John Fowler

The Chinese Military's Doubtful Combat Readiness The People's Liberation Army fields a large and impressive suite of weapons and equipment. However, it remains fundamentally focused on upholding Chinese Communist Party rule—not necessarily preparing...

The report highlights a common mistake, in my view, that analysts make, which is not considering the domestic circumstances that are influencing military spending. These domestic conditions can have a much greater influence than external factors.

www.rand.org/pubs/perspec...

Boggles the mind, doesn't it? It's going to be a long 4 years.

I respect that position based on emotional and historical connection, however it's not something you can prove or disprove. Two people may make that claim and one may lie. It may be quite difficult to find the liar.

New Zealand's Mount Taranaki gets same legal rights as a person The aim is to address injustices of colonisation, including confiscating land from local tribes.

Not being a legal scholar, I cannot comment on the efficacy and ramifications of giving environmental features legal status, but challenging the history of exploitation within a clearer legal framework seems like a positive step. But who speaks for the mountain?

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Experts warn Australia 'doesn't have tools' to fight large bushfires With wildfires raging across Los Angeles, focus is turning to how new technologies, including AI, can aid our response to future disasters,. But there are concerns Australia isn't ready to combat fire...

A fair point, as long as it's not considered in isolation or as a silver bullet. No point having capabilities that aren't integrated with existing response mechanisms.

Republicans say they want to put conditions on wildfire aid to California California and other Democratic-controlled states would need to atone for “bad behavior” if they wanted federal assistance, one lawmaker said.

One of the more damaging results of inserting party politics into disaster relief. Something we may see more of both in the US and elsewhere in increasingly polarised political systems prone to populist movements.

www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

I would also consider us to be in a post-republican world, where the principles have become so twisted and contested that it no longer provides a compelling narrative of what good governance should be.

Australia violated human rights treaty with Nauru detainees, UN finds A UN committee finds Australia violated a human rights treaty by detaining a group of asylum seekers, including minors, on Nauru even after they were granted refugee status.

Is anyone surprised?

Charting the shift in international positions on this issues against key events in the conflict would be a great exercise. Has anyone seen it done?

Agree. And arguments about the erosion of legal norms by Trump in the past does nothing to diminish the gravity of the decision and future implications. What will the relationship between the judiciary and executive authority look like?