There are few public intellectuals who can do what Peter Hartcher does with apparent ease and elegance — write big books while breaking news scoops, cover international and domestic affairs with equal skill and alacrity, and bridge the divides among business, economics, politics and security. Anything he writes is worth reading; anything he says is worth listening to.
Hartcher is acknowledged as an independent, non-partisan commentator. He has never joined, worked for or contributed to any politician or political party. A survey of Australia's political pundits by Crikey found that there was no more balanced journalist.
There are millions of American voters who are suffering from buyer's regret. Having seen him do the job once before, they probably thought they had something of a yardstick to measure and predict what he would do next, but his unpredictibility is greater than ever. We’re now navigating one of the most complex global environments in decades.
And we shouldn't be looking to America to help us through this chaos, not only because they are the ones who are now causing this chaos but also because, according to "Ferguson’s Law", which states that any great power that spends more on debt servicing than on defence ceases to be a great power, they can no longer afford to be the world's sheriff. So, is this just another TACO (Trump always chickens out) speech? - click here.
Albanese, tear up the AUKUS contract, just like Trump tears up every contract, and ask for a refund of our AUS$798 million downpayment!
But I leave the last word to Michael Wolff who wrote "All or Nothing: How Trump Recaptured America", which I have on order from ebay.
It's a veritable tale of slime, sycophancy and sleaze about Trump 2.0, and this aggrieved pugilist who has waged a “life or death” campaign.
