Picketing the International Women’s Day breakfast

Written by: Liz M on 6 March 2026

 

(Supplied)

For many years now, women in South Australia have been able to attend an IWD breakfast as a prologue to celebrations of women’s achievements and protests about ongoing exploitation and discrimination.

This year’s event, held at the Adelaide Convention Centre, was a little different.

For the first time, a number of women and their supporters picketed the event to object to the role of the host, Foreign Minister Penny Wong, in failing to support the women of Gaza.

Organised by the Australian Friends of Palestine (AFOPA), the picket began at 6am as the first of more than 3000 attendees entered the building.
AFOPA made its objections to Wong’s hosting of the event clear: 

“Since October 2023, over 28,000 women and girls have reportedly been killed in Gaza. Nearly 250,000 women and girls face starvation. More than one million women and girls have been forcibly displaced. In 2024, 70% of women killed in conflict globally were from Gaza.

“As Foreign Minister, Penny Wong represents Australia’s foreign policy, which has provided diplomatic cover and material support that enable these atrocities to continue. She has misled the public about Australia’s weapons exports to Israel and has been referred to the International Criminal Court for aiding and abetting genocide.”

IWD began as a protest against capitalism and its oppression of women. The first Day was organised by the American Socialist Party in 1909. In 1911, Communists Clara Zetkin and Rosa Luxemburg started Women’s Day in Europe. In March 1917, women textile workers in Russia used the event to call for Bread and Peace. The revolution later that year saw the culmination of their demands, and March 8 was decided upon by the leaders of the new Soviet Union as the day for a national holiday and international celebration.

For many years, IWD was celebrated as International Working Women’s Day, but there were very few working women in evidence among the $60 per head ticketed entrants to this morning’s breakfast.

It has become an increasingly corporatised event: the class dynamics were gobsmacking. There wasn't even any attempt to fig leaf it by inviting First People's women like they did a few years back. Just the business set, power suits, designer dresses etc. And many blazered private school girls -at least 6-8 private schools.  There was one small group of public school kids.

We carried effigies of dead babies and held corflutes about Wong’s position on Gaza and the disproportionate effect of the genocide on women and children. It was a silent protest asking the participants not to cross the picket line, but to my knowledge no-one changed their mind.

Nevertheless, it was the first real challenge to the event, and it was a challenge to Wong.

No doubt she will whisper something to Albanese about the bloody difficult women who picketed the event.

 

Adelaide rally demands “Hands Off Iran!”

Written by: Mike Williss on 6 March 2026

 

(Supplied)

Around 200 people gathered at Parliament House last night to condemn the US-Israeli aggression against Iran.

At least half the crowd were Shia Muslim Iranian-Australians, and the second speaker was Iranian woman Habibah Jaghoori.

Other speakers were CPA (M-L) supporter and Spirit of Eureka member Mike Williss, Australian Friends of Palestine’s Mike Khizam, Independent and Peaceful Australia’s Derek Burke, Socialist Alliance’s Markela Panegyres, and Liam Ellis from the Communist Party of Australia.

The rally endorsed the following demands, put by MC Eileen Darley:

We call on the Australian Govt:

To rescind its backing of the United States and Israeli war on Iran and immediately stop Pine Gaps involvement in the attacks.

Impose sanctions on the Israeli state which includes the supply of weapons’ components  and the expulsion of the Israeli Ambassador.

Sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW)

End the Australian alliance with the US. Scrap AUKUS and the Force Posture Agreement and close all US bases on Australian soil.

We reprint the talk by Mike Williss below.

....................

 

Comrades and friends,

Well, the man who demanded the Nobel Peace Prize is at it again.

Perhaps led on by the genocidal bloodlust of Netanyahu, the US has attacked Iran even as negotiations between it and Iran on Iran’s nuclear program were in progress. Pearl Harbour anyone?

Within weeks of declaring again that Iran’s nuclear capacity had been obliterated by his previous bombing of its facilities, Trump tried to justify the current aggression by saying that it was necessary to protect Americans from Iran’s nuclear threat.

Netanyahu also declared that the attack was pre-emptive in nature, and required to remove Iran’s threat to Israel.

However, the only basis for a real international rule of law is the UN Charter. Article 2(4) of the Charter prohibits states from using force against the integrity or political independence of any state. This, in effect, makes pre-emptive strikes illegal.

No wonder the man who is so bored with peace, tried to create an alternative to the UN with his Board of Peace.  It’s Orwellian, isn’t it?

I want to say a few words to our friends in the Iranian diaspora in Australia.

We condemn the assassination of Iran’s leaders, including Ali Khamenei, but acknowledge that many in the diaspora have welcomed it. We remind them of the ancient saying to “beware Greeks bearing gifts”.

The phrase comes from Virgil’s Aenid, and refers to the Trojan horse, presented by the Greeks to their enemy, the Trojans, inside of which were hidden Greek warriors who opened the city gates at night to the Greek army outside, which destroyed Troy.

The US imperialists and genocidal Zionists have presented you with a gift – but please, beware.

The death of Khamenei will be welcomed by all who suffered under his regime. Women, progressive peoples and working class activists in their thousands have all been jailed and killed.  

Others will acknowledge Khamenei as a leader of global resistance seeking to break American hegemony and liquidate the Zionist project.

These are divergent views, and need to be correctly handled, non-antagonistically, as contradictions within the Iranian people. It is for the Iranian people to decide the best way forward in a complicated situation.

They must take charge and exercise leadership over their own liberation. The alternative is to have anti-democratic rulers favoured by the US and Israel impose further disaster on Iran.

But there is more to the US gift of Khamenei’s killing.

A pre-emptive strike against Chinese imperialist rival?

The year began with the US abduction of Venezuelan President Maduro and his wife – another illegal act.

Both Venezuela and Iran are closely connected to US imperialism’s main rival, China.

Iran is a member of BRICS, the intergovernmental organisation created by Brazil, Russia, India and China in 2009. It now has ten member states, comprises more than a quarter of the global economy and nearly half the world's population, and has challenged the US-led financial world through the New Development Bank and proposals for de-dollarisation.

Iranian cooperation with China through the Belt and Road Initiative includes infrastructure, logistics, energy and trade links, reflecting broader Sino-Iranian partnership beyond BRICS itself. 

Much of Iran’s oil export goes to China.

Venezuela is not a member of BRICS, largely as a result of Brazilian opposition. However, it had close ties with China and has expressed support for China’s Belt and Road Initiative and signed Memoranda of Understanding with Beijing on BRI cooperation, especially related to infrastructure, energy, and broader strategic partnership. 

As with Iran, much of Venezuela’s oil exports went to China.

It is perhaps no coincidence that the two countries subjected to illegal US aggression so far this year both had strong ties to China.

So, if Netanyahu’s crime is motivated by his regional expansionism and desire to create a “Greater Israel” – his term – then Trump’s has a more global motivation, and that is, to try and weaken China in the event that the Orange Idiot decides to go to war with the Middle Kingdom.

(Supplied)

And Australia was involved, despite Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s claim that Australia “did not participate in the strikes”. It was involved as a joint participant in the activities of the US war base at Pine Gap which not only intercepts communications, but sends targeting information to the US for the strikes it conducts.

The Australian government rushed to endorse the US-Israeli attacks on Iran.  This is to be expected of a government which itself is enmeshed in an economic, political, military, diplomatic and cultural web of US domination and control, and is incapable of representing Australia as a peaceful and independent country.

We must demand that Pine Gap be closed along with all other US military facilities in Australia, that the AUKUS arrangements be scrapped and the Force Posture Agreement with the US be cancelled. And if our government is going to cheer an illegal pre-emptive strike over an alleged nuclear weapons threat, why hasn’t it signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons?

Just as we fight for our own independence and freedom, we hope that the Iranian people can turn current events to their own advantage, unite under a correct anti-imperialist and socialist leadership, and win genuine freedom and independence.

Iran: the enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend

 Written by: Lindy Nolan on 2 March 2026

 

(Photo supplied)

The day after Israel and the US began bombing Iran, a small protest in Sydney united under these slogans, 'No to War, Yes to Freedom and Self Determination – The liberation of the Iranian people will come through their own independent and conscious struggle.’ 
The rage of Iranians at the horrors unfolding and the ignorance of a larger group celebrating nearby with US and even Israeli flags and calling for a new Shah, was expressed by a woman, “The enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend.” 
The US and Israel, and Iranian regime are most bitter enemies. But neither are friends of the Iranian people. The speaker told of food and water being cut off to political prisoners. 
Lindy Nolan spoke on behalf of the CPA(ML). Her speech is below.

 

Today we honour the heroic Iranian masses facing the armed might of Israel and of US imperialism. They will never accept another US puppet shah with their mass murders torture and mass jailings.

The masses make history. And all peoples have the right to resist, to overthrow oppression by their ruling class, to organise for women’s freedom and build their own future. We cannot deny Iranians that right. We cannot put limits on it, especially with US imperialism on their doorstep.

War is the continuation of politics by other means. US imperialism’s economic war with China is now a military war with China’s allies. And Australia is involved.
In the 1970s Henry Kissinger called Australia a western “outpost on the edge of Asia”. It’s now a spear projecting US power, into Asia and the Middle East. The US Pine Gap spy base on Arrernte, land near Mparntwe Alice Springs, guided missiles and now drones, to Iraq Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. It chooses the human targets – children, schools, hospitals. US imperialism demands billions, trillions of dollars needed for life, for our schools, hospitals, the homeless, our culture, environment. All for death and war.

US imperialism is at war with its own people and at war with the people of the world.

We oppose it with all our might.

We’ve been in every US war

We honour First Peoples. Since British invasion they fought for their lands, their waters, their cultures. Their right to live. We honour their 140 years of armed struggle.  On this street in the 1790s, Pemulwuy led an armed attack. British colonialism became imperialism. First Peoples never surrendered. 

Australian governments took us to every British war. In World War One, Labor’s opposition leader pledged us to England to the last man and last shilling. In World War 2, PM Menzies said, “It is my melancholy duty” to announce Britain is at war and therefore “Australia is at war.” Before the war Menzies met Hitler, praised him as a as “good for Germany and the German people”, that Australians should be “more like Germans”. He starved workers and broke a strike to send pig iron to Japan. It came back as bombs.

When he declared war for England, Australian troops were in North Africa. None here defending Australia. Menzies went to England. This is our history.

US imperialism long ago replaced British imperialist control of Australia.  In World War Two, Labour PM John Curtin turned from Britain, which betrayed us, to the US. US general Macarthur called him a traitor in relation to operational differences. Said the US would never trust Australia again.

We’ve been in every US war since. Pine Gap now ensures it’s automatic. Beyond our control.

There is no shortcut to victory

The core of imperialism is not military. It’s economic. It’s monopoly capitalism. US imperialism controls the commanding heights of our economy. That’s what all the wars are about. Protecting obscene wealth and privilege.

When anyone tells you the US will support us, tell them this history. When they say, “Don’t bring foreign wars here”, tell them that we are already at war against Iran and that there’s more to come. That subservience to US imperialism makes Australia a target in any war with China. That the US will assert its interests and demand we obey.

We fight US imperialism here. The March for Humanity shows how broad anti-imperialist feeling is. But resistance is not deep enough. The masses and the masses alone make history. We need to go deep among the people, to alert them about what we face, to educate them, to organise, to mobilise them.

We must meet them where they are. In their workplaces, neighbourhoods, community groups, cultural and sporting groups. In every area of life. We must be present and active and organised. There is no shortcut.

The working class, from teachers to delivery riders, nurses to construction workers, has been systematically disorganised, disempowered. Empty slogans and one-size-fits-all tactics cannot replace deep listening to the people, learning from them, taking their ideas and concentrating them into theory, into strategy and tactics, to take back to struggle. 

We must unite all the small struggles into a huge alliance against US imperialism, an end to economic political and military subservience: No to war. Close Pine Gap. Close all US military bases. Independence for Australia.

Today, above all, we salute and stand for the heroic people of Iran. There will be setbacks. But nothing can stop their struggle.

Victory to the people of Iran!

KPMG corporate off-shoring: more than meets the eye

 Written by: (Contributed) on 28 February, 2026

 

(Source: www.bacancytechnology.com)

 

The decision by a major Australian-based corporate financial organisation to place a major part of its business operations offshore, cannot be viewed as a simple cost-cutting measure; the savings are relatively minimal. Another Australian telecommunications organisation, likewise, has also decided to place some of its sensitive operations offshore. The decisions are best viewed along lines more in keeping with plausible denial and assessed as part of the US-led regional Cold War. It shows how influential Washington and Wall Street and the Pentagon are within the Australian corporate sector.

In early February, the Australian-based part of the global KPMG corporate financial organisation announced they were planning to place about 75 per cent of their operations offshore in the Philippines; only about 65 personnel will remain in Australia. (1) The stated reason for the decision included reference to 'from a hunt for cheaper labour to a scramble to find any talent at all … their predominant reason for off-shoring was access to a much larger talent pool'. (2) It was couched in condescending terminology.

As KPMG Australia recorded the total revenue for the two past financial years on their official websites as: FY24 – A$2.386 billion, FY 25 – A$2.315 billion; the stated reason for the organisation off-shoring nearly two hundred executive assistants, to save about A$15 million, would appear ridiculous and more in line with a convenient cover for other non-stated reasons. (3) KPMG, moreover, emerged from US-led moves for globalisation; the corporate sector has a long history as a cover for US extra-curricula activities.

References to KPMG developing a business model which will include Australian-based managerial staff 'directly managing their off-shore employees', for example, can be interpreted in a number of different ways. (4) The KPMG organisation has been troubled with a number of scandals in recent years and would appear keen to distance itself from further unfavourable publicity. (5) Off-shoring operations, may or may not, solve issues.

While it was openly accepted that Australian KPMG executive assistant personnel averaged about A$87,000 pa, whereas their Philippine counterparts will receive only A$10,000 pa, there would appear other factors in play. The Philippines, in recent times, for example, has become an important financial hub; over 24 per cent of the country's GDP originates from the financial sector. (6) The financial platforms are a conduit into ASEAN and elsewhere.

A closer study of the role of the Philippines, however, has revealed its continued importance and significance for US foreign policy from the previous Cold War to the present one with China. In recent years the US has pushed the country into a front-line diplomatic position against China, with regular confrontations taking place in the South China Seas. The US has access to nine military facilities in the Philippines, and an unspecified number of intelligence-gathering facilities which operate at all levels.

The Philippines, with its central and strategic position in the region, was used in the previous Cold War by the US used for regional operations. The patronage was lavish: during the 1946-1975 period the US trained 15,245 Philippine military personnel and provided presidential administrations in Manila with US$805,800,000 of military aid for defence and security provision for 'US interests'. (7)

Washington and the Pentagon turned a blind eye to the ensuing and rampant corruption they patronised; the Marcos family, for example, are generally accredited with appropriating an estimated US$10 billion from institutionalised corruption. (8) Agents were cheap to buy.  

Little changed with the removal of the first Marcos presidential administration in 1986, and its successor four decades later. Recent studies of the Philippines reveal the country being ranked at 114th from a total of 180 countries for corrupt working practices. (9)

While used as a financial hub for the ASEAN countries, the Philippines is also ranked lower than most member and associate countries for corruption problems; only Cambodia and Myanmar have worse placements. (10) It does not, however, cause the US undue problems; in fact, they appear quite happy with the present Marcos presidential administration which continues to serve 'US interests' at their every beck and call. Corruption, furthermore, serves as an effective means of control by the US, over its subject countries and political puppets.

The KPMG decisions have also been accompanied by similar ones with Telstra, which handles vast troves of personal data from its telecommunications business. Their decision to off-shore sensitive positions to India and reduce its Australian workforce by 650 positions, as a supposed cost-cutting measure, has also raised similar questions. (11)

The main question includes accountability: Australia has a well-regulated economy with relatively efficient cyber-security provision and the monitoring of indiscriminate AI usage to safeguard vast troves of personal data from unwanted profiling; other countries, notably the Philippines and India, have highly de-regulated economies marked by little cyber-security provision. Australians, not by coincidence, are also continually targeted by state and non-state cyber-security scams and actors from elsewhere in Asia. The problem has reached epidemic proportions; intelligence-gathering is the name of the game. Regulations, for shadowy cyber figures, however, remain an obstacle. And one they seek to circumvent.  

And, the KPMG proposed business model, interestingly, will include Philippine-based 'cyber-security, security operations centre engineering, and specialists who could navigate enterprise platforms', working under those based in Australia. (12) A coincidence? The Telstra decision, likewise, has also included reference to the telco gaining access to opportunities with India-based AI specialist bodies so, 'we can tap into their AI capabilities to simply enable our tools and services to help us mover faster and operate more efficiently'. (13)

The motives used by Australian-based businesses to off-shore part operations should be subject to greater scrutiny by Canberra; would it be unreasonable to suggest they have merely placed their intelligence-gathering facilities outside the reach of law enforcement agencies to where there is no real accountability? When considering the uses and abuses of power, it is not what they do, which is the fundamental question, but how they do it!  
  
And, interestingly, declassified documentation from the previous Cold War defines plausible denial as being used to protect clandestine operations, 'planned and executed under the sponsorship of Government departments or agencies in such a way as to assure secrecy or concealment of the operation and its sponsor'. (14) From one Cold War to the next?

1.     Why your next colleague will be in Manila, Australian, 10 February 2026.
2.     Ibid.
3.     KPMG Australia planning to off-shore 200 roles to the Philippines, Sky News, 4 February 2026.
4.     Australian, op.cit., 10 February 2026.
5.     See: Wikipedia – KPMG.
6.     Why is Manila considered a financial hub for traders? Admin., 25 July 2025.
7.     The Sun and its Planets,  The Washington Connection and Third World Fascism, Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman, (Boston, 1979), Diagram, Inside Cover.
8.     'The $10 bn question', The Guardian, 21 January 2024.
9.     The Philippines – 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index.
10.   Philippines ranks, GMA., 10 February 2026.
11.   Telstra to cut 650 jobs in overhaul, Australian, 12 February 2026.
12.   Australian, op.cit., 10 February 2026.
13.   Australian, op.cit., 12 February 2026.
14.   Instructions for the co-ordination and control of the Navy's clandestine intelligence collection program, Secretary of the Navy, Washington, 7 December 1965, Declassified: 13 July 1990.

Union elections - an opportunity for workers to have their say

 Written by: Ned K. on 27 February, 2026

 

(Above: Workers join unions for unity in struggle, not for division caused by factional rivalry.  Source: UWU)

On Friday 26 February the Australian Financial Review (AFR) ran a prominent page 4 article headed "Union split puts focus on ALP spend". The article was about the forthcoming United Workers Union (UWU) election for its governing body, the Delegates Convention. According to the AFR there are Convention delegate positions up for election for a four-year term.

The UWU is a 2019 amalgamation of the NUW which predominantly covered warehouse workers, food processing workers and pharmaceutical processing and United Voice which covered aged care, child care, disabilities sector, hospital workers (non-nursing), hospitality, animal care such as RSPCA , cleaners, security guards, prison officers and an assortment of manufacturing and even funeral directors. 

So, the amalgamated union UWU covers workers "from the cradle to the grave" as well as covering workers that enable Australians to have chicken on the table or a packet of chips with a beer at the local hotel!

The AFR reports that there is great rivalry playing out in the coming election essentially between the former NUW leadership and the former United Voice leadership.
As is usually the case, both sides strive to hold the high moral ground to win over enough members' votes to control the direction of the UWU for the next four years.

Both sides say they want to increase resources that benefit existing members and bring more workers in as union members with extensive social media campaigning.

Both accuse the other of poor use of members' money and about how much and under what conditions members' money should be given to the ALP.

The dark cloud hanging over Tim Kennedy and his alleged misuse of members’ money and sweetheart industrial deals with some big employers and the old NUW's smaller membership base within the UWU must be a worry for his ticket.

On the other hand, the United Voice ticket led by Jo Schofield may receive a backlash from members about the amount of members' money ($8 million according to the AFR) that the ALP received in 2024-25.

The good thing about a Union election is that members who vote have the final say.

Unlike parliamentary elections, voting in Union elections is voluntary. 

Indonesian women in struggle

 

Written by: Priscilla on 27 February, 2026

 

(Source: https://carnegieendowment.org/ )

Women from many countries are currently sending in reports for the ICOR United Front webinar on March 8, 2026.  As our close neighbour, Indonesia has recently been convulsed in struggles with women playing a major role.  We publish this report from Priscilla, an Indonesian woman, with a pledge to support our close neighbours in their struggles – eds.

Every day in this country, the oppressed are in a state of mourning over deaths. Of democracy, of integrity, and of the people.

The flood in Sumatra that had taken more than a thousand lives from November 2025 to December 2025 was not declared a national emergency. Women and children were starved of basic necessities because the fascist government denied international access to aid, personal arrogance clouding reason, thinking that our sovereignty will be “under attack” if we allow help when it already is under attack—by the hands of a war criminal, the bourgeoisie and elites elected as President.

Institutions became more and more mistrustful. Even more so for survivors of sexual violence. Despite existing protection laws, the survivors are still vilified, left and right. The government didn’t care that the laws weren’t working properly in society. They didn’t even care to perform; they didn’t even hide their lack of empathy anymore. They danced in the legislative house over salary raises, 10 times higher than the minimum wage applied in Indonesia’s capital city, Jakarta. And only scratched away the raise once the death toll over people’s protests rose significantly, killing an online driver passing by the street, Affan. 

Elected representatives were not for the people. And certainly not when the President’s singlehanded decision to join the “Board of Peace” was supported by the elites. The Board, consisting of actors of genocide in Palestine, the imperialist warmonger, the United States of America. The people rejected—but are we surprised that we are still not heard? A fascist establishment was never for the people.

It is a disgrace to Indonesian history, in which Palestine was one of the first countries to recognize Indonesian sovereignty, back in 1945, when we had only just declared our independence from the Dutch East Indies government.

I come here in grief to say that every day, there is new thing to mourn. But at the same time, every day, our spirit does not falter. The women in the rural areas of Sumatra are fearlessly fighting the military posts and landlords, the women in the urban areas are speaking out against sexual predators occupying safe spaces, the brave Indonesian queers are fighting for visibility and recognition, in every way we are capable.

We are in a desperate time, but we are not giving up. And with this, I ask for the solidarity from my comrades overseas. Please include Indonesia in your spirit, action, and voice. We see what’s been happening in Europe, and we are with you in this fight for the liberation of the oppressed. The women, the queers, the working class, the farmers, and the small folks.

Long live Indonesian Women’s Liberation!

Down to imperialism, feudalism, and colonialism of the American government!

 

Balanced assessments and military bravado: Ratner at the Lowy Institute

 Written by: (Contributed) on 27 February, 2026

 

(Source: Screenshot, Lowy Institute)

Opinions from inside the corridors of power in Washington and elsewhere often provide useful insights to accompany other more reliable assessments.

The changing balance of forces across the Indo-Pacific region is now generally accepted; comments from a well-placed source, therefore, have revealed the extent of the development and its implications for the US and traditional allies, including Australia.

In mid-February, Ely Ratner, former assistant defence secretary for the Indo-Pacific region, addressed the Lowy Institute about the changing balance of forces taking place across the vast region, and US foreign policy. (1) Ratner was formerly a 'key architect of the US Indo-Pacific Strategy' (IPS), and used the address to draw attention to the level of increased competition from China. (2)

Traditionally regarded as a region closely under US-led tutelage, the rise of China has seriously affected traditional assessments. In fact, a US Congressional committee nearly a decade ago assessed that the US was no longer the dominant power in the Pacific region, and becoming more dependent upon allies, including Japan and Australia, to maintain traditional hegemonic positions. (3) The Pacific, as a sub-sector of the wider region, has many sensitive shipping-lanes.

The findings of the congressional committee, furthermore, were subsequently used to redefine US regional foreign policy toward an updated IPS, which included the elevation of Japan to that of a global alliance with the US. (4)

The upgraded IPS was based in the framework of the 'Quad', which included the US, Japan, India and Australia, being used to encircle and contain China's regional influence. (5) Other countries across the region were relegated to the status of lower-level partners, linked into the Quad. (6)  

The US diplomatic position, moreover, was consolidated into the 2026 National Defence Strategy, which included reference to a greater reliance upon allies. (7)

Ratner also drew attention to the traditional US-led diplomacy of 'accomodationist' positions toward China. It had been challenged during the first Trump presidential administration 'by identifying China as a strategic competitor seeking to displace the US as the pre-eminent Indo-Pacific power'. (8) Ratner used his address to draw attention to problems emerging during the second Trump administration, which, he maintained, 'lacked the policy focus or coherence to manage Beijing's hegemonic ambitions'. (9) He has not been alone in his criticisms of recent White House behaviour; a recent high-level diplomatic statement from a German Army General, Major-General Wolf-Jurgen Stahl, noted that Donald Trump was 'an egomaniac, narcissistic, erratic deal-maker with authoritarian leanings'. (10) Serious questions have arisen about his limited diplomatic ability and that of his advisors.    

The problem, identified by Ratner, included Washington's and the Pentagon's diplomatic positions as having alienated various strategic countries across the wider region. They were responsible for having 'created genuine uncertainty in the region, and uncertainty in the alliance context'. (11) Good diplomacy is based in creating positions of trust and reliability.

The implications for the US include a recent statement from Singapore prime minister Lawrence Wong, that there was a need to prepare from a 'post-America world', as a drift toward a multi-polar era marked by changing trade patterns and economic uncertainty was taking place. (12) For Singapore, traditionally part of the US-led sphere of influence and a strategic factor in sensitive regional defence and security provision, Wong identified the vulnerability of the small city-country, and the fact that, 'the stakes are high … and … not temporary'. (13)

Wong also used the interview to highlight the rising prominence of ASEAN as a 'more credible block, both politically and economically'. (14) It, therefore, should be no surprise to find that Wong also drew attention to strategic ASEAN members and associates who were increasingly shifting their diplomatic attention toward China: Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia were becoming more closely linked into China's orbit of influence, and South Korea was also normalising its diplomatic ties with Beijing. (15)

The US, during the recent period, has, therefore, become more reliant upon the Philippines and the puppet Marcos administration in Manila, to push Washington and Pentagon positions inside ASEAN. Manila, for example, has been developed by the US as an important regional financial hub for 'US interests'; over 24 per cent of the GDP of the Philippines originates from its financial sector. (16)

The moves have also been accompanied by Washington and the Pentagon upgrading military planning for greater access into the Philippines with advanced missile systems and other weapons for use potentially against China. (17)

The opinions expressed by Ratner in the Lowy Institute forum have provided a useful insight into the changing balance of forces taking place across the Indo-Pacific and the US response to its traditional hegemonic position; the threat of war is increasing.

Ratner did not, however, question the dangerous nature of the US-Australia alliance:

                                         We need an independent foreign policy!    

*****
1.     Resist the urge 'to stick it with America', Australian, 18 February 2026.
2.     Ibid.
3.     Study: US no longer dominant power in the Pacific, Information Clearing House, 22 August 2019.
4.     See: The reasons behind Washington's push for GSOMIA., Hankyoreh, 12 November 2019.
5.     Ibid.
6.     Ibid.
7.     See: Official US website – 2026 National Defence Strategy – Washington, pp. 18-19.
8.     Australian, op.cit., 18 February 2026.
9.     Ibid.
10.   NATO ally's view of US President: 'egomaniac, narcissistic, erratic', Australian, 20 February 2026.
11.   Australian, op.cit., 18 February 2026.
12.   Ibid., and, PM Wong: As the US steps back, Vulcanpost, 24 October 2025.
13.   Vulcanpost, ibid., 24 October 2025.
14.   Ibid.
15.   Australian, op.cit., 18 February 2026.
16.   Why is Manila considered a financial hub for traders,  Admin., 25 July 2025.
17.   US pokes Chinese bear with missiles in the Philippines, Australian, 19 February 2026.