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Kari Mckern

Kari Mckern

Pearls and Irritations

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The gardens of the starships

22.05.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

Kari Mckern

The waning of empire: A dispatch from the American decline

15.04.2025 8

Pearls and Irritations

Kari Mckern

China exposes US as targeting mobile communications

10.04.2025 8

Pearls and Irritations

Kari Mckern

Media paladins of Fortress Australia

08.03.2025 7

Pearls and Irritations

Kari Mckern

Russophobia and Sinophobia: projection, narcissism and denial

06.03.2025 10

Pearls and Irritations

Kari Mckern

An empire in denial

26.02.2025 8

Pearls and Irritations

Kari Mckern

The eternal dance: East, West, and the future of human civilisation

10.02.2025 20

Pearls and Irritations

Kari Mckern

A garden of civilisations

18.01.2025 7

Pearls and Irritations

Kari Mckern

Staving off the collapse of Western civilisation: A personal introduction to the CAMS/CAN model

As a transsexual woman driven by a deep curiosity about the flow of events, the past few years have been especially challenging. Nonetheless, I...

13.10.2024 3

Pearls and Irritations

Kari Mckern

China and the West: commercial pragmatism versus political resistance

Calvin Coolidge once remarked, “From a business perspective, the reasoning is straightforward: China delivers.” Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory...

21.09.2024 2

Pearls and Irritations

Kari Mckern

Australian wheat and the BRI: The economic geography of the world’s grain trading

The global wheat trade is undergoing a transformation, shaped by geopolitical shifts, strategic investments, and historical legacies. Central to...

12.09.2024 2

Pearls and Irritations

Kari Mckern

Lessons from history: The urgent need for diplomacy in Ukraine

Two years ago, as the conflict in Ukraine escalated, I felt compelled to write about the parallels between this war and previous Western...

11.09.2024 1

Pearls and Irritations

Kari Mckern

The shadow of empire: how the dream of global dominance undermines American democracy

The notion of American exceptionalism — that the United States is uniquely destined to lead the world due to its superior values and capabilities —...

08.09.2024 3

Pearls and Irritations

Kari Mckern

Pearl or Irritation? The Kantian imperative and the case for dissent

The Pearls and Irritations platform, with its commitment to fact-driven critique, exemplifies dissent as a profound act of civic engagement....

05.09.2024 3

Pearls and Irritations

Kari Mckern

China’s open source revolution: innovation through collaboration

While Western nations often celebrate private ownership as a driver of innovation, China’s traditional focus has been on how intellectual property...

16.08.2024 1

Pearls and Irritations

Kari Mckern

The geopolitics of cyber espionage

In March 2024, the United States government and its Five Eyes allies issued dire warnings about a Chinese state-sponsored hacking group known as...

14.08.2024 1

Pearls and Irritations

Kari Mckern

How China’s ancient “Mandarin” class inspired 19th century reforms in the British bureaucracy and influenced the new China

Throughout history, ideas and innovations have flowed between East and West, with each civilisation learning from the other. One profound exchange...

04.08.2024 1

Pearls and Irritations

Kari Mckern