Lost in Spades

Willing members for a coalition to retaliate against the apparent Syrian regime's chemical weapons attack against its own people is quickly fizzling and in great contrast, and perhaps because of, the debacle of WMDs and Iraq. Just as the West got it wrong then (there were no WMDs and Saddam Hussein was all bluff), I fear they are going to get it wrong again this time. Once bitten and twice shy, but the ever fearful UK et al should now be acting quickly against Syria. Yet they appear to be stalling. The West was wrong to invade Iraq; but that error is leading them to err again - they will be equally wrong if they do not retaliate against Syria. Two wrongs do not make a right. So why does the West keep getting it wrong? Why indeed. Perhaps this time we should be asking Russia, and to a less extent China.

This evening at the People's Forum at the Rooty Hill RSL in western Sydney, the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd showed that he is more in touch with the common man. Mr Rudd energised the debate while Opposition Leader Tony Abbot was found wanting for character and flexibility and lacked the ability to engage the selected undecided voters present. Mr Rudd was decisive but Mr Abbott only looked evasive, particularly when scrutinised about his costing. The flaw in the opposition's campaign has been a stage-managed, dry affair - this strategy ensures a good look on the news bulletins, but doesn't engage as well on the ground. When Kevin Rudd answered, the people's body language clearly responded; when Tony Abbott responded however, I got the impression that the people's eyes glazed over. In contrast, although Labor has been more decentralised and perhaps to that end appear somewhat disjointed, the clear advantage is that it has garnered a clear cred...

For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.

It appears the US and UN are convinced the Assad regime was responsible for a chemical weapons attack in Syria last week. Having proclaimed this so, publicly, now means the West is obliged to act. The nature of this action is being considered as I type, but it will almost certainly involve some sort of military intervention. And this military intervention will clearly fly in the face of Russia's stated position - it has threatened retaliation if the West intervenes in Syria. In the eyes of the West at least, Russia has of late been an increasingly belligerent and outspoken opponent of the US and indeed the UN. Following on from a recent series of 'diplomatic' disagreements - the cold (and ever cooling) relationship between Obama and Putin  amid Moscow's grant of temporary asylum to the National Security Agency (NSA) whistle-blower, Edward Snowden. Indeed The Australian  revealed that a Russian pro-Kremlin broadshee...

Fresh Leaks at Fukushima

Japan nuclear body says radioactive water at Fukushima an 'emergency' Source: Reuters

With Syria imploding and Egypt teetering, what the Middle East needs now, like you need a hole in your head, is another neighbour collapsing -- enter Tunisia. Tens of thousands have taken to the streets of Tunis in support of the Opposition's demands for the resignation of the Islamist-led government following a recent political assassination; also marking the six-month anniversary of the assassination of a prominent leftist leader. The Tunisian General Labour Union called its members to join the rally. The current unrest comes only two-years since President Ben Ali was overthrown by a popular uprising at the start of the "Arab Spring" with the protestors demanding the dissolution of the transitional assembly. The National Constituent Assembly (ANC), eight months beyond its promised deadline, is still in the process of drawing up the constitution; after which fresh elections are to be held in December. Since the revolution but follow...

Commenting on the recent surprise election result the Australian ambassador to Zimbabwe, Matthew Neuhaus, has been quoted by The Sydney Morning Herald (online) as saying: I believe there should be a complete re-run. I personally observed the misusing of ballot papers, of people who had always voted in the same place being turned away or told they were registered 200 miles away. I personally observed people being bussed in from other areas. There's no doubt about what has happened here. An eternally frustrated Prime Minister Tsvangirai who was in a power-sharing arrangement post violent uprising following the controversial 2009 election has refused to join the government, this time preferring to fight the result in the courts. He stressed that: The fraudulent and stolen election has plunged Zimbabwe into a constitutional, political and economic crisis. As far as the 89 year-old Mugabe was concerned he had scored another five year t...

  Gaia Pianigiani of the NY Times (online) quotes a statement from the Holy See and personally signed by the free-love Pope Francis himself in reference to Muslims as they celebrate the Feast of Id al-Fitr and the end of their Ramadan month of prayer and fasting. The " Who Am I To Judge " Pope wrote: We are called to respect the religion of the other, its teachings, its symbols, its values. We have to bring up our young people to think and speak respectfully of other religions and their followers, to avoid ridiculing or denigrating their convictions and practices. The last pope to address the Muslim world in such a direct way was John Paul II in 1991 following the Gulf War. Pianigiani continued to recount the 2006 statement by Pope Benedict XVI when he quoted a Byzantine emperor calling Islam “evil and inhuman”; only to later apologize.        Of course interreligious dialogue is not new hav...