Cognitive Dissonance
I am sick of it. Every day new lies, new insults to our understanding.
Richard Marles, Australia’s ‘Defence’ Minister, warned that Australia will be ‘involved’ if US-China war ‘breaks out’.
Involved? Obviously, since Australia hosts US military bases (3 or 4 exclusive; others ‘cooperative’). Our ‘defence’ forces use mainly US equipment; they are integrated into US military systems, participating at every opportunity in exercises, operations, & war. US commissars deliver ‘analysis’ to Australian military personnel at conferences & by personal contact, narrative to Australia’s public by media. A visit to Australian Strategic Policy Institute website www.aspi.org.au , provider of ‘advice’ to government on policy & procurement, quickly reveals its mainly US sponsors.
If war ‘breaks out’? China certainly will not start a war, with US or Australia. As an exercise, list wars involving China since its 1949 establishment: Korea (1950–53, stalemate); Russian border (1969, 6 months); Vietnam border (1979, four weeks). Australia’s list is longer; US much longer…endless.
Our Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, claims Australia supports US attacks on Iran. Polls show otherwise.
Ms Wong claims ‘Iran cannot be allowed to get a nuclear weapon’.
Iran has no nuclear weapon. It was not developing them, according to both International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and more than two decades of annual US security assessments, the latest in March this year.
Iran is prohibited by its own religious & civil law from developing or obtaining nuclear weapons (since 2003).
Iran does not want nuclear weapons, because if it had them, every other nation in West Asia/Middle East would want them too. Only ‘Israel’ has them now (estimated 200–400 warheads). Those can’t be counted because Israel is not signatory to Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), so no inspections, refusing even to confirm their existence, while imprisoning the whistle-blower who disclosed it.
Iran is signatory to NPT. It was also in compliance with Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA 2015) agreed with US, UK, France, Russia, China, Germany & EU, then abrogated by US (Trump’s first term 2018). Iran began higher levels of enrichment after this date (allowed under NPT), while continuing to comply with other JCPOA provisions, most importantly including inspections. That’s how we know there were, & are, no weapons.
Under NPT, all nations are entitled to enrich uranium for non-military purposes: power generation, radiotherapeutic isotopes, sensors & instruments, research etc.
On Sunday 22 June 2025 Australia’s government issued a statement demanding Iran ‘return to the negotiating table’. Australia’s ‘opposition’ immediately concurred. Iran were negotiating when Israel attacked (Friday 13 June), killing their chief negotiator.
Despite that & other treacheries, Iran agrees to resume talks when US/Israel (the ‘West’) stop bombing them.
Iran has ceased cooperation with IAEA because it supplied targeting information to Israel for its assassination of Iranian military & scientific leaders. No more inspections. Now no-one can know where Iran’s research & personnel are located.
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None of these facts is contentious. You can confirm them from any credible source.
Latest information, not yet confirmed, is that Australian military personnel are on the ground in Odessa, Ukraine’s main Black Sea port. Some will probably be killed, but that’s another (lost) war.
I am trying to understand why our representatives do not represent us: our values, aspirations, & fears. Instead, they misrepresent facts already in the historical record.
Consider Penny Wong. She is obviously intelligent, apparently a decent person of good will, just about the best handler of media in Australian political life. Yet she makes claims that are incontestably untrue &/or meaningless.
Why? I can think of three possible answers:
- She is lying (i.e. knows her statements are false). I do not believe this.
- She is mistaken (i.e. does not understand facts). I do not believe this.
- She is misled (i.e. is receiving false advice). I DO believe this.
Ms Wong believes what she is saying; she believes falsities & nonsense, despite her intelligence, experience, & integrity. How is this possible?
Clearly, she receives ‘intelligence’ from people who mislead her, on matters in which she is not expert, & has not time to check with primary sources. It is similarly possible that her advisors believe their advice…but somewhere, not far below Ms Wong, are people who know it is false.
Their motives are predictable. We have seen this before. It leads us into wars, death & injury of our young ‘service’ personnel, vast expense, & damage to our national interest(s).
Ms Wong is merely an example. All our representatives are easily coopted. We can only wish they were more sceptical, but they would not be our representatives if so. Preselection & party discipline ensure it.
It follows, perhaps, that representatives, particularly Ministers, should hold portfolios only for matters in which they are personally expert, not merely surrounded by ‘experts’.
Alternatively, we might be better represented by sortition: decision makers selected by ballot (like juries), who would be given time, resources, & training to research topics personally, without ‘expert’ advice. Good students pursue higher education not to learn, but to learn how to learn. Good representatives might do the same.
Can the system be fixed? I don’t think so; not while there’s a dollar in it. Consider the lobbying ‘industry’ (it’s huge). Go to the ASPI website. Look at its sponsors. They are bigger than us. They are bigger than our representatives…
