You have to laugh. Hamas has just announced that it has come to an agreement with militant groups in Gaza to stop firing rockets into Israel. The reason for this, and this is the punchline, is to stop retaliation by Israel. Get it? If we don’t attack Israel in the first place then it won’t hit us back. What an epiphany!!!

Isn’t that what Israel has been saying all the time? It has to defend its people from rocket attacks from Gaza.

The only reason that Israel has ever retaliated is when the Palestinians and their supporters have attacked Israel. If they stop that then perhaps peace will have a chance. Will they stop attacking Israel? Not bloody likely cause attacking Israel is their only reason for existing.

Comments (0)

I applaud the New Zealand government for refusing to allow some of the Tamil blackmailers on the Oceanic Viking to resettle in New Zealand. Prime Minister Rudd has been told that New Zealand doesn’t approve of queue-jumpers, nor does it want to be viewed as an easy destination by people-smugglers and their customers.

So our “tough but compassionate” Prime Minister is hunting high and low for another country to accept the Tamils. A possible destination is the Philippines, but I doubt that the Tamils will agree to disembark in that country. They are demanding to be sent to Australia and won’t settle for anything else.

That certainly does not sound as if the Tamils’ only motivation for leaving Sri Lanka was to save their skins.

If Rudd capitulates and brings the blackmailers to Christmas Island then that will be regarded as a failure of his refugee policy. Anyhow, if he criticised the previous Australian government’s handling of boat people and smugglers which was called the Pacific Solution, why is he scouting the Pacific nations in the hope of relieving himself of these queue-jumpers?

Surely there is not much difference between Rudd’s Pacific Odyssey and John Howard’s Pacific Solution except that Howard’s one worked as a deterrent while Rudd’s is an embarrassment. Meanwhile we wait to see what bright idea Rudd can come up with to remove the egg on his face.

Comments (0)

There is no denying that what the Australian people admire most is a strong leader. In fact, that’s what everyone wants in a leader- leadership qualities.

At the moment, Prime Minister Rudd, who is known for being bossy with his staff, is showing signs of wavering in another field. This is caused by his desire to please everybody and when you are motivated by trying to please everyone, you end up looking weak and namby pamby and you please no-one

For a man who constantly states “The reality is” and “The bottom line is” in a most definite way he can’t seem to get to the crux of the problem with the Sri Lankan Tamils on the Oceanic Viking.

We cannot allow these Tamils to land in Australia because they have been blackmailing us. This is the first point to be acknowledged. We must not give in to blackmail otherwise we will be doomed to experience this stand-off over and over again. This is the reality, Mr Rudd.

There is not much point in sending our Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith, to Sri Lanka with bags of cash if the Tamils refuse to go back there. And even if the Sri Lankan government promises to monitor outgoing vessels with Tamils on them, what is in it for the Sri Lankan government which is quite happy to get rid of these unwelcome Tamils from its strife-torn country? Why would they want them back, for crying out loud?

I would have preferred Rudd to talk tough and act tough. We don’t want cuddly wuddly sweet talk. We want a leader who leads and who is prepared to secure our shores and our airways from unwelcome arrivals.

Let us instead open our arms and welcome legitimate refugees who have been languishing for years in refugee centres just because they can’t afford to pay people-smugglers. Why doesn’t Mr Rudd announce that we will invite 10,000 legitimate refugees to our country instead of these 78 blackmailers?

There is something inherently unfair about people who push in getting ahead of the rest of the queue. It’s wrong and the Prime Minister should point that out in no uncertain terms.

You never know, with all this unsettled weather, there may be another cyclone in the area and the Tamils will have to be rescued by the Indonesians, for their own good…

Comments (0)

When I watched the BBC’s HARDtalk interview by Stephen Sackur with our former Prime Minister of Australia, I was reminded why Mr Howard was one of our greatest leaders. He had to endure Sackur’s constant interruptions but came out the winner because while Sackur behaved like a desperate ferret trying to scurry from point to point and failing visibly, Mr Howard was amazingly cool.

Sackur tried to interrupt him before he could answer a question and was extremely rude which made Howard look so very much like the statesman that he is. It is now even clearer why former treasurer, Peter Costello, could never reach the heights of Prime Ministership. He just never had the balls.

What was impressive about Howard in this interview was that in defending his actions as Prime Minister, he never criticised the actions of his successor, Kevin Rudd. How cool is that in the current arena!

Now that we are in the woods with Prime Minister Rudd I certainly miss the aplomb of the old master.

It was moreover evident that Stephen Sackur has none of the panache of former interviewer HARDtalk icon, Tim Sebastian, and we certainly miss his informed methods of interviewing on that programme.

Comments (0)

I honestly don’t understand how anyone could expect Ahmadinejad to lose the presidential election. He is the darling of the lower classes and there are plenty of poor people in Iran whom he has cultivated.

Does it really make a difference who is president of Iran? The man is a puppet of the ayatollahs and the real power rests with the clerics. They are the ones who rule the country. They are the ones who control the purse strings and nothing will change in Iran until the clerics say goodbye.

If President Obama thought that reaching out to the Iranians was a good idea then he has been taught a lesson. Perhaps. Obama makes pretty speeches. Enough to emblazon on the front of many T-shirts. But when it comes to addressing the Muslim world, nothing he says will change their innate culture. They hate the West. They hate Israel. They hate the U.S. And it doesn’t make a skerrick of difference if Obama points out his name is Hussein. It only makes him look desperate and silly.

When you think about it, the re-election of Ahmadinejad is propitious. At least with him you know where you stand. Nowhere pleasant. It is very important to know who is your enemy and the most dangerous kind is the one who pretends to be your friend and then double crosses you. That was the danger with Mousavi. He was hardly going to be an improvement since he had to obey the clerics anyway.

The latest news from Iran is that Mousavi is under house arrest. That is only a rumour, however. We can’t really know what’s going on in Iran at the moment because the government is interfering with phone lines and broadcasts. Supporters of Mousavi are being beaten up and arrested by police. So much for free elections.

There are now riots in the streets but in the end the government and the clerics will no doubt crush the rebellions since they have the military on their side. What a tragi-comedy!

Quite frankly, I am relieved that things have turned out this way since perhaps President Obama will now learn that Iran is not a country that you can reach out to. Not for a long time anyhow. Not while it is a religious dictatorship.

Comments (0)

The UN condemns. Obama makes another speech. Even Australia makes its objections known. So what difference will it make?

Comments (0)

It is hard to believe that some people are actually questioning the Government’s reaction to suspected Swine Flu cases. I personally applaud the Health Department’s decision to err on the side of caution.

Comments (0)

According to the Sri Lankan government the Tamil terrorists are finished. The military leader of the terrorists is dead. This is welcome news for the Sri Lankans who have endured so much suffering at the hands of the Tamils. We shall see in the fullness of time whether this claim is true. For the time being, however, the Sri Lankans are jubilant.

So how was this victory achieved? Not by negotiations, not by being told to make friends with the Tamils and certainly not by giving in to their threats of further terrorism.

The victory was achieved by military force. Sadly, many Tamil civilians were displaced and many were killed. Thousands in fact. What is very noticeable, but not surprising, is the lack of protest from the rest of the world about the military tactics used by the Sri Lankan army.

Is Sri Lanka going to be admonished in the U.N? Are there protests in universities and on the streets of the Western World against the killing of thousands of Tamils? Amazing isn’t it, how there is one rule for the rest of the world and another for Israel.

If Israel decides to defend itself against 4000 missiles being launched against it, then Israel is wrong. Sanctions are called for. The UN throws a fit because Israel has had enough of suicide attacks. What a double standard this is!

My advice to Israel is to do whatever it has to do to ensure that its citizens can live in safety. I also believe that no matter what Israel does, and it certainly does everything possible to ensure that it is careful in its reprisals, it will always be regarded as the aggressor.

It should, therefore, act responsibly to protect itself. This should be done ethically because it is a civilised nation which allows everyone to vote in elections, even Palestinians who can elect their own representatives to the Knesset (Israeli parliament). But I strongly believe that Israel should do whatever it needs to do in the face of bigotry and concerted activities by left-wingers and Arab militants who are in cahoots because they want the destruction of the state of Israel. Why supposed freedom-loving lefties can join those who are against personal freedom and women’s rights used to intrigue me.

I have now stopped being intrigued by the question of two opposites working in unison. In my opinion, these two diametrically opposed ideologies are brought together by anti-semitism. It’s as simple as that. It’s not about Palestinians or Middle East Peace Processes. It’s about hatred. Why this is so no longer interests me. All I know is that Israel should look after its own people in the face of reprehensible racial prejudice and give less of a damn about what its enemies think and say.

Comments (0)

I’ve just watched our Federal Treasurer, Wayne Swan, speaking from yet another G20 conference and once again I’ve learned nothing new from him.

Comments (0)

Better later than never, I guess, but Australia has decided to take a moral stand against the bigots at the United Nations Geneva Racist Conference. It will not attend a conference whose main purpose is to attack Israel.

Comments (0)

« Previous Page — Next Page »