Lost in Spades

Listen. Listen closely. It’s in between the news and aside from all the headlines. Listen to it carefully. It’s subtle but distinct. It’s covert but it's profound. It’s the drums of war. The unofficial headlong march to a third world war has begun, but mum’s the word. The Americans are complaining about Syria and the Russians about America; while the Israeli’s complain about the Iranians as the Iranian’s accuse Israel. There’s nothing new in that. Perhaps not… but the body language is tense. The leaders hide behind their vainglorious masks of deceit and diplomacy as much as possible. Yet little tell-tale signs do escape that political vacuum. And the drum beat rolls. And all the rhetoric in the world cannot hide the fact that the Middle-East is utterly imploding. Add to that a financially unstable world economy headed by persistent dire circumstances in the Eurozone and impending economic collapse in the United States; not to mention the rank poverty in other...

Tony Abbott attended primary school at St Aloysius' College at Milson's Point, before completing his secondary school education at St Ignatius' College, Riverview (both are Jesuit schools). He graduated with a Bachelor of Economics and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Sydney where he resided at St John's College, and was president of the Student Representative Council. He then travelled via India to Britain to study at The Queen's College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, where he graduated with a Master of Arts (MA) in Politics and Philosophy. Following his time in Britain, he returned to Australia via Africa and advised his family of an intention to join the priesthood . Bill Shorten was born in Melbourne and educated at Xavier College (a Roman Catholic, day and boarding school predominantly for boys, founded in 1872 by the Society of Jesus ) and Monash University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws. During his time at Monash,...

What interested me even more than the headlines was his little riff on the projection of American hegemony. In the context of talking about Egypt, Obama noted that the United States has been accused of both backing the Muslim Brotherhood and of engineering the coup that removed it from power. Then he said that in fact, the danger is not that the United States is these days too aggressively interventionist or imperialist. Rather, he said, the "danger" (yes, danger) is that a wary-weary United States may "disengage," leaving a "vacuum" in global affairs that would be filled by others .

John McCain issues a rebuttal to Vladimir Putin's controversial op-ed in the New York Times last week, telling Russians they deserve better than their current leadership . Further on the situation in Syria: Turkey closed a border crossing to Syria after an al Qaeda-linked group stormed a nearby town and expelled opposition fighters from an Arab and Western-backed unit, officials said on Thursday . Meanwhile: President Vladimir Putin says that Russia has strong grounds to believe that Syrian rebels were responsible for the country's chemical attack . Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/09/19/3636799/putin-syria-chemical-attack-sly.html#storylink=cpy

Vatican City: the country

Asia Times Online :: Papal challenge rocks US's Syria plans The above link is to an article by  Francesco Sisci, a columnist for the Italian daily, in which he outlines the recent remarks by Pope Frances regarding the situation in Syria; and in effect serving as a timely reminder to the superpower USA, and the superpower-to-be China, that not all revolves around the Pacific. Indeed Francesco goes on to argue that "t his could dent the current ability of the US president to be the arbiter of right and wrong in global politics, and it would give the stage to the pope to become a greater center of gravity in international politics, not just in religion." Indeed the article assumes an increasing role, as world inquisitor, by the Hole See. Are we on the threshold of seeing the Pope again begin to wax greatly with regard to geopolitical affairs in a way not seen perhaps since the Middle Ages? Pope Francis ...

This article is a redaction from a number of articles from CNN looking at why Russia, China and Iran are backing Syria - February 5, 2012 RUSSIA Apart from securing its energy contracts, a leased naval facility at the Syrian port of Tartus is Russia's only direct access to the Mediterranean. Russia's key policy goal is blocking American efforts to shape the region - be they revolutions, wars or regime change. It points to the Arab Spring and the US-led war in Iraq as evidence of the regional disruption and repercussions from American influence. Russia doesn't want a repeat of Iraq, and Putin is still upset about NATO's bombing in Libya two years ago that removed Russian ally Moammar Gadhafi from power. Russia also doesn't trust U.S. intentions in the region; believing humanitarian concerns are often used as an excuse for pursuing America's own political and economic interests. The U.S. (Kerry, McCain et al.) is keen to stress that there is no ...

One thing should be abundantly clear, after tonight's "Q&A" on ABC Television, to those of you who were befuddled during the election campaign: the LNP Coalition have no plan and never did - just a bunch of slogans and policy aims; but no detail of policy. Australians voted for an Aero-Bar party - more air than substance. Why do you think Tony Abbott was so quick to get to work? Yes, it is camouflaged behind words like: "slowly"; "methodically"; "carefully"... but they are winging it Big Time! No policy. No Plan. NFI. You get what you vote for - nebulous, superficial, unprepared, sloganeering. Make no mistake: Australia  IS the laughing stock of the world. Now Mr Murdoch, send in the clowns!

Only Australians are stupid enough to vote out a government presiding over an economy the envy of the world just because the Opposition said they weren't; and to which end they were backed by the media. Whatever female voters thought of Tony Abbott was effectively nullified by having his daughters stick to him like shit to a wet blanket. Furthermore, Blue Collar males are the demographic that deserted Labor - they never liked Julia Gillard and they preferred a man's man like Abbott over Rudd. And therein lies the irony: those most likely to lose from a Coalition government have just voted them in as the next government. Can't believe we made him Prime Minister. Well guys, you get what you vote for.

The Liberals have played 'Magic Cup' with the 'Mug' Punter   Yes. Labor really annoyed me when they deposed a sitting Prime Minister.   And then they did it a second time. Ropable, I was. Still am. I consider my politics to be just left of centre (prudent, but not a fanatic), but because of their twice deposing of a sitting prime minister, and also because of the Green's more humane asylum seeker policy (and strong climate policy), I was considering voting the latter ( they have been quite transparent ) and perhaps preference Labor, or, believe it or not, the PUP. Sound ridiculous? So fed up was I that I was considering a vote for Clive Palmer (mind you, you could do worse in this election – how dull would it have been without him). But this is no laughing matter – this is our future. And here’s the rub… Aware of Labor heartland disaffection, the Liberals are using this as leverage to wager an increasingly right-wing agenda; bu...

For f---'s sake Australia. If you vote or preference the LNP you'll be voting for the far right wing and a whole big f---ing world of pain and embarrassing stupidity .

The Age - Adam Turner, September 6, 2013 - 1:42PM The man who would be Prime Minister of this country skimmed this important policy document for the first time, only days before the election, and then signed off on it while either failing to spot a giant mistake or simply failing to understand it. There's no ambiguity here. It looked pretty clear that the Coalition felt it could drop the filtering bombshell two days before the election and escape any serious scrutiny. The plan isn't as draconian as Stephen Conroy's now abandoned filtering scheme, but at least Conroy had the guts to lay his cards on the table and argue the point.

Financial Times - Global Insight, By John Reed - September 2, 2013 Their worry is not that Israel is being left alone to cope with Syria, whose war Israel’s government and most of its people want no direct part in. The fear – and it is a big one – is about the message America’s perceived wavering on Syria sends to its bigger and much more powerful ally: Iran.

The Independent - Joe Murphy , St Petersburg - Friday 06 September 2013 Few signs of unity of purpose between leaders at first day of summit, but hostility remains veiled – more or less .

Gabrielle Chan , political correspondent theguardian.com , Friday 6 September 2013 19.22 AEST Campaigning on the central coast, the prime minister insists the election is still there to be won, against all polling data.

After preaching doom and gloom for years, the Abbott honeymoon has started already, Michael Pascoe reports .

by Ben Grubb , Deputy technology editor, SMH September 6, 2013 - 7:28PM They are harvesting not only your own Facebook likes, which I think is quite dangerous, but the Facebook likes of your friends and they're not asking for your friend's permission.  

September 6, 2013 - 6:54PM by Jane Lee , Legal Affairs Reporter for The Age Indigenous Australians could be more likely to go to jail under an Abbott government in light of Coalition plans to cut $42 million from indigenous legal services .