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Behind the Lines

Who's a duck, duck goose...?

On the global stage, some of the world's biggest geese were tarred and feathered by Australia's political cartoonists.

Donald Trump made the news time and again as he faced multiple indictments related to mishandling classified documents and attempts to overturn the 2020 US election result.

In the ongoing war in Ukraine, Russia seemed to chase its own tail when the Wagner Group, a private military company led by Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, rebelled in June 2023 and marched on Moscow. A month later, Prigozhin's private plane mysteriously crashed.

And we might all turn out to be geese if recent developments in generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools, which underwent explosive growth this year, become our eventual undoing.

Two people in a boat harpoon a giant sea-creature with Donald Trump's face. One says to the other, 'Another indictment! Quick!'

Thar He Blows!

Andrew Dyson, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Donald Trump sits on a toilet surrounded by file boxes and piles of paper, marked 'Classified' and 'Top secret'.

Untitled

Warren Brown, The Daily Telegraph (Sydney),

Joe Biden stands in front of The White House, holding himself up with a walking frame. He says, '2024... I'm off and running'. A secret service agent in black stands nearby.

2024, I'm Off and Running

Mark Knight, Herald Sun,

A boy stands next to an 'AI' robot dog saying to his teacher 'The dog did my homework!' The dog is frothing at the mouth saying, 'I will destroy you all'. On the blackboard: 'Todays lesson in redundancy'.

AI at School

Matt Bissett-Johnson, Rationale,

A 'ChatGPT' robot sits in the middle of a class of students. The teacher asks it to prepare a list of students who it helped on the last assignment.

A Lesson on ChatGPT

Greg 'Smithy' Smith, The Sunday Times (Perth),

A tank marked 'Wagner' leaves tracks going around in circles. There is a blue sign with arrows pointing in different directions to the Ukraine, Moscow and Belarus.

Ring Cycle

Brett Lethbridge, The Courier-Mail,

A couple sit watching TV. On TV a newsreader says, 'There are unconfirmed reports coming out of Belarus of the unexpected death of Yevgeny Prigozhin, next month.'

Prognostication

Lindsay Foyle, New Matilda,

In the style of political propaganda posters, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping launch a bird skeleton into the sky with the word 'PEACE' trailing in a red banner.

No War

Badiucao, Self-published,

Earth is surrounded by a variety of space satellites. An red inflatable tube with a face and long arms looms over North America. Text reads: 'An escalation in the inflatable spying arms race'.

The Spying Arms Race

Matt Golding, The Sydney Morning Herald,

Two girls are playing with dolls, one says, 'Let's play politicians'. The other replies, 'Bags I be Jacinda'. Background is pink with inspiring words describing Jacinda Ardern.

Role Model

Cathy Wilcox, The Sydney Morning Herald,

A frail Benjamin Netanyahu sits in a hospital bed with his chest hooked up to a red IV. In the next bed lies a lady called 'Justice' whose heart monitor shows a flat line. Text reads: 'Peacemaker pacemaker?'

Untitled

David Rowe, The Australian Financial Review,

Death as the Grim Reaper falls backward from a penny-farthing bicycle. The bike wheel has depictions of Israeli and Hamas leaders, and the words 'dispossession, occupation, war, siege, resistance, rockets and terror'.

The Cycle of Violence

David Pope, The Canberra Times,

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