No images? Click here 24 MARCHThe burden of bearing armsIn the past week, 20 people have been killed and 26 injured in mass shootings in the United States. The events have again stirred up conversations about racial hate crimes, gun control, and domestic extremism against the backdrop of other contentious issues boiling over in the United States. While the Biden administration continues its focus on COVID management (hitting the 100 million shots in 100 days target early), Secretary of State Blinken and Secretary of Defense Austin have been tasked with relationship repair and global cooperation, with Blinken in Europe discussing Russia and China and Austin travelling to India. The visits occurred before the chilly Anchorage summit between the United States and China, where Blinken made clear that the United States would discuss "economic coercion of our allies” with China. Despite the Asia trip making headlines for purportedly 'blackmailing' China, US media attention has also been drawn towards another crisis: the immigration crisis which has escalated at the US Southern border. As United States Studies Centre CEO Professor Simon Jackman said on 7 News, as much as President Biden doesn’t want to either identify it as a crisis or give it much credence, conservative media outlets in the United States are having a field day claiming their warnings have now come to pass. NEWS WRAPCoalition-building met with blackmail allegations
This is not and should not be a partisan issue; this is an American issue. President Joe Biden on gun control VIRTUAL EVENTUS Politics and Policy Seriesfeaturing special guest Elise Hu, host of TED Talks Daily The United States Studies Centre and Perth USAsia Centre host a monthly web series reviewing the latest in US politics and policy and what it means for Australia. This month hosts Simon Jackman and Gordon Flake will be joined by Elise Hu, the host of TED Talks Daily, a correspondent for VICE News Tonight and a host-at large at NPR, where she spent nearly a decade as a reporter. She has reported stories from more than a dozen countries as an international correspondent, and opened NPR’s first-ever Seoul bureau, in 2015. She is based in Los Angeles. WHEN: COST: ANALYSISCan Biden succeed on guns where Obama failed? He must tryBruce Wolpe President Joe Biden is going to try to do what Barack Obama could not – finally pass effective gun control in America. When 10 people were killed in Boulder, Colorado, this week, flags were already flying at half-staff across the country in memory of the eight murdered in Atlanta last week, most of them Asian Americans. Now, from the White House, Biden has urged Congress to try once again what Obama could not accomplish. He is calling for legislation requiring background checks on all gun sales and banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. “This should not be a partisan issue,” he said. But it has been in Washington. In this moment of national mourning, the National Rifle Association base is deeply dug in. Over the past decade, even after the slaughter of school children in Connecticut, and teenagers in Florida, after marches and candle vigils by millions across the country, there has been no breakthrough in Congress. Although a clear majority of Americans want action, the best efforts in recent years in the Senate have never reached more than 54 votes – six short of the supermajority required to pass controversial legislation. This is an excerpt from Bruce Wolpe's latest in The Age. BY THE NUMBERSNot in my family: Political polarisationA relatively novel development in American public opinion is “negative partisanship,” reporting negative evaluations of supporters of a different political party. As part of our State of the United States (SOTUS) polling, we assessed measures of negative partisanship in the United States and Australia, asking respondents whether they would be "happy, unhappy, or if it wouldn't matter" if an immediate family member said they intended to marry someone who is a Democrat or Republican, or in the Australian context, a Labor supporter or Coalition supporter. Forty-four per cent of Trump voters would be unhappy if a family member married a Democrat. In contrast, 52 per cent of Biden voters would be unhappy if their family member married a Republican. In Australia, just 17 per cent of Coalition voters said they would be unhappy if an immediate family member intended to marry a Labor supporter; conversely, 28 per cent of Labor supporters and 32 per cent of Greens supporters said they would be unhappy if an immediate family member intended to marry a Coalition supporter. For more polling insights from the United States and Australia like this one, head to our newly released flagship publication, State of the United States: An evolving alliance agenda. VIDEOEmpowering American allies and partners in the Indo-PacificDid you miss our event featuring Abraham Denmark and Ambassador Jane Hardy on empowering American allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific? The webinar, hosted by the USSC's Director of Foreign Policy and Defence Ashley Townshend, is available for replay on our YouTube channel. Watch the full event HERE. Catch this and other recent webinars on the USSC YouTube channel! Manage your email preferences | Forward this email to a friend United States Studies Centre |