World Politics

[Echoes]

I'm not attacking you at all and you may have an explanation, so sorry if this angers you.

Basically, we shouldn't be hypocrites. I lost a relative recently and it touched me more than a hostage taking at the other end of the world and I bet you thought the same about the Brussels shooting last spring. There are killings in every corner of the world at the moment, and all lives are equal. It's not because Aussies are white-skinned people in a developed country that Aussies matter more to me.

However my post was an anticipation for the usual islamophobic rant from the usual islamophobic posters who would always capitalise on these sort of events to vent their hatred. Yet there have been no such post, which is a good thing. So I remove what I said and I apologise if I've hurt you.

 

[Archibald]

Basically, we shouldn't be hypocrites. I lost a relative recently and it touched me more than a hostage taking at the other end of the world and I bet you thought the same about the Brussels shooting last spring. There are killings in every corner of the world at the moment, and all lives are equal. It's not because Aussies are white-skinned people in a developed country that Aussies matter more to me.

as 'exhibit A' of what you say - I was just leafing through a newspaper while waiting for my coffee in a cafe. The first 10 pages were on the seige here, while the recent school killings didn't appear until page 22.
Page 11 had an article about a female politician doing a photoshoot for Who magazine...
Aussie media - really tackling the important subjects in this world and getting their priorities right

 

[42x16ss]

as 'exhibit A' of what you say - I was just leafing through a newspaper while waiting for my coffee in a cafe. The first 10 pages were on the seige here, while the recent school killings didn't appear until page 22.
Page 11 had an article about a female politician doing a photoshoot for Who magazine...
Aussie media - really tackling the important subjects in this world and getting their priorities right

What do you expect in a country whose media is dominated by Rupert Murdoch!

Did you see his disgusting tweet re: the Sydney Siege? No condolences, not even an opinion on what happened, just a shameless plug for his Sydney newspaper, congratulating them on being the first to capture what happed

 

[greenedge]

Basically, we shouldn't be hypocrites. I lost a relative recently and it touched me more than a hostage taking at the other end of the world and I bet you thought the same about the Brussels shooting last spring. There are killings in every corner of the world at the moment, and all lives are equal. It's not because Aussies are white-skinned people in a developed country that Aussies matter more to me.

However my post was an anticipation for the usual islamophobic rant from the usual islamophobic posters who would always capitalise on these sort of events to vent their hatred. Yet there have been no such post, which is a good thing. So I remove what I said and I apologise if I've hurt you.

Ok, i'm very sorry for your loss. I can also see where your'e coming from, so yeah it's all good.

 

[42x16ss]

that's not encouraging, and frankly, i thought an 'average' australian is less brain washed thank you.

This country's media is in a terrible, terrible state as Blackcat mentioned. Remember the "Cronulla Race Riots" of a few years ago? Let's just say that the Murdoch Media gave it a nice little push along....

Thankfully social media is actually playing some part in moderating and informing political views. Rational people sharing articles written by less mainstream sources is starting to reduce the amount of ridiculous policies being passed without general public knowledge and airing alternative viewpoints, helping people realise it is ok to not agree with the mainstream media.

Sadly, it also provides a haven for bigoted rednecks like the Facebook group "Aussie Brotherhood"

 

[Archibald]

What do you expect in a country whose media is dominated by Rupert Murdoch!

Did you see his disgusting tweet re: the Sydney Siege? No condolences, not even an opinion on what happened, just a shameless plug for his Sydney newspaper, congratulating them on being the first to capture what happed

naah, didn't bother with that one. Dodery old git - dinosaur still at the head of his empire - what value is anything he says going to add?
He's one of the "highly unlikely"s to follow on twitter, for sure...

Aussie media has nothing to talk about, so always go mental at the slightest thing - will never change

 

[python]

This country's media is in a terrible, terrible state as Blackcat mentioned. Remember the "Cronulla Race Riots" of a few years ago? Let's just say that the Murdoch Media gave it a nice little push along....

Thankfully social media is actually playing some part in moderating and informing political views. Rational people sharing articles written by less mainstream sources is starting to reduce the amount of ridiculous policies being passed without general public knowledge and airing alternative viewpoints, helping people realise it is ok to not agree with the mainstream media.

Sadly, it also provides a haven for bigoted rednecks like the Facebook group "Aussie Brotherhood"

as i said to blackcat, your (plural) authentic perspective is appreciated...you have both pretty much convinced me that the rupert media factory has done its share to dumb up an entire nation, a civilized and developed nation to boot..

i am still to reflect (to myself) how a country-continent almost completely devoid of natural enemies, so secure and with so well developed civil society can prostitute its foreign policy away so easily. why ? what is the NATION getting in return ? security ? this is not at all obvious to me... i firmly believe that ultimately any political relations have to fit the region's GEO-POLITICS. as a broad example, (and trying to avoid more specific cases) i will point to the turbulent history of europe. the national borders, nationalities, smaller state allegiances, their cultural and even religious developments were more or less the result of power struggles within europe's centres of gravity.

somehow, australia's traditional foreign policy imo does not fit in with the facts of its geography and, more importantly, the obvious shifting of economic c-of- gravity away from america to asia etc...that said, i am broadly aware of the britich roots, political traditions from ww2, the english language connection etc...

just thinking aloud.

 

[Le breton]

Cuba-US relations

According to my favourite radio (France-Inter), the current Argentinian pope was instrumental in this turn of events in Cuban-U.S. relations
just as one of his predecessors, a Polish pope, had been in the evolution of the Soviet Union.
Any chance he might soon become known as the

SOUTH POLE ?

 

[movingtarget]

as 'exhibit A' of what you say - I was just leafing through a newspaper while waiting for my coffee in a cafe. The first 10 pages were on the seige here, while the recent school killings didn't appear until page 22.
Page 11 had an article about a female politician doing a photoshoot for Who magazine...
Aussie media - really tackling the important subjects in this world and getting their priorities right

Tell me, why would another Taliban massacre be a bigger story than an unusual domestic story in the heart of Sydney ? Most of the international news every night on Australian TV is dominated by what is happening in the Middle East or Muslim related issues from Palestine to Syria, Nigeria, Somalia and so on. Every night it's the same and now ISIS are added to the catalogue. So when a siege happens in Sydney and people are killed in what was at first considered to be a terrorist act but turns out to be an act committed by a delusional fruitcake who was implicated in the death of his former wife who was burnt alive and also had 40 previous sex related charges against his name who was out on bail at the time of the siege, why would the Australian media be interested in anything happening in the Middle East ?

Such a singular event for a Australia had no comparison to another slaughter by the Taliban with the only difference being all of the victims or most of them were children. Yes the numbers involved in ****stan were horrendous and the fact they were all children but Taliban atrocities are nothing new. What happened in Sydney was. As for Murdoch gloating that his paper got the scoop, all newspaper owners or TV station owners do this, the business is about getting the news first. Gloating over that might have seemed insensitive but it was also an honest reaction.

Actually Channel 7 copped a lot of criticism for it's coverage of the events in Sydney and no Rupert does not own Channel 7. On a horror scale the Sydney news and the Taliban news are not even close but anyone who watches international news every night barely raises an eyebrow to what is happening in the Middle East because the horrors are so constant. If you were not desensitized after so long you would be unable to watch, which is what some people do with the 6.00 News, it's just too much.

 

[blackcat]

as i said to blackcat, your (plural) authentic perspective is appreciated...you have both pretty much convinced me that the rupert media factory has done its share to dumb up an entire nation, a civilized and developed nation to boot..

i am still to reflect (to myself) how a country-continent almost completely devoid of natural enemies, so secure and with so well developed civil society can prostitute its foreign policy away so easily. why ? what is the NATION getting in return ? security ? this is not at all obvious to me... i firmly believe that ultimately any political relations have to fit the region's GEO-POLITICS. as a broad example, (and trying to avoid more specific cases) i will point to the turbulent history of europe. the national borders, nationalities, smaller state allegiances, their cultural and even religious developments were more or less the result of power struggles within europe's centres of gravity.

somehow, australia's traditional foreign policy imo does not fit in with the facts of its geography and, more importantly, the obvious shifting of economic c-of- gravity away from america to asia etc...that said, i am broadly aware of the britich roots, political traditions from ww2, the english language connection etc...

just thinking aloud.

because there was speculation, that the American embassy in 1975 will influential/crucial, in changing the gov't, there was a government dismissal in a constitutional crisis by our governor general.

With the embassy in Canberra, and with Murdoch, this acts as a shadow gov't influencing our political zeitgeist, and drawing us to America. Remember, with Korea, with Vietnam, Australia as an aircraft carrier was a significant strategic asset for the US. I also became a strategic asset for Canberra and the nations foreign policy to hitch the mast to DC. re: aircraft carrier, see: Zbigniew Brzezinski strategy101.

like you intimate, the great strategic policy question Australia now faces in the C21, is the rise of China, and how we will be wedged between the Sino's and the Americans. Atm, we are firmly in Washingtons court, with Murdoch. But Murdoch is but a few years away from the great orbit in the sky, and then News Limited will break up. the news NewsCorp division. Remains to be see how this gap of influence will be filled in Canberra, but we also have a nascent thinkw@nk industry (thinktanks), who pull on the spectrum of politics and some lobby strings.

 

[Archibald]

Tell me, why would another Taliban massacre be a bigger story than an unusual domestic story in the heart of Sydney ? Most of the international news every night on Australian TV is dominated by what is happening in the Middle East or Muslim related issues from Palestine to Syria, Nigeria, Somalia and so on. Every night it's the same and now ISIS are added to the catalogue. So when a siege happens in Sydney and people are killed in what was at first considered to be a terrorist act but turns out to be an act committed by a delusional fruitcake who was implicated in the death of his former wife who was burnt alive and also had 40 previous sex related charges against his name who was out on bail at the time of the siege, why would the Australian media be interested in anything happening in the Middle East ?

Such a singular event for a Australia had no comparison to another slaughter by the Taliban with the only difference being all of the victims or most of them were children. Yes the numbers involved in ****stan were horrendous and the fact they were all children but Taliban atrocities are nothing new. What happened in Sydney was. As for Murdoch gloating that his paper got the scoop, all newspaper owners or TV station owners do this, the business is about getting the news first. Gloating over that might have seemed insensitive but it was also an honest reaction.

Actually Channel 7 copped a lot of criticism for it's coverage of the events in Sydney and no Rupert does not own Channel 7. On a horror scale the Sydney news and the Taliban news are not even close but anyone who watches international news every night barely raises an eyebrow to what is happening in the Middle East because the horrors are so constant. If you were not desensitized after so long you would be unable to watch, which is what some people do with the 6.00 News, it's just too much.

I get and completely agree on your point on desensitization, and as you say on the horror scale a school massacre vs a lone nutjob hold-up/hostage situation is a no-brainer.

Let's face it, that's all it was - if the guy doing the hold-up was a catholic, how much media attention do you think this would get? This isn't the first seige the country has had - albeit not in the centre of the cbd. There are regular shootings in Sydney and been several "gunman holed up in a house in suburb x keeping policy at bay"... It's just blown completely out of proportion because of the religion of the fool doing it... 1 lone idiot, who seriously had no hope of lasting 24hrs by himself before falling asleep.

As another example of stupidity and sensationalism, there's a half a page in today's (murdoch) paper on how the guy's shotgun works. Seriously, the media is that starved of credible stories that they need do this??
Mainstream Aussie media is pathetic.
Evening news? I do SBS world news for that very reason

 

[python]

.....somehow, australia's traditional foreign policy imo does not fit in with the facts of its geography and, more importantly, the obvious shifting of economic c-of- gravity away from america to asia etc...just thinking aloud.

...
like you intimate, the great strategic policy question Australia now faces in the C21, is the rise of China, and how we will be wedged between the Sino's and the Americans.....

i decided to get back to this as i (quite incidentally) stumbled upon this brilliant analysis by no less than your (i mean australian) former pm, malcolm fraser.

America: Australia's Dangerous Ally
nationalinterest.org/feature/america-australias-dangerous-ally-11858

besides his insightful analysis of the eastern european blunders by nato/america, he proposed nothing less than kicking the us out of 2 australia-based military/intelligence facilities that he reasoned could draw your country into a war it can not win.

he writes that america's security guarantees to japan combined with its earlier brainless endorsements of some disputed islands against china's legit concerns, could results in real shooting war.

he plainly writes america will not ask australia's permission before committing it to a potential war.(note the former pm should know )

i wont tire anyone by long quotes. read it, if interested.

btw, blackcat, what is fraser's legacy in the ozzland today ?

 

[blackcat]

i decided to get back to this as i (quite incidentally) stumbled upon this brilliant analysis by no less than your (i mean australian) former pm, malcolm fraser.

America: Australia's Dangerous Ally
nationalinterest.org/feature/america-australias-dangerous-ally-11858

besides his insightful analysis of the eastern european blunders by nato/america, he proposed nothing less than kicking the us out of 2 australia-based military/intelligence facilities that he reasoned could draw your country into a war it can not win.

he writes that america's security guarantees to japan combined with its earlier brainless endorsements of some disputed islands against china's legit concerns, could results in real shooting war.

he plainly writes america will not ask australia's permission before committing it to a potential war.(note the former pm should know )

i wont tire anyone by long quotes. read it, if interested.

btw, blackcat, what is fraser's legacy in the ozzland today ?

Fraser was your run-of-mill Tory pm when he governed in the mid- to late 70s and first years of 80s. I am too young to remember.

But recently, he has been quite outspoken, and has been seen by his traditional Tory side of politics, to be a traitor, as he has spoken from a position of centre-left and left-liberal human concern.

they dont like that.

most of the populace, apart from the flag waving tories, is indifferent. The soccer moms, or the "doctors wives" who come to politics from the side of liberal-left-human concern <think> Swedish politics culture. If Sweden did not manufacture the $hitload of arms that they do, and the public actually knew they manufactued SIGNIFICANT arms and were balls deep in Nato.

We dont have the same relationship with out former political heads, like you do in America, and call the former heads, Mr President as titular name. We are indifferent. Its too easy in Australia, we have it good.

 

[blackcat]

I get and completely agree on your point on desensitization, and as you say on the horror scale a school massacre vs a lone nutjob hold-up/hostage situation is a no-brainer.

Let's face it, that's all it was - if the guy doing the hold-up was a catholic, how much media attention do you think this would get? This isn't the first seige the country has had - albeit not in the centre of the cbd. There are regular shootings in Sydney and been several "gunman holed up in a house in suburb x keeping policy at bay"... It's just blown completely out of proportion because of the religion of the fool doing it... 1 lone idiot, who seriously had no hope of lasting 24hrs by himself before falling asleep.

As another example of stupidity and sensationalism, there's a half a page in today's (murdoch) paper on how the guy's shotgun works. Seriously, the media is that starved of credible stories that they need do this??
Mainstream Aussie media is pathetic.
Evening news? I do SBS world news for that very reason

yes, the media and the political representatives in Canberra have vested interest to blow this out of proportion, and to desensitise the populace to The Other that the West invaded in Central Asia.

 

[python]

...
most of the populace, apart from the flag waving tories, is indifferent.

iow, fraser's reasonable views not just misheard, he's a traitor ...jezus fercking chris, murdoch indeed washed australian brains good.

If Sweden did not manufacture the $hitload of arms that they do, and the public actually knew they manufactued SIGNIFICANT arms and were balls deep in Nato.

not sure i follow the sweden passage relevance...while not formally a nato member, i do know sweden is deeply involved. the proximity to the bear certainly isn't anything like australia's remoteness from EVERYONE. still, sweden maintains a degree of independence and sovereignty. and most important (take my word or not) the swedes are determinately not brain-washed to the degree the ozzies appear to be.

btw, i consider myself neither left nor right. my views are formed over long periods by a stubbornly independent multicultural being i am. thus, fraser's analysis did not apper to me partisan. rather, an australian patriot with a rare now days historical perspective.

 

[blackcat]

iow, fraser's reasonable views not just misheard, he's a traitor ...jezus fercking chris, murdoch indeed washed australian brains good.

not sure i follow the sweden passage relevance...while not formally a nato member, i do know sweden is deeply involved. the proximity to the bear certainly isn't anything like australia's remoteness from EVERYONE. still, sweden maintains a degree of independence and sovereignty. and most important (take my word or not) the swedes are determinately not brain-washed to the degree the ozzies appear to be.

btw, i consider myself neither left nor right. my views are formed over long periods by a stubbornly independent multicultural being i am. thus, fraser's analysis did not apper to me partisan. rather, an australian patriot with a rare now days historical perspective.

python, the sweden reference was that they are seen as the "liberal-left-hymanitism" politics of the international community.


and even when i wrote "balls deep in NATO" I was thinking, no, they actually aint. Denmark do the heavy lifting. Cant remember Norway, but knew i was was on Sweden when i was writing it for some reason.

 

[blackcat]

so Norway was a founding member too. see: the Swedish hypocrisy just doing theViktor Boutand selling NATO weapons.

they can maintain their liberal lefty ideals publicly, but doing the opposite under the table
with the moustache he looking like a hipster craft beer brewer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Bout

 

[blackcat]

http://www.democracynow.org/2014/7/2/despite_peaceful_reputation_sweden_a_major

Despite Peaceful Reputation, Sweden is a Major Weapons Exporter to Human Rights Abusers

While Sweden is known as the birthplace of Alfred Nobel, founder of the Nobel Peace Prize, many do not realize it is also one of the world’s largest arms manufacturers. Sweden is in fact the third largest arms exporter per capita after Israel and Russia. Swedish company, Saab, makes more than 50 percent of the weapons the country exports. While the Swedish government often takes a neutral position in international conflicts and offers assistance through peacekeeping missions and foreign aid, it has continued to send military equipment to regimes accused of human rights abuses, including Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Bahrain and Egypt. We speak with two guests: peace activist Martin Smedjeback, who has served three prison sentences for breaking into weapons factories and hammering on weapons meant for export, and with Anna Ek, president of Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society, the world’s oldest peace organization. Ek says that while Sweden signed the global Arms Trade Treaty earlier this year, it has resisted incorporating anti-corruption provisions into the country’s own laws.

= hypocrites

 

[blutto]

....behold the flowering of a new exceptional democracy....

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thousands March In Kiev Rally To Honour ‘Hitler’s Accomplice’

Source: Agence France-Presse

AFP
January 03, 2015 12:00AM

THOUSANDS of Ukrainian nationalists held a torchlight *procession across Kiev yesterday in honour of a 1940s anti-Soviet insurgent branded by Moscow as a Nazi collaborator.

The march on what would have been Stepan Bandera’s 106th birthday moved along the same streets on which hundreds of thousands rallied for three months last winter before ousting a Moscow-backed president.

Some wore World War II-era army uniforms while others draped themselves in the red and black nationalist flags and chanted “Ukraine belongs to Ukrainians” and “Bandera will return and restore order”.

Bandera is an immensely divisive figure in Ukraine whom some compare to Cuba’s Che Guevara. His movement’s slogan — “Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the heroes!” — was also the catchphrase of last year’s pro-European revolt. Russian President Vladimir Putin in March called that uprising’s leaders “the ideological heirs of Bandera, Hitler’s accomplice during World War II”.



Read more: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...tlers-accomplice/story-e6frg6so-1227173003362
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

...wonder how the NYC cops would respond to this march....would they charge them or march with them....

Cheers

 

[Shingshan]

It seems we need to go back to the Austro-Hungarian again

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

So after multi kulti didn´t work out for Sweden (as it doesn´t work out for any european country), their politicans just finished off their democracy. Wow! Even I thought that is impossible.

http://www.welt.de/politik/ausland/...discher-Regierungschef-sagt-Neuwahlen-ab.html

But there is still hope. People have enough. Pegida is a small hope, and it spreads even though MSM, politicans, "celebs" and else try to destroy this brave people (Sweden has it´s own Pegida now ) ...

True Europeans wake up (a first good sign were the 2014 EU elections). I wish them all the best for 2015 and onwards. Happy new year.

 

[blutto]

...the Holiday Season is, apart from the consumer orgy, also a time for reflection....find below a look back at 2014....

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/01/02/the-2014-are-you-serious-awards/

Cheers

 

[blutto]

....here is a bit of a bombshell that was recently sent to oui....

"Once the Zionist movement directed its thoughts towards Palestine, the ancient history of this country became a hot issue. The Zionist claim to Palestine was solely based on the Biblical history of the Exodus, the conquest of Canaan, the kingdoms of Saul, David and Solomon and the events of those times. Since almost all the founding fathers were avowed atheists, they could hardly base themselves on the “fact” the God had personally promised the land to the seed of Abraham."

...and...

"And the result? Incredible as it sounds, four generations of devoted archeologists, with a burning conviction and huge resources, did produce exactly: Nothing.

From the beginning of the effort to this very day, not a single piece of evidence of the ancient history was found. Not a single indication that the exodus from Egypt, the basis of Jewish history, ever happened. Nor of the 40 years of wandering in the desert. No evidence of the conquest of Canaan, as described at length in the Book of Joshua. The mighty King David, whose kingdom extended – according to the Bible – from the Sinai peninsula to the north of Syria, did not leave a trace. (Lately an inscription with the name David was discovered, but with no indication that this David was a king.)"

...from.. https://consortiumnews.com/2015/01/03/israeli-founder-contests-founding-myths/

Cheers

 

[Amsterhammer]

Gunmen have attacked the Paris office of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 11 people and injuring 10, French officials say.

Witnesses spoke of sustained gunfire at the office as the attackers opened fire with assault rifles before escaping.

President Francois Hollande said there was no doubt it had been a terrorist attack "of exceptional barbarity".

A major police operation has been launched in the Paris area to catch the attackers.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30710883

 

[thirteen]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30710883

devastating!