Why the elites heart China
While the eyes of the world remain firmly focused on eastern Europe and the very real prospect of a major conventional war between Russia and Ukraine brought about by Putin’s …
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20 + 1 Best Books I’ve Read in 2021
This is the last time I’m ever doing New Year’s resolutions. My resolution for 2021 was to read less – not because I hate reading but to have more diverse …
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What invasive species are you?
Is your fish demeaning to others? Worry not, there is always a bureaucracy ready to step in and right the wrong: The Asian carp is getting a new name from …
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Weight of the world is killing us
While modern science and medicine offer us more opportunities to live longer and healthier lives, modern lifestyle – our diet (both quality and quantity), lack of exercise, stress and other …
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Proud to be a scumbag
Lunar New Year is as good a time as any to commend your friends and threaten your enemies, all in the spirit of festive good will no doubt. Wang Xining, …
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There ain’t no party like a Communist Party
This week’s superleak of a database of nearly 2 million members of Chinese Communist Party, most of them from around Shanghai, many of whom are working at the local offices …
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Shock: China does not understand freedom of speech
I know it might come as somewhat of a shock for you, so brace yourself, my dear reader: a country without a freedom of speech does not understand the concept …
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Team Biden: managing America’s decline and the rise of China
Meet the new boss in the White House – same as the old (but one) boss – and China, through one of its English-language mouthpieces, “Global Times”, is hoping for a reset back …
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America’s mythical allies – and the real ones
Sam Vinograd, an Obama administration nat sec alumnus – and now, needless to say, a CNN nat sec analyst – is hearing sounds: It's like I can almost hear our …
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Free Tibet (Labour)
Whatever happened to “Free Tibet”? With its heyday probably twenty years ago, it used to be a major cause celebre for artists and activists, with bumper stickers adorning countless cars, including – …
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China does as China is
Call this the Commiebridge Analytica: Tens of thousands of Australians — including celebrities, politicians and journalists — have had their data collected by a company with links to Chinese military …
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America is bad for democracy, say allies
Dalia Research, the Alliance for Democracies and Rasmussen International have released the results of the Democracy Perception Index, the largest study of its kind, based on interviews with 124,000 people in …
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Let’s create Hong Kong 2 in Australia
We could have done it 31 years ago, after the People’s Liberation Army’s tanks liberated thousands of protesters from their lives across Beijing. We could have done it 23 years …
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Losing My Region – Australians and the world cool on China
Welcome to the political chaos theory – or, should we say, fact: a bat flapping its wings in China produces a hurricane… pretty much everywhere around the world. It seems …
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Fact Check: “Disease ambassadors”?
The worldwide Coronavirus pandemic is predictably generating hundreds of conspiracy theories, rumours, claims and counter-claims about every aspect of the crisis, from the virus’s origin to the actions, or inactions, …
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The Daily Chrenk’s Best Proverbs From Around The World, Part 7: The Finale
It’s been a great journey discovering the wise, the weird and the wonderful folk sayings from all parts of the world. You can check the previous six posts at your …
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The Daily Chrenk’s Best Proverbs From Around The World, Part 6
Distract yourself from COVID 24/7 and enjoy some wisdom of the ages from all corners of the world. Coincidentally, when proverbs and folk sayings were coming into being, life really …
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The Daily Chrenk’s Best Proverbs From Around The World, Part 5
With Coronavirus 24/7 and the world turned upside down indefinitely, wherever you are in self-isolation, make yourself some tea, sit down and enjoy the wisdom of the ages from different …
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We need a globalisation insurance
What has the virus wrought? In some ways it is a perfect weapon: it doesn’t kill that many people in a greater scheme of things but it terrorises whole societies …
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