Afghan Refugees

Mark Twain enjoined “Let your secret sympathies and your compassion be always with the under dog in the fight – this is magnanimity; but bet on the other one – this is business.” Sadly our government too often confuses the two. Afghan travellers looking for a better life have their boat explode from underneath them, sink, some drowning, others burning and the others somehow being picked up in one piece by our Navy. So I love seeing images such as these (SMH multimedia presentation of Burns Unit) – images of the refugees in high tech, first world health care getting the very best we can give them. Sad that a disaster had to precipitate such compassion but I am proud to be part of a community that can and does provide this sort of care. But can you imagine the dislocation in the minds of these patients, transitioning from the squalor of a crowded refugee boat to a hospital in Perth? I wonder where their journey ends. I hope it is here – the end result of some magnanimity, not elsewhere, the end result of some business.

Water Wars

I caught an interesting review of an article written by Wendy Barnaby (published in Nature). It was intriguing because it neatly flipped assumptions about why nations go to war, and going to war over water is a base assumption for many strategic assessments held by our governments. Perhaps fuelled by Mark Twain as well who apparently quipped that “whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting.”

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Cultivating Defence Minister Fitzsgibbons

Around here there is a whole lot of huffing and puffing about the Defence Minister who is in hot water because he rents his residence from a powerful and influential Chinese national – a businesswoman who once had lots of hands on business activities in Australia, less so now. Not divulging this contact is the source of some of the heat the Minister is now receiving though a little of that is being dissipated by the debate about the rights and wrongs of the intelligence and security community investigating that relationship. It should not leave me feeling so but I am always surprised at how naive our populace is about these things. To help get some perspective on this little brouhaha flip the scenario. Read more

Australian Immigration Madness

I travel in and out of here with nary a thought for border control, just glad that I can do so easily. But we (Australia) have an extremely fine mesh immigration net that catches all sorts. I know from experience that it hooks the sharks, and does so in such a way that we are the envy of other border management agencies around the world. But sadly it catches the good guys as well. Sometimes with fatal consequences. Mohammed Hussein here is one example. Read more

12 Things to Tell Your CIA Captors

The news that David Hicks is out of prison (released from Adelaide (Australia) prison this morning) has barely rated a mention here. “David who?”, you may well ask. Otherwise known as Detainee 002. Or perhaps more infamously, the only person to have been convicted by the US as part of the the post September 11 laws introduced to round up anyone who supported the Taliban or anyone else who points an AK47 at the US. Read more

The Most Powerful Tribe in Iraq

Having spent a few weeks in Baghdad this year means I am a bit like a reformed smoker – paying close attention to as many related issues as I can and probably driving people crazy with my newfound interest in the place. But it does mean that occasionally you find articles which provide interesting and useful insight into the situation. When I was there Baghdad bombs were still rattling our windows Read more

It is Best Not To Mix too Much

“If you want a good neighbor, you have to have a place for everybody. It’s best not to mix too much.” Nadav Garmi, Rakafet

One of the lesser known but interesting facts about the composition of Israel’s armies during their so called wars of liberation and independence (and defence) was the Arab component which made up about 60% of the soldiery. Read more

“We are Better Behaved These Days” – CIA

Let me just strap you to this board. Better hand me your coffee before you lie down. Now, if you don’t mind just hold still while I wrap your face in clingwrap so you can’t breath. Comfortable? Read more

Tehran Intelligence

The US Government has decided the Iranian nuclear program is not what the politicians thought it might be – an excuse to try and thump Tehran. I can imagine the intelligence analysts who put that assessment together must have been in a number of minds about publishing their National Intelligence Estimate. Which you can find at the site of the Director of National Intelligence. On the one hand intelligence estimate track records on Iran are not real pretty – events in 1979 still haunt parts of the inner Beltway. Read more