Category: Political Commentary & Analysis, Political Satire, Press Freedom, Media & Journalism, Australian History & Politics, Corporate Power & Democracy

A long paper receipt curls across a dark wooden surface in the foreground, printed with the words Diesel, Data Bundle and Gas Royalties. Behind it, a composite background blurs together a supermarket aisle, a classroom and a fuel bowser.

THE RECEIPT: the tab

April 25, 2026 · 4 Comments ·

The receipt from the Ararat servo gets longer. Palantir Technologies is watching every movement of every Coles shelf-stacker. The AI bubble is burning gas to produce, so far, almost nothing of measurable value. And thirty-five thousand Victorian teachers walked off the job to tell us what this is all costing. Urban Wronski tallies the full tab.

The radome spheres of Pine Gap intelligence facility visible against the Australian desert sky at dusk, small against the vast red landscape

Not Reporting A War Part 2

April 12, 2026April 12, 2026 · 2 Comments ·

Pete Hegseth is the Peter Principle applied to the largest weapons arsenal in human history. Pine Gap guides the missiles. Australian-made F-35 parts are in the payload. And our media calls it a partnership. Part Two of Urban Wronski’s investigation into what Australia’s press is not reporting, and what our silence is costing.

Editorial illustration showing a destroyed classroom in the foreground open to the sky, a satellite dish in a red desert in the midground, and a television news anchor calmly broadcasting in the background, representing the gap between Australian media coverage and the reality of the Iran war.

NOT REPORTING A WAR: HOW AUSTRALIA’S MEDIA LAUNDERS A CRIME (PART 1)

April 10, 2026April 12, 2026 · 5 Comments ·

Australia’s mainstream press hasn’t just failed the Iran war test. It has “Ajax-ed” the crime, scrubbing blood and guts from the ledger of history. When 170 girls are obliterated in a classroom in Minab and the ABC calls it “more than 100 children dead in a strike,” the anaesthetic is working. By Urban Wronski.

Are we at War with Iran?

March 23, 2026 · 4 Comments ·

INTERVIEWER: Are we at war with Iran?
ALBANESE: No.
INTERVIEWER: Then why did they bomb our base?
ALBANESE: Because they’re Iran.
One interviewer. One Prime Minister. Forty-five satellite dishes, three submariners, one Wedgetail aircraft, a peace negotiation bombed flat, a hundred and seventy schoolgirls, and a pocket square without a mark on it. A political interview in the tradition of Clarke and Dawe.

Aftermath of an airstrike on a school in Minab, Iran, with rubble, a damaged playground, and missile debris marked “Made in USA” in the foreground

A War Built on Lies, Sold by Lobbyists, with Innocent Children as its Price

March 23, 2026 · 2 Comments ·

On the eve of a diplomatic breakthrough, the bombs fell. What followed was not a war of necessity but a war of choice, lobbied into existence, launched in bad faith, and paid for in civilian lives.

Aerial view of a destroyed girls' school in southern Iran, rubble strewn across a courtyard, small backpacks visible among the debris, emergency workers standing back at dusk as smoke rises from the ruins.

Double Tap? Double Depravity

March 6, 2026 · 5 Comments ·

As US and Israeli forces use double-tap airstrikes to kill survivors and first responders in Iran, Australia’s silence makes us complicit. Pine Gap is in the kill chain. Anthony Albanese had three hours to decide. He chose wrong.

Empty presidential chair at an Oval Office conference table, briefing papers scattered, Middle East map on the wall.

February 19, 2026February 20, 2026 · 7 Comments ·

When Donald Trump declares victory over Iran’s nuclear program, his own intelligence chiefs exchange glances. The IAEA knows otherwise. But in the mind of a man with frontotemporal dementia, facts are optional. This is the story of an empire on autopilot — steered by a president whose most dangerous weapon is his own deteriorating mind.

Abstract split composition with archival redaction bars and padlock on warm parchment ground contrasted against fading digital message bubbles on dark ground, representing the conflict between government disposal freeze orders and press freedom for ABC and SBS journalists.

Clarke and Dawe: The Messages That Refused to Disappear

February 6, 2026February 6, 2026 · 4 Comments ·

The National Archives orders ABC and SBS journalists to stop their Signal messages from disappearing. The ABC declines to explain how it will protect sources. The SBS is “still working through it.” Nobody is accountable. In the spirit of Clarke and Dawe, Urban Wronski follows the circular buck-passing to its magnificently absurd conclusion.

Urban Wronski Writes

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