Little shocks me these days, but when I heard President Trump’s remark this weekend that after “totally demolishing” much of Iran’s Kharg Island, the United States “may hit it a few more times just for fun,” I was taken aback.

War is not fun.

Trump’s ‘Just for Fun’ War Talk Shows a Dangerous Trivialization

When leaders frame war as entertainment, they desensitize citizens to its real human and geopolitical stakes.

By David L. Nevins

Hearing a president speak about bombing “just for fun” reflects something much more troubling than rhetorical bravado. It reveals an appalling disregard for the human facts of war. A commander‑in‑chief speaking casually regarding striking a strategic oil hub “for fun” signals something deeper than excess language: a trivialization of war itself.

THE CARTOON IN THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD TODAY (16 MARCH 2026) IS A HORRID PIECE OF PROPAGANDA... YES, WE KNOW, CARTOONIST BADIUCAO IS FIERCELY ANTI-CHINESE FOR PERSONAL REASONS AND WE APPRECIATE THIS... BUT BY PUBLISHING BADIUCAO'S WORK, THE SMH GENERALISE A PROPAGANDA AGAINST CHINA THAT IS BASED ON LIMITED AND INCORRECT GENERAL FACTS...

BUT THIS IS NOT NEW... SINCE THE MID 19TH CENTURY, THE CHINESE, WHO LIVE HERE AND ABROAD, HAVE BEEN VILIFIED IN AUSTRALIA... BADIUCAO AND THE SMH ONLY ADD TO THIS VILIFICATION... 

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Jan Fran picks an issue of the week that is living rent free in her head. Right now, it's Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke's decision to grant asylum to some members of the Iranian women's soccer team, while passing legislation that prevents people from conflict and crisis-affected countries from visiting Australia.

So ... while Burke is patting himself on the back for doing a thing, Labor’s moving legislation that prevents the thing he’s patting himself on the back for doing …from happening.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDcj6Aq36Ag

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Conservative activist and commentator Tucker Carlson has been at the center of a row after he claimed that the CIA is purportedly preparing a criminal referral against him to the DOJ.

What we are currently witnessing regarding Iran, Ukraine and Venezuela is essentially the very same war. Its aim is to prevent, by military means, the decline of American-Western hegemony in the world, which is threatened above all by the growing strength of China. In Ukraine, the aim is to weaken Russia, an important partner of China.

The very same war

by Rafael Poch-de-Feliu*

The predecessor organisations of the European Union (EU) were originally intended to be merely a trade union for Europe. This has changed radically. Today, the EU intervenes in almost all areas of life – with disastrous consequences and without any legitimacy.

The debt-ridden EU now wants to plunder its citizens

by Professor Dr Eberhard Hamer, Institute for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises of Lower Saxony

Becoming ever more intrusive beyond its purely economic mandate, the EU bureaucracy has increasingly taken on new tasks, tasks which the member states have tolerated and for which they have sacrificed sovereign rights:

The National Party’s new leader has built his politics on climate scepticism. But rising costs, extreme weather and the accelerating energy transition make that stance increasingly difficult to sustain.

The crowning of Matt Canavan means the National Party’s champion climate change sceptic is now at the helm – something which the Labor government might well be rejoicing.

Jeremy Webb

But belittling existential climate threat is a misguided strategy, especially given the havoc it wreaks in the rural electorates the National Party purports to represent.

Defence Major Projects repeatedly go off the rails wasting billions and harming national security. Rather than fix the problem, Labor has instructed the Auditor-General not to report on them. Former senator Rex Patrick reports.

Defence currently has a budget of almost $60 billion a year but that number is set to rise to about $100 billion by 2034. It’s the country’s biggest procurement opertaion by a long shot.

Defence is also the country’s biggest waster of money. 

The Israeli military is planning at least three more weeks of strikes against Iran with “thousands of targets”remaining, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) military spokesperson Effie Defrin has told CNN.

“We are ready, in coordination with our US allies, with plans through at least the Jewish holiday of Passover [from April 1 to 9]... And we have deeper plans for even three weeks beyond that.”

Strikes have continued for a sixteenth day in Iran, Israel, and across several Middle Eastern countries after the United States and Israel began an air campaign against Iran on February 28th. At least 1,444 people have been killed and 18,551 injured in Iran; 15 killed and more than 3,138 others wounded in Israel; 826 killed in Lebanon and dozens others killed in some Gulf nations. The US military has confirmed it suffered 13 fatalities from Iranian attacks across the region.

Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce says he regrets not doing more while in government to secure fuel reserves, as Australia grapples with supply shortages triggered by wars in the Middle East.

Fuel prices have risen sharply amid uncertainty over Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and Treasurer Jim Chalmers today flagged the flow-on impact could see inflation peak "somewhere between the mid-to-high fours" depending on the duration of the conflict.

The government released about six days' worth of petrol and five days of diesel from its emergency stockpile as part of an internationally coordinated response to the shortage, the first time it had used the reserves since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

8 Mar 2016 — New York, US - A group of Palestinians has launched an ambitious $34.5bn lawsuit against US-based tycoons, charities and firms for supporting Israeli land grabs, settlement-building and other violations of Palestinians' rights these past four decades.

They seek damages from Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson; Irving Moskowitz, a philanthropist with property interests in East Jerusalem; and megachurch pastor John Hagee for financing the construction of settlements on Palestinian soil.

Lawyers also name such charities as Christian Friends of Israeli Communities and private firms, including Dead Sea-based cosmetics maker Ahava, UK-based security firm G4S and the industrial powerhouse Israel Chemicals Limited.

In 1990, Bernard Lewis famously wrote about "the roots of Muslim rage". The essay, along with other influential works produced in the 1980s and 90s, helped usher in an era of commentary about extremism and political violence in the Muslim-majority world.

Lewis' work, like that of other orientalist scholars and analysts, downplayed western imperialism and aggression and was plagued by essentialism, exaggeration and distortion.

Amid holy war on Iran, will the West examine the roots of Christian and Jewish rage?

BY Mohamad Elmasry

The International Order [AMERICAN DICTATORSHIP/HEGEMONY] seeks to manage the complex relationship of institutions, nations, and their conflicting goals. A recent workshop by the Center for Global Security Research [A THINKTANK SUBSERVIANT TO THE AMERICAN DICTATORSHIP/HEGEMONY] sought to tie the dynamics of this order to the domain of nuclear weapons.

Blog #149 – With a Little Help from My Friends: The Need for a Strong Alliance Network to Shape Global Affairs

BY Matthew Bennett

This commentary comprises my own view of the issue at hand. It draws insight specifically from discussions on the importance of alliances in maintaining progress towards foreign policy goals.

The Old Order

Public debate about genocide in Gaza is increasingly dominated by claims of antisemitism. The result is a political climate where outrage at Israel’s actions is recast as prejudice.

In the present circumstances of a genocide, the obvious reason for a tidal wave of panic about antisemitism is that the efforts to deny Israel’s vast crimes is not working. Everyone can see the truth on their mobile phones. Gaza looks like Hiroshima after the atom bomb in 1945. Who in their right mind can believe that this is self-defence, targeting Hamas militants hiding behind “human shields”?

Peter Slezak