It’s impossible to discuss Australia’s response to the Paris attacks without noting what Tony Abbott had to say, and how his tone reflected the new way we talk about terrorism since Malcolm Turnbull became PM.
Category: Tony Abbott
Tony Abbott’s London speech reminded us all he’s still here. But is he crazy enough to believe he can reclaim the leadership?
Source: Is Tony Abbott crazy enough to think he can be prime minister again?
For a great many Australians, Tony Abbott didn’t have to go halfway around the world to persuade them his party got it right dumping him. But he did. In a fulsome and spectacular fashion.
Source: Tony Abbott loosens his collar at Thatcher Lecture | The Saturday Paper
Close the borders in the name of decency and compassion – not since George Orwell’s 1984 satire has logic been so twisted. Tony Abbott’s speech in London didn’t tell the real story about Australia.
Turn back the boats and close your borders—that’s Tony Abbott’s hard line message to European leaders grappling with the worsening refugee crisis.
Close the borders in the name of decency and compassion – not since George Orwell’s 1984 satire has logic been so twisted. Tony Abbott’s speech in London didn’t tell the real story about Australia.
Things are getting spooky in the lead-up to October 31, with a former Prime Minister Tony Abbott is haunting the landscape.
Source: Political Zombie: Tony Abbott Re-emerges Just In Time For Halloween – New Matilda
At the Margaret Thatcher memorial lecture in London on Tuesday night, pre-dinner speaker Tony Abbott performed his usual greatest hits: death cults and immigrant threats.
Source: Follow me to safety: Unleashed Tony Abbott turns up the fear in migrant crisis
He had trouble getting voters to listen to him but now Tony Abbott wants to charge audiences $40, 000 to hear him speak.
Source: ‘Offers over $40,000’: Tony Abbott joins the international speakers circuit
Wags on Twitter like to refer Tony Abbott’s time at the lodge, as
Now that Tony Abbott’s time as prime minister and leader of the Liberal Party is over, how does his record of claims and promises stack up?
The rise of the private political office reflects the sheer complexity of the political management task required of contemporary politicians – especially when in government.
Source: Not governing, fighting: Peta Credlin’s role in Tony Abbott’s collapse
The ousted PM never strayed from the belief that his God-given mission was to save a nation in peril. But Australians didn’t buy it – we don’t see ourselves that way
Greg Sheridan’s eulogy of the Abbott Prime Ministerial era in The Australian yesterday, says a lot about his loyalty to a close friend, but little by way of a believable appeasement for what was probably the worst performance by any national Australian leader in our short history. Sheridan is brave in predicting that, “History will…
Source: How I fell off the Chair. – » The Australian Independent Media Network
It’s official. Tony Abbott is no longer our Prime Minister. Malcolm Turnbull is now in charge of our country. Many weren’t sure he’d last as long as he did. When future generations try to understand the roughly two years of Abbott government, their favoured resource will hopefully be the many satires that will be produced. Scholarly study can’t hope to capture the comedic insanity of our federal government since 2013.
Source: The Rise And Fall Of A Political Brawler: How Tony Abbott Stopped The Votes | newmatilda.com
Tracking Abbotts Record ”July Update”
Tony Abbott has been in power since 7 September 2013. From that moment, he and his government have broken promises and hurt Australians. This post will be regularly updated to keep track of the Abbott Government’s broken promises and everything his Government does to hurt Australians. Each separate item will have a link to a source. Broken promises appear in bold and in a separate fully referenced list at the end.
Sally McManus is the Secretary of the Australian Services Union in NSW and the ACT.
She has been a campaigner and an organiser for more than 20 years and spent a lot of time doing and talking about organising and campaigning. Her blog is a comprehensive list of policy and other decisions taken by the Abbott Government. I cannot vouch for the veracity of the entire list, nor do I necessarily agree with everyone (although I have no reason to doubt them) but I recommend the list to those with an interest in how Tony Abbott is changing Australia.
The list has become so lengthy that is best to view it on Sally’s site.
Psychologist Lyn Bender analyses the increasingly erratic behaviour of Prime Minister Tony Abbott from a Freudian perspective.
TONY ABBOTT is like the man who has stepped in what a dog left behind, yet is mystified by the rank odour of everything he approaches.
The Prime Minister of Freudian slips is in full denial. He refuses to accept that he is massively and irreversibly on the nose with both his party and the electorate.
As his supporters desert him in droves, he rages against the dying of the light, refusing to comprehend his own folly. It has the makings of a Greek tragedy except that Abbott obdurately refuses to face the truth regarding his own psychopathic folly. But then, truth never was Tony’s forte.
How might psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud have viewed Abbott and the attempted coup?
Probably as evidence of denial, and the spilling out of repressed and suppressed impulses and ideas.
In other words, Tony Abbott is in massively out of touch, and “Team Australia” just couldn’t hold it in any more.
For those who think that politics is the art of pretence and suppression, it’s all sorted now. Tony Abbott and his minders would have us believe that it was just a little blip on the smooth sea of their faux unity.
We are not like our opponents – that socialist ALP rabble – torn by internal conflict. We are not a soap opera. We are mature grownups.
William Shakespeare – the poet, playwright and sixteenth century expert on the human mind – may have said about Abbott:
“The gentleman doth protest too much, methinks.”
In other words, if you have to keep insisting on something it’s probably denial.
And the Abbott Government is full to the brim with denial. I have survived, says Tony, and so let’s have no more talk of spills.
Freudian slips are the mistakes that reveal the (often not so well) hidden truth. They are the gaffes that betray real and unconscious intent and thoughts.
“In the same way that psycho-analysis makes use of dream interpretation, it also profits by the study of the numerous little slips and mistakes which people make — symptomatic actions, as they are called […] I have pointed out that these phenomena are not accidental, that they require more than physiological explanations, that they have a meaning and can be interpreted, and that one is justified in inferring from them the presence of restrained or repressed impulses and intentions”. [Freud, An Autobiographical Study (1925)]
Critics might say that a slip is just a slip, but Freud would see this as a surface or shallow explanation.
Some research now supports his views of the unconscious.
Freud wrote:
“Excitement, absent-mindedness and disturbances of attention will clearly help us very little toward an explanation. They are only empty phrases, screens behind which we must not let ourselves be prevented from having a look.”
Abbott is now massively and, arguably, insanely in denial. Staring uncomprehendingly at the burgeoning dislike he is inciting, he fights on. Like Monty Python’s Black Knight, Abbott denies defeat even as he is dismembered.
His popularity keeps descending and, at last count, Labor leader Bill Shorten had a 48 to 30 per cent advantage over Abbott as preferred prime minister.
Yet with 40 per cent of his own party voting for anyone but Abbott in the spill, he boasted afterwards:
“I am a fighter. I know how to beat Labor Party leaders. I beat Kevin Rudd, I beat Julia Gillard, I can beat Bill Shorten as well.”
Some telling Abbott gaffes include:
1. The suppository of wisdom
“No one – however smart, however well-educated, however experienced – is the suppository of all wisdom.”
Sigmund says: I am totally fixated at the anal stage.
2. Good government starts today
“All of us are determined to lift our game and the fundamental point I make is that the solution to all of these things is good Government, and good Government starts today.”
Sigmund says: My Government has been total crap until now.
3.“We are not the Labor Party”
“I want to make this very simple point: we are not the Labor Party, we are not the Labor Party and we are not going to repeat the chaos and the instability of the Labor years.”
Sigmund says: We don’t have a clue who we are, but we are not them and anything bad is all their fault.
4.Tony Abbott’s “knightmare”
Tony Abbott awards a knighthood to Prince Phillip on Australia Day.
Sigmund says: Australia is a British colony and I am a proud Englishman; I prefer the last century – or, better still, the one before – and want to go back there.
5. The Minister for Women and the carbon tax
“… as many of us know,women are particularly focused on the household budget and the repeal of the carbon tax means a $550-a-year benefit for the average family.”
Sigmund says: Women’s place is in the home – shopping, cooking and ironing their man’s shirts – while men go out and run the world. And stuff the environment.
6. Prime minister for Aboriginal Affairs
“It is my hope that I could be, not just a prime minister, but a prime minister for Aboriginal Affairs. The first I imagine that we have ever had.”
On the morning of the spill, Abbott ignored the “Freedom Summit” of Indigenous people camped outside Parliament – as did the media – as he strode off to fight the spill. He paid no attention to the Aboriginal grandmothers protesting increasing rates of child removal.
Sigmund says: I said what I said to become prime minister — I’d sell my arse to be PM! The fate of Indigenous people means nothing to me in comparison to remaining in power. Their problems are not my problem.
7. No guilt about children in detention
Responding angrily to a damning Human Rights Commission report on the damage done by Australia to children in detention, Abbott declared:
“I reckon that the Human Rights Commission ought to be sending a note of congratulations to Scott Morrison saying ‘Well done mate because your actions have been very good for the human rights and the human flourishing of thousands of people’.”
When asked if he felt any guilt over the horrifying findings in the AHRC report, including the heartbreaking pictures of young children in locked confinement, Abbott replied: “None whatsoever.”
In fact, said Abbott, it was the Human Rights Commission that should be “ashamed of itself”.
Sigmund says: Thus spake the narcissist, in deep denial, projecting his feelings of guilt and shame.
Repressed denied impulses can break out, in spite of attempts to suppress them. That is why Tony Abbott keeps accidentally showing his true colours despite all his protestations.
The Liberal Party can now barely contain its rebellion, even as it protests its unity. The Party doesn’t need a facelift — it needs a heart transplant, writes columnist Waleed Aly.
Tony Abbott has revealed himself to be self-centred, cruel, mean, petty and concerned only with his own survival.
But he now claims to have changed, overnight. He has declared that the spill motion experience has been a chastening experience and that he has learned and is listening.
But his subsequent actions – such as blaming the Opposition for a jobs “holocaust” and using parliamentary privilege to politicise and prejudice an alleged terror attack investigation – show this up for the lie that, of course, it was always going to be:
Is it any surprise at all he has been blasted as the most ‘incompetent politician of any industrialised democracy’ by an influential U.S. think tank?
The prognosis?
Given past and present form, and without years of intensive therapy, the likelihood of, or capacity for, significant change or improvement in Abbott is close to zero.
However, in his state, the damage he could cause before he leaves office is almost incalculable. He needs to be firmly and carefully removed from office before it is too late.
You can follow Lyn Bender on Twitter @lynestel.
THE CABIN ANTHRAX, MURPHY, N.C. (CT&P) -At a hurriedly called press conference somewhere in the bowels of Cretonia earlier today, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), a Catholic, criticized Pope Francis after the pontiff played a key role in helping the United States and Cuba forge an agreement that resulted in the release of American Alan Gross from Cuba.
Rubio said he would “ask His Holiness to take up the cause of freedom and democracy.”
The pompous ass junior senator from Cretonia who intends to school His Holiness was speaking in response to the White House’s announcement about talks to normalize relations with Cuba after a nearly 50-year embargo with the country.
The pope played a pivotal role through personal appeals to President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro to help the two countries forge an agreement for the release of Gross, Obama announced on Wednesday.
Rubio is set to play a major role in Cuba policy as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on Western Affairs, and he noted Wednesday some of Congress’ leverage points, such as funding for embassies and nomination of a U.S. ambassador to Cuba.
“I’m committed to doing everything I can to unravel as many of these changes as possible,” Rubio said.
When asked just what the hell he was talking about, Rubio replied “As I have said many times before, I’m no scientist and usually have no fucking clue what I’m talking about, regardless of the subject. However, for decades now our policy concerning Cuba has been held hostage by a tiny minority living in and around Miami. I see no reason to make any changes to that policy at this time. Cuban ex pats and their offspring make up an important voting bloc for us Republicans, to say nothing of their generous donations to our campaigns. I’m certainly not going to let them down by agreeing to a policy that could be good for the U.S. and Cuba as well.”
Rubio continued, “As a Republican I am against all forms of progress and change, and I will do my best to stamp out any change I see in any policy regarding anything at all.”
When asked to clarify his comments regarding the Pope Rubio said “This Pope is far too compassionate and helpful to be an ally of the Republican Party. They really need to get someone with experience in that position.”
Migration Bill null and void? #auspol #ausvotes
Under law no statement or contract can be upheld if it was made under threat or duress. Likewise no Senator’s decision can be upheld if it was made under those circumstances.
In view of reports that those children are NOT being released but moved to Darwin and fast tracked out of Australia then Ricky Muir’s vote is surely null and void.
It is likewise unlawful for Morrison to use coercion in using the children as blackmail and holding the Senate hostage.
What did you think Muir? That all those kids would wake up on Christmas morning in Australian foster homes?????
You have signed their death warrants.
Unsign it. Now.
Bombard Muir’s office with demands that he does and now.
Aside from that we hereby seek:
An immediate High Court injunction to the Bill or, if it has not received Royal Assent, that the Governor General NOT sign it.
Clarification of the fate of the children. Are these the children that were subject to the earlier injunction? If so, does this Bill violate that injunction?
Where will these children be sent? Darwin? If so, why?
For using children as Blackmail and exercising considerable coercion on the Senate unlawfully we request the Governor General to terminate Scott
The Australian government is facing more criticism for not sending health workers to Africa to help fight Ebola.
A 25-bed US field hospital that will treat international health workers who contract the virus is due to open soon.
The Australian government now has no excuse not to fund health workers to travel to Africa, said Labor health spokeswoman Catherine King.
“It is now up to the Abbott government to act,” Ms King told journalists in Canberra on Friday.
Australia has so far refused to send health workers to Africa because it says it could not evacuate and treat them if they got infected with the virus.
It has provided A$8m (£4.4m) to frontline services and A$40m (£22m) to the World Health Organization and has not ruled out increasing that contribution.
‘A risky situation’
“We will not be putting Australian health workers in a risky situation in the absence of evacuation plans and an appropriate level of medical care and we cannot currently supply that,” Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said last month.
But the Australian Medical Association, the Public Health Association, the Healthcare and Hospitals Association and non-government organisation Medecins sans Frontieres have all called for the Australian government to substantially increase its contribution.
Sierra Leone and Amnesty International have condemned Australia’s decision to suspend entry visas for people from Ebola-affected countries in West Africa as “counterproductive” and “discriminatory”.
Ms King said there was a split in Cabinet about its response to the crisis, with Immigration Minister Scott Morrison “taking charge” and Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Health Minister Peter Dutton losing control of the debate.
Nearly 5,000 people have died of Ebola so far. More than 13,700 people have been infected in total, the vast majority in the West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea
HE president of Sierra Leone has made a desperate plea for Australia to scale up its response to the Ebola crisis, including sending military aid, as the deadly virus continues to ravage West Africa.
In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Tony Abbott, which arrived this week, President Ernest Bai Koroma says his country is counting on Australia and specifically requests military aid, warning Sierra Leone is losing the battle against Ebola.
The development came as Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Thursday announced Australia would immediately boost its financial contribution to fighting the worst ever outbreak of the deadly disease by another $10 million, taking the total commitment to $18 million.
THE FACTS: Scientists answer your Ebola questions
EBOLA CRISIS: Liberia to prosecute US Ebola man
Financial backing … Australia has committed $18 million to fighting the ebola disease. Source: Supplied
However, the Australian government has so far ruled out sending medical experts and logistical support.
The refusal by Australia to provide medical experts and logistic support has prompted criticism from aid organisations, including Save the Children and Medecins Sans Frontieres.
In the letter dated September 18, sent through diplomatic channels, Mr Koroma warns the nation’s health system had already been overwhelmed by the virus which, according to the World Health Organisation, has claimed 3338 lives and infected 7178 since the beginning of the year.
Call for help … Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma, left, pictured with former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says his country is counting on Australia to fight ebola. Source: AFP
“While we are doing everything possible to stop the outbreak, further support is urgently needed from your friendly government to scale up our national response with … education efforts, as well as infection control measures,” the letter says.
Mr Koroma makes a specific request for Australia to deploy military health units, logisticians and engineers.
“Having watched the response of the Australian military to similar humanitarian emergencies, most recently Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, I know that it is uniquely placed to help us in the fight against Ebola.”
Deadly encounter … a resident sick from Ebola virus arrives at the “Island Clinic”, a new Ebola treatment centre in Monrovia, Sierra Leone. Source: AFP
Mr Koroma says in the letter that Australian military aid could potentially help save thousands of lives.
“We are counting on Australia to send us the military personnel we so desperately need to fight back against the virus and prevent the positive developments of the last 10 years from being undone.”
Ms Bishop on Thursday said the government has assessed that financial contributions were the best and most efficient way Australia could make a rapid contribution to the global response to the crisis.
Quick response … healthcare workers spray disinfectant to prevent the spread of the Ebola virus in Kenema, Sierra Leone. Source: AP
But Save the Children and Medecins Sans Frontieres, while welcoming the additional aid money offered on Thursday, criticised the Australian government’s refusal to do more, as other world leaders deploy troops and medical experts in their thousands.
The US has committed up to 3000 troops while the UK will spend $185 million on its mission, including supporting 700 Ebola treatment beds across Sierra Leone.
“Make no mistake, this crisis is at tipping point. We need to act urgently and decisively,” Save the Children acting chief Mat Tinkler said.
The UN is seeking $US50 million ($A54 million) from donors to meet immediate needs over the next four weeks, including for logistics to deliver equipment, materials and supplies to Ebola response operations.
Facing criticism … Tony Abbott is under international pressure to contribute more to the ebola fight. Source: News Corp Australia
Counsel assisting the Trade Union Commission recommends Tony Abbott’s hero Kathy Jackson to face criminal charges, yet Australia’s mainstream media headline more baseless Gillard smears. Peter Wicks from Wixxyleaks reports.
Late yesterday afternoon the Trade Union Royal Commission (TURC) dropped a bombshell.
Counsel Assisting Jeremy Stoljar yesterday made his submissions (which can be seen in full via this link) and while this does not mean the Commissioner will follow suit, it certainly gives a strong indication of where things are headed.
I have not had the time to plough through all of the documentation as there is a mountain of it, however there are a few things to note.
Firstly, Julia Gillard has no case to answer. Despite, all of the antics and smear, Gillard was found by Stoljar to have done nothing criminal — as IA has been reporting for years. Australia’s desperate mainstream media aren’t worrying about that though, headlining Stoljar’s sidenote that some of her conduct as a solicitor 20 years ago may have been “questionable”.
They can’t let it go and admit they were wrong. They really are pathetic.
or Kathy Jackson though, things are actually – really, in fact – looking bad. Of course, Australia’s dismal mainstream media, after years of spinning Gillard as a criminal and Jackson as a brave whistleblower, are running this detail towards the end of their latest Gillard smear stories.
There will be more to come I’m sure as I work my way through the documentation, but here is how Stoljar summarised HSU governance during Jacksons time as Secretary.
“The matters set out above raise serious governance issues at the Victoria No 3 Branch, during the period Ms Jackson was Secretary.
It is difficult to imagine a more inappropriate series of arrangements. On Ms Jackson’s own evidence, significant sums of members’ money were kept in a kitty and handed out at her discretion. There were insufficient checks and records concerning other movements of money, including the use of credit cards.
The picture that emerges is of a union during the period 2000 – 2012 characterised by lax governance; frequent breaches of union rules and procedures of transparency and accountability; and ‘smear’ and ‘dirt’ campaigns, during which critical records were destroyed or tampered with, and reputations trashed. This is no model for a modern or effective union.”
For many of the allegations against Jackson, Stoljar made no findings, as the matters are part of the $1.4 million case currently before Federal Court and so deemed inappropriate to comment on.
However, on the Peter Mac settlement, there are elements of the matter not before Federal Court such as the $250,000 payment to the HSU from the cancer research facility and hospital.
Jackson admitted during the Royal Commission to grossly inflating the union’s costs in order to have them total $250,000. One example of this was her legal costs, which were inflated from $1,122 to $65,740 according to Jackson’s own testimony.
Some may call that a rort — others a hefty mark-up.
Jeremy Stoljar in his submission refers to it as follows:
“Obtaining property or a financial advantage by deception.”
Stoljar then goes on to say:
“Ms Jackson falsely represented to Peter Mac that the HSU had incurred, or would incur, costs that she knew it had not, and would not, incur. That false representation constitutes the relevant deception.”
This deception, you may recall, was designed as a payment that would ensure none of the workers would receive the roughly $3 million in entitlements they were owed.
Another thing you may remember is that, at one stage, Jackson tried to say that any money paid to the workers would have taken money away from cancer research. This was her justification for ensuring that the workers she represented were ripped off while she purloined the payout.
By inflating the bills and wilfully deceiving the Peter Mac Cancer Institute, Kathy Jackson herself was taking quarter of a million dollars away from cancer research, effectively taking the cash not just from the workers, but also from those suffering from cancer. You don’t get much lower than that in my view.
Stoljar concluded with this;
“It is submitted that there is sufficient evidence to warrant Ms Jackson being referred to the Victorian Director of Public Prosecutions so that the Director can consider whether to prosecute her for possible contraventions of the Crimes Act 1958 (Vic).”
We will see how soon the Victorian Crime Squad act now that the Commission is pointing the finger at Jackson.
Or maybe Abbott should announce another taskforce? I won’t hold my breath on that…
There will be more to come. More about Jackson, that is. for the nutbag Gillard conspiracy theorists, it’s all over.
Latest Polls Show America Not Yet Ready For Democracy
THE CABIN ANTHRAX, MURPHY, N.C. (CT&P) – After analyzing the results of a new Pew Research Center poll conducted just last week, experts have concluded that the United States is not yet ready for a democratic form of government. The finding is particularly troubling considering the midterms are less than one week away.
“It looks as if we are in real trouble,” said Dr. Frank Black, who headed the Pew Research team. “There are just too many people out there who don’t possess enough innate intelligence to function in everyday life, much less determine their own fate by voting for their own representatives.”
“We found that only 32% of Americans believe that evolution is ‘due to natural processes such as natural selection,’ and fully one-third of Americans are so stupid that they utterly reject the theory of evolution and believe instead that humans ‘have existed in their present form since the beginning of time.’”
“And that is only one example,” continued Black. “The American public’s lack of basic scientific knowledge is mind-boggling.”
“Only 20% of Americans believe in the ‘Big Bang,’ only 50% believe in climate change, and an overwhelming number of Americans want to ban incoming flights from Africa because of the Ebola crisis when most American citizens have no fucking clue what a virus even is.”
“Hell, do you realize that fully 40% of Americans think that they are going to be lifted up into heaven in some sort of Rapture event? It’s really depressing.”
“The state of affairs is equally miserable when it comes to progressive government policy. America has had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century as regards gay marriage, equal pay for women, immigration, and sane firearms policies.”
“Given the recent track record, whole swathes of the United States should really not be allowed to vote,” said Black. “The rise of the Tea Party to prominence in recent years should make that obvious. Take Texas and Florida for example. When a one state elects a dolt like Rick Perry and the other an ancient Aztec snake god as governor, we have real problems.”
Dr. Black suggested that since America was not yet ready for any type of representative government that possibly the best alternative would be some form of benign dictatorship.
“If we could get someone in the White House who would dissolve Congress and ratchet up public education to at least Third World standards, then that would be a good start,” said Black. “The money is there if we could just redirect it. Instead of invading Muslim countries every other week, we could use some of those trillions to teach our offspring some basic science, civics, and history. It will be a long, hard slog, but I think the future of North America depends on it. After all, do we really want half of our kids believing that we are being observed by aliens in UFO’s? I don’t think so.”
Acclaimed Australian author Peter Carey says that the Abbott government is ‘inhumane’, becoming the second high-profile writer in a week to criticise Australia’s political leadership.
Award-winning Australian author Peter Carey has accused the Abbott government of being “inhumane” and ruled by big business interests.
Mr Carey, who claims in his new book Amnesia that the CIA conspired to bring down Gough Whitlam’s government, says Australia has become a right-wing “corporation state” that is “terrifying” to live in.
· Extract: Whitlam’s revolutionary first days in power
· Richard Flanagan: ‘I’m ashamed to be Australian’
“We have a situation where the right has come to rule, the corporation has come to rule,” Carey says. “It seems an inhumane regime.”
Speaking to The New Daily, Mr Carey said Australians were experiencing trauma equivalent to that of living through the Cuban Missile Crisis in the 1960s, when “one glimpsed one’s own extinction”.
“Now we live with that, and kids live with that, day after day, after day, after day, after day, and given the failure of governments to act – and given the fact that they’re acting in the interests of corporations continually, the corporations don’t care about the future – I think that’s terrifying.”
Mr Carey made his comments about the current government when asked about former prime minister Gough Whitlam’s legacy and the state of the nation, a day after the former PM passed away.
“Looking back [on Whitlam’s time in power] … it was a time when we had hope and could have hope,” Mr Carey says.
“We just pulled the troops out of Vietnam, the draft resistors were let out of jail. A week and a hundred different things happened and we were proud of ourselves, we were proud of Gough and we were optimistic about our future.”
The criticism also comes a week after fellow Booker Prize winner Richard Flanagan said he was “ashamed” to be Australian because of the Abbott government’s climate change stance.
“I’m very saddened because Australia has the most extraordinary environment and I don’t understand why our government seems committed to destroying what we have that’s unique in the world,” Mr Flanagan told the BBC’s Kirsty Wark.
“It doesn’t have to be this way. We can grow our economy but we can do so much for our extraordinary environment.
“There are so many things and, to be frank, I’m ashamed to be Australian when you bring this up.”
Mr Carey’s new novel is both an homage to the audacity of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and what he sees as gross American influence on the downfall of the Whitlam government.
The book centres around a downtrodden journalist, Felix Moore, who, having ruined his relationship with his family and lost his job, takes on the somewhat dubious role of writing about a young, female hacker who has become America’s enemy number one.
The cyber-hacker, Gabrielle ‘Gaby’ Bailleux, a striking blonde, has unleashed a virtual worm that has opened up the doors of Australian and US prisons.
Interweaved into the race to get her story are Moore’s own theories on the CIA’s involvement in the removal of Whitlam.
Mr Carey says the extent of the US-Australian relationship has always worried him and Assange’s emergence as a traitor or savior, depending on your point of view, reignited his passion for the subject.
“The US-Australian thing has long been in my mind,” he says.
“With Assange, it was a sense of amazement and wonder – and some admiration, I must admit – at what he’d done. He’s clearly very complicated.”
So is Mr Carey, it would seem.
Human rights campaigner and refugee advocate Victoria Martin-Iverson has very publicly challenged Crown Casinos boss James Packer about his decision to go into business with the brutal and murderous Rajapaksa regime.
James Packer:
“Sri Lanka is a beautiful and unique country with a huge tourism potential and I have great confidence in its future and it is Sri Lanka’s time to shine in Asia.”
A tribunal of 11 eminent judges has unanimously found the Sri Lankan government guilty of the crime of genocide against ethnic Tamil people. Sitting in Bremen, from December 7 to 10, the Second Session of the Peoples’ Tribunal on Sri Lanka found that the crime of genocide has been and is being committed against the Eelam Tamils as a national group.
This information went to Canberra and had been ignored by government for reasons of policy and politics. This would suggest that both major parties knowingly acted illegally with respect to processing Tamil asylum seekers. How low can we go?
Lower, it seems. I was also informed that the high commission has now ceased briefings from Tamil sources in the north, presumably on the basis of what they don’t know they don’t have to lie about. A form of deniability adopted and refined by Hitler’s Third Reich towards the final solution of the Jewish question.
The tribunal requested that states able to do so should take Tamil asylum seekers as refugees
James Packer’s response:
He excused the decision with the fatuous observation that the International Criminal Court and the UN were too politicised. He expressed disbelief that the criticisms were factual, based on anything other than politics.
Then he mentioned the pending “election”, which he said would be returning President Mahinda Rajapaksa with a substantial majority. The irony of that prediction was clearly lost on him.
Perhaps worried he had been a tad too dismissive of the very real human rights concerns, he went on to observe ‒ rather oddly, I thought ‒ that war is hell and the Middle East (?) in turmoil. He said he and his family were terribly sad about that and noted that few nations were free from allegations of human rights abuses.
Trevor Grant’s explosive new book, SRI LANKA’S SECRETS pulls no punches on
‘How the Rajapaksa regime gets away with murder.’
It’s the book that President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his corrupt and nepotistic cronies didn’t want published.
When you read it, you will know why.
SRI LANKA’S SECRETS is a troubling dossier of the horrors and massacres perpetrated upon its own peoples by an absolute Government that masquerades as a democracy — a lie that is shamefully affirmed as truth by many expedient foreign governments, including Australia.
In his foreword, the fearless human rights advocate Geoffrey Robertson QC, writes:
When the Rajapaksa government forces moved in for the ‘final solution’ to the Tamil Tiger problem, they first banned all foreign journalists, human rights monitors and UN observers.
Thinking themselves safe from outside scrutiny, they mass murdered tens of thousands of innocent civilians through bombardment from land and sea … But truth will out …
Frustrated By Debate Fiasco, Florida Governor Rick Scott Attacks And Devours Giant Alligator On Outskirts Of Everglades
Sources close to the Scott campaign told our intrepid reporter Bruce “The Coyote” Becker that the governor killed and consumed a large alligator during the drive home to Tallahassee after the debate last week.
Apparently Scott demanded that the campaign bus, the “Python Express,” stop on the outskirts of the Everglades, whereupon he tore off his clothing, leaped from the vehicle and disappeared into the scrub. Efforts to stop the governor were met with threatening posturing and loud hissing from Scott.
“It was really terrifying,” said an aide who wished to remain anonymous. “He coiled up and was ready to strike anyone who tried to stop him. We were able to follow him for a while because of that unearthly glow given off by his scales when he gets excited, but we eventually had to stop when he reached a swampy area teeming with alligators.”
The aide reported that the next morning a stuffed and lethargic Scott was found sunning himself on the median of the interstate.
“It took six of us to pick him up and put him back on the bus,” said the unnamed aide. “He was quite content to nap for most of the trip home while he was absorbing the enormous reptile.”
Apparently Scott’s diet is not limited to other reptiles. Sources say that Scott is an opportunist and somewhat of a scavenger. Visitors have noted the complete absence of any wildlife around the governor’s mansion and Scott’s guard detail has to continually replace Alsatians listed as “missing and presumed dead.”
Melissa Sellers, Scott’s campaign manager, told reporters that now that the governor has fed, he should be able to devote all of his time to being reelected.
“He won’t need to feed again for approximately six weeks,” said Sellers. “By that time the race will be decided and he can be returned to his enclosure. He won’t pose a threat to anyone for quite some time.”
As Ellen Johnson Sirleaf says, ‘we all have a stake’. Put simply, Tony Abbott’s message of mean spirited disinterest and misguided self-protection is costing lives.
Surely, we can do ‒ and are ‒ better than that.
Tony Abbott, who was more than ready to send troops into dangerous zones in Ukraine and Iraq wants a no risk guarantee for “our people”, saying it would be
“… irresponsible of an Australian government to order Australian personnel into this very dangerous situation.”
Beyond the obvious hypocrisy, Abbott is either callous, ignorant, or just not up to the job.
What is needed is not just a token donation of money, but people on the ground.
Also needed is the provision of expert training and (even simple) equipment — including protective gear, spray bottles, chlorine and logistical support.
Tony Abbott has pledged a meager $18 million to assist West Africa.
This is puny when compared to the recent estimates of the current deployment in Iraq are expected to soar to $400 million dollars. It fades to insignificance when compared to the $1 billion spent to provide offshore detention this financial year.
In summary, Australia’s contribution to fighting Ebola is spectacularly insignificant.
Australia is once again a laggard in its global responsibility. As he has done with climate change inaction, Tony Abbott is failing Australians and failing the world.
http://theaimn.com/my-father-used-to-call-it-foot-in-mouth-disease/
I recently read an article by Miranda Divine titled ‘Why the Libs are Ruddy marvelous’. It outlines the academic qualifications of government members. It is truly impressive. They must be the brainiest bunch to have ever graced our parliament.
“For starters, there are three Rhodes Scholars: Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull, and Angus Taylor. Two more ministers have degrees from Oxford University: George Brandis QC, and Josh Frydenberg, who has the added distinction of a master’s degree from Harvard. Two other MPs also have master’s degrees from Harvard, among the seven MBAs, two MPAs and four PhDs on the government benches. Two more have masters of philosophy from Cambridge. Fulbright scholar Greg Hunt has an MA from Yale. Former WA treasurer Christian Porter has an impressive four degrees. And he’s a backbencher”.
And it doesn’t end there. Read this. She of course failed to mention that it is essentially a men’s club. Or that Brandis cannot use a computer.
Now let’s look at what a Queens College Oxford education has done for our Prime Minister:
“We just can’t stop people from being homeless if that’s their choice”.
“Jesus knew that there was a place for everything and it’s not necessarily everyone’s place to come to Australia”.
“If we’re honest, most of us would accept that a bad boss is a little bit like a bad father or a bad husband … you find that he tends to do more good than harm. He might be a bad boss but at least he’s employing someone while he is in fact a boss”.
“I think it would be folly to expect that women will ever dominate or even approach equal representation in a large number of areas simply because their aptitudes, abilities and interests are different for physiological reasons”.
Statements like the aforementioned (often embedded with religious intent)) are devoid of social empathy and are reflective of thinking that has been influenced by notions of dim-witted superiority. They are the words of a ruler not a leader. They are an indictment of both Abbott and his ministry.
They are statements of the uncaring, the intellectually barren, the cerebraly deficient, the privileged and the narcissistic elitist.
Of the born to rule with ideals of grandeur.
We are experiencing something very unique in Australian politics. A belief that lying has approval, that deception and misleading words will and can persuade the electorate to your view. A belief that there are enough people so politically naive that they will believe you. And that’s the majority of Australians.
It’s straight out of the Conservative Tea Party Handbook. This is deliberate ‘’foot in mouth disease’’ with intentional consequences. There is a pattern and they have been persuaded it works.
“Of course I would have read The Gonski Report had the dog not eaten it”.
Christopher Pyne.
Tony Abbott. Prime Minister. “I will shirtfront Putin”. “Coal is good for humanity”.
George Brandis. Attorney General. “People have a right to be bigots”.
Eric Abetz Employment Minister. “Abortion causes breast cancer”.
Christopher Pyne. Minister for Education. “Uni fee hikes wont impact women because they don’t study expensive degrees like law or dentistry”.
Mathias Cormann. Finance Minister. “Bill Shorten is an economic girlie-man”.
Baghdad: Even before a formal announcement, the deal for Australia to help Iraq battle the so-called Islamic State which now controls swaths of Iraq and Syria, drew sharp criticism from forces allied to the Baghdad government.
As Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was finalising the deal for Australian Special Forces. it was condemned by senior figure in three of the Shiite volunteer militias that now prop up the Iraqi Army on the battlefield.
Haji Jaafar al-Bindawi, chief of training and logistics for the Imam Ali Brigades, told Fairfax Media that the 200 Australians on standby in the United Arab Emirates to deploy in Iraq “should go home”.
Likewise, Adnan al-Shahmani, an MP who serves as a parliamentary and military liaison for several militia forces and who leads his own force in battle, said: “Foreign forces? Never! We don’t need them … in combat or as advisers.
Sunni militia-leader Sheikh Abdul Hamid al Juburi asks why Western air strikes can’t win the war with Islamic State. Photo: Kate Geraghty
“The militias’ objection to Australian and American advisers is part of a greater distrust of Western intentions.
Imam Ali Brigades’ Haji Jaafar al-Bindawi makes no promises about what will happen if Australian troops are encountered. Photo: Kate Geraghty
Asked how the conflict would run, the Imam Ali Brigades’ Haji Jaafar al-Bindawi said that victory would be declared when “the [IS] terrorists have been defeated and we have driven out the returned [US-led] occupation”.
“We don’t need air strikes – unless they are by the Iraqi Air Force.
“More foreign troops? No, we have a million heroes.
“Advisers? No.”
Earlier, Fadil al Shairawi, Baghdad actor and poet who serves as the Imam Ali Brigades’ spokesman, told Fairfax media: “I hope this new experience in Iraq for the Americans will not be a repeat of the last – we were a peaceful people with a full infrastructure, but the US destroyed that infrastructure and made us an aggressive nation.”
That deep suspicion of the West permeated an interview with the MP Adnan al-Shahmani. He argued: “We don’t need a coalition of more than 40 nations to defeat IS, so what’s going on here?
“We don’t need advisers. It’s not complicated – we are at war with a gang of thugs and the Americans say they want to help, but they won’t give us the weapons we need.”
On the Sunni tribal side of the equation, a senior figure – Sheikh Abdul Hamid al Juburi – was derisive about the intent of coalition air strikes.
Claiming to speak for all of the Sunni tribes in central Salah ad-Din province, where IS now controls several major centres, the sheikh argued: “In the war in Yugoslavia, the US was able to use air strikes alone to end the war – why not here?
The American’s insistence that whatever could be outsourced was outsourced meant that Iraqi colonels were provided with enormous sums of money to pay not only their soldiers’ wages, but also all the other costs necessary to maintain an army.The men charged with allocating these funds became hugely powerful and influential and, rather than spending it on things like fuel and ammunition, siphoned much of it off into their own coffers.
A parade of former leaders responsible for the destruction of Iraq and, thus, the rise of ISIL – John Howard, Tony Blair and the perennial warmonger Dick Cheney – have come forward in recent months to try and expunge their culpability from the historical record. However it was their neoliberalism that has spawned what is, today, essentially a failed State.
Soldiers would join the army, receive their pay-check, kick-back half of it to his officer – who’d then distribute it amongst all the other officers – and then go and work a second job somewhere else. When Mosul fell, it’s estimated that only one in three soldiers who were meant to be there actually were. And once IS were advancing, it was the leaders who were the first to flee.
As predicted by the Iraqi official, the some 30,000 troops stationed there left their posts, shed their uniforms and fled the few thousand (or less) advancing ISIL fighters.
Now, with the Iraqi army having all but completely dissolved, the U.S. and its allies have committed to air strikes to ‘degrade and destroy’ ISIL.
President Obama, Tony Abbott and a host of other world leaders that claim to be committed to fighting ISIL have become fond of saying that this is primarily Iraq’s fight, not theirs.
What they fail to say is that their commitment to the privatisation of the Iraqi army at the expense of proficiency is responsible for destroying the very institution they’ve now charged with taking the fight to ISIL. It’s these boys we say we’re going to train who won’t come out of their barracks.
I’m not alarmed -no no
Australians have been told to remain calm, as the Abbott government lifts the terror alert level to high.
On the whole, we have remained alert and relatively calm, but there are some matters about which we remain alarmed.
On the whole, we have remained alert and relatively calm, but there are some matters about which we remain alarmed.
We are mostly pleased with our commander-in-chief Tony Abbott’s performance on global matters, but concerned about the 2014 budget, Treasurer Joe Hockey, Clive Palmer and his PUPs, Labor leader Bill Shorten, climate change and Speaker Brownyn Bishop’s enthusiastic ejection of MPs (mostly from the opposition) during question time.
This week, we take a calming breath and bring all this together with the aid of resident musicologist Denis Carnahan and apologies to ’70s super group 10cc.
Australia won’t send ground troops to fight Islamic State in Iraq, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says
Updated
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says Australia will not be sending ground troops to fight against Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq.
Ms Bishop has met with Iraqi officials to discuss Australia’s role in the US-led coalition against IS militants.
Speaking at a news conference alongside her Iraqi counterpart Ibrahim al-Jaafari in Baghdad, she said Australia is working with Iraq to see how best to provide further assistance in the region.
“We’ve not been asked and we’ve not offered to [send troops to Iraq]. So I do not envisage that being part of our arrangements with Iraq,” she said.
“We will only provide assistance at the invitation of and with the consent of the Iraqi government.”
Mr Jafaari reaffirmed Ms Bishop’s words and said Iraq considered sending in ground forces as “a red line”.
Last week, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Australia’s special forces had not yet been able to enter Iraq because the Baghdad government had not provided the necessary legal guarantees.
Mr Abbott wants the 200 Australian special operations troops to be offered indemnity from prosecution under Iraqi law, such as that offered to US soldiers.
P
Pursed lips I’m off really off
Unexpected visit to Papua New Guinea.
The ABC understands Mr Abbott met PNG prime minister Peter O’Neill today and discussed the threat of the Ebola virus as well as resettling asylum seekers.
Mr Abbott said in a video statement that Mr Widodo’s inauguration was an important event for Australia as “Indonesia is a hugely important neighbour”. I’m gate crashing and shirt-fronting
” Shit It has the world’s largest Muslim population, it is the world’s third largest democracy and, along with India, it’s the emerging democratic superpower of Asia,” he said. ” I can talk coal” but Shhhhhhhh!!!!
“Almost one million Australians visit Indonesia, including Bali, every year and over 17,000 Indonesian students study here in Australia each year.” Business first we guess because Andrew Bolt Murdoch news and 2GB assure us he hates Muslims apart from Scott Morrison’s suggestion ” they will improve our poll ratings”.
Mr Abbott said “uninvited he is looking to strengthen Australia’s social and economic ties with the nation.”
“Indonesia will be the fourth biggest economy in the world by mid-century. This is why our foreign policy needs a Jakarta focus rather than a Geneva one.”
Oh I forgot I said that ages ago but I have been busy polling in Aus you know using every opportunity to hide the budget.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-17/middle-east-witchs-brew/5771416
Tony Abbott says the Middle East is “a witch’s brew of difficulty and complexity”. As Australia conducts air raids in Iraq, what are some of the key ingredients in that volatile mix?
Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek said Senator Cormann’s comments detracted from issues surrounding the budget.
“I think it is extraordinary that we have a PM who talks about shirtfronting the leader of [another] nation and we now have a Finance Minister who thinks he is Arnold Schwarzenegger,” Ms Plibersek said.
“What Mathias Cormann is missing is that this budget hurts vulnerable Australians.”
Labor’s trade spokeswoman Penny Wong told Sky News the phrase sends a worrying message to younger Australians.
“If we use girl as an insult what are we telling our sons and our daughters about being a girl? You’re saying it’s somehow less confident, weak, whatever the imputation,” Senator Wong said.
“I just don’t think that’s sensible. Imagine if we used any racial term in the way it was used. I think we would all be outraged for the same reasons.”
On Sunday the Finance Minister defended himself, saying that “‘economic girlie-men’ has come to adopt its own meaning”.
“It is not in any way intended as a reflection on girls, it is entirely intended as a reflection on Bill Shorten,” Senator Cormann said in a statement.
Tony Abbotts charm like Ebola is soooooo infectious.
Australian government’s anti-immigrant poster shocks planet (VIDEO)
It’s certainly a marked change of tone from the old days. Back in 1928 Australia was advertising itself as a land of opportunity – but the people it was advertising to lived in the UK and northern Europe.
After the Second World War the country even offered British immigrants a subsidized boat trip for just ten pounds to their new land of opportunity.
Now critics say that it’s ironic that a country founded by Europeans (at the documented expense of the indigenous peoples who lived there) now has the gall to declare itself off limits to foreigners.
Threatening asylum seekers sailing to flee oppression and violence in their own countries has struck most commentators as needlessly cruel.
Abbott and his Moderator of Free Speech ….It’s my Blog and my Report Bolt
Well written, Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey! You have summed up the loathsome Abbott perfectly. Abbott is the weakest excuse for a human being to have EVER crawled into Australian politics and in only 12 short months, this nasty vile little man has done so much to destroy everything Australians hold dear, eg our international reputation as a generous and welcoming country that has respect for other nations and their leaders, our free speech, our democracy, our precious environment, our sense of pride in our lovely country! All these things Abbott is denigrating. On behalf of ordinary Australians, I would like to apologise to Mr Putin and to the Russian people for the appalling manner in which the Troglodyte Tony Abbott (known throughout Australia as Phony Baloney Tony) is making senseless, stupid threats against Mr Putin. Quite frankly, Phony Tony, is a constant source of embarrassment to us all. His never ending faux pas, foot-in-mouth clangers and stumbling, inarticulate ignorant comments are on par with the other great moron, George W Bush! Baloney Tony crawled across the electoral line on a platform of reprehensible LIES and broken promises. His party of neoliberal fascists rule by hateful racism, rampant xenophobia, regressive misogyny, ramped up fear, war mongering paranoia and baseless hysteria. Abbott is a knuckle dragging, insignificant little political pariah with delusions of grandeur! He loves to throw his weight around .. the space between his enormous ego and his lowly IQ is bigger than the Vostok Towers, lol! Abbott is INTERNATIONALLY despised, scorned and condemned and his accusations against Mr Putin border on sanctimonious hypocrisy considering the unbelievable inhumanity and savage brutality inflicted on vulnerable asylum seekers. Did you know that Abbott and his psychopathic Immigration Minister, Scott Morrison are locking up LEGAL asylum seekers in off-shore concentration camps in Nauru, Manus Island and now under the care of Hun Sen, (who was a high ranking soldier in the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pott) in Cambodia! Already, TWO asylum seekers have died by callous neglect and brutal mistreatment under Abbott’s watch! I have travelled to Russia and fell in love with your beautiful country and its lovely people and I can assure you that the overwhelming majority of Australians are absolutely APPALLED at Abbott’s disgraceful, thuggish behaviour. Please, please don’t judge ordinary Australians by the reckless, staggering idiocy of Abbott and his despised cabinet of sociopaths .. they won’t last long! The day their arses are kicked to the kerb .. at the next election .. will be the most joyous day in Australia’s political history. Kindest regards to you all xxx
Tony Abbott fits neatly into a category that doesn’t understand diplomacy. And, he seems incapable of adapting to this level of diplomatic dignity. He is like a street thug pretending to be the Maître Di’ for a 5 star hotel; a role he is ill prepared for and either unwilling or unable to develop.As a consequence, for those of us who take pride in our international reputation, he has become a national embarrassment.
His brain snap comment about shirtfronting the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, at the G20 meeting in Brisbane next month. His follow-up comment, ’You bet you are’ was so out of sync with the first remark that it suggested he was not in control.The last international leader I can recall who became a figure of international amusement was, coincidentally, a former Russian president, Boris Yeltsin. Boris was a drunken fool; a buffoon. Yeltsin was a figure of derision.
While Abbott’s antics are not even close to those of Yeltsin, the ‘shirtfront’ comment coming on the back of his comments about the Scottish vote for independence will ensure that future overseas trips taken by him will attract a lot more attention from the international media and for all the wrong reasons.
The quality of the Coalition governance has been appalling. They fail on several fronts; the economy and the environment being the most obvious. But an election is still two years away. The prospect of two more years under Abbott’s leadership is becoming intolerable.
The Liberal Party should put the people first; they should show some ticker and end this charade. It is time to restore some international diplomacy to our reputation and regain some national pride.
EXCLUSIVE: Australia’s 200 Special Forces are stalled in the United Arab Emirates, awaiting legal clearance to kick off their mission assisting the Iraqi Security Forces in repelling the Islamic State.
The Special Forces, under the leadership of 2nd Commando Regiment, arrived in the UAE a month ago, fully equipped for their “advise and assist” role, but Iraq is sending mixed signals on whether it wants the Australians in Iraq.
The new Iraqi government of Haider al-Abadi has expressed reluctance about allowing foreign troops onto Iraqi soil — even though small groups of combat specialists, including US, German and British, have made their way to the front line
The RT news channel has reported Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari as saying yesterday: “We are absolutely against foreign military bases and the presence of foreign military forces. Yes, we did ask for help, but it concerned air cover.
“The question of sending troops in was discussed several times and we were very frank and stated clearly that we are completely against the deployment of foreign troops on our territory, as it can cause justifiable fears and concerns among the Iraqi population.”
Further complicating matters, Prime Minister al-Abadi is yet to appoint a permanent Defence Minister as Iraq transitions to its new government.
The six Australian F/A-18F Super Hornets flying combat missions over Iraq operate under an agreement separate to the planned SoFA. It was negotiated between Baghdad and Coalition countries and gives them diplomatic clearance to fly over Iraq and conduct strikes.
No word had come through on the Special Force deployment as of yesterday.
The Iraqi Foreign Minister’s strong language appears to throw doubts as to whether it would accept as many as 200 Australians, who are fully primed to show their Iraqi colleagues that they are staunch and committed allies in combat.
The US, British and German specialists — who are also assisting the Kurds out of Irbil, in northern Iraq — have taken the chance and gone in without SOFAS.
In theory, Australia could send in the Special Forces today, but if — for example — they accidentally shot an Iraqi policeman, they could be arrested and jailed. Australia is not prepared to take that risk.
It may still be the case that they will go, and possibly at a moment’s notice if the deed is signed.
Behind the scenes, that resistance will be most forcefully applied by the Shia regime of Iran, which wields strong political influence in the Iraqi capital, which is also Shia and appears increasingly to be looking to its neighbour — a former enemy — for an Islamic solution to the ISIL scourge.
olddogthoughts 
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