Johan Scheffer

Former Labor Member in the Parliament of Victoria; socialist, unionist, internationalist. “Justice, mercy — they’re all in opera,” Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

[Johan Scheffer @Johan_Scheffer]

All Australians are tarnished and shamed by the wilful negligence and disgusting complicity of their Federal and state governments which enable (through Future Fund investments) the illegal Israeli occupation and atrocities in Palestine and Lebanon. Great piece of investigative reporting from DeepCutNews:

“The [Australian Future] Fund clearly sees Elbit as a lucrative investment, given the company’s fortunes have risen markedly since the genocide began. On 2 October 2023, its share price sat at US$208.18. As of Wednesday, 11 November 2026, that was up to US$740.17 - a growth of 256%.

“In the year the Fund doubled its investment in Elbit, the company’s net profit rose to US$534m, up from US$321m in 2024 – a 66% increase.
Elbit specifically cites Israel’s wars in the region as a key driver of its ballooning profits, suggesting the Future Fund too eyes Israel’s wars and flagrant violations of international law as a moneymaking endeavour …

“The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, @JEChalmers and finance minister, Katy Gallagher @SenKatyG … did not respond to [DeepCutNews] questions.”

https://t.co/l7QqRKQTff

[Johan Scheffer @Johan_Scheffer]

This is account of the Nvidia ‘scandal’ hangs together better than the ‘honey pot’ Hollywood narrative pushed in western MSM. This has more to do with the internal tech crisis in the US than Chinese espionage, as Daniel Dumbrill unpack’s here: https://t.co/TeJ0XzraOd

[观察者网 @realGuancha]

The Real Play Behind Jensen Huang’s "Spy" Scandal: A Classic DC Two-for-One

Don't let the "Chinese spy" tabloid drama fool you. The real story behind Jensen Huang's affair scandal may have less to do with espionage than with pure Washington politics. US China hawks may be trying to pull off a classic "two birds, one stone" play.

First, they want to kneecap Jensen's influence in DC. Huang has successfully lobbied the Trump administration to ease export controls on high-end AI chips like the H200, a move that has drawn strong opposition from China hawks in both parties. Linking his affair to an executive at a firm suspected of chip smuggling offers a convenient way to undermine his credibility, raise questions about whether he could be compromised, and put pressure on the White House to tighten the screws on chip exports again.

Second, they're pushing the "Chinese spies are everywhere" narrative to stir up security panic. Spinning a personal affair and a business compliance dispute into a "Chinese spy" story—without publicly presenting hard evidence—plays straight into Western fears. It smears China's image while giving Congress political ammunition to push for harsher tech restrictions and tighter controls on cross-border talent and business exchanges.

Look at the timing—it's hard not to raise questions. US intelligence reportedly knew about the matter more than a year ago, and Trump had reportedly been briefed on the intelligence concerns. Yet the story only broke in the press on October 29—just days before the midterms and weeks ahead of Trump's planned Asia trip, with Huang's participation in the delegation still under discussion. The timing, followed by Huang's November 8 statement, inevitably raises questions about why the information surfaced when it did. That "sit on it, then drop it at a politically convenient moment" pattern looks very much like classic DC selective leaking.

Look at who's leading the charge: Brian Mast @RepBrianMast, John Moolenaar @RepMoolenaar
, and Rick Crawford @RepRickCrawford
—the Republican chairmen of the House Foreign Affairs, China, and Intelligence committees—who just demanded a closed-door briefing from Huang. Meanwhile, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren @SenWarren has separately challenged Nvidia over its China-related chip exports. All four are longtime critics of Huang's China chip sales and Big Tech's lobbying power.

Forget the spy thriller narrative and look at what Jensen Huang's opponents in Washington may actually be trying to achieve. With the midterms now behind them and Democrats set to take control of Congress in the next session, the real tug-of-war over AI regulation and China chip policy between Trump and the incoming Democratic-led Congress is just getting started. #JensenHuang #Nvidia #Geopolitics #Bigtech #China $NVDA

[Johan Scheffer @Johan_Scheffer]

Whenever an intelligence leak as explosive as the Nvidia so-called Chinese spy scandal breaks we have to ask, Why now? @DanielDumbrill says that for 3 years Jensen Hwang, the single most influential voice in the US tech industry, has argued the case that the US chip ban on China is an unmitigated disaster. Dumbrill says there are anti-China hawks and intelligence officials in Washington who view any cooperation with China as treason and aimed to stop Huang joining Trump at the APEC conference in Shenzhen on November 18. Watch Dumbrill put the case.

https://t.co/GzQY00V2R5

[Ronni🧂Salt-WhoWroteGunnawahYeahThatOne @RonniSalt]

If the Labor government or the coalition are looking for what's driving people away from the major parties, then this sort of incestuous, jobs for the boys and gals, circle-jerk is what's causing people's disgust.

Every day, every week - they scratch each others backs.

Peter Dutton, who has never spent time on any cultural or museum board, will receive almost $50,000 p.a for attending four meetings a year.

Yes, you read that right.

[Cheryl Kernot @cheryl_kernot]

This section, from Robert Manne - totally lost on our media.

[James Meadway @meadwaj]

It’s Le Pen vs Melenchon in the second round and Melenchon can win. There’s a lot that has to go the right way but the protest movement has opened up a route for his victory. Particularly important that LFI put price controls front and centre in their programme.

[Cheryl Kernot @cheryl_kernot]

“US mid terms should scare the heck out of Albanese.”
Not sure why you don’t include the massive repudiation of Zionist influence in US politics, & consequent disapproval of Netanyahu’s war/genocide in Gaza.
That should scare Albanese, too! https://t.co/tQ782YnYbJ

[Johan Scheffer @Johan_Scheffer]

Manne concludes, “ I believe a more likely remedy would be for leading Diaspora thinkers, like Schama, and influential publishers, like Morry Schwartz, and the leaders in Australia of the principal Israel and Jewish lobbies, like Jillian Segal, to speak the truth about what, under Netanyahu and the two Kahanist-fascist members of his Government, Israel has become, and the moral revolution that has to happen in Israel if Jews in the Diaspora are to be spared from the dreadful rise of antisemitism that is spreading around the Western world.”
What does “Israel has become” mean? That the Zionist enterprise in Palestine could have worked out differently? That if Israeli’s living under the Basic Law had been more restrained it could all have been okay? Curious glitch in an otherwise spot on article.

[Antony (Tony) Walker @tonywalker1]

Robert Manne suitably outraged by the distortions and connivance in the Australian debate on antisemitism. Does so with considerable authority. Kudos, Robert. https://t.co/TFbZPfxLko

[Johan Scheffer @Johan_Scheffer]

Agreed it’s important for citizens to raise legal challenges against governments that have breached international law to enable Israel to perpetrate genocide and destruction in Gaza. And it’s hard to see why members of Australian governments should not the so challenged.
But it’s hard to understand from the article why it’s relevant that the litigants to the ICC are taxpayers. “US citizens, acting as taxpayers whose money has financed the weapons and the political cover, are placing the highest officials of their own government before the Court that was created to prosecute the gravest crimes when national systems refuse to act.”
If the Taxpayer Alliance Against Genocide argues that their interest is their having funded the genocide through their taxes, it could open up the debate over whether governments rely on the ‘tax take’ to fund their expenditures.
The ICC would become embroiled in the arguments over whether the purpose of a tax is a policy lever to withdraw money from circulation. The ICC would need to sort out whether government spending is essentially derived from creating new money or drawing down on taxes collected.
Why go down this path when citizens could rely on the charge that their government has breached international law — as Chris Sidoti has so powerfully laid out.

[Cheryl Kernot @cheryl_kernot]

Another example of citizens challenging the complicity of their government.
Could you argue that Australia’s PM & FM were, too in their de facto subservience to Trump? Maybe some of our citizens could join this action?

[Afshin Rattansi @afshinrattansi]

Brazil’s🇧🇷 President Lula da Silva:

'We want to transform this country into an economic powerhouse. We do not want to depend on China🇨🇳 or the United States🇺🇸. We want to be their equal, or even better than them. Never inferior.'

If Lula wants Brazil to reach or surpass the level of China, then Brazil must enact the same policies and reforms implemented by the Communist Party of China, with the core principal being the authority of capital must never rise above political authority, as has happened in the United States.

The US is declining because it largely allows private capital to decide where investment goes…resulting in short-term profiteering.

Whereas China uses the state’s machinery to influence, coordinate and directly determine where capital is invested, resulting in dominance over the industries of the present, and the future.

[Mouin Rabbani @MouinRabbani]

👇👇👇

[Mark 🇦🇺 @Mark_Graph]

Chart for today - residential house price growth - selected nations

[Craig Murray @CraigMurrayOrg]

The only thing I ever stole.
My confession.

[Johan Scheffer @Johan_Scheffer]

These highlights from Mélenchon’s manifesto are ambitious. But the times calls for ambition. In particular full health care coverage, price control on essential goods and wealth tax and tax on billionaires should appeal to a working class under pressure. It’s difficult to see how renewable energy can substitute for nuclear energy by 2060, even if this is being effectively imposed by Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso tightening their grip on uranium. No mention of Mélenchon’s proposal to lower France’s public debt.

[Ron Baumann @Baumann_Mac]

Joni Mitchell was born in Fort Macleod, Canada, on this day in 1943. She contracted polio at age 9, leaving her with temporary paralysis and the need to relearn how to walk; later, she experienced post-polio syndrome. She also started smoking that same year. Polio weakened her left hand, leading her to use alternate guitar tunings that became a hallmark of her distinctive songwriting.

[Sprinter Report @SprinterReport]

Several C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft belonging to the U.S. Armed Forces have landed in the United Arab Emirates.

These aircraft are used to transport personnel, military equipment, and supplies.

Their arrival comes just a week after Kuwait received units of the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division – a unit trained for airborne operations, conducting air assaults, and seizing strategic locations.

There are indications that another division of the U.S. Army may be heading to the United Arab Emirates.

This suggests that preparations for a ground offensive are intensifying.

[Megatron @Megatron_ron]

BREAKING: 🇮🇷🇪🇺🇺🇸 Iran has now officially lifted its self-imposed 2,000-km range limit on ballistic missiles and is going to target US bases in Europe, per AP

IRGC spokesman Brig. Gen. Hossein Mohebbi said the restriction is removed following Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei’s directive without geographical limitations.

[Brian McDonald @BrianMcDonaldIE]

If you want to understand why Washington is conducting Ukraine peace negotiations without the EU at the table, listen to Kaja Kallas's speech today.

She insists that Brussels must be involved in negotiations over Europe's future security, while simultaneously claiming that the continent already has an established security architecture based on NATO and the EU, into which Ukraine should simply be integrated.

But that's precisely the problem, because Russia, Europe's largest country and biggest nuclear power, is outside those institutions. And as Washington appears increasingly willing to acknowledge, any lasting settlement must address the security relationship between Russia and the rest of Europe.

Not to mention that if the existing arrangements were functioning adequately, Europe would hardly be experiencing its biggest war in generations (a child could see this, for crying out loud).

Nobody is suggesting that Moscow should have a complete veto over NATO (except maybe some very hardline fringe nationalists). but it's difficult to see how a lasting continental security settlement can be achieved without addressing the relationship between Russia and the blocs members, including the security concerns of both sides.

Kallas is perfectly entitled to demand a seat at the negotiating table (as are the British and the Turkish, for that matter), but insisting that the existing architecture is sufficient, without explaining how relations with Russia can be managed within it, doesn't seem a particularly constructive starting point.

The whole purpose of the negotiations is to establish a settlement that prevents another war, but simply defending the arrangements under which this one occurred will hardly do that?

[Wynne @wynneflh]

In 1942, a drunk German officer sat at dinner and bragged about the Jewish woman he had selected from the brothel the Nazis had forced open in town. He said her name out loud. The Tunisian Arab sitting across from him stayed calm, smiled, poured more wine, and finished the meal. Then he drove the officer home, sped through the dark streets, and knocked on a door close to midnight. That night, he hid 25 people for four months. He never spoke about it again.
His name was Khaled Abdul-Wahab. He was 31 years old, a wealthy Muslim Tunisian who had studied art and architecture in New York and spoke fluent German. Nazi officers trusted him. They invited him to their dinners.
Tunisia was the only Arab country directly occupied by Nazi Germany during the war. Jewish families were pushed from their homes. More than 5,000 Jewish men were sent to forced labor camps. Yellow stars marked every chest.
That December night in the coastal town of Mahdia, Khaled listened as the officer boasted. The woman he named belonged to a family Khaled had known all his life.
He left immediately. He drove through the night. He knocked on their door at midnight.
Pack nothing. Come now.
He gathered 25 people — mothers, fathers, cousins, and children — and drove them nearly 20 miles to his family farm, hiding them inside the olive press, stables, and storage buildings.
This was not one brave act. It was four straight months of courage.
He fed them while supplies grew scarce. He kept babies quiet. He trusted his servants to stay silent. When German soldiers arrived to count Jewish families, the hidden people pinned yellow stars onto their clothes and stood motionless. When the soldiers left, the stars came off again.
One night, a drunken soldier wandered onto the farm and discovered them. An eleven-year-old girl hiding under a bed watched him laugh and threaten to kill everyone there. Then Khaled appeared. She remembered him her entire life as a guardian angel. He calmly walked the soldier outside, took away his weapon, and sent him off the property.
Nobody on that farm died.
In May 1943, British forces liberated Tunisia. All 25 people returned home alive.
Khaled went back to a quiet life. He married, raised daughters, painted, and worked in government service.
He never told anyone what he had done. Not his wife. Not his children. No one.
He died on September 4, 1997, at the age of 86. His story was buried with him.
Ten years later, his daughter Faiza was sitting in a café in Paris reading a Sunday newspaper when she came across an interview with an American historian describing a Tunisian Arab who had hidden 25 Jews in 1942.
The historian mentioned her father by name.
She was 45 years old and had never heard the story before.
She contacted the historian. One of the children saved on the farm had left behind 83 pages of testimony before her death. Every detail matched.
“I rediscovered my father,” Faiza later said.
Khaled was nominated for Israel’s highest honor given to non-Jews who saved Jewish lives. He would have been the first Arab to receive it.
The committee declined, saying he had not risked his own life enough.
Faiza answered with a line history should never forget:
“My father opened his home to Jews. They did not open theirs to us.”
Today, the 25 people Khaled saved have hundreds of descendants living across Israel, France, America, and Tunisia. The little girl hidden beneath the bed grew up, moved to Paris, and built a family of her own. None of them would exist if Khaled had stayed silent that night.
He had everything to lose. He acted anyway. Then he spent the rest of his life saying nothing about it.
The world nearly forgot him twice. Now you know his name.