There has been a聽flurry of visits by United States' officials to the Pacific over the past year in a bid to shore up imperial hegemony in the region. Binoy Kampmark reports.
Pacific Islands
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has promised to renew Australia鈥檚 standing in the region at the Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji. However, Peter Boyle argues it's not looking good given the country's record and projections on聽climate and militarisation.
When Tuvaluan Prime Minister Enele Sosene Sopoaga used his United Nations address on September 27 to warn that, for the Pacific, 鈥渃limate change is a weapon of mass destruction鈥, most of the seats were vacant.聽
Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi made an impassioned plea for the big powers in the region to stop bullying small Pacific Island nations just days before the 49th Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) was held in Nauru over September 3-6.
鈥淎ny leader of any country who believes that there is no climate change, I think he ought to be taken to mental confinement. He is utterly stupid鈥, Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi said on August 31.
Nobody better reflects the military and political elites鈥 cavalier attitude to nuclear weapons than Sir William Penney, the architect of Britain鈥檚 hydrogen bomb program.
Asked how destructive the new weapons were in meetings in 1961 between US Democrat President John F. Kennedy and British Conservative Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, Penney casually answered by saying: 鈥淚t would take twelve to destroy Australia, Britain five or six, say seven or eight, and I鈥檒l have another gin and tonic, if you would be so kind鈥.
There are countless reports from NGOs, scientists and government agencies on climate refugees.
For example, last year more than 2 million people had to gather their possessions and flee as floods hit the Yangtze River in China. But, despite this becoming one of the world鈥檚 greatest issues there is very little activism around climate refugees in the developed world.
Global warming has already increased the risk of major disruptions to Pacific rainfall, according to our . The risk will continue to rise over coming decades, even if global warming during the 21st century is restricted to 2鈩僥lcius.
Visiting Canadian author and activist Naomi Klein believes she owes PM Tony Abbott 鈥渁 debt of thanks鈥.
In Sydney to promote her new book , Klein said the conflict between what the planet needs and what capitalism needs is exemplified in Australia.