Dr Scott Burchill taught the theory of International Relations for over 30 years and analyses international politics. Honorary Fellow of Deakin University.
Melbourne & Paris
Joined January 2009
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One very disturbed individual @votelewko
Scott Burchill retweeted
Pretty clear that Israel tried to provoke Iran into restarting the full scale war, directly defying Trump. But sure, they're a US ally.
Report: Israeli jets flew to Iran's border in what US sources suspect was a bid to provoke Tehran
timesofisrael.com/liveblog_e…
Remember @simon_schama "Honestly, all we are asking for is to be left alone...". If only.
US and Israel draw up plans for renewed strikes on Iran after elections nytimes.com/2026/10/21/us/po…
Netanyahu made plans to restart Iran strikes earlier this month ft.com/content/eb4d1101-45ed…
Is France spinning out of control? ft.com/content/616c796b-a288…
US and Israel draw up plans for renewed strikes on Iran after elections nytimes.com/2026/10/21/us/po…
Triggering austerity lemonde.fr/en/economy/articl…
The reason pro-Ukrainian Russophobes will not mention, let alone debate the notion of a NATO proxy war is because it opens up the Pandora's box of nefarious US meddling in the politics of other countries.
That's a lid that must be nailed shut even though it is at the expense of a coherent narrative of events which began before 2014 and 2022.
The official Western history of events is that Russia conducted an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. No previous commitments about NATO's eastward expansion were ever given to Moscow, and the US was simply a neutral bystander to events in Kiev: at no point did it seek to manipulate domestic politics in Ukraine.
This orthodoxy is uncritically accepted by journalists and politicians in the West who have never read any books of history in the area.
It's like the right of self-determination, which must be granted to Jews in Israel but for Palestinians it vaporises to the point of being a non-subject which is never raised. It seems that the best way to deal with uncomfortable truths is to pretend they never happened or don't exist.
Western meddling in no way exonerates Moscow for its violation of international law and subsequent crimes perpetrated against its neighbour.
But Putin must wonder why Trump and Netanyahu can launch an unprovoked attack on Iran, murder political leaders and schoolchildren in the process, and not be held accountable for their crimes of aggression.
It all comes down to who pulls the trigger.
On tomorrow's front page of the @australian Geoff Chambers uses the appalling attack on Helen Haines to fight his ideological adversaries
Looks like the @australian is rushing to demonise vegans and pro-Palestinians - why wait for evidence and an investigation?
France is undergoing what Habermas called a legitimation crisis and we should not be surprised that the denouement of neoliberalism in Europe is violent class conflict.
The elections in April may well be a clear choice between fascism and socialism, but it is not clear that either side have coherent answers to current challenges which are also being faced in Italy, Albania, Spain, Portugal and Belgium.
The bond markets will impose their discipline in the form of austerity measures and the ECB may have to save the Eurozone and, in doing so, the entire EU.
Disparities of wealth and income will widen as French capitalists and foreign investors demand that share prices increase while workers are squeezed and social services get cut: the standard neoliberal playbook.
This will only further fracture social cohesion in the country. As Marx reminded us in Das Kapital:
Accumulation of wealth at one pole is, therefore, at the same time accumulation of misery at the opposite pole.
The triggers of this crisis - dilapidated school classrooms and missing teachers, byzantine entry process into the Grandes Écoles, anger in the banlieues by North African former subjects of the French empire and their successors, anti-migration hatreds and Palestine - all play a role in generating unrest but they are ultimately the context for the deeper crisis of legitimation which now bedevils the French state.
The media will focus on looters, violence, agent provocateurs, rioters, voyous, casseurs and the return of the Gilets Jaunes who challenged Macron's first term in 2018 and 2019. Apocalyptic scenes make for spectacular imagery. And as Marx insightfully commented 155 years ago:
The bourgeoisie of the whole world, which looks complacently upon the wholesale massacre after the battle, is convulsed by horror at the desecration of brick and mortar!
The real story of the French riots youtu.be/x_Si3U2BR5U?si=Rs0V…
Can highly recommend Mediapart for coverage of French politics.
Has an English language version, no advertising, not owned by a billionaire media baron and is totally independent.
mediapart.fr/en/english
Scott Burchill retweeted
Lycéens, étudiants: le crépuscule du macronisme
Des centaines de milliers de jeunes ont travaillé dur pour obtenir leur baccalauréat, mais que rien n’a été prévu pour les accueillir dans le supérieur
thomaspiketty.wordpress.com/…
Scott Burchill retweeted
Helen Haines is pro-Palestine, one of the best in Parliament, but these genocide cookers from AJA leverage the tragedy for their shabby political advantage
Scott Burchill retweeted
My latest on the European revolt: ‘Dockers in 50 ports worldwide are planning strike action against war and in solidarity with Palestine on 30 October. And there are general strikes planned next month in four European countries.’ counterfire.org/article/euro…
I teach at a Business School. It’s time to shut them down. nytimes.com/2026/10/18/opini…
