Monthly Archives: May 2022

The final Republican and Democratic primary contests in Texas were decided on Tuesday, rounding out the general election ballot for both major parties.

Republicans are aiming to further cement their control of state politics and fend off challenges from Democrats, who are seeking to win a statewide election for the first time in nearly three decadesand make gains in the Legislature after Republicans redrew political maps last year to createfewer competitive statehouse districts.

Here's a look at the statewide match-ups Texas voters will see on their ballots in November:

The marquee race is at the top of the ticket. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is seeking athird termand is facing a challenge from Democrat Beto ORourke, a former El Paso congressman who lost a U.S. Senate bid and bowed out of the 2020 presidential race.

Both candidates are political heavyweights in their own right, with reputations as prolific fundraisers who can mobilize their respective bases.

Republicans are eager to deny ORourke a victory for the third time in as many election cycles, while Democrats are betting on ORourke to close the gap and prove the party still has a fighting chance at winninga statewide election.

In March, Abbotts team promised a high-dollar campaign and a tough-fought election.In the months since, both Abbott and ORourke have been on the attack.

Abbotts campaign has worked to paint ORourke as a radical liberal who is out of touch with the needs of everyday Texans. The governor has attacked ORourkes stance on the border and gun control frequently reminding voters of a now infamous remark ORourke made at a debate during his short-lived campaign for president.

Hell yes, we're going to take your AR-15, your AK-47," ORourke said during the debate. We're not going to allow it to be used against our fellow Americans anymore."

For his part, ORourke has oscillated his focus on different issues in the race, looking to turn outrage into mobilization overlast years deadly winter storms, reports of abuse atstate facilities charged with caring for foster children, andAbbotts actions at the border.

His latest focus has been abortion, in light of a recent leak of a draft majority opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court indicating that justices are poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark decision that established a constitutional right to abortion.

ORourke has criticized Abbott for signing into law one of the nations strictest abortion laws, which prohibits the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy.

Embattled Attorney General Ken Paxton cruised to victory over Land Commissioner George P. Bush during their closely watched runoff election for attorney general.

Paxton, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, will face Rochelle Garza, a former ACLU of Texas lawyer, in November.

Garza easily defeated Joe Jaworski, formerGalveston mayor andgrandson of Watergate special prosecutor Leon Jaworski, in the Democratic runoff.

Paxton who has been charged withtwo counts of securities fraud and one count of failing to register with state securities regulators based on private business deals from 2010 and 2011 emphasized his lawsuits against the Biden administration during the campaign and said Tuesday that hes locked into the fight to save our country.

"I had the chance to again travel the state and just connect to people who realize this country is in trouble, Paxton said during a victory celebration in Cedar Park. We're in trouble but we have hope. We have a state that will fight and who will elect leaders who will go fight, and the entire reason I decidedto run for another term was so we could go fight together."

Garza focused her election night remarks on Paxton, stating that the incumbent is corrupt and unfit to hold public office and cares more about lobbyists and donors than the lives of our children.

He has abused the AG office for political gain and forgotten the struggles of everyday Texans, she said in a statement. That changes once we vote him out in November.

The race for lieutenant governor will be a rematch between Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Democrat Mike Collier, who first challenged the Republican incumbent in 2018.

Patrick won his primary outright, and Collier secured the Democratic Party nomination during a runoff Tuesday.

Collier, an accountant and former chief financial officer of an oil company, came within 4.9 points of unseating Patrick in 2018 and has been itching for a rematch in the years since.

This November, Texans will have to answer one simple question: are they better off now than they were eight years ago? Collier said in a statement. With exploding property taxes, chaos at the border, a rickety power grid, our public schools suffering, and our constitutional rights under assault, the fact is Texas cannot bear four more years of Dan Patrick. And after the tragic events of today, we are reminded once again we can and must do better for the people of Texas.

Wayne Christian fended off a challenge from Sarah Stogner in the Republican runoff Tuesday, clearing the path for him to continue his bid for reelection to the Railroad Commission,which regulatesthe states oil and gas industry.

Christian will face Democrat Luke Warford, who has worked in energy consulting, technology and politics.

Christian has served for more than five years on the three-person panel.

Christian and the other commissioners have faced searing criticism over the past year for the role natural gas producers played in widespread blackouts during the deadly February 2021 freeze.

"It's been the honor of my life to serve as our states 50th Railroad Commissioner," Christian said in a tweet. "I look forward to continue fighting for cheap, plentiful, reliable energy, as we stand up to the Bidens radical liberal agenda."

Warford, who worked as an organizer with the Obama campaign in Ohio and for the Clinton campaign in 2016, said the freeze that crippledmuch of Texasinspired him to run for office.

Two-term incumbent Sid Miller will face Democrat Susan Hays in November, after he fendedoff a primary challenge from state Rep. James White, R-Hillister, earlier this year.

Miller, who has been endorsed by Trump, is known for his inflammatory remarks and social media posts. The dominant issue of his primary campaign was the indictment of Miller's longtime political adviser amidallegations of soliciting bribesin exchange for hemp licenses from the state agency.

Hays is an attorneywhose recent focus includes cannabis. She was a key force in drafting a 2019 state law authorizing the production, manufacture and retail sale of hemp crops and products.

Republican Dawn Buckingham and Democrat Jay Kleberg secured their respective parties nominations for Texas land commissioner on Tuesday and will go head-to-head in November.

The Texas land commissioner heads the General Land Office, which is tasked with stewarding public lands and related efforts such as distributing disaster relief funds, state veteran programs and public school funding from the lease of state lands.

In recent years, the General Land Office has gained attention for its role in the management of the Alamo as some questionedredevelopment plans for the tourist attraction and the framing of the historic site in Texas history.

Buckingham is a state senator fromLakeway, and Kleberg isa conservationist and filmmaker who is part of thefamily that hasowned the famous King Ranch in South Texas for generations. He lives in Austin.

Democrat Janet Dudding won Tuesdays runoff for Texas comptroller of public accounts and will face-off against incumbent Republican Glenn Hegar in November.

The comptroller is responsible for tax collection and produces revenue projections for state lawmakers as they craft the states biennial budget.

REPUBLICAN RUNOFF

Attorney General

Ken Paxton:1,389

George P. Bush:644

Commissioner of General Land Office

Dawn Buckingham:1,415

Tim Westley: 455

Railroad Commissioner

Wayne Christian: 1,190

Sarah Stogner 734

Justice of the Peace, Precinct 2

David Martin: 413

Chris Evans: 228

DEMOCRATIC RUNOFF

Lieutenant Governor

Mike Collier: 91

Michelle Beckley: 49

Attorney General

Rochelle Mercedes Garza: 71

Loe Jaworski: 69

Comptroller of Public Accounts

Janet T. Dudding: 100

Angel Luis Vega: 39

Commissioner of General Land Office

Jay Kleberg: 80

Sandragrace Martinez: 59

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With the runoffs decided, stage is set for the November election in Texas - Stephenville Empire-Tribune

I have immense respect for Jim Allan not least because hes one of the board members to whom I answer in my role at The Samuel Griffith Society but I disagree with his and others prescription that the well-off rich now vote solidly Leftand the Liberal Party should give up on trying to win back its traditional well-heeled metropolitan heartland.

In Kooyong, 42 per cent of voters at this election remained loyal to the Liberal Party despite huge national and state-wide swings against the government and a zealous and well-funded, multi-million-dollar Teal campaign. Five in six votes for newly elected Teal MP Monique Ryan came at the expense of Labor and the Greens. Labors primary plummeted to less than 6.5 per cent and the Greens were all but wiped out to less than 6 per cent.

The same is true in the Sydney seat of Mackellar, where 42 per cent of voters stuck with the Liberal Party, while Labor and the Greens both lost more than half their vote to finish on a combined 13 per cent primary. Nowhere in the country does the Coalition poll so low.

Even in Greens Leader Adam Bandts seat of Melbourne the Liberal Party managed more than 14 per cent. It managed almost 16 per cent in the Prime Ministers inner Sydney seat of Grayndler. That Labor the party of government both nationally and in Victoria managed only a smidge over 6 per cent in Kooyong with two local state MPs in Paul Hamer and John Kennedy cannot be overlooked.

The same is true in the newly-Teal seats of Curtin, Goldstein, and Wentworth, where there are still 23 Liberal voters for every 10 Labor/Greens loyalists. While the loss of these seats is an undeniably bad result for the Liberal Party, to write off these seats is to misunderstand the message voters in these communities have sent at the ballot box.

At least four in ten voters in traditional Liberal heartland seats clearly no longer identify with either major party. And the Liberal Party must change in response. But do the maths. To reclaim seats like Kooyong and Mackellar, the Liberal Party needs to win back only one in four of these swinging voters. Liberals in these seats still outnumber Labor/Greens voters more than three to one. Its premature to concede that these seats are gone for good.

Traditionally Liberal seats in places like Melbournes inner East, Sydneys North Shore, and Perths Golden Triangle are unlikely to be safe again for the foreseeable future. That doesnt mean that they should be written off and abandoned to Teal MPs for a generation.

Instead, the message for remaining and aspiring Liberal MPs in these areas is that they must be more attentive to their communities. They must expect to work as hard as any other marginal seat MP to engage with their constituents not just in the weeks leading up to an election, but for their full terms. This may be a hard pill to swallow for some, but gone are the days of MPs swanning about taking Liberal voters in safe seats for granted.

Its true that voters in these areas have not suffered as much during successive lockdowns as blue-collar workers in the outer suburbs, but that doesnt mean that they arent concerned about rapidly increasing Labor taxes like Daniel Andrews latest land tax hike or the threat of an Albanese government introducing death duties and rampant inflation.

Those calling for the Liberal Party to shift out to the outer suburbs and regions are ignoring reality. With two in three Australians living in the nations capital cities, there just arent enough votes in these areas for the Coalition to reliably win government into the future.

Its even worse in Victoria, with three in four Victorians living in Melbourne. The Coalition could win all eight of Labors outer suburban seats in which there was even a modest swing against Labor on Saturday (an outcome about as likely as Anthony Albanese bringing in a flat income tax, given the partys 26.6 per cent average primary in these areas) and still hold fewer than half of federal seats in Victoria if it fails to win back the seats it lost in the inner Eastern suburbs.

The reality is that its easy to blame-shifting demographics for the Liberal Partys current woes, but this wont help it return to government. Its clear that the Coalition must become more competitive in traditionally Labor outer suburban and regional areas, but this shouldnt be framed as needing to come at the expense of traditionally Liberal areas. Instead, Liberal candidates need to accept that they must be more responsive to their communities and must work harder to sell real Liberal values in their electorates.

Xavier Boffa is the Executive Director of The Samuel Griffith Society and a former national president of the Australian Liberal Students Federation.

Got something to add? Join the discussion and comment below.

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Recapturing the Liberal heartland - The Spectator Australia

Outgoing Liberal MP Tim Wilson has urged his party not to go backwards on climate change, arguing the Coalition must remain relevant to the debate on how best to hit Australias emissions targets.

Wilson, a moderate Liberal who lost his affluent bayside seat of Goldstein to teal independent Zoe Daniel, told the National Energy Efficiency Conference on Thursday that his party must not water down its promise to cut greenhouse gas emissions to zero in net terms by 2050.

The outgoing Federal Member for Goldstein Tim Wilson with husband Ryan Bolger at Green Point in Brighton after conceding to independent Zoe DanielCredit:PENNY STEPHENS

I dont think we should go backwards on our position, he said. I dont think anyone serious is entertaining that.

He warned the Coalitions stance on climate change would be informed by what the new government does and how it seeks to be implemented it.

I think what our role has to be is really to give the communities that are left represented by the Coalition a voice in the conversation, to make sure that theyre not lost because thats always been my fear.

Wilson, who said he was coming to terms with his election loss, said corporate Australia had been moving ahead anyway on climate change, warning the Coalition must not be left behind.

He said people had underestimated the achievement of getting a firm commitment to net-zero emissions.

One of the achievements of our net-zero target was ... not just that we got it, we got everybody on the same page, but unlike other countries, we then were we werent in looking to backslide.

So I think weve kind of underestimated how powerful that is, and about how also important its going to be continuing to build the structures to actually achieve it now.

More here:

As it happened: Anthony Albanese back in Australia as Penny Wong jets off to Fiji; Peter Dutton to run unopposed for Liberal leadership - Brisbane...

By Jessica R. Durling-Local Journalism Initiative reporter May 27, 2022 - Brampton, Mississauga

In an effort to provide voters with the information they need to know about incumbents and new candidates this election, The Pointer will be looking at Peels 12 ridings and how candidates in Ontarios four big parties plan to help their future constituents.

Gurratan Singh has held a strong social media and public presence, being the brother of federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, he won his big brothers old riding in 2018, also representing the NDP, with 47 percent of the votes cast.

There were a total of 38,495 valid votes cast, just over half of the registered voting population of 71,695.

Brampton East has a rapidly growing population, with many new voters likely to cast ballots on June 2. Census data showed that the population grew by 22.4 percent from 2011 to 2016, from 99,712 residents to 122,000.

While Gurratan Singh is returning to the ballot, his will be the only name from 2018, with the other three parties introducing new candidates: Hardeep Grewal for the Conservatives, Jannat Garewal for the Liberals and Jamaal Blackwood for the Greens.

The highly contentious Highway 413 project is a top-line election issue.

(MapEnvironmental Defence)

It is one of three 400-series highways being planned by the PCs that will run partially through Ontarios protected Greenbelt.

The proposed route is expected to cause significant environmental destruction in the headwaters of key watersheds that support much of the biodiversity in southern Ontario.

Research spearheaded by the Simcoe County Greenbelt Coalition shows the highway alone would pave over 2,200 acres of Greenbelt land.

The project has been condemned by environmentalist groups, including Environmental Defence and climate law group Ecojustice, who have argued it would have sweeping consequences on everything from federally protected at-risk species to the health of ecologically vital lands that are also safeguarded from human activity.

Polling by EKOS for the David Suzuki Foundation found 65 percent of respondents across Ontario said Doug Ford has done a poor job of protecting the environment; 76 percent said the Greenbelt is no place for a new four-to-six-lane highway; and 69 percent said the Greenbelt needs more protection.

Both the NDP and Green Party have vowed to cancel the project.

Singh has condemned both the project, and the connection between Doug Ford and the developers pushing the planwho have donated $700,000 to the Progressive Conservatives who promise to build it.

So lets get this straight. As of now we dont know how much this proposed highway is going to cost, we dont know how much its going to cost, we also dont know how long its going to take to build it, Singh said on a video posted on May 5. The only thing we do know is developer friends are pushing as hard as they can to make it happen.

Its a particularly divisive issue in the riding because of the large number of residents who work in the transportation and logistics sector including many Punjabi-Canadian truck drivers that want to see the highway built.

The NDP vows instead to remove all tolls on Highway 407 for truckers, which the Party says will immediately end gridlock by reducing traffic on all 400 series highways in the area.

Gurratan Singh promises to remove Highway 407 tolls for truckers as their answer to the 400-seriesgridlock issue.

(Gurratan Singh/Twitter)

Representing the Conservatives is Hardeep Grewal.

Many of Grewals recent social media posts are direct retweets from Prabmeet Sarkaria, Conservative incumbent in Brampton South, and Doug Ford.

Grewal has also been an advocate for Highway 413, sharing promises that a PC government will make it a reality.

Hardeep Grewal tweeted out part of the PC commuter-driven agenda.

(Hardeep Grewal/ Twitter)

Brampton is always on the go and we need the roads, the highways, to keep Brampton moving, Sarkaria said in a video Grewal recently tweeted. Doug Ford and the Ontario PCs are saying yes. Yes to Highway 413 for Brampton, this means saying yes to saving commuters up to 30 minutes per trip, yes to creating 3,500 local jobs each year and generating over $350 million in GDP annually.

With the Liberal Party, things are a bit more complicated. While the Party itself has said it is against the project, its Brampton East candidate Jannat Garewal has vocalized her support for it, going against the platform of Steven Del Duca and the Liberals.

In a Punjabi language interview on May 11, she claimed there is no harm in building the highway.

We will definitely build this highway, but we need to focus on education first, Garewal said. Kids are our future, they will fulfill our workforce. So we want to invest in them at this time, we can build this highway later.

On May 16, Garewal tweeted, condemning the Highway 413 as wasteful, days after promising to definitely build this highway.

(Jannat Grewal/Twitter)

After public backlash, on May 16 she contradicted her earlier statements saying she fully supports the plan to scrap Highway 413. Complicating her flip-flopping, in a debate posted May 18, she returned to her earlier support, suggesting the Liberals want to construct Highway 413 after first investing in education.

I think the Liberal Party of Ontario and the Liberal leader Steven Del Duca knows that we need a university before we can start digging up a highway, then that way people can actually use the 413 and everyone can use it, not just for truckers.

The Tweet on May 16 was her first since 2018.

A previous request from The Pointer to the Ontario Liberal Party to find out why Garewal had contradicted the Party was not responded to.

Representing the Green Party this election is Jamaal Blackwood. He is a 28-year-old Toronto Metropolitan University student who believes in the ability of young people to solve todays most pressing issues, like the climate emergency and the housing affordability crisis.

(Green Party of Ontario)

The Green Party has been outspoken in its opposition to Highway 413, their website containing a petition for residents to sign to oppose the project.

Highway 413 was irresponsible the first time it was proposed under the Liberals and its no different now. But Doug Ford is all too eager to pave over the places we love, it reads.

Email: [emailprotected]

Twitter: @JessicaRDurling

COVID-19 is impacting all Canadians. At a time when vital public information is needed by everyone, The Pointer has taken down our paywall on all stories relating to the pandemic and those of public interestto ensure every resident of Brampton and Mississauga has access to the facts. For those who are able, we encourage you to consider a subscription. This will help us report on important public interest issues the community needs to know about now more than ever. You can register for a 30-day free trialHERE. Thereafter, The Pointer will charge $10 a month and you can cancel any time right on the website. Thank you

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Brampton East: A riding split over a highway - The Pointer

Fashioned by Russian political theorist Alexander Dugin, Neo-Eurasianism is a rabidly anti-liberal geostrategic ideology that seeks to turn Russia into a hegemon of the new multipolar world. So just how much influence does it wield in the Kremlin?

The short answer, lots.

What is Neo-Eurasianism?

Eurasianism first came to prominence in the 1920s. As a political theory, Eurasianism posits that the Eurasian civilisation is unique from both Western European and Eastern Asian cultures, with each civilisation unique and incompatible influenced by centuries of linguistic idiosyncrasy, geography, history, and interaction of peoples.

At the time, the theory contended that the Bolshevik Revolution was a response to the Westernisation of Imperial Russia and the Tsardom, with many proponents of the theory syncretising support for the newly formed Soviet government with previous imperial ambition to advocate for a greater Russia. This support among early Eurasianist thinkers such as Nikolai Trubetzkoy later washed away as the Soviets dismantled historical elements of Russian tradition and culture such as the Russian Orthodox Church.

Though, the ideology continued during the USSR through Lev Gumilev who fostered a narrative shift among proponents of Eurasianism and Russian nationalism. According to Tristan Kenderdines review essay Lev Gumilevs Eurasianism and ethnonationalist misappropriation of historical geography, the anthropologist changed the shape of the historical geography of Russia. His work forced a paradigm shift from the orthodox historiography of Russian survival of the Mongol invasions, to a view of Russian history that better reflected the institutional interactions between Russia and Turkic and Mongol peoples on the Eurasian landmass.

As such, under Gumilevs academic leadership, the narrative of Russian nationalism shifted from ethno-centric Russianism through to the broader concept that Eurasia has been shaped by interaction of a number of local ethnographies.

This brings us to modern Neo-Eurasianist thought, fashioned by Alexander Dugin.

Dugin has a checkered political background. Kicked out of the Moscow Aviation Institute in the early 1980s for translating the works of far-right Western thinkers such as Julius Evola, Dugin later joined underground right-wing movements including the Iuzhinskii Circle and Pamiat the latter of which he was expelled from due to his tendency toward Nazism.

While being an anti-Communist (while simultaneously an avowed Stalinist), Dugin was quoted in the University of California Press as suggesting that Stalin expresses the spirit of Soviet society and the Soviet people, and was the greatest personality in Russian history.

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Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Dugin turned toward political activism.

Following the creation of Dugins National Bolshevik Front in the early 1990s (NazBols), Dugin aligned his nationalist-cum-Stalinist political party with the National Salvation Front in the 1990s (a coalition of communist and nationalist groups).

While this may appear philosophically incoherent, and it is, Dugins patchwork of philosophies represent a nostalgia toward Russian strength and the belief that Eurasia should play a critical role at the centre of a new multipolar world.

This patchwork of tangential political theories and the embrace of multipolarity is tied together by the rejection of Western liberalism.

According to Andrey Tolstoy and Edmund McCaffray in the World Affairs journal, liberalism is morally wrong because it dissolves social bonds and obligations and devalues cultural legacy.

The pair notes that Neo-Eurasianism is best viewed through the lens of Dugins Fourth Political Theory which creates a new political theory alongside Marxism, fascism and liberalism upon which the ideal basis for individuals and societies is tradition, so history must therefore be the history of traditions, with politics in a secondary role. Ipso facto, this means that conflict between Atlanticism and Eurasianism can be understood as the conflict between individualistic societies and societies of tradition.

Such emphasis on this evolutionary tradition is referent on the 1920s concept of Eurasianism as noted:

As a political theory, Eurasianism posits that the Eurasian civilisation is unique from both Western European and Eastern Asian cultures, with each civilisation unique and incompatible influenced by centuries of linguistic idiosyncrasy, geography, history, and interaction of peoples.

Though, Dugins concept of the competition between Eurasianists and Atlanticists goes deeper than the battle between traditionalism and liberalism.

Those in the Atlanticist pole, including the UK and the United States, fomented a culture based on trade, liberalism and extreme commercialisation which are incongruent with Eurasian values systems which prioritise community and strong leadership.

Indeed, Neo-Eurasianists go as far as to suggest that the sea trading lineage of the Atlanticist countries and land-based cultures in Eurasia have had an impact on the evolutionary psychology of their peoples.

According to Richard Arnold and Ekaterina Romanova in theJournal for the Study of Radicalism, Neo-Eurasianists argue that the concepts of geopolitics, land and sea, have a lasting effect on the psychological constitution of a people.

Such that continental powers tend to authoritarianism and the trading naval power to democracy.

Beyond broad laudations for a new multipolar in which the United States can no longer unilaterally intervene in other nations affairs, some Neo-Eurasianists have insidiously argued that conflict between the West and Russia is a predetermined civilisational confrontation necessitated for Eurasia to be in control of its own destiny without intervention from the United States.

It is interesting that the growth of this ideology in post-Soviet Russia, which places such great emphasis on predestined conflict between Eurasia and the West, has reflexively added more fuel to Sam Huntingtons concept of the clash of civilisations.

Just how many people subscribe to this ideology?

While Neo-Eurasianisms philosophical incoherence, pseudo-evolutionary psychology and embrace for genocidal dictators may lead many to assume that this geopolitical ideology is fringe and broadly denounced, it isnt.

In fact, so much so have Dugins concepts been embraced that his 1997 book Foundations of Geopolitics is being taught at government institutions the entire country over.

Tolstoy and McCaffray continue, Dugin also lectures at the countrys Interior Ministry (i.e. police) academies, military schools, and other law enforcement institutions. These lectures are available online. In them, he presents an Atlanticist versus Eurasianist perspective, instructing Russias guardians of public order about the nature of the liberal-Atlanticist propaganda against which they must be immunised.

Nor have the countrys top lawmakers distanced themselves from him.

Tolstoy and McCaffray note that he further worked as an advisor to Sergei Naryshkin, chairman of the State Duma and ally of President Vladimir Putin.

Naryshkin now serves as the head of Russias Foreign Intelligence Service.

These concepts are also not only isolated to those more radical among Russias nationalists. Even other Eurasian states have come on board looking toward further integration with their former Soviet bedfellows. This is particularly evidenced through Kazakh Eurasianism, albeit a more moderated application of Dugins Neo-Eurasianism, which has seen support from the Kazakh government.

What does this mean for the West?

Dugin has been influential in helping the Kremlin build networks of partners beyond Russias borders. Though, such partners are not unified by common ideology rather a common grievance with the US-led international order.

From left-wing populists in Latin America, through to right-wing populists in Europe. From authoritarian regimes to disadvantaged nations.

In Dugins world of multipolarity, he provides these nations and political ideologues with a vision that they will be able to function alone outside of a world dominated by the US-led global order.

This is an essential part of Putins asymmetric warfare strategy, and will be a thorn in the United States side for decades to come.

Get involved with the discussion and let us know your thoughts on Australias future role and position in the Indo-Pacific region and what you would like to see from Australia's political leaders in terms of partisan and bipartisan agenda setting in the comments section below, or get in touch withThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.,This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or atThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Editor Defence andSecurity, Momentum Media

Liam began his career as a speech writer at New South Wales Parliament before working for world leading campaigns and research agencies in Sydney and Auckland. Throughout his career, Liam has managed and executed a range of international media and communications campaigns spanning politics, business, industrial relations and infrastructure. Hes since shifted his attention to researching and writing extensively on geopolitics and defence, specifically in North Africa, the Middle East and Asia. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Sydney and is undertaking a Masters in Strategy and Security from UNSW Canberra.

Neo-Eurasianism placing Russia on a path of collision with the West

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Neo-Eurasianism placing Russia on a path of collision with the West - Defence Connect

In recent weeks, the western public has been obsessed with the question What goes on in Putins mind? Western pundits wonder: do the people around him tell him the whole truth? Is he ill or going insane? Are we pushing him into a corner where he will see no other way out to save face than to accelerate the conflict into a total war?

We should stop this obsession with the red line, this endless search for the right balance between support for Ukraine and avoiding total war. The red line is not an objective fact: Putin himself is redrawing it all the time, and we contribute to his redrawing with our reactions to Russias activities. A question like Did US intelligence-sharing with Ukraine cross a line? makes us obliterate the basic fact: it was Russia itself which crossed the line, by attacking Ukraine. So instead of perceiving ourselves as a group which just reacts to Putin as an impenetrable evil genius, we should turn the gaze back at ourselves: what do we the free west want in this affair?

We must analyze the ambiguity of our support of Ukraine with the same cruelty we analyze Russias stance. We should reach beyond double standards applied today to the very foundations of European liberalism. Remember how, in the western liberal tradition, colonization was often justified in the terms of the rights of working people. John Locke, the great Enlightenment philosopher and advocate of human rights, justified white settlers grabbing land from Native Americans with a strange left-sounding argument against excessive private property. His premise was that an individual should be allowed to own only as much land as he is able to use productively, not large tracts of land that he is not able to use (and then eventually rents to others). In North America, as he saw it, Indigenous people were using vast tracts of land mostly just for hunting, and the white settlers who wanted to use it for intense agriculture had the right to seize it for the benefit of humanity.

In the ongoing Ukraine crisis, both sides present their acts as something they simply had to do: the west had to help Ukraine remain free and independent; Russia was compelled to intervene militarily to protect its safety. The latest example: the Russian foreign ministry claiming Russia will be forced to take retaliatory steps if Finland joins Nato. No, it will not be forced, in the same way that Russia was not forced to attack Ukraine. This decision appears forced only if one accepts the whole set of ideological and geopolitical assumptions that sustain Russian politics.

These assumptions have to be analyzed closely, without any taboos. One often hears that we should draw a strict line of separation between Putins politics and the great Russian culture, but this line of separation is much more porous than it may appear. We should resolutely reject the idea that, after years of patiently trying to resolve the Ukrainian crisis through negotiations, Russia was finally forced/compelled to attack Ukraine one is never forced to attack and annihilate a whole country. The roots are much deeper; I am ready to call them properly metaphysical.

Anatoly Chubais, the father of Russian oligarchs (he orchestrated Russias rapid privatization in 1992), said in 2004: Ive reread all of Dostoevsky over the past three months. And I feel nothing but almost physical hatred for the man. He is certainly a genius, but his idea of Russians as special, holy people, his cult of suffering and the false choices he presents make me want to tear him to pieces. As much as I dislike Chubais for his politics, I think he is right about Dostoevsky, who provided the deepest expression of the opposition between Europe and Russia: individualism versus collective spirit, materialist hedonism versus the spirit of sacrifice.

Russia now presents its invasion as a new step in the fight for decolonization, against western globalization. In a text published earlier this month, Dmitry Medvedev, the ex-president of Russia and now the deputy secretary of the security council of the Russian Federation, wrote that the world is waiting for the collapse of the idea of an American-centric world and the emergence of new international alliances based on pragmatic criteria. (Pragmatic criteria means disregard for universal human rights, of course.)

So we should also draw red lines, but in a way which makes clear our solidarity with developing countries. Medvedev predicts that, because of the war in Ukraine, in some states, hunger may occur due to the food crisis a statement of breathtaking cynicism. As of May 2022, about 25m metric tons of grain are slowly rotting in Odesa, on ships or in silos, since the port is blocked by the Russian navy. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that millions of people are marching towards starvation unless ports in southern Ukraine which have been closed because of the war, are reopened, Newsweek reports. Europe now promises to help Ukraine transport the grain by railway and truck but this is clearly not enough. A step more is needed: a clear demand to open the port for the export of grain, inclusive of sending protective military ships there. Its not about Ukraine, its about the hunger of hundreds of millions in Africa and Asia. Here should the red line be drawn.

The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, recently said: Imagine [the Ukraine war] is happening in Africa, or the Middle East. Imagine Ukraine is Palestine. Imagine Russia is the United States. As expected, comparing the conflict in Ukraine with the plight of the Palestinians offended many Israelis, who believe there are no similarities, Newsweek noted. For example, many point out that Ukraine is a sovereign, democratic country, but dont consider Palestine as a state. Of course Palestine is not a state because Israel denies its right to be a state in the same way Russia denies the right of Ukraine to be a sovereign state. As much as I find Lavrovs remarks repulsive, he sometimes deftly manipulates the truth.

Yes, the liberal west is hypocritical, applying its high standards very selectively. But hypocrisy means you violate the standards you proclaim, and in this way you open yourself up to inherent criticism when we criticize the liberal west, we use its own standards. What Russia is offering is a world without hypocrisy because it is without global ethical standards, practicing just pragmatic respect for differences. We have seen clearly what this means when, after the Taliban took over in Afghanistan, they instantly made a deal with China. China accepts the new Afghanistan while the Taliban will ignore what China is doing to Uyghurs this is, in nuce, the new globalization advocated by Russia. And the only way to defend what is worth saving in our liberal tradition is to ruthlessly insist on its universality. The moment we apply double standards, we are no less pragmatic than Russia.

Slavoj iek is a cultural philosopher. Hes a senior researcher at the Institute for Sociology and Philosophy at the University of Ljubljana, Global Distinguished Professor of German at New York University, and international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities of the University of London

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We must stop letting Russia define the terms of the Ukraine crisis - The Guardian

Will Sabel Courtney

It's a rare day when a new Range Rover debuts.

Of course, when I say that, I'm referring to what Land Rover snobs would probably refer to as the real Range Rover that is, not one boasting a suffix like Sport or Evoque or Velar, but the one that can trace its lineage all the way back to the days of the Apollo missions, when it arguably pioneered the then-silly-sounding idea of a luxury sport utility vehicle. No, a new version of the "true" Range Rover has only come around five times in human history; the first debuted in 1969, the second followed a whopping 25 years later, the third arrived in 2001, the fourth in 2012.

And now we're here a decade after that, once again faced with an all-new Land Rover Range Rover. But this Range Rover faces a very different future than any of its predecessors. The era of gasoline powertrains is coming rapidly to a close in favor of electric vehicles, so the Range Rover is finding ways to go green; the world's wealthy are growing wealthier, so the Range Rover can push upmarket; and, perhaps most notably, the SUV has now become the de facto vehicle of choice in nations across the world, so the Range Rover now needs to offer even more all-around family-friendly capability on top of everything else it does well.

So, here in 2022, how does the vehicle once so memorably described on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia as "a transporter of gods" hold up in the face of a changing world and fresh competition? We headed to California to find out.

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It's all-new although it's easier to tell that from the back than it is from the front, where the design is much more evolutionary than revolutionary. The face of the new model bears an intentional resemblance to the prior one; the rear, on the flip side, is sleeker and more streamlined, with thin vertical tail lamps that, admittedly, give it a slight resemblance to the stern of a Kia Telluride.

Beneath that evolutionary design, however, lies a new platform known as "MLA Flex" in Jaguar Land Rover parlance. Designed to be used in everything from gas-engined mild hybrids to electric vehicles, it's being used for the first time here; it's both stiffer and more quiet than the previous Range Rover, which wasn't exactly a rattling cardboard box.

Under the hood lies a choice of two different gas-powered powertrains, at least to start in the United States. Base models come packing the mild-hybrid 3.0-liter inline-six that's quickly become a familiar face across the Land Rover lineup, here making 395 horsepower and 406 lb-ft of torque.

The V8 variant is something of a throwback in terms of legacy, if not technology; like the eight-pot found in the Range Rover a couple generations ago, it's made by BMW. Unlike that V8, however, this new one is twin-turbocharged to crank out a claimed 523 horsepower and 533 lb-ft of torque...and Bimmer's turbo motors often turn out to be underrated from the factory.

If those choices don't float your boat, don't sweat: there are not one but two other powertrains coming soon that make greater use of electrons. First up in the next year comes an incipient plug-in hybrid variant that combines an inline-six with a 38.2-kWh battery that gives it a claimed 62 miles of all-electric range on the admittedly liberal WLTP testing circuit; a bit further down the line comes a fully electric Range Rover EV, based on the same chassis as the gas-powered versions.

Everything you'd hope for from an esteemed British carmaker. Even on those monstrous wheels, it rides smoothly and silently, sopping up potholes like warm bread grabbing olive oil. Land Rover's test drive route included a surprising amount of twists and turns, including a good two hours of driving along curvy California Route 1 north of San Francisco; the Range Rover handled them ably, but there's no denying it's soft; it bobs and sways in turns, no matter how much stiffness you ask the active suspension to add in. It's far more comfortable cruising serenely and silently through town or along the open road. Think old-school luxury sedan, just with a much better view.

The inline-six version is more than adequate for the average commuter; it's smooth and refined, and capable enough of getting out of its own way when you hammer the throttle, but it's more content cruising along at a steady state, making barely any noise in the process.

Still, if you have the scratch you'll need to spend at least $18,300 over a base model to grab it I highly recommend opting for the V8. The extra power turns the Range Rover into something with near-muscle car thrust; leaping through gaps in traffic goes from a cautious exercise to a delight, the nose rearing up as the gearbox drops four gears and the exhaust spits out a civilized powerboat roar. It adds an unexpected bit of fun to an otherwise spit-polished on-road experience.

Well, funny story. While Land Rover had prepared a comprehensive series of off-road courses to test out the new Range Rover's capabilities, we only had the chance to do one of the activities because it was too wet the rest of the time.

Once the steady spring rain started saturating the Napa Valley earth, the dirt paths quickly turned to slick, rusty mud slippery enough to make the steep climbs and descents of the off-road courses too slippery to manage on the thin, road-biased tires outfitted to our test vehicles.

Still, in the limited time we were able to take this new SUV off the beaten path, it demonstrates the aplomb and capability you'd expect. With the air suspension jacked up to maximum height, the ride turns a bit flinty, as it seems to be pushed to the limits of compliance; still, that's an edge case, one only likely to occur in shorts bursts at low speeds. Otherwise, the combination of full-time four-wheel-drive and Land Rover's suite of mechanical and electronic off-road gadgetry delivers its usual remarkable level of capability, enabling this SUV to scramble over obstacles and through terrain where most vehicles this price would fear to tread.

Important as it is for the Range Rover to maintain its reputation as a go-anywhere vehicle, those who plan on doing actual off-roading on a regular basis in this day and age are more likely to buy a Defender. The Range Rover has nothing to be ashamed of in terms of its capabilities...although anyone planning on maximizing them definitely should choose their tires wisely.

A massive improvement wouldn't be an exaggeration. The old Range Rover was nice, sure, and Land Rover did a good job keeping it fresh over its decade-long life but the all-new 2022 model is a whole different kettle of fish.

As you'd expect in a new luxury car in this day and age, screens are central to the experience. The new Range Rover's infotainment system screen extends out further than it seems, mushrooming out from the dashboard to provide a mighty tablet for you to fiddle with; it's still a bit laggy and obtuse compared to some competitors' systems, but at the very least Land Rover still offers physical controls for the climate, drive modes and volume. Plus, once you're rolling, you'll be too comfortable in the seats to care much; they're wonderful places to spend some time watching the world go by (or at least from which to peer over the interior's details while you're stuck in traffic).

Nice as every Rangie is inside, though, anyone seeking sybaritic excellence is best off leaping straight to the top of the lineup, where the Range Rover SV lies. Do so, and you score suche super-premium touches as independent 13.1-inch rear screens, ceramic accents on the controls, curated color theme accents like elegant accent touches on the exterior, and something called optional "marquetry veneer," which features hundreds of pieces of laser-cut, super-detailed wood trim. I don't understand it, but I can say it looks gorgeous.

More specifically, though, you'll want the version with the SV Signature Suite, which is only available with the long-wheelbase body style. That nets you a pair of reclining, 24-way seats nay, thrones that heat, ventilate and massage you on command, while offering enough legroom for Kareem Abdul-Jabar to relax. A table rises dramatically from the center console at the press of a button, as do cupholders. And, of course, there's a refrigerator designed to hold a champagne bottle between the seats.

Wisely, Land Rover made sure we spent as much time in the SV Signature Suite as possible driving to and from the airport twice with a chauffeur behind the wheel and I can firmly state that it ranks among the most palatial backseat experiences you can find in a car that comes straight from the factory. If I can sum it up in one sentence, it'd be this. Land Rover flew us from San Francisco to Napa on a charter jet to avoid the horrendous Bay Area traffic; I'd have rather spent five times as long riding there in the back of the SV.

Of course, those thrones come at a cost, and we're not just talking price. (Although...more on that in a second.) The elaborate mechanisms, surrounding and accoutrements of the rear seats means the second row doesn't fold flat, somewhat impugning your expensive sport-utility vehicle's utility. There's still plenty of space in back, as you can see here, but anyone who wants to carry mountain bikes or surfboards in, rather than on, their Range Rover probably will want to go with a lower trim.

Of course, if you opt for the long-wheelbase Range Rover and don't need the fanciest interior, you can also, for the first time, score a third row in the back. It can, indeed, fit a full-sized human if need be, although they'd better be prepared to become rather intimate with their kneecaps. It's better-suited for occasional use, like a jump seat in cars of yore something you leave stowed away and forget about most of the time, until you suddenly find yourself needing to transport more people than planned.

Well, the answer is a bit more complex than you might suspect. If you want to give the simplest explanation, I'd say, it starts at $95,150 with destination. (That said, that goes up about $10K for the 2023 model year; blame, y'know, the world.) But there are a stunning amount of ways to option up a Range Rover, depending on powertrain, length and trim level SE, HSE, Autobiography, First Edition and SV for 2022.

Depending on your choices, then, that starting price can fade into the rear view real quick. Pick the range-topping SV and check all the boxes, and you'll pass the quarter-million dollar mark on the window sticker.

Land Rover, no doubt, would tell you that a Range Rover has no true competitors but while that once certainly was true, it's far from the case here in 2022. At the lower end of its pricing spectrum, the Range Rover stacks up against vehicles like the Mercedes-Benz GLE- and GLS-Class, the Cadillac Escalade, the Lincoln Aviator and Navigator, the BMW X5 and X7 although if you're looking for something similarly priced with the same sort of off-road street cred, your best bet is the Lexus LX 600.

Push your way to the top of the pricing structure, however, and you're cross-shopping against seriously dignified metal. The Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 and new Bentley Bentayga EWB both offer similarly palatial second-row accommodations, while the regular wheelbase Bentayga and Rolls-Royce Cullinan offer more of a driver-centric experience. And while the likes of the Aston Martin DBX and Lamborghini Urus deliver a very different sort of drive, they do both rival the top-shelf Range Rover in matters of curb appeal which, let's face it, is a big reason many people choose such

But impressive as they may be in so many ways, all those contenders all lack one thing this SUV has: it's a Range Rover, and all that it implies.

Powertrain: 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-six / 4.4-liter twin-turbocharged V8; eight-speed automatic; four-wheel-drive

Horsepower: 395 / 523

Torque: 406 / 533

EPA Fuel Economy: 18 / 16 mpg city, 26 / 21 mpg highway

Seats: Four to seven

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It might not be exactly what you wanted, but the new Defender is what Land Rover needs right now.

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2022 Land Rover Range Rover Review: An Improved Transporter of Gods - Gear Patrol

When Anthony Albanese took the stage in front of almost 1000 party faithful in his seat of Grayndler he acknowledged the Traditional Owners of the land he stood on, then announced his first major policy announcement.

On behalf of the Australian Labor Party, I commit the Uluru Statement from the Heart, he said.

We can answer its patient, gracious call for a voice enshrined in our Constitution because all of us ought to be proud, that amongst our great multicultural society, we count the oldest living continuous culture in the world.

The Prime Minister-elect then told the packed room that Wiradjuri woman Linda Burney would be the government's Indigenous Affairs minister.

She takes over from the Coalitions Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt who lost his seat of Hasluck in an electoral wipeout in Western Australia, that helped hand Labor victory in the 2022 federal election.

Incoming Federal Aboriginal Affairs Minister Linda Burney (R) and Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe on NITV's The Point election special last week. Source: NITV

Ms Burney, whose commitment to Aboriginal affairs spans more than 30 years, was the first Aboriginal person to be elected to the NSW Parliament and the first Aboriginal woman to serve in the House of Representatives.

While Albanese is set to be sworn into the top job on Monday, less clear is whether Labor will be able to govern in their own right, or need the help of an expanded crossbench.

"No matter how you voted ... the government I lead will will respect everyone of you every day," he told the crowd.

"We can have an even better future if we seize the opportunities that are right there in front of us."

He said his rise from humble upbringings to prime minister said a lot about the nation's equality.

"I hope there are families in public housing watching this ... because I want every parent to be able to tell their child no mater where you live or where you come from, in Australia the doors of opportunity are open to us all."

Outgoing prime minister Scott Morrison took responsibility for the Liberals' defeat. Source: Getty Images AsiaPac

Meanwhile, ScottMorrisonstepped down as leader of the Liberal Party after conceding defeat, saying he accepted responsibility for the result.

MrMorrisonsays he will hand over the leadership at the next party meeting.

"To my colleagues who have had to deal with very difficult news, and have lost their seats tonight, I as leader take responsibility for the wins and the losses," he told supporters at Liberal headquarters in Sydney.

"That is the burden and that is the responsibility of leadership."

Defence Minister Peter Dutton, who is tipped to take Morrison's place, also expressed sorrow for his Liberal colleagues as he claimed victory in his Brisbane-based seat of Dickson.

"We have, as a Liberal family, suffered a terrible day today. There are some amazing people who supported the Liberal Party day in, day out. Through good times and bad," he said.

"They are hurting tonight. I want to acknowledge them. I want to acknowledge the work of the prime minister and Josh Frydenberg."

The rest is here:

Albanese recommits to Uluru Statement to begin victory speech - SBS

By Maureen Revait May 25, 2022 4:13pm

The NDP candidate for Windsor-Tecumseh says she will work with government partners to protect the former Abars property from future development.

The land at Lauzon Road and Riverside Drive is currently owned by the Detroit International Bridge Company, owners of the Ambassador Bridge.

Ive secured the commitment from the Ontario NDP party that they will be partners in this acquisition by the public sector and for community use, said Gemma Grey-Hall, NDP candidate for Windsor-Tecumseh.

Grey-Hall says the land should be protected to mitigate the impacts of climate change and reduce flooding in the community.

We want to make sure that we are listening to the conservation authority that we have here in Ontario and we know that they have been ringing the flag when it comes to climate change specifically, the importance of green spaces and the importance of flood mitigation, said Grey-Hall.

The provincial election is on June 2. Also running in Windsor-Tecumseh are Gary Kaschak for the Liberal Party, Andrew Dowie for the Progressive Conservatives, Steven Gifford for the Ontario Party, Melissa Coulbeck for the Green Party, Sophia Sevo for the New Blue Party, David Sylvestre with the None of the Above Direct Democracy Party, Giovanni Abati, Nick Babic, and Laura Chesnik.

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Grey-Hall commits to protecting green space in Riverside - BlackburnNews.com