Pot, kettle, black. We're wallowing in hypocrisy
This is a sample of The Echidna newsletter sent out each weekday morning. To sign up for FREE, go to theechidna.com.au
Who the hell does that? It was a hospital, for god's sake. Full of the sick, the immobile. Babies. Mothers. Innocents.
The tyrants will pay a high price, he told the media, with as straight a face as he could muster - a challenge for someone whose mouth always struggles to suppress an ironic smirk. This was a criminal act, he said. We target military installations; they target civilians.
Benjamin Netanyahu's condemnation of the Iranian missile strike on the Soroka Medical Centre in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba was meant to rally his nation, showing the world it was acting with high moral purpose.
Instead, it reeked of hypocrisy.
Just 40km away, in the rubble that was once Gaza, people have lost count of the number of times hospitals have been struck by Israel. Lost count, too, of the number of times Israel claimed the attacks - not just on hospitals but on schools and tented encampments - were targeting Hamas militants. The only count not lost: the 55,000 dead Palestinians.
The day before the hospital was hit, dozens of Palestinians were killed in Gaza trying to get food from the shambolic Israeli-run aid distribution sites. Some of the dead showed injuries consistent with tank fire.
Pot, kettle, black.
Of course, the hypocrisy isn't limited to Netanyahu in this ugly slugfest between Israel and Iran. The leaders of our own democracies have been wallowing in it too.
For years, they've championed a rules-based world order but the moment Israel breaks those rules - as international law experts argue it has with its pre-emptive strike on Iran - they go to water. Japan is the only G7 nation to condemn Israel's attack on Iran but has stopped short of sanctioning it.
When a key enforcer of those rules, the International Atomic Energy Agency, says explicitly there is no evidence to indicate that Iran has a plan to develop nuclear weapons, justification for that pre-emptive strike looks as thin as George W. Bush's pretext for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Remember? The weapons of mass destruction no one could find.
All we see, however, are bland appeals for de-escalation and a diplomatic resolution. Israel isn't chastised for its risky impunity. Instead, it's given tacit support with statements about its right to defend itself even if there's no evidence of an imminent threat.
Applying that logic, was Russia justified in invading Ukraine because it perceived an imminent threat? Of course it wasn't.
But in geopolitics what's good for the goose doesn't always apply to the gander.
You only have to pause on the words of German chancellor Friedrich Merz to see how that works: "This is the dirty work that Israel is doing for all of us."
Dirty work indeed. It's not in anyone's interest for Iran to have nuclear weapons. Nor for Israel to have them for that matter.
And it's certainly not in anyone's interest to have missiles raining down on nuclear facilities either. The world made that clear when artillery shells struck the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in Ukraine during the Russian invasion.
Yet we hear little about the potential for a nuclear calamity if these strikes continue.
We're informed of radiation levels in Iran by the IAEA, the nuclear enforcement agency granted access to its facilities because the country signed up to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. In so doing, it agreed to play by the very rules others seem so keen to dispense with.
HAVE YOUR SAY: How important is it to maintain a rules-based order in international affairs? Should other countries follow Japan's lead in condemning Israel for its pre-emptive strike on Iran? Are we repeating the same mistakes made in Iraq back in 2003? Email us: echidna@theechidna.com.au
SHARE THE LOVE: If you enjoy The Echidna, forward it to a friend so they can sign up, too.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
- The Coalition's former leader in the Senate, Simon Birmingham, will join the Australian Banking Association as its chief executive, in his first major move outside politics.
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will not go to The Hague for this week's NATO summit, with his deputy Richard Marles to represent Australia at the event as originally planned.
- Artificial intelligence could disrupt more than just technology - it could widen the gender gap between boys and girls studying science, technology, engineering and maths.
THEY SAID IT: "Rules are not necessarily sacred, principles are." - Franklin D. Roosevelt
YOU SAID IT: Our relationship with the US is not what it used to be. Perhaps it's time, Garry wrote, that we grew up and moved on.
"Many of us, including various peace groups and LAW (Labor Against War) are not happy to be aligned with the US, the planet's most aggressive country since World War II," writes Judy from Newcastle. "AUKUS is a wasteful mistake. We don't have enemies, however, our sycophantic politicians allow increasing US bases, troops, ports and general infrastructure for a war. These threaten our security. Now is the perfect time to part company."
There's still hope for the relationship, writes Arthur: "Donald Trump has only three and a half years to run, assuming he does not find his way to get re-elected. At the end of his term we may be able to start a process of reconciliation but we must never go back to being so vulnerable to the whims of a future president."
"For these past 50 years I have been longing for Australia to be an adult country," writes Debora. "We have acted as a 'child' country: going from child to the parent UK - 'home' and empire, to child to the parent US from the faux ANZUS alliance to the craven AUKUS nonsense. Either we do that again - this time as a child country to China or we finally learn to stand on our own two feet - yes, with strong alliances and trade relationships but not as a supplicant to any nation."
Bill from McKellar writes: "A marvellous piece of writing - one can only hope our politicians are subscribers to the Echidna. Ever since ScoMo tried to wedge the ALP with AUKUS, and the unquestioning embrace of it by the ALP, our foreign policy wheels have fallen off. So many of our past politicians have expressed views like yours - when will Albanese and Ley listen to them and wake up to what's happening?"
This is a sample of The Echidna newsletter sent out each weekday morning. To sign up for FREE, go to theechidna.com.au
Who the hell does that? It was a hospital, for god's sake. Full of the sick, the immobile. Babies. Mothers. Innocents.
The tyrants will pay a high price, he told the media, with as straight a face as he could muster - a challenge for someone whose mouth always struggles to suppress an ironic smirk. This was a criminal act, he said. We target military installations; they target civilians.
Benjamin Netanyahu's condemnation of the Iranian missile strike on the Soroka Medical Centre in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba was meant to rally his nation, showing the world it was acting with high moral purpose.
Instead, it reeked of hypocrisy.
Just 40km away, in the rubble that was once Gaza, people have lost count of the number of times hospitals have been struck by Israel. Lost count, too, of the number of times Israel claimed the attacks - not just on hospitals but on schools and tented encampments - were targeting Hamas militants. The only count not lost: the 55,000 dead Palestinians.
The day before the hospital was hit, dozens of Palestinians were killed in Gaza trying to get food from the shambolic Israeli-run aid distribution sites. Some of the dead showed injuries consistent with tank fire.
Pot, kettle, black.
Of course, the hypocrisy isn't limited to Netanyahu in this ugly slugfest between Israel and Iran. The leaders of our own democracies have been wallowing in it too.
For years, they've championed a rules-based world order but the moment Israel breaks those rules - as international law experts argue it has with its pre-emptive strike on Iran - they go to water. Japan is the only G7 nation to condemn Israel's attack on Iran but has stopped short of sanctioning it.
When a key enforcer of those rules, the International Atomic Energy Agency, says explicitly there is no evidence to indicate that Iran has a plan to develop nuclear weapons, justification for that pre-emptive strike looks as thin as George W. Bush's pretext for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Remember? The weapons of mass destruction no one could find.
All we see, however, are bland appeals for de-escalation and a diplomatic resolution. Israel isn't chastised for its risky impunity. Instead, it's given tacit support with statements about its right to defend itself even if there's no evidence of an imminent threat.
Applying that logic, was Russia justified in invading Ukraine because it perceived an imminent threat? Of course it wasn't.
But in geopolitics what's good for the goose doesn't always apply to the gander.
You only have to pause on the words of German chancellor Friedrich Merz to see how that works: "This is the dirty work that Israel is doing for all of us."
Dirty work indeed. It's not in anyone's interest for Iran to have nuclear weapons. Nor for Israel to have them for that matter.
And it's certainly not in anyone's interest to have missiles raining down on nuclear facilities either. The world made that clear when artillery shells struck the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in Ukraine during the Russian invasion.
Yet we hear little about the potential for a nuclear calamity if these strikes continue.
We're informed of radiation levels in Iran by the IAEA, the nuclear enforcement agency granted access to its facilities because the country signed up to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. In so doing, it agreed to play by the very rules others seem so keen to dispense with.
HAVE YOUR SAY: How important is it to maintain a rules-based order in international affairs? Should other countries follow Japan's lead in condemning Israel for its pre-emptive strike on Iran? Are we repeating the same mistakes made in Iraq back in 2003? Email us: echidna@theechidna.com.au
SHARE THE LOVE: If you enjoy The Echidna, forward it to a friend so they can sign up, too.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
- The Coalition's former leader in the Senate, Simon Birmingham, will join the Australian Banking Association as its chief executive, in his first major move outside politics.
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will not go to The Hague for this week's NATO summit, with his deputy Richard Marles to represent Australia at the event as originally planned.
- Artificial intelligence could disrupt more than just technology - it could widen the gender gap between boys and girls studying science, technology, engineering and maths.
THEY SAID IT: "Rules are not necessarily sacred, principles are." - Franklin D. Roosevelt
YOU SAID IT: Our relationship with the US is not what it used to be. Perhaps it's time, Garry wrote, that we grew up and moved on.
"Many of us, including various peace groups and LAW (Labor Against War) are not happy to be aligned with the US, the planet's most aggressive country since World War II," writes Judy from Newcastle. "AUKUS is a wasteful mistake. We don't have enemies, however, our sycophantic politicians allow increasing US bases, troops, ports and general infrastructure for a war. These threaten our security. Now is the perfect time to part company."
There's still hope for the relationship, writes Arthur: "Donald Trump has only three and a half years to run, assuming he does not find his way to get re-elected. At the end of his term we may be able to start a process of reconciliation but we must never go back to being so vulnerable to the whims of a future president."
"For these past 50 years I have been longing for Australia to be an adult country," writes Debora. "We have acted as a 'child' country: going from child to the parent UK - 'home' and empire, to child to the parent US from the faux ANZUS alliance to the craven AUKUS nonsense. Either we do that again - this time as a child country to China or we finally learn to stand on our own two feet - yes, with strong alliances and trade relationships but not as a supplicant to any nation."
Bill from McKellar writes: "A marvellous piece of writing - one can only hope our politicians are subscribers to the Echidna. Ever since ScoMo tried to wedge the ALP with AUKUS, and the unquestioning embrace of it by the ALP, our foreign policy wheels have fallen off. So many of our past politicians have expressed views like yours - when will Albanese and Ley listen to them and wake up to what's happening?"
This is a sample of The Echidna newsletter sent out each weekday morning. To sign up for FREE, go to theechidna.com.au
Who the hell does that? It was a hospital, for god's sake. Full of the sick, the immobile. Babies. Mothers. Innocents.
The tyrants will pay a high price, he told the media, with as straight a face as he could muster - a challenge for someone whose mouth always struggles to suppress an ironic smirk. This was a criminal act, he said. We target military installations; they target civilians.
Benjamin Netanyahu's condemnation of the Iranian missile strike on the Soroka Medical Centre in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba was meant to rally his nation, showing the world it was acting with high moral purpose.
Instead, it reeked of hypocrisy.
Just 40km away, in the rubble that was once Gaza, people have lost count of the number of times hospitals have been struck by Israel. Lost count, too, of the number of times Israel claimed the attacks - not just on hospitals but on schools and tented encampments - were targeting Hamas militants. The only count not lost: the 55,000 dead Palestinians.
The day before the hospital was hit, dozens of Palestinians were killed in Gaza trying to get food from the shambolic Israeli-run aid distribution sites. Some of the dead showed injuries consistent with tank fire.
Pot, kettle, black.
Of course, the hypocrisy isn't limited to Netanyahu in this ugly slugfest between Israel and Iran. The leaders of our own democracies have been wallowing in it too.
For years, they've championed a rules-based world order but the moment Israel breaks those rules - as international law experts argue it has with its pre-emptive strike on Iran - they go to water. Japan is the only G7 nation to condemn Israel's attack on Iran but has stopped short of sanctioning it.
When a key enforcer of those rules, the International Atomic Energy Agency, says explicitly there is no evidence to indicate that Iran has a plan to develop nuclear weapons, justification for that pre-emptive strike looks as thin as George W. Bush's pretext for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Remember? The weapons of mass destruction no one could find.
All we see, however, are bland appeals for de-escalation and a diplomatic resolution. Israel isn't chastised for its risky impunity. Instead, it's given tacit support with statements about its right to defend itself even if there's no evidence of an imminent threat.
Applying that logic, was Russia justified in invading Ukraine because it perceived an imminent threat? Of course it wasn't.
But in geopolitics what's good for the goose doesn't always apply to the gander.
You only have to pause on the words of German chancellor Friedrich Merz to see how that works: "This is the dirty work that Israel is doing for all of us."
Dirty work indeed. It's not in anyone's interest for Iran to have nuclear weapons. Nor for Israel to have them for that matter.
And it's certainly not in anyone's interest to have missiles raining down on nuclear facilities either. The world made that clear when artillery shells struck the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in Ukraine during the Russian invasion.
Yet we hear little about the potential for a nuclear calamity if these strikes continue.
We're informed of radiation levels in Iran by the IAEA, the nuclear enforcement agency granted access to its facilities because the country signed up to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. In so doing, it agreed to play by the very rules others seem so keen to dispense with.
HAVE YOUR SAY: How important is it to maintain a rules-based order in international affairs? Should other countries follow Japan's lead in condemning Israel for its pre-emptive strike on Iran? Are we repeating the same mistakes made in Iraq back in 2003? Email us: echidna@theechidna.com.au
SHARE THE LOVE: If you enjoy The Echidna, forward it to a friend so they can sign up, too.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
- The Coalition's former leader in the Senate, Simon Birmingham, will join the Australian Banking Association as its chief executive, in his first major move outside politics.
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will not go to The Hague for this week's NATO summit, with his deputy Richard Marles to represent Australia at the event as originally planned.
- Artificial intelligence could disrupt more than just technology - it could widen the gender gap between boys and girls studying science, technology, engineering and maths.
THEY SAID IT: "Rules are not necessarily sacred, principles are." - Franklin D. Roosevelt
YOU SAID IT: Our relationship with the US is not what it used to be. Perhaps it's time, Garry wrote, that we grew up and moved on.
"Many of us, including various peace groups and LAW (Labor Against War) are not happy to be aligned with the US, the planet's most aggressive country since World War II," writes Judy from Newcastle. "AUKUS is a wasteful mistake. We don't have enemies, however, our sycophantic politicians allow increasing US bases, troops, ports and general infrastructure for a war. These threaten our security. Now is the perfect time to part company."
There's still hope for the relationship, writes Arthur: "Donald Trump has only three and a half years to run, assuming he does not find his way to get re-elected. At the end of his term we may be able to start a process of reconciliation but we must never go back to being so vulnerable to the whims of a future president."
"For these past 50 years I have been longing for Australia to be an adult country," writes Debora. "We have acted as a 'child' country: going from child to the parent UK - 'home' and empire, to child to the parent US from the faux ANZUS alliance to the craven AUKUS nonsense. Either we do that again - this time as a child country to China or we finally learn to stand on our own two feet - yes, with strong alliances and trade relationships but not as a supplicant to any nation."
Bill from McKellar writes: "A marvellous piece of writing - one can only hope our politicians are subscribers to the Echidna. Ever since ScoMo tried to wedge the ALP with AUKUS, and the unquestioning embrace of it by the ALP, our foreign policy wheels have fallen off. So many of our past politicians have expressed views like yours - when will Albanese and Ley listen to them and wake up to what's happening?"
This is a sample of The Echidna newsletter sent out each weekday morning. To sign up for FREE, go to theechidna.com.au
Who the hell does that? It was a hospital, for god's sake. Full of the sick, the immobile. Babies. Mothers. Innocents.
The tyrants will pay a high price, he told the media, with as straight a face as he could muster - a challenge for someone whose mouth always struggles to suppress an ironic smirk. This was a criminal act, he said. We target military installations; they target civilians.
Benjamin Netanyahu's condemnation of the Iranian missile strike on the Soroka Medical Centre in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba was meant to rally his nation, showing the world it was acting with high moral purpose.
Instead, it reeked of hypocrisy.
Just 40km away, in the rubble that was once Gaza, people have lost count of the number of times hospitals have been struck by Israel. Lost count, too, of the number of times Israel claimed the attacks - not just on hospitals but on schools and tented encampments - were targeting Hamas militants. The only count not lost: the 55,000 dead Palestinians.
The day before the hospital was hit, dozens of Palestinians were killed in Gaza trying to get food from the shambolic Israeli-run aid distribution sites. Some of the dead showed injuries consistent with tank fire.
Pot, kettle, black.
Of course, the hypocrisy isn't limited to Netanyahu in this ugly slugfest between Israel and Iran. The leaders of our own democracies have been wallowing in it too.
For years, they've championed a rules-based world order but the moment Israel breaks those rules - as international law experts argue it has with its pre-emptive strike on Iran - they go to water. Japan is the only G7 nation to condemn Israel's attack on Iran but has stopped short of sanctioning it.
When a key enforcer of those rules, the International Atomic Energy Agency, says explicitly there is no evidence to indicate that Iran has a plan to develop nuclear weapons, justification for that pre-emptive strike looks as thin as George W. Bush's pretext for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Remember? The weapons of mass destruction no one could find.
All we see, however, are bland appeals for de-escalation and a diplomatic resolution. Israel isn't chastised for its risky impunity. Instead, it's given tacit support with statements about its right to defend itself even if there's no evidence of an imminent threat.
Applying that logic, was Russia justified in invading Ukraine because it perceived an imminent threat? Of course it wasn't.
But in geopolitics what's good for the goose doesn't always apply to the gander.
You only have to pause on the words of German chancellor Friedrich Merz to see how that works: "This is the dirty work that Israel is doing for all of us."
Dirty work indeed. It's not in anyone's interest for Iran to have nuclear weapons. Nor for Israel to have them for that matter.
And it's certainly not in anyone's interest to have missiles raining down on nuclear facilities either. The world made that clear when artillery shells struck the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in Ukraine during the Russian invasion.
Yet we hear little about the potential for a nuclear calamity if these strikes continue.
We're informed of radiation levels in Iran by the IAEA, the nuclear enforcement agency granted access to its facilities because the country signed up to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. In so doing, it agreed to play by the very rules others seem so keen to dispense with.
HAVE YOUR SAY: How important is it to maintain a rules-based order in international affairs? Should other countries follow Japan's lead in condemning Israel for its pre-emptive strike on Iran? Are we repeating the same mistakes made in Iraq back in 2003? Email us: echidna@theechidna.com.au
SHARE THE LOVE: If you enjoy The Echidna, forward it to a friend so they can sign up, too.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
- The Coalition's former leader in the Senate, Simon Birmingham, will join the Australian Banking Association as its chief executive, in his first major move outside politics.
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will not go to The Hague for this week's NATO summit, with his deputy Richard Marles to represent Australia at the event as originally planned.
- Artificial intelligence could disrupt more than just technology - it could widen the gender gap between boys and girls studying science, technology, engineering and maths.
THEY SAID IT: "Rules are not necessarily sacred, principles are." - Franklin D. Roosevelt
YOU SAID IT: Our relationship with the US is not what it used to be. Perhaps it's time, Garry wrote, that we grew up and moved on.
"Many of us, including various peace groups and LAW (Labor Against War) are not happy to be aligned with the US, the planet's most aggressive country since World War II," writes Judy from Newcastle. "AUKUS is a wasteful mistake. We don't have enemies, however, our sycophantic politicians allow increasing US bases, troops, ports and general infrastructure for a war. These threaten our security. Now is the perfect time to part company."
There's still hope for the relationship, writes Arthur: "Donald Trump has only three and a half years to run, assuming he does not find his way to get re-elected. At the end of his term we may be able to start a process of reconciliation but we must never go back to being so vulnerable to the whims of a future president."
"For these past 50 years I have been longing for Australia to be an adult country," writes Debora. "We have acted as a 'child' country: going from child to the parent UK - 'home' and empire, to child to the parent US from the faux ANZUS alliance to the craven AUKUS nonsense. Either we do that again - this time as a child country to China or we finally learn to stand on our own two feet - yes, with strong alliances and trade relationships but not as a supplicant to any nation."
Bill from McKellar writes: "A marvellous piece of writing - one can only hope our politicians are subscribers to the Echidna. Ever since ScoMo tried to wedge the ALP with AUKUS, and the unquestioning embrace of it by the ALP, our foreign policy wheels have fallen off. So many of our past politicians have expressed views like yours - when will Albanese and Ley listen to them and wake up to what's happening?"
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For now, we appear to be in the relative calm that exists at the eye of a cyclone. After initially jumping more than 4 per cent above $US80 a barrel, benchmark Brent crude oil futures were just over 1 per cent higher late in the Australian trading day. The Australian share market lost about a third of a per cent — a trivial sell-down — with some regional markets in Hong Kong and Shanghai actually gaining on the day. US futures were down just 0.1 per cent, so the reaction in New York looks set to be muted as well. "They're behaving like a normal Monday. And that I find extremely interesting," notes Swissquote Bank senior analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya. Perhaps that was an intended benefit of conducting the strike over the weekend, when there was no opportunity for an instant negative knee-jerk reaction on major markets (share markets in the Gulf and Israel were open on Sunday, however, and also shrugged off the direct US involvement). 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"We were also told last week in Washington that Iran retains enough short-range missiles to attack Gulf energy facilities and US bases in the region." After all, Iran and its regional allies were accused of inflicting serious damage on Saudi oil infrastructure along with several tankers in 2019, apparently in response to US sanctions on Iran. Veteran AMP chief economist Shane Oliver says those kinds of attacks remain a worrying prospect, and one that traders appear to be heavily discounting as a risk. "So far, oil prices are up on the uncertainty — but only by 12 per cent since the war started and still below average 2024 levels," he notes. "Any disruption could push oil prices above $US100 a barrel, possibly to around $US150/barrel. "This would likely only be brief, as the US military would likely quickly move to stop Iran. But even if it's only for a few weeks, it would still be a big blow to confidence regarding the economic outlook and so could push shares down by 5-10 per cent at least." That has implications for household budgets. "$US100 a barrel oil could add another 25 cents a litre to Australian petrol prices on top of the 15 cents a litre rise implied by current oil prices," Oliver notes. But there are plenty of analysts backing the market pricing and assuming that this particular storm will just blow over. "While I've long held the view that strategic considerations (particularly toward Iran-friendly Qatar and its vital LNG exports) and Iran's dependence on China (its largest oil customer) would act as a restraining force, this remains true (only) as long as Iran's own oil export facilities are not targeted," notes Ole S Hansen, Saxo's head of commodity strategy. Given that we're talking about a 46-year-old regime threatened with collapse, led by an 86-year-old cleric who professes to believe in an afterlife, with significant quantities of enriched uranium and other highly radioactive materials at hand, this geopolitical risk premium seems fairly modest. As Every argues, markets are effectively betting the Iranian leadership still has a solid, rational belief in self-preservation. For the Middle East in particular, and the world in general, we have to hope the markets are right. The absolute worst-case outcomes do not bear thinking about.
