This latest episode analyses the escalating Israel–Iran conflict, unpacking this week’s deadly strikes on nuclear facilities, the retaliatory missile fire, and the West’s predictable “right to defend” double-standard. We challenge the narrative that paints Tehran as a perpetual “regime” while letting Israel’s undeclared nuclear arsenal slip past UN scrutiny, and we ask why Washington and Benjamin Netanyahu might welcome a conveniently timed distraction from their domestic troubles. We detail the high-stakes gamble of forcing “regime change” on a 94-million-strong regional power with allies from Russia to India, suggesting that Iran is not like Gaza, Libya or Iraq – and the world can’t afford a recycled “weapons of mass destruction” lie.
Back home, we explore Australia’s cameo at the G7 in Canada, where Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s planned face-to-face with President Donald Trump failed to materialise. While the Murdoch press crowed over a “snub”, we explain how tariffs on Australian exports, AUKUS submarine costs and a volatile White House make genuine diplomacy a moving target. The Coalition seized grabbed this opportunity with predictable point-scoring – but we discuss why Australia remains a low priority for Trump’s America First agenda.
This episode also looks at the imploding NSW Liberal Party, now under federal intervention after historic election losses, and questions whether stale insiders can revive a brand mired in factional warfare and relevance deprivation. Finally, Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ promise of “bold economic reform” at the National Press Club gets the microscope: will the ALP muster the courage for progressive tax, superannuation overhaul and cost-of-living relief, or will inviting a wrecking-ball opposition to the roundtable doom the agenda on arrival?
Photo credit: Moshe Mizrahi/Reuters.
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