 Ben-Peter Terpstra
"Multicultural Australia" isn't what you think.
Currently, tensions are building between Islamic fundamentalists and anti-cruelty advocates with international implications. The dream of "integration" appears just that -- a dream.
In a recent demonstration of ongoing tensions, the RSPCA Australia (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) paid for a large open letter in The Weekend Australian (November 21-22, 2009) to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (p.19):
Dear Prime Minister
Eid al-Adha, the Islamic Festival of Sacrifice, starts next weekend and again, you have allowed Australian sheep to be part of it. The sheer scale of the slaughter makes this one of the worst periods of animal suffering in the Middle East. Sheep are subjected to rough handling and transport then are sacrificed in homes, on footpaths and in overcrowded abattoirs. Animals are fully conscious when they have their throats cut.
[snip]
We urge you to invest in Australia's meat-processing industry, create jobs in Australia and stop sacrificing Australian animals to this cruel trade.
A reedited letter is also available online. 
 AL Jazeera's English-language news network had its first Australian triumph yesterday when it made its debut on local television screens, and it hopes to make a second breakthrough by convincing Australian government leaders to appear before its cameras. Hamish Macdonald, an Australian reporter and news presenter for Al Jazeera English (AJE), said yesterday he hoped the launch of the news service to 739,000 homes through Austar pay-TV would help change the Rudd government's attitude towards appearing on the Doha-based network. "As an Australian it has been really disappointing that our government has not embraced AJE and its really strong audience in Southeast Asia and other regions to try to have its voice heard outside Australia," he said at AJE's London studio. "We keep hearing that the government wants its messages to reach people and opinion makers in the region and in the Muslim world, but for some reason they don't take advantage of the platform that we keep offering them. "It's bizarre - we can get Hillary Clinton but not Stephen Smith." Max Uechtritz, the former ABC news chief who is now AJE's programming director, said he was mystified by the attitude of the Australian government, which made a great play of its "soft diplomacy" ambitions in the region. "We have huge influence in the region, so I can't understand why Rudd wouldn't use the platform." Uechtritz said. "The good thing is that in every country where our service has been launched, people quickly realise that we are a tremendous news service - and hopefully now that people can actually see us in Australia the penny will drop for whoever is working out the government's media strategies." Similarly, Uechtritz hopes access to Austar's regional audience through yesterday's inclusion in its starter package of 40-plus channels will get enough public interest to convince the much larger Foxtel network to also offer the service to its subscribers. One Al Jazeera broadcaster who says he would like to get Mr Rudd on air is Sir David Frost, the veteran who has interviewed the seven previous Australian prime ministers except Paul Keating. Read more at The Australian
 A SELF-STYLED Muslim Sheik has chained himself to the steps of a Sydney courthouse in a bid to convey his message of peace. Sheik Haron appeared at the Downing Centre Local Court today charged with sending harassing letters to the families of dead Australian soldiers, The Daily Telegraph reported. As the Daily Telegraph revealed last month, Sheik Haron - whose real name is Man Monis - allegedly sent the letters over two years, devastating the families of seven Diggers who died in Afghanistan. One letter was addressed to a widow, care of a funeral home and he apparently accused some of the dead Australian soldiers of being "criminals", "killers" and "murderers" fighting a war of invasion. Outside court today, Sheik Haron refused to apologise to the recipients, urging the letters be taken in their entirety.He attacked Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and former PM John Howard who have "made Australia unsafe". "I don't want Australia to be unsafe," he said. "Which country has attacked us? If a country attacks us unjustly, I'm happy to go to war." In a lengthy sermon to the waiting cameras, he also waved an Australian flag, as a number of people watched on. Represented by Chris Murphy and Adam Houda, Sheik Haron did not enter a plea, had his reporting conditions reduced and will face court again in January. Source: The AustralianMan Monis
Latest recipient of the Distinguished Islamofascist Award
 John Lyons, Middle East correspondent An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said last night such meetings did occur in Cairo and had been brokered by the Kevin Rudd-established International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament. It was one of the few direct official contacts that an Israeli has had with an Iranian official for decades. The meetings occurred at the Four Seasons Hotel in Cairo and were held in secret. Several countries, other than Israel and Iran, were in the meetings, including the US, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan. The Israeli official said the meetings were organised by the Australian Foreign Ministry. "It was an Australian initiative," the spokesman said. "It was not organised by a UN agency or anything - that is not to say it's unimportant, it's just to give context to it." The Israeli official was Meirav Zafary-Odiz, head of the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission and the Iranian official was Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency. While there were other countries in attendance, the significance is that neither Israel nor Iran boycotted the meeting when they heard the other was coming. At the recent UN General Assembly, both delegations made sure they were not in attendance when the leader of the other side spoke. Source: The Australian
 DANIEL FLITTON Australia has helped accomplish the seemingly impossible - bringing Israel and Iran into the same room for high-level talks on nuclear weapons. The meeting took place with little public fanfare in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, last month as part of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament, an expert panel assembled by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to help rid the world of nuclear arms. Coming only days after Tehran revealed it had secretly constructed a uranium enrichment plant, participants said there was a ''very robust exchange'' between the Israeli and Iranian officials. Iran's suspected nuclear weapons ambitions have drawn widespread condemnation, while Israel is the only regional country to possess atomic weapons - a program Tel Aviv has never officially acknowledged. While careful not to claim any breakthrough at the talks, sources have told The Age both sides engaged in ''serious discussions'' and canvassed the idea of a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East. Contact between Israeli and Iranian officials is sporadic and only takes place at international forums - no formal meetings between the two countries have occurred since the 1979 Iranian revolution. Officials from Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and other regional countries also took part in the three-day meeting and it is believed the talks floated an idea for a further regional conference - possibly hosted by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon - to outline the broad aims of a treaty to create a Middle East nuclear-free zone. Similar ideas have stalled in the past over the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict and questions of security guarantees for Israel. But last month's talks in Egypt attempted to skirt such obstacles by focusing on proposals to safeguard any fissile material in the region that could potentially be used for nuclear weapons. Iran's senior envoy to the meeting was its ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh. Israel sent the director of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, Merav Zafary-Odiz. Israel's former foreign affairs minister, Shlomo Ben-Ami, was also at the meeting in a non-official role. The high-level representatives are believed to have impressed regional diplomats who observed the proceedings. A further meeting of the commission - jointly chaired by Australia and Japan - begins in Hiroshima at the weekend in advance of a final report expected at the end of the year. A Lowy Institute poll this week appeared to deliver strong backing for the Government's nuclear disarmament efforts, with 69 per cent of Australians rating their most serious international fear as the threat that unfriendly countries might obtain nuclear weapons. Source: The Age
 AUSTRALIAN Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has no intention of sending more soldiers to Afghanistan despite Britain increasing its troop numbers. Britain has announced it will send another 500 troops to Afghanistan, a move welcomed by the United States. But Mr Rudd today said that Australian troops would return from Afghanistan once their mission in Oruzgan province was completed. Australian currently has about 1500 troops in the country, based in the southern Oruzgan Province. "The Australian deployment was increased by 40 per cent only some months ago," Mr Rudd said. "Our mission in Oruzgan province is clear cut; that is, our mission statement is to train the Afghan national army and Afghan security forces to take control of the security of that province. "Once that mission is completed and we hand over our responsibility to that provincial authority, then of course Australia's mission will be concluded and our troops would come home." "We made our position quite clear some months ago in terms of the appropriate force for Australia in order to achieve the mission which I have defined for Australia," he said. Source: Herald Sun
 Paige Taylor | September 03 In an unprecedented move that coincided with the arrival of yet another boat of asylum-seekers at the Indian Ocean territory last night, the 10 boys boarded a chartered Qantas jet carrying 56 newly recognised Afghan refugees from the island to Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne. The move, confirmed by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship last night, was welcomed by the Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre as a "substantial departure from the previous policy of condemning everyone including children to detention on Christmas Island". The flight departed Christmas Island, which was excised from Australia's migration zone in 2003 by the Howard government, just hours before a further 52 asylum-seekers and three crew landed on the island after being intercepted by HMAS Ararat near Ashmore Reef on Saturday. There are now 665 people in immigration detention on Christmas Island; 571 of them are single men being kept at the Howard government's $400 million immigration detention centre on the island's northwest point; 62 are living in a converted construction workers' compound; and 32 are in houses on the island in what is termed "community detention". Read more here,,, Source: The Australian
 THE Rudd Government has listed Somali-based Al-Shabaab as a terrorist organisation. In a Commonwealth Gazette statement dated August 21, 2009, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith listed the group under subsection 15 (1) of the Charter of the United Nations Act 1945. The Government has been under pressure to proscribe the group, which has been listed as a terrorist organisation in the United States since February 2008. Earlier in August, Australian police arrested several men with suspected links to al-Shabaab. It's alleged the men intended to launch a suicide attack on the Holsworthy army barracks in Sydney. According to the United States National Counter-Terrorism Centre website, senior members of the al-Shabaab leadership are affiliated with al-Qaeda and are believed to have fought with them in Afghanistan. It said al-Shabaab was the militant wing of the Somalia Islamic Courts Council that took over most of southern Somalia in late 2006. "In December 2006 and January 2007, Somali Government and Ethiopian forces routed it in a two-week war," the NCTC said. "Since the end of 2006 it has led a violent insurgency, using guerrilla warfare and terrorist tactics against the continued Ethiopian presence in Somalia, the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, and non-governmental aid organisations." No comment was immediately available from Attorney-General Robert McClelland's or Mr Smith's offices.
In an effort to move beyond the laws created in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the US and the 2002 Bali bombings, Mr McClelland announced a suite of changes to Australia's terror laws. Under the changes announced last night, the length of time that police can detain terror suspects will be capped at nine days. But police will be given the power to search premises without a warrant where they believe there is material that threatens public health, such as explosives or biological agents. However, as a safeguard, police will not be able to enter a premises for the purpose of gathering evidence merely to address acute security threats. The changes also extend the amount of time police have to re-enter premises from one hour to 12 in emergencies. Mr McClelland said the government's proposals hardened Australia's laws in some areas and moderated them in others. But he left little doubt that overall the adjustments represented a softening of the body of laws introduced by the Howard government, which he said had been passed "expeditiously" following the September 11 attacks and the 2002 Bali bombings. Under the changes, the definition of a terrorist act will be expanded to include acts of "psychological" harm, as well as physical injury, and police will be allowed to search premises without a warrant if they believe dangerous materials, such as bombs or biological weapons, are located inside. Read more here ... Source: The Australian Kevin Rudd
Latest recipient of The Dhimmi Award
 Abdurahman Osman says police should have talked to Somali leaders
before the raids. (So the terrorists would have enough time to leave)
Padraic Murphy | August 07 HATE-filled messages on a Muslim website claim an alleged plot to attack an Australian army base would have been justified.
And Somali community leaders have branded police as terrorists in the wake of this week's anti-terror swoop.
Abdurahman Osman, a leader of Melbourne's 15,000 strong Somali community, said police acted unreasonably.
"What do you call waking people up at four in the morning with guns?" he said.
"It is the police themselves that are the terrorists. "They had 400 police and 19 raids, but they did not find anything. No guns, no ammunition, nothing. "Now we have our kids being called terrorists at school." Mr Osman's outburst came as a prominent Muslim website featured a photograph of Australian soldiers in uniform with the caption: "Real Australian terrorists." It also features a photograph of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd addressing Australian troops overseas with the caption: "Terrorist mastermind delivers sermon to impressionable followers." "Mohammed" said on the website: "Why is it called terrorist attack when the Aussie troops have been raping, killing innocent Muslims for years? "In this country we can't trust nobody. The Australian Government is corrupted." One posting suggested Australian soldiers were an appropriate target for the alleged Melbourne terrorist cell. "More than a million innocent civilians have died as an outcome of the war on terror that our soldiers are involved in," Aussie-Muslim Tazza said. Mr Osman, until now a voice of moderation between Somalis and the wider community, said police should have consulted migrant leaders. "The federal police could have come to us first and we could have helped them," Mr Osman said. "We have met with them now, but we don't believe they have evidence of a terrorist plot and that is the feeling of the community." Other Somalis accused Australian authorities of bigotry. "As a Somali-born Australian I am outraged at these raids not only because my fellow Somalis are being targeted, but once again basic human rights are being violated," said Xamxam, a 21-year-old Sunshine woman who knows the family of accused terrorist Nayef El Sayed. "If there was strong evidence against him, I would back up the police." Abdullahi Ahmed, a salesman who has lived in Australian for almost 30 years, said he knew accused terrorist Saney Aweys. He said Mr Aweys was a road worker and a dedicated family man. "He was married only about a week ago. His family are here," Mr Ahmed said. Mr Ahmed said Somalis in Australia would petition US President Barack Obama to stop the war in Afghanistan. "There are innocent people being killed there. The Americans and the Australians are the ones making terror." with Mark Dunn and Keith Moor Source: Herald Sun
Latest recipient of the Distinguished Islamofascist Award
 The arrests come after a seven-month counter-terrorism operation. Five men being questioned over an alleged terrorist conspiracy had sought a religious ruling to authorise an attack in Australia, a court has heard. Their arrests come after a seven-month counter-terrorism operation and police raids across Melbourne this morning. It is alleged five men were planning to carry out an armed attack on the Holsworthy army base in Sydney. The Melbourne Magistrates Court heard some of them discussed obtaining a religious ruling from overseas or interstate in support of their alleged plans. One of the suspects, Nayef El Sayed, 25, of Glenroy, has been charged with a terrorism-related offence. During his brief court appearance he sat behind a window and refused to stand to acknowledge the magistrate because, as his lawyer explained, his religious beliefs meant he felt he should only stand for God and not a man. He did not apply for bail and was remanded in custody to face court again in October. Federal Police also won an application to further question three other suspects who appeared in court today but have not been charged. Victorian Magistrate Peter Reardon acts of terrorism in Madrid, Mumbai and London have struck at the heart of democratic society and investigators should be allowed to fully investigate such serious allegations. A fifth suspect is in custody on other matters. Raids About 400 law enforcement officers took part in the series of raids that led to today's arrests. The 19 raids took place across Melbourne and regional Victoria. Australian Federal Police Acting Chief Commissioner Tony Negus says the operation was the result of seven months' work by several agencies. He says more arrests are possible. "There are further inquiries being conducted both in Australia and overseas," he said. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says Australia will not be increasing its terror alert level. "Our assessment of the terrorist threat in Australia is that it comes from a small number of individuals who should in no way be taken as a wider reflection of any group within Australian society," he said. But he says today's events are a strong reminder of the security threats facing the nation. "The threat of terrorism is alive and well and this requires continued vigilance," he said. Call for calm Some of those arrested have a Somalian background and Islamic groups are urging people not to seek retaliation against Melbourne's African community. Shereen Hassan, the vice-president of the Islamic Council of Victoria, says Muslims have been shocked by the raids and are calling for calm amid fears of a backlash. "But we have faith that the overwhelming majority of Australians will not react in this way and remain calm," she said. "[We] urge the wider community and the media to respect the privacy of the families concerned. "The overwhelming majority of Australian Muslims unequivocally condemn all forms of terrorism." Mohamed Baaruud from the Somalia Advocacy Action Group says the community cannot believe some Somali Australians have been implicated. "We are all shocked," he said. "This is the last thing we were expecting. "Our community came to Australia about 17 years ago when the civil war started in Somalia and it took us a long time to recover from the trauma that we have experienced in our country of origin and start a new life here in Australia." Doctor Jamal Rifi from the Lebanese Muslim Association says the authorities are to be congratulated for preventing the alleged attack. "We'll do our best for anyone who will have any information to actually contact the relevant authority and to work cooperatively to uncover any or similar events that may take place," he said. New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione says authorities feared the group was planning to carry out its attack in the near future. "It was likely imminent and that was part of the reason behind moving as we have," he said. Security NSW Premier Nathan Rees says he is satisfied the security at Sydney's Holsworthy Barracks is adequate. Mr Scipione says security at the barracks was stepped up earlier this year, shortly after police became aware of the alleged plot. Private guards are in charge of perimeter security at Holsworthy and other army bases. Mr Rees says he has no problems with the arrangements in place at the state's military facilities. "I have every confidence that the Australian Defence Force is more than adequately capable of looking after their assets, their bases and so on," he said. Newspaper investigated Meanwhile, Victoria Police is also investigating The Australian newspaper for publishing details of the raids about the time they were occurring. Police claim the story was available before some of the arrests took place and could have compromised the operation. But The Australian says the story only ran in its late edition which was not available until after the raids. It says its online publishing schedule was altered to ensure the story was not made public until the raids had occurred. Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Simon Overland says he will investigate the timing of the story. 'Matter of time' In other developments, a Somali community leader and Islamic scholar says he warned the Federal Government two years ago that a terrorist incident could occur in Australia. Dr Herse Hilole, now a resident academic at the International Islamic University in Kuala Lumpur, told The World Today that he has expected such activities. "My suspicion was that young Somali Muslims could be or may be used in the future to carry out some terrorist activities in Australia," he said. He criticised the Federal Government's response to his warning. "The response at the beginning was good, but the current government of Australia ... [it] seems that they did not take this seriously," he said. "I proposed last year a project to help this situation, but my project was rejected by the Government." Source: ABC Online
 THE terrorist bombings in Jakarta are a savage blow against Indonesian democracy and society that demonstrate the ferocious resilience of Islamist extremism as a motivating ideology, and the terrorist groups that give life to it. No country has done more, or better, than Indonesia in fighting Islamist terrorism. There have been hundreds of arrests, dozens of transparent trials that have educated a sceptical Indonesian public about the intentions and capabilities of the Islamist groups. Hundreds of people have gone to jail long-term. A society-wide consensus has been forged against terrorism. The biggest and most influential Islamic groups all condemn terrorism without qualification. Indonesia has not done all this to please Washington, still less to please Australia. The nation has taken this stand because it reflects Indonesia's values and interests and identity. Indonesia is not a permissive environment for terrorism. Yet seven years after the Bali bombings, Islamist terrorists can still blow up a five-star hotel, the JW Marriott which they bombed five years ago. In hitting Jakarta's Ritz Carlton, they hit the very heart of Indonesia's commercial engagement with the world. Of course, they also stand a chance of hitting Jakarta's leading commercial and political figures. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, just re-elected President in a landslide victory, described the bombings as a cruel and inhuman act. Kevin Rudd rightly described them as barbaric, said they were an attack on us all and that we remain under threat from terrorism. SBY is right. This act is cruel not only to its victims but to all Indonesia, which has done so well to consolidate democracy, weather the global economic crisis and turn its face hard against extremism. Rudd is also right -- we are all under threat from terrorism. Islamist extremism is an exceptionally resilient and powerful ideology. Read more here... Source: The Australian
 Rebiya Kadeer has campaigned for the rights of China's Uighur community | Organisers of Melbourne's International Film Festival have defied calls from China not to show a documentary about an exiled Uighur leader. Festival director Richard Moore said a Chinese consular official had insisted that the film be withdrawn, but he had refused to do so. The film, Ten Conditions of Love, centres on Rebiya Kadeer, the US-based head of the World Uighur Congress. China accuses the group of inciting recent ethnic unrest in Xinjiang. Beijing and Canberra are already locked in a row over an Australian mining executive who has been arrested for spying in China. 'Strident' Mr Moore said that after the event's programme was published, he was contacted by Melbourne-based Chinese cultural attache Chunmei Chen who urged him to withdraw the film. "I said I had no reason to withdraw the film from the festival and she then proceeded to tell me that I had to justify my decision to include the film in the festival. "No-one reacts well to strident approaches, or to the appearance of being bullied. I don't think it's a positive way of behaving," he added. He said he told Ms Chen he did not have to justify the film's inclusion, "then politely hung up".  Chinese troops have restored order in Xinjiang after bloody riots | The Chinese consulate in Melbourne has not commented on the incident. China has accused Ms Kadeer of orchestrating recent bloodshed in Xinjiang, home to the ethnic Muslim Uighurs and a growing number of China's Han majority. Violence between the two groups this month has left more than 180 people dead and more than 1,600 injured, Chinese authorities say. Ms Kadeer, one of China's richest women, was jailed in China for endangering national security but released in 2005 on medical grounds. She now lives in the US. Ten Conditions of Love, by Melbourne film-maker Jeff Daniels, tells of Ms Kadeer's relationship with her activist husband Sidik Rouzi and the impact her campaigning had on her 11 children. Three of her children have been jailed. 'Spying' arrest Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd warned China on Wednesday that governments and corporations around the world were watching how it handled the case of an Australian mining executive. Stern Hu, the Australian head of Rio Tinto's iron ore business in China, was detained on suspicion of industrial espionage relating to negotiations with Chinese steel mills over iron ore prices. Source: BBC
 Malki told me this in a meeting in Ramallah earlier this week. Specifically, he would like Arab, probably Egyptian, forces to come into Gaza, to stop rockets being fired at Israel and, in his words, to "stop any Israeli incursions into Gaza". Then, he says, the Palestinian forces in Gaza should be professionalised. But to provide security, he says the Palestinians "are willing to accept international forces, NATO, American or Australian forces, in Gaza or the West Bank. We will go the extra mile. We will take away any excuse from the Israelis (not to withdraw from Palestinian territories)." At the moment, Malki's proposal is unrealistic. The Palestinian Authority cannot guarantee its own security in Gaza. Egypt, let alone the US or Australia, would be unlikely to commit troops and the Israelis would not accept a restriction on their right to self-defence. Nonetheless, in the unlikely event that a peace deal is reached between the Israelis and the Palestinians, the question of international forces to monitor the deal and perhaps to guard borders will become a real one. Given Australia's remarkable history of involvement in the Middle East, the question of our participation should be given serious consideration by Canberra. The fact that the Palestinian foreign minister suggested Australian soldiers reflects the high reputation of our troops. But it also demonstrates that Australia's deep friendship with Israel has not remotely diminished our credibility with the Arab world. Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard and former treasurer Peter Costello are visiting Israel as part of the inaugural Australia Israel Leadership Forum, organised by Melbourne businessman Albert Dadon. Gillard deserves particular praise for attending the forum, as she was subject to a nasty campaign from the Left to try to intimidate her out of going. The Left internationally is going through one of its periodic bouts of trying to isolate Israel. This is one of those demented moments where allegedly progressive opinion believes it's the height of creativity to engage the mullah dictatorship in Iran, as it steals elections and pursues nuclear weapons, but wrong to visit a democratic ally such as Israel. The Rudd government has stood four square against this nonsensical position, as demonstrated in Kevin Rudd's long telephone conversation with Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, earlier this week. Rudd, who follows the Middle East with forensic attention to detail, discussed Netanyahu's speech responding to US President Barack Obama's Cairo address to the Muslim world. Specifically Rudd and Netanyahu discussed the prospect of a Palestinian state and the situation in Iran. Read more here... Source: The Australian
 That Rudd questions the viability of the Pakistani state should alert Australians to the perfect storm of trouble in Pakistan today. It is the worst and most dangerous security situation in the world, albeit with strong competition from Iran and with North Korea putting in a serious effort. Don't think I'm being alarmist. Last week, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Congress that the security situation in Pakistan "poses a mortal threat to the security and safety of our country and the world". She added: "The Pakistani Government is basically abdicating to the Taliban and the extremists ... we cannot underscore the seriousness of the existential threat posed to the state of Pakistan." Bear in mind that Pakistan is a nation of 170 million people and possesses 75 to 100 nuclear weapons. The Pakistani state is under assault from the Pakistani Taliban, allied with the Afghan Taliban and with al-Qa'ida. It is also under assault from other Islamist and terrorist groups, many of which it originally created or funded (just as it was involved in the founding of the Afghan Taliban) in order to harass India. In the past few days the Pakistani military has hit back at the Taliban who had taken control of the Swat Valley and moved to within 80km of the capital, Islamabad. This is not entirely removed from a situation of civil war. The fighting has been pretty indiscriminate and 30,000 Pakistani civilians have fled their homes, many taking shelter in camps that once housed Afghan refugees. One of the finest analysts of South Asian security, Gopalaswamy Parthasarathy, a former Indian high commissioner to Pakistan, told me this week: "There is a serious concern about whether the Pakistani army is going to defend the state apparatus of Pakistan." More... Source: The Australian
 The group was apprehended in a villa in West Java, one of several common jumping-off points used in a growing wave of people-smuggling out of Indonesia.
The group, believed to have entered Indonesia illegally, was staying in a tourist area on the Sunda Strait, facing the westernmost Indonesian island of Sumatra, from where an increasing number of journeys to Australia are being made.
Both Indonesian and Australian officials admit that the Rudd Government's relaxed police on processing refugee claims is behind an increased demand for the services of people-smugglers, many of whom are based in Jakarta.
“The 68 Afghan citizens will be picked up by immigration officials this afternoon,” Cilegon district police chief Dwi Gunawan was quoted by state news agency Antaraas saying.
Gunawan said the Afghans planned to travel to Australia.
The arrests come a day after a boat ferrying Afghani men exploded after being intercepted by the navy off Ashmore reef on Wednesday.
Indonesia has long been a transit country for illegal migration and people smuggling to Australia.
Authorities in March arrested an Afghanistan-born US national for fraud and people smuggling after he was suspected of bringing 47 Chinese to Indonesia on promises of work in Australia.
Forty-one Afghan migrants were detained and six suspected people smugglers arrested by Indonesian and Australian police on Sulawesi island in February. Source: The Australian
WITH US President Barack Obama due to ask Kevin Rudd to commit more Australian troops to Afghanistan, it’s time to consider whether there are too many civil liberties. In the simple land of moral absolutes inhabited by so many progressives and civil libertarians, just about everything that George W. Bush did in his fight against terrorism was wrong. For these people, the election of Obama would recalibrate the balance between national security and civil liberties so that America could again hold its head high. Human Rights First said Obama’s decision to shut down Guantanamo Bay would “restore the moral authority and strengthen the national security of the US”. In the more complicated real world, even the man they openly call their messiah is disappointing them, given that naive absolutism is not only misconceived but downright dangerous. Detaining men at Guantanamo Bay was absolutely wrong, declared the anti-Bushies. Obama agreed, two days into his presidency signing an executive order to close down Gitmo.
Last week we learned that Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul, the Taliban’s new top operations officer in southern Afghanistan, was a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner released to the Afghan Government in December 2007. Now known as Mullah Abdullah Zakir, he’s commanding areas where the violence has been ramped up in recent months. In January it was reported that another former inmate at Guantanamo Bay, Said Ali al-Shihri, had emerged as deputy leader of the al-Qa’ida network in Yemen. According to US officials, al-Shihri, allegedly involved in the bombing of the US embassy in Sana’a last year, and released from Gitmo in 2007, was handed over to the Saudi Government and entered a Saudi rehabilitation program for former jihadists. Nice idea. Didn’t work. It turns out you can count on the Taliban and al-Qa’ida to spot the real talent. There’s not a whiff of branch stacking, no insertion of party hacks when they choose their jihadist leaders. Instead, it’s all about merit. That sees the likes of Rasoul and al-Shihri taking up a leadership role to impose a warped Islamist ideology on large swaths of the globe. Gitmo was not the perfect solution. These terrorists were released under the watch of the Bush administration because it’s not easy identifying terrorists. But closing down Gitmo won’t make identifying terrorists any easier. Indeed, that dilemma has just been made harder by Obama’s promise to try to return more detainees to their home countries. Quaint notions of rehabilitation programs no doubt stroke liberal sensibilities. Yemen, the home of the single biggest group among the 250 Gitmo detainees has, with Western backing, set up Saudi-like “edification programs based on moderation to shun extremism and terrorism”. Another nice idea. But al-Shihri’s promotion up the al-Qa’ida ladder shows that releasing many of these men back to Yemen, the ancestral home of Osama bin Laden, undercuts not only the national security of the US but the safety of every citizen in every country targeted by terrorists. And that list grows longer by the day. It takes a sweet but rather dim-witted Pollyanna view of the world to suppose that men infused with an ideology to kill infidels and trained to do so need only spend some time in the equivalent of a detox centre to get those dirty jihadist thoughts out of their minds. These guys don’t have a drinking or drug problem. They have a killing problem. But in a society where we think we can treat every transgression, from swearing to homophobic language, with a stint in rehab, it’s no great surprise that we now think terrorists are just miscreants of a slightly nastier kind. This has always been the liberal mindset. Terrorists, we were told, ought to be treated and prosecuted as criminals in ordinary courts, because we can’t really be at war with a transnational group of religious nutters. The obsession with simple moral absolutes meant that denying habeas corpus rights to alleged terrorists caught on the battlefield was equally wrong. Liberal justices in the US Supreme Court agreed, leading Chief Justice John Roberts to declare, in dissent, that the American people had just lost “a bit more control over the conduct of this nation’s foreign policy to unelected, politically unaccountable judges”. Soldiers would henceforth have to collect evidence and take witness statements from the battlefield like a cop busting a drug ring. As Justice Antonin Scalia said in his dissent, “how to handle enemy prisoners in this war will ultimately lie with the branch that knows least about national security”. Then it was military commissions. They too were wrong, said the civil libertarians. Not even the US Supreme Court agreed on this one. Rendition was apparently the greatest wrong. Secret abductions and holing up prisoners in other countries signalled that Bush’s America had truly lost its moral compass. In fact, rendition was used under the Clinton administration. Moreover, Obama’s executive order closing down secret CIA sites made it clear previous rendition practices would not end. In small print, the order said that the sites closed down “do not refer to facilities used only to hold people on a short-term, transitory nature”. Even Obama apparently wants, or needs, some wriggle room on rendition. Present and former US intelligence officials have said that rendition may now play a greater role as one of the few remaining tools to get suspected terrorists off the streets. “Obviously you need to preserve some tools: you still have to go after the bad guys,” said one Obama administration official. And that’s the point. Gitmo may be closed. Habeas corpus rights are back. But consider this. Our soldiers may now confront more released Gitmo detainees duly promoted up the jihadist ladder on the battlefield. And what was inaccurately regarded as the worst symbol of the Bush era - rendition - may end up becoming a more widely used tool for those enemy combatants captured in Afghanistan. Happily, all done far away from the eyes of those who still see the US President as their liberal saviour. There is no perfect, settled place to draw the line between civil liberties and national security. But those who speak in terms of moral absolutes are as dangerous as they are naive. This is not an abstract academic argument about liberal values and national security. It cuts to the core of how we protect ourselves from Islamists who waged war against us long before we noticed. The danger is that a complacent liberalism will endanger our troops and signal to the enemy that we do not have the stomach for war any more. Source: The Australian
TWO Iraqi soldiers who helped rescue Melbourne man Douglas Wood from kidnappers in the war-torn country in 2005 have been given asylum in Australia.
Mr Wood, who spent six weeks under threat in Iraq until being rescued in April 2005, asked Kevin Rudd act swiftly in assisting the servicemen to obtain sanctuary in Australia.
Immigration Minister Senator Chris Evans said the two men, who had been hiding in the Middle East after fleeing Iraq, had arrived safely in Australia this week.
"The Australian Government recognises the contribution that the Iraqi service personnel made in securing the release of Douglas Wood," Senator Evans said.
"The lives of these men were assessed as being in imminent danger so it was critical their claims were processed as quickly as possible," he said.
The Iraqi men will receive the assistance provided to all refugees through the government's humanitarian settlement services to help them establish their new lives in Australia. Source: The Australian
 Opposition Foreign Affairs spokeman Julie Bishop is right - there is no way the Rudd Government should go to the UN’s latest group hate against the West and Israel:
The Australian Government should not attend the United Nations Durban Review Conference, to be held in Geneva on 20-24 April, due to the obvious potential for a repeat of the anti-Semitism that marred the first Durban conference..
The Australian Jewish News is even more adamant:
The US has joined Israel and Canada in pulling out. Some European countries have also indicated they are considering not attending the conference in Geneva… Robert Goot, president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry and Philip Chester, president of the Zionist Federation of Australia, both called on Australia to follow the US.
The US State Department agrees the draft document of the UN conference is clearly anti-Israeli, and suggests it is also biased against the West and its freedoms:
Sadly, however, the document being negotiated has gone from bad to worse, and the current text of the draft outcome document is not salvageable… It must not single out any one country or conflict, nor embrace the troubling concept of “defamation of religion.” The U.S. also believes an acceptable document should not go further than the DDPA on the issue of reparations for slavery.
So why is the Rudd Government so eager to go to such a festival of hatred against our values and allies? Writer Alan Gold is right - because a refusal to attend might offend Muslim and African countries whose UN votes Kevin Rudd is unnaturally eager to have:
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith hasn’t yet announced whether Australia will attend the review in Geneva. Much is at stake. Australia is a leading contender for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council and boycotting may affect how we are viewed at the tables of the world body.
How shameful a sell-out. As if it wasn’t enough that to toady for UN votes this Government has already voted for two anti-Israeli resolutions in the United Nations that the Howard Government wouldn’t support, and has now resumed aid even to Mugabe’s Zimbabwe.
And if you doubt that this UN conference could be as loaded and viciously anti-Western and anti-Israeli as I suggest, read its draft declaration here - a document created under the supervision of a Preparatory Committee chaired by Libya with the help of co-chairs including Iran and Pakistan, as well as a rapporteur from Cuba. (Yes, you couldn’t write a farce this absurd.)
Here are just some of the most alarming excerpts, which emphasise the sins of the West above those of the rest, blame colonialism for Third World failures, elevate “Islamophobia” above other forms of racism, propose legal restrictions on criticism of religions and Muslims in particular, single out only Israel for (extreme) criticism, recommend reparations for colonialism and (particularly colonial) slavery, accuse Israel of torture and collective punishment; attack moves by the West to protect itself against Islamist terrorism, and suggest the deletion of a reference noting the Holocaust wiped out a third of the world’s Jews.
You’d never guess from this document that in recent decades the worst genocides have been in Africa, the most savage terrorism has been launched by Islamists, the worst ethnic cleansings have been in Africa and Asia, and the people most likely to kill for their faith are Muslims:
20. Welcomes the actions taken to commemorate the memory of victims of slavery and the slave trade in particular the transatlantic slave trade [and the abolition of those historic tragedies and including the establishment of national, regional-hemispheric bicentennial committees to commemorate the bicentenary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade [and stresses the need to similarly address the trans-Saharan slave trade and the slave trade in the Indian Ocean.] [Also]Welcomes the adoption of GA Resolutions 61/19 and 62/122 related to the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade and remembrance of its victims and, in particular, the designation of 25 March as the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade …
(Note: square brackets indicate words that some delegates have suggested be removed.)
Further welcomes the initiative of the States Members of the Caribbean Community to erect at a place of prominence at United Nations Headquarters that is easily accessible to delegates, United Nations staff and visitors, a permanent memorial in acknowledgement of the tragedy and in consideration of the legacy of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade…
ALT: Appreciates the actions of those countries that have, in the context of colonialism and slavery, expressed remorse, apologized, paid reparations or restituted cultural artifacts…
[Draws attention to the impact of] [Strongly deplores the [overt and covert] discriminatory] counter-terrorism measures [on] [that have led to] the rise of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance [including the practice of racial, ethnic, national and religious profiling;]…
NEW PARA: Reaffirms that counter-terrorism strategies should not undermine the protection of human rights and the fight against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance ...
26. [[Notes with concern] [Seriously concerned at the] instances of defamation of religions, which manifests itself in [projecting negative, insulting and derogatory images of religions and religious personalities,] generalized and stereotypical association of religions, in particular Islam, with violence and terrorism, thus impacting negatively on the rights of individuals belonging to these religions, including Muslim minorities, and exposing them to hatred and discrimination…
(Holocaust) [proposal to change title]
29. [Affirms that the Holocaust, which resulted in the murder of one third of the Jewish people, along with numerous members of other minorities, will forever be a warning to all people of the dangers of hatred, bigotry, racism and prejudice; recalls again that the Holocaust must never be forgotten;]
ALT: Recalls that the Holocaust must never be forgotten; ...
30. [Expresses deep concern at the practices of racial discrimination against the Palestinian people as well as [Syrian nationals of the occupied Syrian Golan] [other inhabitants of the Arab occupied territories] which have an impact on all aspects of their daily existence and prevent the enjoyment of fundamental rights, and renews the call for the cessation of all such practices;]
31. [Reiterates that the Palestinian people have the inalienable right to self determination and that, in order to consolidate the [Israeli] occupation, they have been subjected to unlawful collective punishment, torture, economic blockade, severe restriction of movement and arbitrary closure of their territories. Also notes [with concern] that illegal settlements continue to be built in the occupied [Arab] territories [since 1967];]
32. [Reaffirms that a foreign occupation founded on settlements, laws based on racial discrimination with the aim of continuing domination of the occupied territory[y][ies], as well as the practice of reinforcing a total military blockade, isolating towns, villages and cities from one another, [totally] contradicts the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations [and constitutes a serious violation of international human rights and humanitarian law, a crime against humanity, a contemporary form of apartheid and serious threat to international peace and security] [and violates the basic principles of international human rights law];] ...
34. [Re-emphasizes the responsibility of the international community to provide international protection, in particular from racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, for [Palestinian] civilian populations under occupation in conformity with international human rights law and international humanitarian law;]
[Proposal to include reference to Gaza situation – language to be provided] ...
36. Regrets recent attempts at the [pseudo] intellectual and [allegedly] [pseudo] scientific legitimization of racism [on the grounds of descent], in particular the revival of negative stereotyping of Africans and People of African descent [as inferior to other races, as slavery and colonialism have originated in such misguided ideas]...
53. Acknowledges that a most disturbing phenomenon is the intellectual and ideological validation of Islamophobia. When it is expressed against migrants it takes the form of religious-ethnic or religious-racial tones, when it is expressed in the form of defamation of religions, it takes cover behind the freedom of expression and when it is expressed in the form of profiling, it hides behind the war against terrorism. Believes that association of terrorism and violence with Islam or any other religion, including through publication of offensive caricatures and making of hate documentaries, would purposely complicate our common endeavours to address several contemporary issues, including the fight against terrorism and the occupation of foreign territories and peoples; ...
Recognizes that individuals, groups, peoples and nations that are affected by [the violation of] [discriminatory] policies and practices, such as colonialism, slavery and ethnic cleansing based on theories of racial national superiority, hatred and distinction as to race, colour, or national or ethnic origin, as well as culture, religion and language as victims of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and have the right to address these scourges…
Urges States that have not yet condemned, apologized and paid reparations for the grave and massive violations as well as the massive human suffering caused by slavery, the slave trade, the transatlantic slave trade, apartheid, colonialism and genocide, to do so at the earliest. Source: Herald Sun
Greg Sheridan, Foreign editor, March 07
AUSTRALIAN foreign policy is in danger of being seriously distorted by our bid for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council in 2013-14.
In some ways it is impossible to prove that our foreign policy is being distorted by this bid. But the circumstantial evidence is mounting.
Exhibit No1 is the continued indecision of the Rudd Government about whether to attend the UN anti-racism conference, officially titled the Durban Review Conference, to be held in Geneva in late April. This meeting is commonly called Durban II. Durban I was notoriously one of the most disgraceful and counter-productive official international gatherings ever held. Instead of making a strong consensus statement on the evil of racism, the conference focused obsessively on the alleged racism of Israel.
Durban I called Israel an apartheid and racist state and promoted boycotts, sanctions and legal harassment of the country. This is not remotely consistent with Australian government policy or any sincere effort to combat racism.
The draft text of Durban II looks even worse and will also embrace "defamation of religion" in an attempt to outlaw critical scrutiny of Islamic movements. Some time ago, the Canadians walked away from the process and said they would not attend such a charade. The Bush administration did not make a decision but quite properly left it to the Obama administration.
Now the Obama administration, in a decision personally approved by Barack Obama, has decided to withdraw from Durban II.
Obama sent senior officials to a planning meeting for Durban II. They were so appalled by the behaviour at the meeting, and the wholly destructive nature of the draft text, that the US pulled out altogether.
Since then Italy has pulled out and some European foreign ministers have said their nations will too unless all references to Israel are dropped.
Yet the only guidance I can get from the Rudd Government on this is that it has not yet made up its mind and that a decision ultimately will be made on the basis of whether Australia can positively influence the outcome of the conference and the extent to which the conference is likely to be marred by anti-Semitism.
Well, excuse me, but what on earth is Australia doing attending a conference that could be marred by anti-Semitism? What possible reason could there be for the Rudd Government to dillydally on this decision?
Rudd, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith and other senior ministers are strong supporters of Israel. They certainly do not regard it as an apartheid or racist state. So what gives?
The only explanation is Canberra fears it will earn hostility from Arab League and African nations if it denounces Durban II. Then they may not vote for us in the Security Council election. If that is the case, we have already paid too high a price for our UN Security Council seat bid.
The Opposition, including its latest foreign affairs spokeswoman, Julie Bishop, forever in a fitful slumber on these issues, had no position at all on whether Australia should attend.
Only after prompting from this newspaper yesterday had Bishop taken the position that the Government should not attend Durban II as, like Durban I, it would become an instrument promoting racism rather than opposing it. Better late than never.
Similarly, in February the Rudd Government switched previous Australian policy on two UN resolutions that were the normal, one-sided, anti-Israel stuff. The Rudd Government voted in favour of two completely unbalanced, anti-Israel resolutions, where previously Australia had abstained or voted no.
At first this looked as if it might be a new pattern of voting. However, after a previously unpublicised but substantial revolt from within its ranks, the Government did not change Australia's traditional support of Israel on any other resolutions. Again, what could be the motive except trying to look like a less conspicuous pro-Israel force in front of the Arab and African blocs for the purpose of securing UN Security Council votes?
But we are paying for this UN bid in other ways, too. In this budget year the Government has allocated $1.9 million for the UN bid. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is stretched beyond breaking point in terms of resources. This special funding does not remotely cover the full effort that our diplomatic missions across the world will have to put in for this vote.
Already Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon has travelled to Addis Ababa in pursuit of elusive African votes. Yet there are many allied and friendly countries with which we have important defence relations that Fitzgibbon has notvisited.
Australia always has trouble winning African votes because we have only five small embassies in all of Africa (and only four in Latin America).
In 1996, the last time we campaigned for a Security Council seat, we sent former prime minister Malcolm Fraser to Africa. His efforts were singularly unsuccessful.
You may conclude that this reflects the limits of Fraser's charm and diplomatic skill. But in fairness to the former PM, it is impossible to convince a country that you take it seriously if you can't be bothered having a resident embassy. Special envoys, whose message is we love you but we couldn't be bothered stationing anybody in your country, never work.
Now Quentin Bryce is off on a seven-nation tour of Africa; nine if you count the stop-overs, as The Age's political editor Michelle Grattan points out. She is visiting Ethiopia, Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania and Kenya, having been already to France, Singapore, Malta, East Timor, Afghanistan and the United Arab Emirates. This is a spectacular misallocation of resources and represents a misunderstanding, at the top, of the Governor-General's role. Governors-general should only travel overseas to funerals, to ceremonial occasions and sometimes to comfort afflicted Australians.
They should do this only if no senior minister is available. This is not a frivolous point but a deadly serious one in the environment of grotesquely strained diplomatic resources that Australia confronts. To put it at its baldest, a governor-general's visit is as much trouble, expense and use of diplomatic capital as a prime minister's, but has no pay-off for Australia.
In any country the Governor-General visits, protocol will demand appointments with the host head of state and often head of government. This is precious face time that is always hard to come by. But the Governor-General has no policy role so her meetings are useless. The foreign head of government cannot ring her if there's a problem with Australia or if he wants to co-operate with Canberra in some initiative. It's high-level tourism.
Unlike the Queen, who can at least gain publicity for Britain, no one knows who the Australian Governor-General is or what she does. So there's no pay-off even at that level.
If Australia had munificent diplomatic resources this might not matter. But we don't. The Rudd Government is starving DFAT of funds for core business and this is likely to get worse because of the financial crisis, while lavishing funds on gimmicks and fripperies.
Silly, silly, silly. Source: The Australian
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