Solomon Islands

There has been a flurry of visits by United States' officials to the Pacific over the past year in a bid to shore up imperial hegemony in the region. Binoy Kampmark reports.

Socialist candidate Felix Dance said the federal government must be worried about its re-election chances for Peter Dutton to give a war speech on ANZAC Day, writes Mayura Ashok.

Socialist Alliance Victorian Senate candidate Felix Dance criticised the Coalition's “khaki election” strategy, saying “war is a racket”.

Canberra's bullying of the Manasseh Sogavare government for its deal with China follows from its longstanding paternalistic approach on the existential matter of rising seas. William Briggs reports.

Since becoming the minister for offence, Peter Dutton has used every opportunity to spruik Australia’s “need” to prepare for war against China. ANZAC Day provided another opening for the hawk. Pip Hinman reports.

While the Solomon Islands is divided on the security deal with China, Australia's major parties have been shouting from the same song book. Binoy Kampmark reports. 

A tidal wave of outrage followed the Solomon Islands and China signing a security deal. Missing in the fury is a recognition that the Solomon Islands is a sovereign state, argues William Briggs.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has wasted no time in deploying defence and federal police personnel to the Solomon Islands. Binoy Kampmark looks at the motivations behind the move.

Demonstration in solidarity with West Papua. Honiara, Solomon Islands. Indonesian police beat two West Papuan students in Yahukimo, Papua Province, on September 16 for handing out leaflets about the Pacific Islands Forum.
Marchers in Honiara in support of West Papua’s bid to join the MSG, June 19. The Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) granted the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) observer membership during a summit meeting in Honiara on June 26. It also upgraded Indonesia’s membership from observer to associate.
The Aboriginal Provisional Government (APG) made the following media release on May 12, 2015. * * * APG diplomat Pekeri Ruska (Goenpul/Yuggera) was harassed and threatened by customs officials at Brisbane international airport this afternoon after presenting only her Aboriginal passport which had been stamped on entry and exit from Honiara, Solomon Islands.
Back in 1989 a schoolmate of mine showed me some copies of Tribune, the newspaper of New Zealand’s Socialist Unity Party. The SUP had for decades been convinced of the infallibility of the leadership of the Soviet Union, and the pages of Tribune were full of recycled press releases from the Kremlin and large airbrushed photographs of crumbling Soviet leaders like Leonid Brezhnev and Yuri Andropov.