By Osman Faruqi
Right now, expressing the opinion that Donald Trump’s bombing of Iran is illegal puts you in the minority within Australian media and political circles.
This is an extraordinary situation.
Not just because Trump’s bombing is quite obviously blatantly illegal under both international law (which does not allow for the pre-emptive self-defence argument mounted by the US and Israel) and domestic US law (which requires congressional approval for an attack like this), but because most outlets and politicians have had no problem in the past casting Trump as a demagogue who is happy to break all sorts of laws and norms, nor have they had problems pointing out the illegality of other wars.
It’s a fascinating and disturbing moment to observe. On the political side, it confirms that any gestures towards the so-called “rules-based” international order made by Penny Wong and Anthony Albanese can be discarded as meaningless, uttered only to fool the dumbest and laziest political reporters. On the media side, it makes a mockery of arguments mounted by mainstream outlets that they seek to report factually and without bias.
