodder

If William Shakespeare were still alive, he would have glorious material to work with on the literary and play creation front. What Trump and Musk are providing at the moment would stimulate comedy, farce, retribution, darkness, light, and humour.

Questions of youth and youngness

As a very old man, take it from me that youth is fleeting and is all too soon replaced by middle age and old age. I often wish, as a person about to emerge into the octogenarian era, that I had the wisdom of today in my youth of yesterday.

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War in Australia? 

I wake up every morning in Darwin these days, wondering just how long it will be before missiles of war are unleashed in our direction. Darwin is now regarded as a defence town, and we would wear the outfall of war far sooner than places further south—with the exception of Pine Gap, which would be the first ‘asset’ to go.

Henry’s 24/7 worry

I go to sleep each night, thankful that armed conflict has stayed away from Darwin and Australia for the day. I wake each morning wondering ‘where to now’ regarding conflict threats. 

Shedding SANTOS

Yes, YES! Let’s get rid of SANTOS and put it under overseas ownership. We have hardly anything left that is not foreign-owned—or leased almost forever in the case of the Darwin Port—so we might as well embrace a 100% disbursement target.

Nova Peris on Israel

This is a thought-provoking analysis and a terrific positional column. We all would do well to read and contemplate it with deserved seriousness.

Trump exits the G7 for a return to Washington

I am devastated by the heart-breaking news that the World’s most powerful man is heading back to Washington, scotching a planned meeting with Anthony Albanese. I hope our  PM can handle the shock of this lost conversational opportunity and come through smilingly from the absolute dismay he must be feeling now.

The world is on the shortest of leashes

I have had an increasing feeling within my 79-year-old gut for some time that Armageddon is coming. I now believe that it will happen and that the world will destruct into a fireball of annihilation, possibly before 2030.

What impact on thinking and thought processes

A kaleidoscope of confusion must be gripping the minds of countless millions of the world’s people and especially influencing the perceptions of young people.

Chaortic Victorian Liberals

I tend toward conservatism in political terms and am horrified at the mess the Victorian Labour Government continues to make. The chaos it is creating is unbelievable. But the Liberals’ stupidity is taking them from bad to worse, and if I were a Victorian, Pesutto’s ‘saving’ at the cost of party integrity would absolutely ensure I never voted for the coalition again. A ‘donkey’ vote would be appropriate, for that is a characteristic that stands out on the Victorian political stage.

Iran nuclear facilities bombing

One can only hope that the destruction of Iran’s nuclear capacities is an actuality and not simply speculation based on bombing accuracy, which can be predictive rather than confirmed when it comes to underground destruction.

The end is nigh – are we in the last decade of human history?

I think we can forget about renewables, climate control, environmental management, and the rest because, by 2030, the world may well be a burnt-out ball of obliteration. World War 3? We are in it right now, and it is eating its way around the globe we call the Earth.