The Rules-Based Order: Where America Gets Away with Murder, and Everyone Else Gets the Bombs

The US and its allies including Australia don’t give a fig about Iranian or Palestinian lives. If they did, they wouldn’t be starving Iranians with sanctions that block medicine, food and fuel. They wouldn’t be funding insurgents who turn protests violent, ensuring the regime cracks down harder. They wouldn’t be threatening war while pretending to care about “the brave Iranian people”.

The US’s Multi‑Front War: A House of Cards

President Trump’s “Caracas raid,” enabled by the mysterious “Discombobulator,” epitomized a “Butch Cassidy” approach to international relations: a quick smash-and-grab to seize vital resources. Yet, as the rusty reality of Venezuela’s dilapidated oil infrastructure and a $200 billion repair bill quickly proved, the high-tech crowbar of the Discombobulator couldn’t fix what decades of neglect and sanctions had broken. Now, as a similar high-stakes gambit unfolds in the Persian Gulf against Iran, leaders like Brazil’s Lula caution against the “terrorism on an industrial scale” that comes with mistaking a tactical victory for a sustainable policy.

The War Nobody’s Paid to See Coming

Right now, the USS Abraham Lincoln and nine escort warships are sitting in the Persian Gulf like a loaded gun aimed at Iran’s heart. Not one Australian media outlet can independently verify what this means for Australians when the shooting starts. Are we up shit creek with America again?

Clarke and Dawe Do Canberra Discipline

In a satirical dialogue, Prime Minister Clarke discusses the appointment of Greg Moriarty as Australia’s ambassador in Washington. Clarke defends the promotion as a form of accountability and claims that survival in politics defines success. The conversation highlights the perceived continuity and unchanging culture within the government, despite promises of reform.

A Dead Parrot

The Liberal Party isn’t just dying—it’s a corpse on life support, clinging to 18 seats as One Nation surges and the Teal wave reshapes Australian politics forever. In this forensic analysis, David Tyler dissects the party’s collapse through the lens of Goldstein’s razor-thin 2025 election—a pyrrhic victory for Tim Wilson that exposed the Liberals’ systemic irrelevance on climate, inequality, and governance. With Roy Morgan polling at 24% and the Nationals in open revolt, is this the end of the road for a party that’s lost the cities, abandoned the margins, and alienated the future?