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Julian Assange is not the hero many want him to be

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Assange supporters, High Court in London, 24 January 2022 [Alisdare Hickson CC BY-SA 4.0]

Some are celebrating the release of Julian Assange while others beg to differ. Were his actions those of a whistleblower interested in calling out war crimes and human rights violations? Or were his actions those of a traitor? Was it freedom of the press or a childish action by a self-centred activist with financial interest that threatened the lives of our military personnel and the lives of our allies?

The Unfiltered newsletter had this to say:
The Assange coverage continues today, not only with pieces from the World section, which includes Terry Barnes’ less than enthusiastic coverage of the WikiLeaks editor, but also of Speccie regular Michael de Percy and his co-writer Sascha Dov Bachmann. They disagree with other writers we have had on the topic, and instead argue in favour of state secrets for the purpose of protecting military activities and the men and women who put their lives at risk in these foreign countries.

The Morning Double Shot newsletter had this to say:

Your scribe upset some readers yesterday in being appalled about Julian Assange’s treatment as a returning journalistic hero and martyr for his cause. My commentary, however, is mild compared to this brutally honest piece by Michael de Percy and Sascha Dov Bachmann. Read it and judge Assange’s Wikileaking against the de Percy-Bachmann yardstick. UK contributor Mary Dejevsky has also raised serious questions about the Assange freedom deal itself. 

My latest in The Spectator Australia with Professor Sascha Dov Bachmann, Julian Assange is not the hero many want him to be.

The case for a government-owned nuclear reactor fleet

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Australia has laready built two major nuclear reactors. The HIFAR Reactor at Lucas Heights.

Peter Dutton’s announcement that the Coalition will build seven nuclear reactors on the sites of existing coal-fired power stations is good policy and it will work. In response, the Albanese government has nothing but lame memes and a $1.3 trillion renewables policy that shows no signs of providing reliable, affordable electricity for industry or consumers.

Indeed, under Albo’s watch, Australia is in the worst shape it’s ever been, considering the cost-of-living crisis is an own-goal by Albo and Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen. Even the much-maligned RMIT ABC Fact Check is now saying that Bowen’s claims about nuclear plants are ‘exaggerated’.

Labor is scared because it knows its ideologically driven energy policy is a grifter’s paradise that has nothing to do with providing cheap and reliable energy.

But much of this has been said already and it is not the point of my argument.

Here I outline the merits of a government-owned and built fleet of nuclear reactors for Australia.

Alexandra Marshall had this to say in the Unfiltered newsletter:

Michael de Percy makes the case for Dutton’s government-owned nuclear reactor fleet. Yes, there are some things that government can, and should, involve themselves in. Securing a reliable energy grid is one of them.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, The case for a government-owned nuclear reactor fleet.

Taiwan and Australia: She’ll be right, mate?

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Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, Liberty Square, Taipei, 9 June 2024

From Taipei: One of the first things that struck me about Taiwan is that I felt like I was in Cairns. The monsoon rain, the dark skies… You are wet, but you are also hot and sweating and you just have to settle into it. It’s a good thing the local drop is good and cheap, as any Aussie who as lived in Australia’s north would appreciate.

After travelling from Shanghai to Seoul to Taipei in succession, it took a few days to work out which apps I could use to navigate and pay for food, and which language I should use for the normal courtesies. Restrictions in each country require one to be flexible. It was certainly a journey along a spectrum from the highly regulated to the less regulated society.

Writing in the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes had this to say:

Writing from Taipei, Michael de Percy recounts some of the modern history of Taiwan, and how this democracy has flourished in spite of everything thrown at it. He argues that Australia can’t leave little Taiwan to the mercy of Red China with a ‘she’ll be right’ attitude to Asian geopolitics: he’s right.

Writing in the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall had this to say:

The whole ‘she’ll be right’ philosophy that Australians are so fond of might not work out for Taiwan. Writing from his travels in the area, Michael de Percy notes a similar laid back attitude to existential threats in Taiwan – an attitude not shared by the country’s neighbours.

My latest article in The Spectator Australia, Taiwan and Australia: She’ll be right, mate?

Rescuing hostages amid the Israel Defense Forces’ trial by media

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Australia's relationship with Israel is unnecessarily strained [Source: Deposit Photos]

My article with Andrew Fox and Sascha Dov Bachmann in The Spectator Australia, Rescuing hostages amid the Israel Defence Forces’ trial by mediaRescuing hostages amid the Israel Defence Forces’ trial by media.

Over the weekend, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) pulled off a daring daylight raid to rescue four hostages held by Hamas from two different locations in Gaza. The hostages were held in civilian houses near a busy marketplace in Nuseirat in central Gaza.

From what we know, after freeing the hostages, an IDF extraction vehicle broke down and drew fire from dozens of Hamas fighters armed with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms.

The IDF returned fire using jets and helicopters, surged ground troops into the area, and cleared a safe extraction route. The result was four Israeli hostages from the Nova festival massacre were rescued, and one senior Israeli special forces officer was killed, along with a significant number of Hamas terrorists and Palestinian civilians, including women and children.

After Israel’s tactical success, civilian casualty figures in Gaza become the focus of the international media and the basis for condemnation.

Writing in the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes had this to say:

When it comes to Israel rescuing her hostages from the barbaric hands of Hamas, she has to do it with two hands tied behind her back. Not only does she have to contend with the rallying of ignorant activists for Hamas, but she must also do everything kosher and above board, under the microscopic scrutiny of a global media and journalists who seemingly loathe the very existence of the Jewish state, and will exploit any excess or slip-up against her. Sascha Bachmann, Michael de Percy and Andrew Fox make this point: ‘If Australian hostages were taken by a terrorist group, we would rightly expect the Australian Defence Force to do everything possible to bring the hostages home safe’. Why shouldn’t the IDF plan to do the same, and its commitment to keep collateral loss of life to a minimum be accepted and respected?

North Korea trash politics sky-high while our pollies are distracted

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Guard Post at YP-Do, 3 June 2024

From Baengnyeongdo, South Korea: Here at what the Americans call PY-Do in the Yellow Sea, we are closer to North Korea’s capital than we are to the South’s capital, Seoul. PY-Do is an ‘island outpost at freedom’s frontier’. It is home to over 4,000 South Koreans and exists in an administrative afterthought of the Korean Armistice Agreement in an area known as the Northwest Islands.

The United Nations Command (UNC) established a Northern Limit Line (NLL) in 1953 at a time when the North’s navy was barely existent. In effect, South Korea stays below the NLL while North Korea does not recognise it. The five Northwest Islands, of which PY-Do and Yeonpyeongdo (YP-do) are a part, remain a flashpoint for hostilities between the two nations.

PY-Do is the site of annual South Korean and US military drills designed to ‘bolster their readiness against North Korean nuclear threats’. Technically, North and South Korea remain at war, but general hostilities ceased in 1953. The threat of tit-for-tat skirmishes, however, is ever-present.

Writing in the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall had this to say about my article:

I was chatting to Michael de Percy before Speccie TV the other day and he was telling me all about his trip in South Korea. ‘You should be our foreign correspondent!’ I unfairly badgered him on air. Michael was kind enough to dutifully reply with an excellent story of what it’s like in the demilitarised zone. He writes: ‘It is confronting and gives one a sense of gratitude for the lifestyles we enjoy in the West. But it also makes me realise how important it is that we actively defend our way of life and celebrate the achievements of the West.’

My latest in The Spectator Australia, North Korea trash politics sky-high while our pollies are distractedNorth Korea trash politics sky-high while our pollies are distracted.

Anti-Israel stance emboldens anti-Semitism

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Sydney University Pro-Palestinian Encampmment 24 April 2024. Photo: Bookish Worm [CC BY 4.0] 

Students and their hangers-on at the pro-Palestinian ‘glamping’ protest camps at our Group of 8 (G8) universities reveal an underlying falsehood that has grabbed the hearts and minds of our young people. This is a deliberate strategy of Hamas, the proscribed terrorist organisation that is a puppet of Iran, to weaken not only the support for Israel’s fight for survival since October 7 last year but also the West in general. Our young people have fallen hook, line, and sinker for the cognitive warfare that is intensifying as terrorists’ confidence grows as a direct result of student protests in the West.

Writing in the Unfiltered newsletter, Alexandra Marshall had this to say:

Michael de Percy and Sascha Dov Bachmann express their frustration with the behaviour and messaging of top Western universities when it comes to protests. They argue that the openly anti-Israel stance taken by university management has empowered anti-Semitism amongst the student body.

Writing in the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes had this to say:

Closer to home, Michael de Percy and Sascha Dov Bachmann make the simple but telling point: being reflexively anti-Israel emboldens anti-semitism. If only those attacking Israel and her people at every turn, and denying her right to exist, would at least have the decency to denounce the Hamas atrocities of 7 October, demand those who planned and executed them be rooted out and dealt with, and call for the release of all Israeli hostages as a precondition to any Gaza ceasefire. But no.

My latest in The Spectator Australia with Professor Sascha Dov Bachmann, Anti-Israel stance emboldens anti-Semitism.

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