The Lord of the Rings was such an overwhelming experience, in my late childhood and early adolescence, that rather than plunging me into a passion for fantasy, it set me off on a quest to understand our Earth and its history and poetry.
This story matters more than ever now, as Xi Jinping imposes on China the antithesis of what Hu Yaobang articulated and patiently, intelligently championed, between 1977 and 1987.
Biden’s years are over. The American electorate has given Donald Trump a thumping mandate to seek renewal on different lines.
Immanuel Kant’s vision of a global community that upholds basic human rights is under threat.
Only by seeing the war in the light of Jewish evolution can it be understood.
Imagine growing up in a family in East Germany, in the 1960s and ’70s, in which your father works for the Stasi on secret missions in the West that he will not talk about. Your mother won’t talk about them either. Then the past breaks open.
The looting of state-owned assets in Russia was just the start of the crime rush.
There’s nothing on offer from China, Russia or Iran that could at all replace the advantages conferred on us by the old world order. But what if it collapses?
The message from our government, from our democratic parliament, should be to declare loud and clear: ‘Ambassador Maimon, we understand the challenges you face. How can this war now be won?’
How should one respond to an argument that we should not defend our country at all, if it was invaded by China, or some other hypothetical enemy?
Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/paul-monk