Five Ways A Trump Presidency Would Impact Australia – For The Worse

A Trump presidency may be the right time for Australia to distance itself from the US. (Reuters/Joe Skipper)

By Benjamin Isakhan, Deakin University and Zim Nwokora, Deakin University

To Australians, American politics can appear to be a glitzy and protracted soap opera, played out on the other side of the world with few consequences for us “down under”.

But Australians ought to be deeply concerned – for five key reasons – about Donald Trump’s seemingly unstoppable rise to be the clear frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination.

Immigration
Australia is facing complex challenges relating to immigration and refugees. What Australia and the world urgently need is compassionate but decisive leadership that is able to manage the mass humanitarian problem with financial and cultural sensitivity.

However, while Australian politicians have often used a “dog whistle” on immigration, Trump uses a loudspeaker. He zeroed in on immigration from Mexico in June 2015:

When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best … They’re sending people that have lots of problems … They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.

A Trump campaign commercial claimed that, as president, he:

… will stop illegal immigrants by building a wall on our southern border that Mexico will pay for.

A Trump ad on immigration.

Following the San Bernardino terrorist attack in California last December, Trump called for:

… a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our county’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.

These statements suggest that, as president, Trump might like to see the US become more insular, to impose walls along its borders and to judge migrants on the basis of their religious beliefs.

This could matter in Australia too. Australia rightly prides itself on its peaceful multiculturalism, but its success in this area is fragile. In particular, it is threatened by fringe movements like Reclaim Australia (and pandering by mainstream politicians). Trump’s moves could embolden such movements and lend legitimacy to their aims.

Foreign and military affairs
The US is a vital strategic ally to Australia. The two countries have a long – if problematic – history of foreign policy collaboration, including joint military engagement. But they are facing two significant foreign policy challenges that require nuanced and delicate leadership – the exact opposite of Trump’s style.

In the South China Sea, China, the Philippines, Vietnam and others are locked in a dispute about who owns certain territorial waters and the resources below them. The Obama administration has taken on the role of assertive mediator and managed to prevent an escalation thus far.

For his part, Trump has made indelicate statements about China and its moves to build:

… a military island in the middle of the South China Sea.

China no doubt views such statements as provocative. But despite his concern over the South China Sea, Trump has said he wants to reduce America’s military presence in the Asia-Pacific region. That might encourage China to move ahead on its reclamation activities. It might also lead to further destabilisation if China’s rivals respond.

Any such destabilisation in the South China Sea would have serious consequences for Australia. It is not only in close proximity to Australia, but is also a major shipping route for Australian businesses. And China is Australia’s largest two-way trading partner.

The other key foreign policy challenge facing the US and Australia is their ongoing efforts to defeat Islamic State (IS) in the Middle East. Australia is a key player in President Barack Obama’s coalition to “degrade and ultimately destroy” IS.

Trump has said he:

… would knock the hell out of ISIS … when you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families.

This is a possible future president advocating war crimes. IS targets innocent women and children. The suggestion by a presidential candidate that he might do the same ought to cause international condemnation. It will certainly fuel IS’s propaganda machine.

Australia has a problematic legacy of following the US into ill-conceived wars that end in disaster. During George W. Bush’s presidency, Australia committed to military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Both failed to achieve their goals and the countries remain hotbeds of violence and instability.

Trump’s preference for indiscriminate force could create a real risk that Australia is dragged into another war in the Middle East. Past experience suggests that any such war is likely to be hugely costly and difficult to “win”.

Trade and economic ties
The US is one of Australia’s largest trading partners. The Australia-US Free Trade Agreement has eliminated barriers to trade between the countries, further deepening their economic ties.

Trump, a brash New York real-estate mogul and entrepreneur, might seem like the perfect fit for a US economy still recovering from the 2007-08 global financial crisis. But appearances can be deceiving. He inherited a fortune from his father and early successes escalated his net worth.

Since then a series of failed start-ups has repeatedly crippled Trump. Overall, his business empire survives on a diet of risky investments. Economic brinksmanship may pay off for a private individual, but it is not the approach of a prudent president looking to steer a massive economy.

Some of Trump’s economic thinking was laid bare when he announced his income tax proposal. He declared that he would significantly reduce taxes for those earning under US$100,000, but left it unclear how the shortfall in revenue would be made up. The plan would reportedly cut federal revenues by $9.5 trillion over a decade, presumably leaving the states to fill this gap with new borrowing or unprecedented spending cuts.

It is easy to see why the prospect of a Trump presidency is causing alarm on Wall Street. One only has to look back at the ripple effects of the global financial crisis across Europe to see that a Trump presidency might have disastrous economic consequences for Australia.

Climate change
World leaders continue to fumble in their attempts to confront climate change. In Australia, political leadership on this issue has ranged from denying the problem exists to short-sighted election promises followed by little concerted action.

It is hard to imagine a Trump presidency that contributes positively on climate change. In one of his Twitter tirades, Trump announced:

The statement is not only offensive to the Chinese, but it flies in the face of scientific consensus that climate change is happening, and that the US is a major contributor.
Having a climate-change denier in the White House would provide a crutch for Australian politicians desperate to avoid taking decisive action on this issue.

Popularity and polarisation
The final reason Australia should worry about Trump is simply that he is so popular.

Millions of Americans back Trump despite – or perhaps because of – his style and policies.
 Some hold placards that say:

I’m ready to work on the wall.

Others read:

Thank you Lord Jesus for President Trump.

Trump represents, more than any other candidate, both the fears and aspirations of white working-class Americans who are exhausted by dramatic changes to their country over recent decades.

These Americans certainly want no more prudence in economic affairs and pragmatism in foreign policy. They want to call December 25 “Christmas”; they want to win wars; they want Americans to speak English. They want, in the words of Trump’s campaign slogan, to “make America great again”.

These ambitions may sound appealing, but they could lead to deeply problematic policies.
It is impossible to know for sure what a Trump presidency would be like. But there are sensible reasons to suspect it could be disastrous – not only for the US but also for Australia. A Trump presidency may prove to be a unique opportunity for Australia to carefully distance itself from the US.


About Today's Contributors 
Benjamin Isakhan, Associate Professor of Politics and Policy, Deakin University and Zim Nwokora, Lecturer in Politics and Policy, Deakin University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. 

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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Wins 14 NAVGTR Awards

The National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers, a 501(c)(3) non-profit media organization, has announced winners for its 15th annual awards program honoring video game art, technology, and production. 

The biggest winner is The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt with 14 wins, falling just short of The Last of Us' record 15 wins from two years ago.  Rise of the Tomb Raider and Tales from the Borderlands were the second biggest winners with 4 wins each. 

Three games won three awards each: Star Wars Battlefront, Splatoon, and Life is Strange.  Four games won two awards each:  Super Mario Maker, Rocket League, Crypt of the Necrodancer, and Bloodborne. 

By developer, CD Projekt Red led with 14 awards.  Nintendo won six.  Telltale, Gearbox, and Crystal Dynamics won four awards each.  Other top developers were Electronic Arts, Dontnod Entertainment, Psyonix, From Software, and Brace Yourself Games. 

By publisher, CD Projekt led with 14 awards.  Square Enix and Nintendo won seven each.  Other top publishers were 2K, Telltale, Electronic Arts, Warner Bros, Sony Computer Entertainment, Psyonix, and Brace Yourself Games.

Fifty-six creative, technical, and genre award categories recognize achievement in animation, art direction, character design, controls, game design, game engineering, musical score, sound effects, writing, and more as seen at navgtr.org

This year's Honorary Award recipients are Toru Iwatani, creator of Pac-Man, and Mark DeLoura, for developing programs for children to explore coding.

NAVGTR strongly supports the IGDA Developer Credit special interest group (SIG) at igda.org/devcredit to improve crediting practices.

NAVGTR AWARDS logo. (PRNewsFoto/NAVGTR CORP.)

The general voting body of reviewers, journalists, analysts, and writers includes contributors for such varied outlets as Austin American-Statesman, Break, Chicago Sun-Times, CNN, Futurenet, Gamespot, GamesRadar, Gaming Illustrated, Geek, IGN, Los Angeles Times, Machinima, MMO PRG, Moody's, NBC, New Gamer Nation,New York Times, Nintendo World Report, The Ottawa Citizen, PC Gamer, Polygon, Salon, San Jose Mercury-News, Terminal Gamer, USA Today, The Vancouver Sun, Wired News, and hundreds more.

SOURCE: National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers

Michael Mann, Oscar-nominated Filmmaker And Bestselling Author Don Winslow Team Up For Mann Books' First Project

Michael Mann (The Insider, Heat, The Last Of The Mohicans)

Mann / Winslow Tell Epic Organized Crime Tale In A Novel; Major Film To Follow

In his multi-media project under the Michael Mann Books imprint, Mann has teamed up with internationally bestselling author, Don Winslow, author of The Cartel, to co-create an original novel about the complex relationship between two Organized Crime giants, Tony Accardo and Sam Giancana. Mann will produce and possibly direct the film. The film will be based on the novel and a pre-existing screenplay Mann co-wrote with Shane Salerno. The novel's anticipated breadth will be on the scale of Winslow's Cartel.

Winslow will begin work late spring after delivering his next book.

Discussions with publishers will begin shortly and the book will be released in 2017. 

Tony Accardo ran the Chicago Outfit – an efficient, unified and massive organization that was the single most powerful criminal enterprise in America.  In 1959, LIFE magazine estimated that the Chicago Outfit's revenue constituted 6% of the U.S. national income. From Frank Nitti's suicide in 1943, Accardo ran the Outfit. His extraordinary career spanned eight decades from the 1929 St. Valentine's Day Massacre through the Reagan era.

Giancana – mentored and installed by Accardo to front the Chicago Outfit from 1957 to 1966 – elevated the Outfit onto the New Frontier with bold moves that converged national commerce and industry with politics, Vegas, the music industry, Hollywood, and co-ventures with the CIA.

His megalomania elevated him to heights never dreamed possible and to exposure that became radioactive. Giancana was brutally murdered in 1975.

Mann has acquired rights and previously undisclosed material from the Accardo family.

Mann has directed, produced and written or co-written the crime genre classics Heat, Public Enemies, Thief and Manhunter as well as the Oscar-nominated dramas Ali and The Insider and the classic The Last of the Mohicans. 

Winslow's The Cartel is a major international bestseller and was named one of the best books of 2015 by numerous publications, including The New York Times. It was sold to Twentieth Century Fox in a multi-million dollar package and is to be directed by Ridley Scott. In addition to The Cartel, Winslow's The Power of the Dog, Savages, and The Winter of Frankie Machine have won major writing awards, including the Raymond Chandler award in Italy, the Maltese Falcon Award in Japan and the RBA International Prize for crime writing in Spain. 

SOURCE: The Story Factory

Was Jesus Really Nailed To The Cross?

Peter Gertner Crucifixion Walters.

By Meredith J C Warren, University of Sheffield

Jesus’s crucifixion is probably one of the most familiar images to emerge from Christianity. Good Friday, one of the holiest days in the Christian calendar, marks the event. But what was crucifixion? And why was Jesus killed that way?

Crucifixion was a Roman method of punishment. Suspended from a large cross, a victim would eventually die from asphyxiation or exhaustion – it was long, drawn-out, and painful. It was used to publicly humiliate slaves and criminals (not always to kill them), and as an execution method was usually reserved for individuals of very low status or those whose crime was against the state. This is the reason given in the Gospels for Jesus’s crucifixion: as King of the Jews, Jesus challenged Roman imperial supremacy (Matt 27:37; Mark 15:26; Luke 23:38; John 19:19–22).

Crucifixion could be carried out in a number of ways. In Christian tradition, nailing the limbs to the wood of the cross is assumed, with debate centring on whether nails would pierce hands or the more structurally sound wrists. But Romans did not always nail crucifixion victims to their crosses, and instead sometimes tied them in place with rope. In fact, the only archaeological evidence for the practice of nailing crucifixion victims is an ankle bone from the tomb of Jehohanan, a man executed in the first century CE.

So was Jesus nailed to the cross?

Gospel accounts
Some early Gospels, such as the Gospel of Thomas, don’t include the narrative of Jesus’s crucifixion, choosing instead to focus on his teaching. But Jesus’s death by crucifixion is one of the things that all four canonical Gospels agree on. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, all include the crucifixion event in their own slightly different ways.

None of the Gospels in the New Testament mentions whether Jesus was nailed or tied to the cross. However, the Gospel of John reports wounds in the risen Jesus’s hands. It is this passage, perhaps, that has led to the overwhelming tradition that Jesus’s hands and feet were nailed to the cross, rather than tied to it.

Caravaggio, The Incredulity of Saint Thomas. Wikimedia Commons

The Gospel of Peter, a non-canonical gospel from the first or second century CE, specifically describes in verse 21 how after Jesus had died, the nails were removed from his hands. The Gospel of Peter also famously includes the cross itself as an active character in the Passion narrative. In verses 41-42 the cross speaks, responding with its own voice to God: “And they were hearing a voice from the heavens saying, ‘Have you made proclamation to the fallen-asleep?’ And an obeisance was heard from the cross, ‘Yes.’” Tradition is clearly of paramount importance to this text.

Over the past few years, several people have claimed to have found the actual nails with which Jesus was crucified. Each time, biblical scholars and archaeologists have rightly pointed out the assumptions and misinterpretations of evidence behind these claims. Curiously, this fixation on the nails persists, despite the fact that the earliest gospels make no mention of Jesus being nailed to the cross.

Depictions of the crucifixion
It isn’t surprising that Christians took a while to embrace the image of Christ on the cross, given that crucifixion was a humiliating way to die. What is surprising is what the earliest image of the crucifixion turns out to be. Rather than the devotional icons with which we are familiar – pictures that glorify Jesus’s death – this earliest image appears to be some late second-century graffiti mocking Christians.

Alexamenos Graffito, Vector traced from Ancient Rome in the Light of Recent Discoveries (1898) by Rodolfo Lanciani Wikimedia Commons

Called the Alexamenos Graffito, the image shows a figure with the head of a donkey on a cross with the words: “Alexamenos worships his God.” This was apparently a common accusation in antiquity, as Minucius Felix (Octavius 9.3; 28.7) and Tertullian (Apology 16.12) both attest. Since the graffito was clearly not made by a Christian, this image suggests that non-Christians were familiar with some core elements of Christian belief as early as the second century.

Gemstones, some used for magical purposes, also provide some of our earliest depictions of the crucified Jesus. This second or third century piece of carved jasper depicts a man on a cross surrounded by magic words.

Magical gem. British Museum CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Another very early image of the crucifixion is found carved into the face of a carnelian gemstone made into a ring.

Constanza gemstone with the crucified Christ, surrounded by 12 apostles. British Musem CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Scholars think that the Constanza gemstone, as it is known, dates from the fourth century CE. In this depiction, Jesus’s hands do not appear to be nailed to the cross, since they fall naturally, as if he is tied at the wrists.

Since the evidence from antiquity doesn’t provide a clear answer as to whether Jesus was nailed or tied to his cross, it’s tradition that dictates this common depiction. Those who have seen the film The Passion of the Christ will recall how much time the director, Mel Gibson, devoted just to the act of nailing Jesus onto the cross —- almost five whole minutes.

The Passion of the Christ.

Given the relative silence on the act of crucifixion in the Gospels, this stands out as a graphic expansion. One of the only films that does not assume that crucifixion involved nails is Monty Python’s Life of Brian, which shows multiple crucifixion victims, though not Jesus, tied to their crosses.

Eventually, Emperor Constantine put an end to crucifixion as a method of execution, not for ethical reasons, but out of respect for Jesus. But in the end, it is the enduring image of the cross, and not the matter of whether nails or ropes were used, that most firmly evokes the death of Jesus in art and tradition.


About Today's Contributor 
Meredith J C Warren, Lecturer in Biblical and Religious Studies, University of Sheffield

This article was originally published on The Conversation.

UK: Chris Evans vs Jeremy Clarkson - The Infographic

Today's infographic compares Chris Evans with Jeremy Clakson, the man he is set to replace as presenter of Top Gear...

Here is what the guys at CarLeasingMadeSimple.com (where we got the infographic from) say about it:

Picking a replacement for Jeremy Clarkson was never going to be an easy task, but you can understand why the BBC plumped for Chris Evans. He's a petrol-head with a long history of hosting big shows but who still has that all important air of irreverence about him. That hasn't stopped the Top Gear community getting nervous about the direction in which Chris will take the show. To help allay this trepidation we've put together this piece comparing Chris with the man he is set to replace. Obviously we're checking up on their love of cars, but almost as importantly we're taking a look at their disciplinary records and how their TV careers compare. 

(Oh, and, by the way, the infographic also includes a quick quiz to see if we can tell our Evans from our Clarkson... Just in case.)

Enjoy...

Loup Dargent

The Infographic

Chris Evans vs Jeremy Clarkson by carleasingmadesimple.com