There’s a Horrifying Amount of Plastic in the Ocean. This Chart Shows Who’s to Blame. | Mother Jones.
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![The channel's decision gave terror the platform it needed, writes Shabi [EPA]](https://i0.wp.com/www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/mbdxxlarge/mritems/Images/2015/2/7/bdae7dbd89784aa5aab408a6a7fd7b33_18.jpg "Fox News: Muslims don't need help to understand ISIL")
About the Author
Rachel Shabi
Rachel Shabi is a journalist and author of Not the Enemy: Israel’s Jews from Arab Lands.
It’s hard to avoid hearing a sort of breathlessness emanating from the description of ISIL’s latest grotesque release. When the death cult put out a video showing the burning alive of the Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kassasbeh this week, many commentators alluded to the slick production skills, special effects and careful editing.
There’s this queasy mix of revulsion for the deed and near-admiration for the delivery mechanism, in some of the analysis of frames from what is essentially a snuff movie.
And when Fox News decided to publish this latest ISIL terror offering, it sent the video to the top of the charts; since Tuesday, the clip has received over two million views.
Analysts have noted before that it is precisely the juxtaposition of medieval violence and modern media savvy that draws attention to the twisted propaganda of the so-called Islamic State – with this latest now dubbed a “Hollywood style execution”. The sadistic videos are designed to make us talk about it – and here we are, talking about it.
Remembering Moaz
Most media, unsurprisingly, decided not to publish this video of Kassasbeh’s sickening, devastating murder – showing, instead, photographs of the pilot in uniform, or grinning into the camera in a T-shirt.This means, hopefully, that the image most of us will have of him is of a vibrant young man, evidently proud to serve his country and filled with the possibilities of a full life ahead of him.
Fox News initially didn’t give much of a reason for its decision – beyond that the channel wanted to bring to us “the reality of Islamic terrorism”.
This – again, unsurprisingly – sparked much anger and disgust. Across social media, people wondered why the channel, which had not showed videos of previous ISIL hostage killings – of James Foley, Steven Sotloff, or Alan Henning – had done so now, over a Jordanian hostage.
Responding to this question, Fox News executive vice president, John Moody, said: “As we’ve seen from the news reports out of Amman [Jordan], this – more than the previous acts of ISIL – has profoundly touched the Muslim world as well as the West.”
Understanding ISIL brutality
This answer pretty much confirms our worst fears over the Fox broadcast; the channel seems to think that Muslims need help understanding the brutality of ISIL. The suggestion is that this death video will dislodge supposed Muslim support for the death cult in a way that previous acts of terror did not.
ISIL’s terror is mostly waged against Muslims in Iraq and Syria – but, as usual, Fox News isn’t just inaccurate, it is spectacularly offensive, misleading and dangerous.
| ISIL’s terror is mostly waged against Muslims in Iraq and Syria – but, as usual, Fox News isn’t just inaccurate, it is spectacularly offensive, misleading and dangerous. |
Here is what the Fox head goes on to say: “Many people in the West and the US have asked where the Muslims are who condemn this. And all you have to do is look at the footage [from protests in Amman] and you see where they are now.”
Well of course Jordanians are more outraged over a Jordanian being killed – in the same way that anger and sadness over any terror killing tends to be more acute in the victim’s country of origin. I’d really like Fox to explain how you go from that to the assumption that Jordanian grief here is more to do with being Muslim – because honestly, I can’t figure it out.
Meanwhile, as terror experts pointed out, the channel’s decision over this video was giving terror the platform it needed; actually helping terror to be terror.
Working for ISIL’s media
Malcolm Nance, an expert on counterterrorism and radical extremism told the Guardian that the channel was “literally – literally – working for al-Qaeda and ISIL’s media arm”.
These ISIL murder videos, designed to simultaneously impress potential recruits and strike fear into the hearts of everyone else, in some way bring other images to mind; the giddy enthusing by TV experts over military hardware and “precision-bombing” during both Gulf wars; the pyramids of naked Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib, or the photograph of one Iraqi prisoner shivering with terror next to guards holding large dogs; some Israelis setting up a make-shift, open-air viewing gallery to witness bombs dropping onto the Gaza Strip.
This is in no way to suggest that any of these acts are remotely comparable, or an attempt to instigate a disgustingness ranking system for such images. The sole point here is that it seems as though the cruel spectacle of war isn’t just a medieval relic; it has, in some manner, been running through our contemporary landscape, long before ISIL.
Perhaps, then, one aspect of the compulsion-revulsion element surrounding some of the commentary over ISIL’s propaganda is precisely that some of the visual motifs are recognisable as a part of our world, too.
There is a reference to our cultural output, too – as Guardian writer Steve Rose observed last year: “Western film-makers seem to be providing more material for ISIL’s image library. Hollywood has even been accused of setting the tone, with its dark, doomsday scenarios…”
Even something so grotesque as an ISIL murder movie, designed to terrify, seeming to revel in being the opposite of humanity – even that is connected to us somehow. It is an uncomfortable and unpalatable reminder that, whatever else this group represents, it did not spring out of a vacuum.
Rachel Shabi is a journalist and author of Not the Enemy: Israel’s Jews from Arab Lands.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.
Britain’s far-right is the weakest it has been in 20 years largely due to its own incompetence, a report finds.
Despite “favorable” conditions such as the rise of Islamic State (also known as ISIS, or ISIL) and the Rotherham child grooming scandal, which saw organized child abuse perpetrated by a group of Muslim men, the far-right in the UK is “shrinking.”
The decline of groups such as the British National Party (BNP) and the English Defence League (EDL) is largely down to the neo-Nazis’ own ineptitude, as they are “divided and increasingly leaderless.”
The findings were published in an annual report by Hope Not Hate, an anti-racism and anti-fascist group backed by the labor movement.
The report, titled: “The state of hate in 2014” found cause for concern in the rise of anti-Semitism in the UK.
“Against a depressed economy, fear of violent Islamism and rising anti-immigrant rhetoric in the public mainstream, this should be the time to make hay. Instead, the far-right is shrinking, divided and increasingly leaderless,” the report contends.
“The British far-right ends 2014 in its worst state for almost 20 years,” it says.
Hope Not Hate point to Nick Griffin’s fall from grace in the BNP, the rise of UKIP, and the departure of EDL founder Stephen Lennon – who goes by the alias Tommy Robinson – from the group as causes of the far-right’s weakness.
Nick Griffin was given the sack as leader of the BNP after the party lost both its MEPs in the European Elections last year and 56 out of 58 of its local councilors.
The drop in support is partly down to the rise of the populist right-wing UKIP, the report argues, which despite not being a far-right party itself, has nonetheless “steamrollered” through their support base.
“While UKIP is not the BNP and Farage is not Griffin, it is clear that most former BNP voters feel quite at home in the UKIP stable.”
However, the report also places blame on a shift of focus away from the ballot box and towards street activism.
Following Stephen Lennon’s departure, “the EDL has stumbled on with little success. It set up a collegiate form of leadership but further resignations and personal and political feuds have largely rendered the group ineffective.”
Lennon left the EDL in October 2013, claiming the party had become too extreme and he wanted to use democratic ideas instead of violence.
However, Hope Not Hate claim that Lennon is currently considering a return to the EDL, as soon as his probation for a mortgage fraud conviction is served this summer.
Despite the decline of Britain’s far-right groups, Hope Not Hate expressed concern over the emergence of anti-Semitism in the UK.
Jewish Labour MP Luciana Berger received 20 death threats and over 2,000 hate tweets last year, after Garron Helm was convicted for sending anti-Semitic messages to the MP.
Good news: support for UK far-right groups at an all time low. Bad news: some of their ideas have gone mainstream.
Far-right politics in the UK first emerged in the 1930s.
At this time it was made up of Nazi co-thinkers such as Oswald Mosley, who founded the British Union of Fascists (BUF).
Banned at the outbreak of war with Germany, the BUF was dissolved in 1940. At the time of its dissolution BUF membership was approaching 20,000.
READ MORE: Thousands protest ‘Nazism, racism’ amid huge anti-Islam rallies in Germany (VIDEO)
As more and more former colonies were granted independence in the 1950s, the British far-right re-emerged under the banner of empire.
The League of Empire Loyalists initially campaigned against granting colonies independence, but later shifted its focus to opposing immigration from the same colonies they once strived to maintain control of.
“Support for British Far Right at 20 Year Low” …but only because their supporters have a mainstream political right wing party to support.
On Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced a massive new investment by the company in solar energy: an $850 million installation that will cover 1,300 acres in Monterey County, California. Apple is partnering with First Solar—the nation’s biggest utility-scale installer—on the project, which will produce enough power to supply 60,000 Californian homes, Cook said.
According to a press release from First Solar, Apple will receive 130 megawatts from the project under a 25-year deal, which the release describes as the largest such agreement ever.
Cook called it Apple’s “biggest, boldest and most ambitious” energy project to date, designed to offset the electricity needs of Apple’s new campus, the futuristic circular building designed by Norman Foster, and all of Apple’s California retail stores. “We know at Apple that climate change is real,” he said.
Cook made the announcement during a Goldman Sachs technology conference, and First Solar’s stocks shot up this afternoon on the news:
Apple has already made huge commitments to solar. The Guardian reported last year that the company planned to use solar power to manufacture its new “sapphire” screens for the iPhone 6 at a factory in Arizona. Last year, Climate Desk joined the Guardian during a press visit to the biggest solar field then in Apple’s portfolio. The Maiden, North Carolina, facility has 55,000 solar panels that track the sun across a nearly 100-acre field, offsetting the electricity sucked up by Apple’s data center across the road:
Apple’s new investment continues the startling growth of solar in America, which my colleague Tim McDonnell has reported on previously: By 2016, solar is projected to be as cheap or cheaper than electricity from the conventional grid in every state except three. Over the past decade, the amount of solar power produced in the United States has grown 139,000 percent.
In another portion of Cook’s appearance, the CEO boasted about the ways Apple’s new iWatch could help improve health by reminding you when you’ve become too sedentary:
Apple Watch can save your life? Tim Cook has his watch tap him if he’s sitting too long, says “sitting is the new cancer” $AAPL
Creepy, or cool?
Last night, we witnessed the first cracks in the wall of solidarity in the Liberal Party opening up.
Western Australian liberal MP Dr Dennis Jensen broke ranks with his fellow MPs and called for a leadership spill. He made the call in an interview with Leigh Sales on ABC’s 7.30. Dr Jensen stated that he had received many calls from other MPs, all of whom wanted a leadership change.
When asked who he thought should lead the party, Jensen said the focus should be more a matter of what the party needed, not who. He said they needed a good communicator, someone who could articulate the government’s message, delegate effectively and then allow members to get on with doing what needed to be done.
He said that he did not believe Tony Abbott could do that and didn’t think the Prime Minister understood what the problem was. He added that while Abbott and Hockey did talk to each other about the economy and other matters, there was no substance behind the empty rhetoric they displayed in public.
Immediately following the Jensen interview, Sales introduce Peter Dutton to gain a response to Jensen’s comments. Dutton acknowledged that both Abbott and the government had made mistakes but that they should be given a fair go. He also pointed out that as matters stood, there was no challenger, that the prime minister had the full support of cabinet and he had no intention of standing down.
While that interview was being aired, ABC’s Sabra Lane was speaking by phone with Queensland Liberal Warren Entsch. After the Dutton interview she reported that Entsch also called for the matter of the leadership to be resolved and to be done so, quickly.
While Jensen was not prepared to suggest a replacement, Entsch felt Malcolm Turnbull was the man best suited to lead the party and the country, Sabra said.
This is the first indication that the phones are indeed running hot and that matters may well come to a head at a party meeting in Canberra next week. Sabra Lane also pointed out that, at this stage, no one knows what the numbers are in the event of a challenge.
She also said, however, that now someone had spoken out publicly, she expected more members to come forward expressing their wishes.
So what do we, on the outside, make of this?
If there is one conclusion to draw from these breakaway comments it is that there is an orchestrated attempt to bring on a spill and flush out those who would be willing to challenge should a spill take place.
There is one thing of which we can be sure. The momentum for a spill will build in the coming days and the question of the leadership will be dealt with before the party begins to implode.
The next few days will see further pressure placed on the Prime Minister and a frenzy of activity among the possible contenders to see who has the greatest support.
Watch for a leadership spill, this time next week.’Abbott
NAIROBI (CT&P) – In a remarkable turn of events, drones are apparently going be used to do something other than recruit new terrorists, spot illegal growers of the “Evil Weed,” and incinerate Yemeni wedding parties.
Kenyan government officials have announced that drones will be deployed in all 52 of its national parks in an attempt to monitor and stop poachers from murdering innocent elephants and rhinos.
The announcement came after a pilot drone project was concluded in which poaching was reduced by 96% in an unnamed protected wildlife area.
Paul Udoto, spokesman for the Kenya Wildlife Service, said: “Use of drones has shown that we can prevent poaching and arrest many poachers in their tracks. The pilot project has been a success and we are working with many partners including the Kenya police, the National Intelligence Service, and a lot of international partners such as Interpol, and the Ugandan and Tanzanian governments.”
Kenya has lost more than 435 elephants and around 400 rhinos to poachers since 2012, driven by demand for illegal wildlife products by bat shit crazy people in Asia and elsewhere. Poachers have killed 18 rhinos and 51 elephants in 2014 so far.
This is one instance where we at the Times think that no one in their right mind would object to using fully armed drones instead of the surveillance models the Kenyan government is set to employ. Blowing a few poachers to “Kingdom Come” would no doubt go a long way in curbing the urge to go out and make few bucks by using a chain saw to remove a rhino horn and leaving the corpse to be eaten by hyenas. Hellfire missiles can be a great deterrent if the object of the deterrence does not have a mind consumed by religious hatred.
At least the Kenyans have come up with a righteous use of those horrible inventions. Thank God someone on this miserable planet has got the good sense to use technology in a productive way. Maybe the U.S. government should hire some Kenyan bureaucrats to replace those currently on the payroll. Maybe the new employees could use surveillance drones to prevent sheriff’s deputies from murdering family pets. That would be a good start.
There is no law and order solution to the high rates of Indigenous incarceration in Australia. The solution lies in an examination of our common humanity
The curtains closed bleakly on 2014. The rallying of the nation behind the Cairns community following the murder of eight children, and the #I’llRideWithYou Twitter campaign following the Sydney siege, showed once again that as a nation we are good at letting the overall goodness of our humanity prevail after a dramatic crisis.
I won’t diminish or undermine our sense of goodwill and humanity here, but I will challenge us to wonder about how much better we could be if we let the goodness of our humanity prevail in times when there is no dramatic crisis, but rather we are confronted by a toxic and enduring circumstance.
A case in point here is Aboriginal levels of incarceration. We represent only 2.4% of the Australian population yet account for more than 25% of the prison population, making us statistically among the most incarcerated peoples in the world. As a society, Australia does better at keeping a young Aboriginal person in prison than in school or university. The Aboriginal re-imprisonment rate is actually higher than the Aboriginal school retention rate from year 7 to year 12.
It is difficult to argue with Antony Loewenstein who says this is Australia’s greatest outrage, and a filthy stain on our projected global image as an egalitarian state with justice for all. Politicians in both Liberal and Labor parties wilfully ignore deeply measured recommendations to treat Aboriginal men and women as equals.
For those not directly affected by such devastating statistics it is difficult to imagine this as some kind of crisis, much less a dramatic crisis. Yet it does leave room to question the extent to which the goodness of our humanity prevails. Is this what we mean by being a tolerant society?
This toxic circumstance is made more tolerable if we cling to the negative stereotypes of Indigenous Australians as a form of “other”. There are mainstream Australians, and then there are the “other” Australians. Casting Indigenous Australians as a negative and despised form of “other” explains how we can tolerate or completely ignore such dreadful incarceration rates. Against this background it is very simple to make such pious and ill-considered statements as, “If they don’t want to go to jail, they shouldn’t break the law!”
deaths in custody protest
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‘We represent only 2.4% of the Australian population yet account for more than 25% of the prison population.’ Photograph: AAP
Against this background, it is very simple to impose policies for Indigenous Australians that do not signal any sense of belief in our humanity and own capacity to rise above the challenges we are confronted by. We are also mistaken if we assume that just because a particular policy approach is developed and driven by handpicked Aboriginal “leaders”, then it somehow signals a belief in the humanity of “other” Indigenous people. We’ve all seen the handsome rewards for those who sink the boot into their own people.
I have no problem with being “other” but I should get to decide, not you, about what type of “other” I am as an Aboriginal man. Like many Indigenous Australians, I refuse to be cast as a negative and stereotypical “other”, but rather as a strong, smart “other”. Notwithstanding, I have no problem with the sense of being the “same” as mainstream Australians. Ultimately this sameness is what connects us. This sameness is our humanity. Our cultural heritage is a layer upon this humanity.
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And here lies the key!
If mainstream Australia can acknowledge and embrace the humanity of Indigenous Australians, and understand and appreciate that cultural layer, then we could no longer be silent about the dreadful statistics that are a stain on our society. It also offers a fundamental key to seriously addressing the challenges we face together.
If policies acknowledge and embrace our humanity and culture, then programs can be designed to do the same. If programs are designed in a way that acknowledge and embrace our humanity and culture, then the people involved in those programs necessarily must do the same. With this kind of policy, programs, people alignment, sustainable transformation can be achieved.
So what does this actually mean in a practical sense?
Dealing directly with the anti-social and delinquent behaviour of Indigenous children is complex, especially when crimes are perpetrated. Some years ago when I was the principal at Cherbourg State School in rural Queensland, I recall being furious when the school tuckshop had been broken into three times within four nights. At wits’ end, I met with the local magistrate and argued with considerable intensity that there had to be consequences.
“Chris, I can’t just throw these kids in jail for this,” she said.
Once I had put aside my hurt ego, and let go of my “There must be consequences!” mantra, I realised that of course she was right. It was probably true they were breaking in because they were starving. It is also possible they were breaking in because they were off their heads from sniffing petrol.
“So what would you do if it was your house they were breaking into?” I asked her.
We then got into a more purposeful conversation about the deeper complexities of the situation, understanding that yes, there must be consequences, but also understanding that a hardline and politically attractive response would be expensive, ineffective, and more likely turn potentially good kids into adult criminals.
For the young boys involved, intervention could either get them back on track to a good future, or fast track them down the punitive prison pipeline. In the end it got down to getting the balance right between humanity, justice and good sense. It would never be helpful to violate the humanity of the boys in question. As hurt or as angry as we were, it was worth remembering that if we undermined their humanity, we undermined our own.
I had a respectful and positive relationship with the mother of one of the boys. We agreed that a good consequence for him might be to own responsibility for his behaviour, front up to school assembly and apologise to the children for breaking into their tuckshop. Some people suggested this approach would cause great harm to the boy, but in reality he fronted up to school assembly and apologised. He never caused trouble at the school again. Incidentally, some 14 years later that same lad now works on the Sunshine Coast with young Aboriginal children, helping them to understand and embrace the importance of their cultural identity in order to be smart citizens in a modern world.
aboriginal kids in school
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‘As a society, Australia does better at keeping a young Aboriginal person in prison than in school or university.’ Photograph: AAP
This approach sounds easy enough and it was a strategy that cost nothing to execute. The truth is, however, we could never have executed this strategy without a strong and positive relationship in which we were connected by our humanity and our passion to have a school that built strong and smart children.
Building those relationships presents the toughest challenge for all of us because it means we have to confront our own long-held beliefs and prejudices about each other. For anyone, this is hard.
As taxpayers, it is worth questioning why governments think they can fix complex and wicked problems with simplistic “big stick”, hardline approaches. The zero tolerance approach might be politically rewarding to many politicians, but if we take the time to analyse this in an intelligent way, we realise that on most empirical measures it is proven to be expensive and ineffective. While some argue that zero tolerance is driven by high expectations, it is an approach that can never deliver the substance of a high expectations relationship – that is, a relationship in which we demonstrate the compassion to be fair, while also having the courage to be firm.
An overabundance of “compassion” on its own has not served us well as Aboriginal people and it often sees us rendered victims for whom people feel sorry. On the other hand, the compassionless “firm” or so-called “tough love” approach on its own clearly does not work either.
The central ingredient to a high expectations relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australia is one’s ability to acknowledge and embrace the humanity of others. It provides the fundamental basis upon which we are challenged at a policy level, at a programs level, and at a people level. Current policies on Indigenous affairs often do not acknowledge and honour the humanity of Aboriginal Australians. Basics cards and threats to sanction wages and welfare payments might spew the rhetoric of “empowerment”, but in reality they do not signal a belief in the humanity and capacity of Aboriginal people.
Substantial cuts to grassroots Indigenous programs also leave room to question the extent to which the humanity and capacity of Aboriginal people is acknowledged. There is room to question those people who will readily see tens of millions of dollars spent on punitive measures that entrench a sense of despair and stigmatise Aboriginal Australians, while at the same time erupting at the thought of tens of thousands being spent on programs that are designed to nurture honourable partnerships.
Punitive approaches to such problems are expensive and ineffective. Restorative justice programs are a proven method of addressing crime and anti-social behaviour in communities, which by design enable the humanity of both victims and perpetrators to be acknowledged. They may involve diverting offenders away from court, conferencing for both young and adult offenders, circle sentencing or victim–offender mediation programs.
To those raving to see us “get tough on crime”, and lacking ability to acknowledge the humanity of others, or comprehend the complexities at play here, let me urge you to calm down and analyse this through an economic lens.
In Australia it costs an average of around $120,000 to keep someone in prison for one year, and twice as much to keep a young person in juvenile detention. There are therefore huge economic benefits, as well as social benefits, in redirecting government spending away from prisons and towards community-based initiatives aimed at addressing the underlying causes of crime that are just a fraction of the cost of prisons.
Ultimately, prisons are ineffective, harmful and an extremely expensive way to combat crime. Research strongly indicates that early intervention programs targeting at-risk children, education attainment, providing stable housing and employment opportunities, and court sentencing programs that address the underlying causes of crime are the most effective – and economically efficient – ways to prevent crime and reduce re-offending.
The end of 2014 brought us many dramatic challenges, causing us to reflect more deeply on who we are as a nation, and the extent to which we are connected by our humanity. As we venture into 2015, let’s not wait for the next crisis to reflect on such things. Let’s let the goodness of our humanity manifest in a way that sees us more deeply connected day to day, and together committed to changing what needs to change, letting us be the nation we want to believe we are.
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http://www.news.com.au/video/id-ZxMjZtcjqNRsFQHI8FjCFAk7MWTg54MQ/Prime-Minister-Abbott-visits-Iraq
Australia’s elite troops are sick of the gym and movies while waiting for a green light to help mentor Iraqi forces
- 4 days ago January 10, 2015
Prime Minister Abbott visits Iraq
ABOUT 200 Australian special-forces troops have spent months in the Middle East working out in the gym, watching movies and honing their skills on the firing range as they wait for the green light to mentor Iraqi forces.
News Corp Australia can also reveal that the initial deployment had been boosted in secret by other troops from “various units in Sydney”.
A Defence spokesman told News Corp Australia that the 200 had been supplemented by a “small number of soldiers from various units in Sydney” who deployed under Operation OKRA in the past month.
When asked for details and the purpose of the additional deployments defence said it “will not provide specific details of the movements of personnel deploying to Operation OKRA at this time.”
It also refused to confirm that secret planning had begun for more troops to be deployed to Iraq from conventional army units in Townsville and elsewhere.
“Australia looks forward to continuing to talk to Iraq, the US and our partners in the Gulf about what we can usefully do as a nation and as a coalition partner to make the world a safer place and to make Australia a safer country,” the spokesman said.
AUSTRALIAN SPECIAL FORCES: How they entered Iraq
AUSTRALIAN MAJOR-GENERAL: Islamic State will get smacked
Ready to go … a Special Forces soldier, from the Special Operations Task Group, shoots at a target during a rapid shooting practice in the Middle East. Picture: Sergeant Hamish Paterson, 1st Joint Public Affairs Unit Source: Supplied
Mostly from the Sydney based 2 Commando Regiment, many of the elite troops have been away from home since September-October last year, but had conducted little or no training.
According to well-placed sources this is not the mission that the highly skilled soldiers expected when they left home up to four months ago.
“The original idea was to go out and mentor Iraqi troops at the Brigade level and to be attached to the units,” a source said.
“Unfortunately most of the troops are sitting in the base doing very little and they are quite bored.”
The soldiers spent more than a month at Al-Minhad air base near Dubai and were only deployed to the ‘secure zone’ at Baghdad International Airport on November 20.
Proud to serve … Chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin, AC, with Commander of the Australian Forces in the Middle East Major General Craig Orme speak to a member of the Special Operations Task Group during a visit to the Middle East. Picture: Defence Source: Supplied
Their mission has started inside the Baghdad Diplomatic Security Centre with 40 Iraqi ‘students’ who are bussed in.
“The Special Operations Task Group is conducting the “advise and assist” mission from the Baghdad Diplomatic Security Centre, which is within the broader precinct of the Baghdad International Airport,” the Defence spokesman said.
One American source said that the Australians had rarely been seen “outside the wire”.
However the Defence spokesman confirmed that some troops had visited Iraqi forward operating bases with Commandos from the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service.
On target … a Special Operations Task Group soldier practices shooting drills on a live fire range at Australia’s main logistical base in the Middle East. Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied
“As required to advise and assist down to the battalion headquarters level,” the source said.
It refused to say how many had been outside the wire or for how long, but News Corp understands that most are permanently inside the ‘secure zone’.
In addition to tax free salaries the 200 elite diggers are paid a tax free allowance of $150-a-day, or about $15,000 each so far for their time in the Middle East. That is a total cost to taxpayers of some $3 million.
Another 400 RAAF personnel based near Dubai are also paid tax free salaries and a daily tax free deployment allowance of $80.51.
Fighter jet crews who fly over Iraq automatically qualify for the higher rate of $150-a-day taking the cost of RAAF allowances to more than $3 million after 90 days.
On the job … unlike their army comrades these Royal Australian Air Force pilots are busy and happy. Picture: Defence Source: Supplied
Defence told News Corp Australia that the original 200 had been supplemented by a “small number of soldiers from various units in Sydney” who deployed under Operation OKRA in the past month.
When asked for details and the purpose of the additional deployments defence said it “will not provide specific details of the movements of personnel deploying to Operation OKRA at this time.”
It also refused to confirm that secret planning had begun for more troops to be deployed to Iraq from conventional army units in Townsville and elsewhere.
“Australia looks forward to continuing to talk to Iraq, the US and our partners in the Gulf about what we can usefully do as a nation and as a coalition partner to make the world a safer place and to make Australia a safer country,” the Defence spokesman said.
Latika Bourke
Tony Abbott won the Liberal leadership on his own good instincts, it’s time to remind himself of that.
By the end of his first year in government Tony Abbott had conceded the need for a political reset. The new year, he declared, would be about “jobs and families”. We were told he planned to travel less and get back to domestic issues. Major end of year personnel changes were not just confined to the government’s public face – the ministry. Another significant adjustment occurred behind the scenes.
After months of conservative columnists calling for a shake-up in media strategy, the Prime Minister replaced his communications chief of one year and announced a successor – the ABC’s political correspondent Mark Simkin.
They need a better communications strategy latched on to a better governing strategy, says Lachlan Harris
Affable, respected and clear-eyed, the well-liked press gallery veteran has the badly needed skills required to mend some of the PMO’s broken relationships with parts of the media. But his task is herculean and will only be surmountable if the Prime Minister is capable of fundamentally recasting himself by rediscovering the political instincts that served him well in opposition but ditching the tactical approach that is crippling him in government.
The test for Abbott is if he can show he is capable of drawing a line under the last year and learning the lessons of what one Liberal describes as the “horror stretch” of 2014. Simkin is yet to begin but the immediate signs don’t look promising. Tony Abbott has begun the New Year much like he ended the last. More overseas travel and sending new confusing signals about what he stands for – crucially – throwing open the prospect of a Great Big New Tax.
His newly minted Assistant Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is talking of imposing the GST on goods bought from overseas which are currently exempt if they are worth below $1000. This is in spite of Tony Abbott’s promise that there would be no changes to the GST. A trio of backbenchers, led by the Victorian country Liberal Dan Tehan who was overlooked for promotion in the recent reshuffle, has begun lobbying for a debate about extending the GST to fresh food. This has now been backed by at least one minister. Their political courage is admirable.
“Did he let them off the hook or are they just off the hook,” asks one Liberal. Abbott is giving the impression that he is (belatedly) happy for his backbench to publicly debate politically sensitive topics. But he only needs to dust off his own scare campaign to recognise how politically vulnerable he is, not least because it violates all his pledges with the electorate that is against new taxes.
His opening salvos in 2015 have prompted fresh dismay and fear that the year might not yield the PM’s promised and badly needed reset. “I think our media strategy needs a bit of rethinking when we decide to start the new year by mooting tax rises for Aussie families,” says Cory Bernardi, a Liberal instrumental in promoting Abbott to the leadership. Few want the Prime Minister to succeed as much as the conservative South Australian Senator.
Scare campaign aside, the greater cost of opening debate on new taxes is that once again, the Prime Minister is baffling voters about what he is and what he will do. He pledges no surprises then wastes political capital astonishing the public by restoring Knighthoods and Dameships. He promises no new taxes but unveils a deficit levy and agrees to float the prospect of a 10 per cent slug on fresh food, health and education. On one hand, he is the leader happy to rid families of the cost of living pressures associated with the carbon and mining taxes. But on the other he is the big-spending Liberal PM who will cheerfully levy big businesses to pay for an expensive paid parental leave scheme that few want.
As one MP puts it, it’s very hard to explain to pensioners that they should cop the budget’s “tough choices” with paid parental leave lurking in the background. Of all the demographics, older voters accept and understand the need to pay down the debt and deficit, says one MP, but their response is always ‘well why are you having the PPL?’ ‘That’s what cuts across fundamentally,’ says the MP.
Tony Abbott told his partyroom in 2011 that faced with “policy purity and pragmatic political pragmatism, I’ll take pragmatism every time”. The Prime Minister doesn’t need “policy purity” but could trade a little of the “political pragmatism” for some consistency on defining values. The vast majority of voters don’t follow policy debates closely. Instead they navigate their leaders by their values.
John Howard was successful because he gave voters a compass, a framework, which they could use to navigate him. Says one Liberal, even a reasonably disengaged voter knew that on any given day, John Howard stood for reducing income taxes, controlled migration and aiding families through huge middle-class welfare handouts.
In contrast, Tony Abbott has spent his time in office constantly confusing and perplexing voters. By the end of 2014, he was left with no shortage of friends giving him no end of free advice. He might legitimately complain that when Julia Gillard was in similar trouble the left rallied behind her while the right has appeared to pile in. But unlike Gillard, Abbott is seen so far, as a great disappointment to his base.
But Abbott can turn a new leaf in the New Year. First, says one insider who has known Abbott for more than a decade, he needs to remind himself of who he is. With his regimented blue ties, new side part and strained way of talking, Prime Minister Abbott is straight-jacketed and unrecognisable to those who’ve know him in his previous iterations as the former health minister, Member for Warringah, surfer, volunteer firie and so on.
Abbott won the Liberal leadership on his own good instincts and without his formidable chief of staff, Peta Credlin, who in 2009 was working for Malcolm Turnbull at the time. He could do with reminding himself of that, says one of his friends.
But the instincts that served him victory in opposition also need recalibrating. Lachlan Harris, former Communications director to Kevin Rudd recognises all too well the familiar problems that are disabling the Coalition after its first year. Opposition is tactical. The strategy, if continued into government eventually becomes counter productive. “They need a better communications strategy latched on to a better governing strategy,” says Harris. Another Liberal insider agrees. Good governance in the Howard years was never about waking up to win the media cycle – “You need to get your policy ducks in a row first”.
But Harris says the problem is larger than the media or governing strategy. Abbott simply needs some big ideas. Fortunately, a raft of white papers, a new budget, inter-generational report and new climate targets will give the Prime Minister ample opportunity to re-cast himself with voters. But it will be need to brought together with a focus on the outcomes of reform and not the mechanics, as is currently taking place with the GST. What are the long-term benefits being proposed and why should the pain be felt now? The Prime Minister has made the right noises that he is willing to reset. Now he must show he is capable
| Sat Jan. 10, 2015 1:28 PM EST
A couple of days ago, I had in mind a follow-up post about the point that defense of free speech doesn’t necessarily demand “solidarity” with the speech itself. This is obvious. If an extremist gay rights lunatic murdered a dozen members of the Westboro Baptist Church, would we all start showily plastering “God Hates Fags” on our websites? The question answers itself. There might a few photos showing WBC members sporting the phrase because there’s some news value in making it clear what sparked the attacks, but that would be it.
Anyway, I didn’t do it. The only way to make the point was to choose something deliberately and revoltingly offensive, so I backed off. But Glenn Greenwald didn’t:
This week’s defense of free speech rights was so spirited that it gave rise to a brand new principle: to defend free speech, one not only defends the right to disseminate the speech, but embraces the content of the speech itself. Numerous writers thus demanded: to show “solidarity” with the murdered cartoonists, one should not merely condemn the attacks and defend the right of the cartoonists to publish, but should publish and even celebrate those cartoons. “The best response to Charlie Hebdo attack,” announced Slate’s editor Jacob Weisberg, “is to escalate blasphemous satire.”
Some of the cartoons published by Charlie Hebdo were not just offensive but bigoted, such as the one mocking the African sex slaves of Boko Haram as welfare queens….But no matter. Their cartoons were noble and should be celebrated — not just on free speech grounds but for their content. In a column entitled “The Blasphemy We Need,” The New York Times’ Ross Douthat argued that “the right to blaspheme (and otherwise give offense) is essential to the liberal order” and “that kind of blasphemy [that provokes violence] is precisely the kind that needs to be defended, because it’s the kind that clearly serves a free society’s greater good.” New York Magazine’s Jonathan Chait actually proclaimed that “one cannot defend the right [to blaspheme] without defending the practice.”
….It is self-evident that if a writer who specialized in overtly anti-black or anti-Semitic screeds had been murdered for their ideas, there would be no widespread calls to republish their trash in “solidarity” with their free speech rights….When we originally discussed publishing this article to make these points, our intention was to commission two or three cartoonists to create cartoons that mock Judaism and malign sacred figures to Jews the way Charlie Hebdo did to Muslims. But that idea was thwarted by the fact that no mainstream western cartoonist would dare put their name on an anti-Jewish cartoon, even if done for satire purposes, because doing so would instantly and permanently destroy their career, at least. Anti-Islam and anti-Muslim commentary (and cartoons) are a dime a dozen in western media outlets.
I don’t agree with everything Greenwald says in his post. In particular, I think he really does downplay the disparity in both the number and virulence of terrorist attacks by radical Islamic groups compared to other groups. Like it or not, that makes a difference. He also would have been well-served by reprinting more than just anti-Semitic cartoons. Nonetheless, he makes his point vigorously, as usual, including a refresher of the evidence that terrorist violence is hardly limited to radical Islamists.
I am, I confess, conflicted about this. There is value in solidarity in the face of such a hideous attack. Still, although refusing to publish out of fear is plainly wrong—this is hardly a controversial point—letting a terrorist attack provoke an overreaction is a dubious response as well. For this reason, Greenwald’s piece is worth reading in full even if, in the end, you think he’s wrong. Maybe even especially if you think he’s wrong.
The Great Australian Race Riot S1 Ep1 – The Great Australian Race Riot Series 1 Ep 1
The Great Australian Race Riot S1 Ep1 – The Great Australian Race Riot Series 1 Ep 1 | Programs.
SS Minister Scott Morrison
The voyage was meant to retrace the steps of Douglas Mawson, the great polar explorer and scientist who led the Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1911. What happened instead captured the world’s attention, something none of the scientists, journalists and paying public aboard could have foreseen.
The Akademik Shokalskiy got stuck in ice on Christmas Day 2013 only two weeks after leaving New Zealand. A rescue mission swung into operation. Chinese, French and Australian icebreakers hurried to the scene only to be defeated by the ice floes themselves.
News editors around the world must have thanked their chosen gods. Into the seasonal dead zone, a real story had dropped. Stranded far from home, those aboard the Shokalskiy faced danger amidst the spectacular ice.
That New Year’s Eve an interview with expedition leader Chris Turney was beamed live to Times Square in New York. Two days later, the rescue effort entered a new phase. With no icebreaker able to smash way through, a Chinese helicopter, Xue Ying, or “Snow Eagle”, rose into the air for the first of five flights to ferry passengers from the stricken ship to the Aurora Australis. A core crew remained behind to sail vessel home once conditions allowed.
Media interest in the expedition faded after the rescue, but in the year since Turney and his team have been busy. Scientific samples and measurements from the voyage are being turned into research papers that reveal striking changes at the southern ice cap. And rather than feeling discouraged about expeditions that are funded by paying passengers, Turney is more enthusiastic than ever.
“Once we got back home and made sure everyone was all right, we got on with working up the data and getting a whole load of papers ready for submission,” Turney said. Like the rescue mission, this involved plenty of waiting. “It took nearly six months to get all the samples through quarantine.”
Simple observations told unhappy stories. Trawls of water reeled in hauls of plastic rubbish, now seemingly ubiquitous in the world’s oceans. On land, counts of Adélie penguins revealed the population had slumped near Mawson’s huts in Commonwealth Bay in East Antarctica. The birds are now commuting 40 miles to get food for their young. “Another 10 years there probably won’t be many left,” said Turney. The numbers of skuas seemed to have fallen too.
Commonwealth Bay has experienced substantial changes in recent years. In summertime fierce katabatic winds blow off the continent and chill the surrounding surface water to freezing point. The freshly created ice blows out to sea, as if on a production line. But the freezing process leaves behind cold, dense water that sinks to the sea floor, forming part of an oceanic current that drives circulation on a global scale.
The ocean circulation at Commonwealth Bay was disrupted in 2010 after an enormous iceberg, B09B, arrived. The 30 mile-long slab of ice smashed into the nearby Mertz glacier tongue and grounded itself at the entrance to the bay. That blocked the exit for fresh sea ice. As the ice built up, the ocean conveyor system partially closed down.
Such changes were bound to impact on life beneath the ice. Scientists inspected ecosystems on the sea floor. “You see this remarkable transition with the expansion of sea ice. A lot of kelp and other life on the seabed is dead or dying. We’re seeing instead much of the deeper flora and fauna, as they come up from the deeper seabed because there’s an ecological niche to be filled,” said Turney. The shift in the ecosystem is expected to have impacts all the way up the foodchain.
What has happened in Commonwealth Bay may be echoed around the continent in the future. In Antarctica sea ice is extending, for reasons that are unclear, but possibly through the actions of stronger winds churning out more and more sea ice. “What B09B has done is effectively fast track an area of East Antarctica and given us an insight into what the rest of the place might be experiencing if the trend continues,” Turney said.
More data is being crunched by the Shokalskiy team. Some draws on measurements from rocks that will reveal how and when ice expanded from the polar ice cap along a 3,500km stretch of coastline.
When the Shokalskiy got stuck last Christmas, Turney and the rest aboard the vessel failed to grasp how much attention the expedition was receiving. “At one level I still can’t fathom it. We were living in our own bubble. We were on a ship that had serious problems,” said Turney.
As the story went global, the venture came in for plenty of criticism. Climate sceptics suggested the incident disproved global warming, even though the ship’s encasement was caused by the wind blowing ice around, making this a weather problem rather than a climate impact.
More justified were complaints that the expedition had disrupted the scientific work of other teams, principally those affected by the diversion of the several nations’ icebreakers who arrived to help the Shokalskiy. “From an Australian perspective, many projects were cancelled or abbreviated because of re-direction of shipping, a problem when shipping is such a limiting factor,” said Pat Quilty, former chief scientist at the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition, and a researcher at the University of Tasmania.
Turney acknowledges that the rescue operation had an impact on others’ scientific work, but adds that Antarctica is a risky place for any expedition. “There was disruption and we were incredibly grateful to everyone for their help. Fortunately though, from what we learned later, it seems that a lot of work was not harmed,” Turney said.
Like Mawson’s expedition in 1911, Turney’s was only possible because the public helped pay. Half of the standard passengers aboard the Shokalskiy paid A$18,000 (£9,700) to go along as scientific assistants. On the voyage Turney published progress reports on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter. He wanted to reach as many people as possible.
Rather than feeling chastened by the trip, he is more convinced than ever that the paying, participating public are crucial. “There’s a natural interest in discovery, in exploring. You can take some people with you on the expedition, and with modern technology you can take the rest of the world,” he said.
OhTony. Why do you insist on putting your foot so regularly in your mouth? Perhaps if you wore a high heel it would prevent you from jamming it in there every five minutes. Plus I’m sure many Australian women would like to see you in a pair of stilettos while ironing and sorting the household bills. Apparently, though, that’s our job. #notfittogovern #LNPSociopaths
“Women are particularly focused on the household budget,” said Abbott when claiming his biggest achievement for women was repealing carbon tax. Apparently it will reduce the cost of electricity used when ironing. I’m sure women across Australia want to give him a pat on the back for that, hot iron in hand.
To be fair, Julia Gillard did try to warn us. She endured his eye rolling and sexist jibes during their campaign battle, leading her to slam Abbott as representing “the definition of misogyny in modern Australia”. The fact that he told us to vote for him because he had two “not bad looking daughters” should have raised a red flag too. But, alas, he won the 2013 election (perhaps we women were too busy ironing to vote?) and now we are subjected to sexist slip-up after slip-up.
I’m sure Aussie women have your sympathy, though. After all, British women have to put up with David “calm down dear” Cameron. At least the UKIP days of jokes about “crumpet”, “sluts” and “women don’t clean behind the fridge enough” are over after Godfrey Bloom stepped down from the party. Although, just like the fridge, I am sure we are yet to see the back of it.
I appreciate that women are not the only victims of Abbott’s foot-in-mouth disease. He caused controversy with his “shit happens” remark when he was told that the death of Lance Corporal Jared MacKinney’s death in Afghanistan was not down to any single factor, and he even roped Jesus in to back up his immigration stance, stating that, “Jesus knew that there was a place for everything, and it’s not necessarily everyone’s place to come to Australia”.
Alas, I don’t think Abbott will be removing his foot from his mouth any time soon. I guess I’ve just got to hope he uses his free foot to give himself a kick up the arse.
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/
- December 20, 2014
- Written by: John Kelly
- It is just a few days before Christmas and probably not the best time to be warning people of impending doom, but then, when is a good time? The world is in a precarious position right now, brought into sharp focus with the sudden and dramatic fall in the price of oil.
At its current price of $60 US per barrel, down from $115 US in June, oil could be the tipping point for a worldwide stock market crash in 2015, one that would be more severe and more devastating than the 2008 GFC. The current price might be great for consumers but definitely not for exporters like Russia.
There are a number of critical factors apart from oil that could bring such a calamity upon us and they are now very much in place and aligned. We are not yet in a housing bubble but for the last two years prices have been increasing at excessive rates and fueled by very low interest rates.
Currently, the average mortgage for a home loan in Australia is $443,000 but mortgages of over $500K are now considered normal. Credit card debt is higher than at any previous time. Just in Australia, credit card debt is currently in excess of $50 billion including $35 billion of accrued interest. Insolvencies, bankruptcies and debt agreements are all higher than ever.
While reading this you might be tempted to think, ‘so what, I’m alright’, to which I would reply: read on.
The U.S. Stock market has reached 17000 points and is now 137% higher than its post GFC lows. It is seriously overvalued. Major investment companies in the USA have used QE (Quantitative Easing) credit from the banks to speculate in the stock market, thus pushing up the index.Many major US corporations including Apple and IBM, are mis-using QE money that should be going to value-adding projects that accelerate growth. Instead, they are taking advantage of near zero interest rates and diverting this money to buy back their own stock artificially pushing up its value and with it, senior executive’s bonuses and stock options.
This is where active and agile investing becomes very lucrative for the few and quite risky for the rest. This is how the rich can move in and self-propel the market, effectively stalling growth projects that create real employment. Upward stock movements then attract further speculation by superannuation funds where much of the average employee’s money is stored. Can anyone see the parallels with the sub-prime housing bubble of the early 2000s?
To add fuel to the fire, the Russian Rouble has collapsed as a result of the drop in the price of oil forcing interest rates to jump from 10% to 17% overnight to attract investment. This is what can happen when a country is primarily dependent on one source of external revenue. In the meantime, western governments are continuing to apply crippling sanctions in response to Russian interference in Ukraine.
The Russian economic crisis can play out in one or two ways. As conditions become tighter and tighter the Russian people may turn on their presently popular leader, Vladimir Putin, or Putin might get in first and create an armed conflict to galvanise the country. Either way, the Russian economy will continue to deteriorate for some time yet. Unavoidably, its effects will gradually spread to the Eurozone,Meanwhile, the European Central Bank (ECB) is applying pressure on delinquent states (Greece et al), to deal with what they perceive as unacceptable levels of debt. At the same time it is pumping billions of Euros into the banking system to encourage growth. This is creating fiscal imbalances within the Eurozone that can only lead to further inequality; for both member states and individuals.
Japan has driven itself into recession through the mismanagement of its ongoing stimulus program. It recently increased sales tax at the same time as a stimulus measure and almost immediately the economy halted. They have since showed negative growth two quarters in a row.
China’s private sector is now in recession and the government has warned it will not save them in the event of their failure. They will, however, prop up government owned businesses in the event of full blown recession. Their short term interest rates are now at 25% and the country is facing a severe credit crisis. Their stated growth rate (around 7%) is probably not true.
All these factors are aligning to a point where a worldwide recession is imminent. When people fear that something bad is about to happen, they stop buying non-essentials and begin stocking up on essential items. This is already happening now in Russia, Europe and the US.Sooner or later, major manufacturing companies across the globe will experience serious falls in demand, they will begin laying off workers, stock prices will start to fall, panic will set in on Wall Street and the whole house of cards will begin to collapse.
Banks will call in loans, companies will go to the wall, and unemployment will soar. The real estate market will collapse, foreclosures will be widespread and poverty will be redefined to include what was once the middle class.
When this happens we can be sure of one thing. Banks, too big to fail, will again be protected. The excessively wealthy will come out of it relatively unscathed and the resultant greater inequality that follows will cause civil unrest the likes of which most people today have never seen.
Whether 2015 is the year these economic imbalances will converge with political uncertainty to create a perfect storm is a matter of conjecture. But be assured the clouds are gathering. No one knows when the conflicting forces will create a chain reaction. But wiser economic minds are sure they will.
The stage is set for a worldwide shattering doomsday crash. It could happen next week, next month or any time in 2015. All it needs is a trigger to set it off. That could be anything from an armed conflict, the collapse of a major corporation or an unexpected natural disaster.And here in Australia, our government won’t have any idea how to deal with it.
It’s something to think about over Christmas dinner.
As Lenore Taylor reported on Friday, every morning the major parties send out the “messages” of the day. These aren’t really super-secret documents since ministers and MPs dutifully recite them into any available open microphone.
At the media briefing after the Coalition’s party meeting the assembled journalists were told, “The prime minister said 2014 had been a very good year for the government and he’s confident next year would be at least as good if not better.”
And last night on Lateline we saw Steve Ciobo dutifully relaying the “message”.
The Abbott government’s plan is THE ONLY PLAN to improve economic growth and repair the budget – regardless of what question is asked, this is to be the reply. They are to repeat over and over again, what a good year it has been.
Look how Scott has stopped the boats. (But don’t look at the offshore gulags where children are locked up in appalling conditions.)
Look at how many Free Trade Agreements Andrew has signed. (But don’t ask for the detail about what we sacrificed for those signatures.)
Look at Julie – isn’t she pretty? (But don’t ask us for foreign aid or any contribution to global action on anything that doesn’t involve bombing people.)
Look at Matthias – there’s a man who knows how to repeat the lines (But any deficit blowout is most definitely not his fault – it’s Layboor’s debt and deficit disaster and when you get sick of that it’s Joe’s fault for not selling the message).
Ciobo slipped right into the script we knew was coming. He said that the Coalition has already cut Labor’s debt by $300 billion.
That would be a spectacular feat if true since gross debt when they left office was about $280 billion.
PEFO showed that gross debt was expected to climb to $370bn by the end of 2016/17. In Hockey’s MYEFO that figure had grown to $430 billion and then to $450 billion in the budget, and by all accounts it is still growing as we shall see in Hockey’s next MYEFO in a couple of weeks.
So where is Ciobo getting his figures from? This little piece of number gymnastics from Hockey’s budget.
“The published 2013‑14 MYEFO face value of CGS on issue figure of $667 billion in 2023‑24 did not include a cap on tax receipts. The projection for MYEFO in Chart 1 includes a 23.9 per cent of GDP cap on tax receipts, increasing the face value of CGS on issue projected to $748 billion in 2023‑24.
In comparison, at 2014‑15 Budget CGS on issue is projected to be $389 billion in 2023‑24, an improvement of $359 billion. By 2024‑25, the projected end‑of‑year face value of CGS on issue is expected to reach $362 billion.”
When Emma Alberice pointed out that using MYEFO as a basis of comparison was ignoring the Charter of Budget Honesty, and that it contained Hockey’s spending and revenue cutting measures like gifting the RBA almost $9 billion and foregoing the revenue from the carbon and mining taxes and wasting billions on Direct Action, Ciobo just spoke over the top of her saying Labor had left the RBA in a vulnerable position. Tony Burke then tried to point out that the Coalition had taken $1.24 billion in dividends from the RBA this year, something they roundly criticised Wayne Swan for doing, he also was interrupted and spoken over.
The first instalment, over $600 million, has already been paid back to the government in August.
As reported in Crikey:
“When Wayne Swan took a dividend of just $500 million from the RBA in 2012-13, he was accused of “raiding” the bank, by Hockey among others. It was subsequently revealed that Treasury, after consultations with the RBA, didn’t believe there was any imperative to increase the Reserve Bank’s capital buffers. But if $500 million is a raid, over $1.2 billion looks more like open plunder. How dearly Swan would have liked being able to get another $700 million that year. So as some of us predicted back in 2013 Hockey, having blown out the 2013-14 deficit with his $9 billion gift to the RBA and blamed it on Labor, has got his first repayment to bolster the 2014-15 budget bottom line.
Curiously there is no mention of the dividend in RBA governor Glenn Stevens’ foreword to the report, despite discussing how the $8.8 billion had replenished the bank’s capital reserves; you have to go down to page 77 to get an explanation of the dividend. It’s particularly curious given that the dividend — whether one is to be paid or not, and how large it will be — is regularly mentioned in the forewords of previous annual reports. The omission doesn’t help the impression that the whole business of the $8.8 billion has undermined the perception of RBA independence.”
This politicising of independent bodies like the RBA, Infrastructure Australia, NBNco, the CSIRO, the AFP and the ABC, is a very worrying trend designed to keep even more information from the public.
So my “message for the day” is stop the crap Joe and co. If MSM journalists are incapable of exposing the bullshit then step aside – you have made yourselves redundant.
The Abbott Gov’t and Aspen Medical (Part 2): Aspen, Sandline and the CIA.
Abbott gives $20 mill to a mate’s company Aspen Medical to recruit professionals by a lamp post drive. That is our Ebola response initiative. The company director is up on fraud charges and the story gets worse it has links to CIA activities.
America land of the free has the highest incarceration rate in the world. A country where prisons mean profit and stealing bread can get you a 24 year sentence. Empty cells are an anathema to the corporation and rehabilitation unwarranted.
Donald Kaufman: Louisiana’s Incarceration Is a Private Business – Truthdig.
Israel: Jewish state vs democracy? |
Rights groups condemn a draft law defining Israel “as the national homeland of the Jewish people”.A proposed law that defines Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish people is stirring fierce debate in the country and among politicians. Rights groups have condemned the draft legislation as “racist” and say it discriminates against Israel’s minorities, which make up 20 per cent of the population. The Cabinet vote, which comes at a time of heightened tensions with Palestinians, was passed by a majority of 14 votes to 6. The wording of the bill has yet to be finalised, and requires approval by the Knesset. It is intended to become part of Israel’s basic laws, and would recognise Israel’s Jewish character, institutionalise Jewish law as an inspiration for legislation, and drop Arabic as a second official language. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the bill is necessary because people were challenging the notion of Israel as a Jewish homeland. Addressing the cabinet, Netanyahu said: “The state of Israel is the nation state of the Jewish People. It has equal individual rights for every citizen and we insist on this. “But only the Jewish People have national rights: A flag, anthem, the right of every Jew to immigrate to the country, and other national symbols. These are granted only to our people, in its one and only state.” So are the edges being blurred in Israel between politics and religion, the state and democracy? And how much is religion and nationalism playing into the broader issues in the Middle East? |
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THE CABIN ANTHRAX, MURPHY, N.C. (CT&P) – The Fannin County Coroner’s office declared seven shoppers dead at the scene earlier today at McCaysville Drug and Gun in downtown McCaysville, Georgia after a tragic Black Friday stampede shortly after the doors opened at 6 A.M. Two dozen other would-be shoppers were taken to Ducktown Regional Medical Center to be treated for a number of broken bones and internal injuries.
A crowd of over two hundred hunters, drug addicts, and meth lab proprietors had been milling about the entrance to the store for over 24 hours in anticipation of the beginning of the annual “Sudafed and Ammo Spectacular Sale.” The sale has been a big hit in the tri-county area for many years.
“It was horrifying,” said assistant manager R.W. Scrotum. “There were dozens of hillbillies dressed in all sorts of camouflage clothing and about fifty toothless sleep-deprived maniacs clawing at each other to get inside first. When the doors opened it was like a dam had burst. The poor bastards at the front of the line didn’t stand a chance.”
The store owner, Mr. Billy Bob McSneed, told Eyewitness News Chattanooga that he had hired three sheriff’s deputies to try to control the crowd after what happened last year, when three shoppers were killed and several children went missing and remain unaccounted for.
“I really thought we had a grip on things this time around,” said McSneed, “but I guess there is just no controlling a crowd of murderous gun-totin’ rednecks and a bunch of drug-crazed hillbillies. Next year I’m hoping that we can borrow Cherokee County’s tank that they got from the Pentagon. That should slow these guys down a little bit.”
The McCaysville city council has tried to ban the Black Friday sale several times over the years but Mayor Thomas Seabolt has blocked every attempt saying “hell, it’s the only viable business we have in this God-forsaken town. Do you want to ruin our tax base? If those cretins want to kill each other getting in every year, then so be it.”
By Dave Harrison
When Osama bin Laden was killed in cold blood in Pakistan and many demanded to see his death-photos for verification, President Obama refused and said, “That’s not who we are,” which begs the question: Who are the Americans?
Are Americans the ones who annexed the Philippines, denied them their own republic and then engaged in a war (1899-1902) with those who opposed them at the cost of 1.4 million Filipino lives? Are they the ones who burned villages, murdered their entire populations, and rounded up all boys over ten and young men and had them executed? Is that who they are?
Are Americans the ones who supported, supplied with arms and intelligence-gathering and bolstered many, brutal South and Central American dictatorships like Batista and Pinochet whose death-squads callously murdered tens of thousands of people in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s simply because they believed in social justice by way of a social-minded government?
Are Americans the ones who experimented with atomic weapons on Hiroshima which killed over 80,000 people – including innocent men, women, and children – who were not actively involved in the war and then repeated its massacre on Nagasaki? Hiroshima had no military value and American bomber pilots were warned not to drop conventional bombs on it lest they ruin their precious experiment. Is that who they are?
Are Americans the ones who succeeded the French in Vietnam, picked up an already lost war and made it their own all based on a faulty thesis known as the “Domino Effect” which later proved to be nonsense? And while they pursued this baseless theory, put an entire country to the torch at the cost of another 2,000,000 Vietnamese lives and 58,000 of their own, the American military-industrial complex thrived. Is that who they are?
Are Americans the ones who burned villages, shot the villagers’ animals, destroyed their crops and in one instance evacuated an entire village of 504 defenseless old men, women, children and even babes in arms in Mi Lai in 1969 and then shot them down like dogs in a ditch with their M-16 rifless? Is that who they are?
Are Americans the ones who provided the experimental drug LSD to a Montreal asylum to test out on Canadian patients including one MP’s wife in the 1960s without their knowledge or consent? Are they the ones who sprayed a Canadian city (Winnipeg) to make long-term chemical tests on Canadian civilians rather than risk their own? Is that who they are?
Are Americans the ones who entered Korea on a “police action” and then engaged in the “Forgotten War” at the cost of 2,000,000 civilian Korean lives? How can Koreans forget? Is that who they are?
Are Americans the ones who followed George Bush and his senseless side-kick, Dick Cheney, to invade Iraq based on outright lies and half-baked intelligence, which almost everyone else knew was completely untrue? Are they the ones who headed the “Coalition of the Willing” to wilfully destroy a complete country and its infrastructure, kill 50,000 of its soldiers defending their own country, kill another 100,000 civilians, displace over a half million Iraqi citizens and then occupy it and rebuild it under the direction of Halliburton Company which was once headed by Dick Cheney himself? Is that who they are?
Are Americans the ones who set off their first, atomic test in the Nevada desert on July 16th, 1945 with American and Canadian soldiers present within 1000 yards of the blast without any radiation protection whatsoever, marched them to Ground Zero through the atomic dust afterward, and then casually swept them off with corn brooms to show that it was harmless? When they later died off like flies from cancer, victims were told, “Prove it.” Is that who they are?
Are Americans the ones who deviously tested Agent Orange in New Brunswick, Canada along transmission lines before they used it inVietnam at the cost of many Canadian lives and the tortured lives of thousands of Vietnamese? Is that who they are?
Are Americans the ones who incarcerated hundreds of individuals at Guantanamo Bay and left them without any legal rights, tortured them in various ways – like water boarding and sleep deprivation – and then threw away the keys? Is this who they are?
Are Americans the ones who send in drones to kill one individual whom they suspect of being a terrorist – without arrest and a fair trial but only their suspicions – and without any consideration for the rights of hundreds of innocent victims? And, when they anonymously kill dozens of innocent victims – women and children included – they simply issue an apology for the mistake and do it again later. Is that who they are?
Are Americans the ones who place on their coins, “In God we trust“? We are left to ponder: Which God is that? (It’s certainly not the one I know.) Is that who they are, or is that how history will remember America?
In decades to come, America will be judged harshly.
Dave Harrison
What is fundamentally at stake in Australia right now is life – all of it!
From Australia’s last great wilderness in the Kimberley (Western Australia), to the Pilliga woodland of New South Wales, and the towering rainforests of Tasmania and Victoria, we are all connected to this country in one-way or another.
Yet, our governments and their industrial sidekick corporations continue to put at risk the community’s land, food, air, water, wildlife and significant cultural and heritage values in order extract fossil fuels from the ground for emerging super power countries and sustain, in the short-term, Australia’s “economic viability”.
To deny life support to your own people in need is clearly an act of violence. All political power rests on this violent foundation – from the first dominion of kings and emperors to the elaborate systems of state land management today.
In effect, it’s an invisible violence of security – a hostility that many Australians are facing, imprisoned by an all-powerful, imperial-like external force. Some may like to term this type of violence a form of “terrorism” but therein lies “terrorism’s” ambiguity.
Stand-by Australia to be bombarded with fossil fuel campaigns over the next 18 months, telling you how safe and clean these resources are to human life.
The ‘clean’ fossil fuels campaign will undoubtedly be another sorcery of social relations, that which big industry, governments and their corporate media partners will spin (spending millions of dollars in the process to back the fraudulent financial Ferris wheel), until the public are convinced of its moral and economic rationality – thus creating another modern-day myth for society to accept.
The truthful facts of how the industrial state complex is crippling Australia (economically and sustainably) must be exposed to the wider public.
The Australian nation must bond together and work up a mass system of deterrence against this “polluted democracy” to not only save themselves and their families but the environment that sustains us all.
Environmental destruction endorsed by governments and carried out by big business and fossil fuel banking cartels is a challenge to Australian society, and it must be responded to as such. If we don’t do something right now, we will all be tied to a human catastrophe that can never be reversed.
It’s the people alone who can lead us to a cleaner, better future. People such as Albert Wiggan, Anne Kennedy, Bob Davey, Hedley Hoskinson and Madeleine Deveson are standing their ground to protect nature and attempting to reach out to the rest of Australia to wake us up from of the propagated fossil fuel slumber.
These ordinary Australians are speaking out in a new short film produced by Balangara Films and The Wilderness Society Inc to help inspire all of us to act from the heart consciousness.
Watch the short film (an absolutely stunning and inspiring video):
Increasingly this government is seeking to subvert due process and impose their agenda in totalitarian fashion.
Regardless of whether you think the increase in fuel excise is an appropriate measure, the move to introduce it through regulation rather than legislation is specifically designed to bypass parliament. The regulations will need to be backed up with proper legislation by the Senate within 12 months or the money raised will have to be refunded.
As reported in the SMH
“The government believes the ploy will put Labor and Greens senators in a bind at that time forcing them to choose between keeping the escalating revenue stream, or voting it down forcing the government to pay potentially hundreds of millions of dollars collected from motorists back to oil companies.
While the incremental inflation adjustments will raise an expected $167 million from motorists by November next year, little-appreciated new compliance costs for service stations are calculated at $5.06 million according to Treasury estimates.”
So much for cutting red tape to help small businesses. They also ignore the flowon costs to households as businesses pass on increased delivery expenses, and the cumulative effect of twice yearly increases.
And it seems they may be trying to introduce the GP co-payment in the same way.
Initially, on Tuesday Peter Dutton said
“There is no capacity to introduce a $7 co-payment through regulation, the advice from our legal people within the department as well as with attorneys is the $7 co-payment needs substantive legislation to support the co-payment.”
But yesterday he changed that message, refusing to rule out the introduction of the $7 levy by regulation to bypass the need for legislation.
“I am not going to rule things in or out. I am saying that there are options that are available to the Government,” Mr Dutton said.
Finding ways around our parliament and our laws is becoming a habit.
After the High Court ruled in June that the federal government could not directly fund religious chaplains in public schools, Christopher Pyne chose to give the money to the states with the direction that it could not be used for secular welfare workers.
So much for their claim that education decisions should not be dictated by Canberra.
In February, a Senate inquiry paved the way for the Parliament to give Environment Minister Greg Hunt legal immunity against future legal challenges to his decisions on mining projects. It will protect him from being challenged over deliberate or negligent decisions that do not comply with the law.
The Coalition government has now licensed Greg Hunt to avoid compliance with the EPBC Act. The amendment retrospectively validates ministerial decisions – even if they did not comply with the EPBC Act when they were made.
We are also losing our right to appeal development decisions.
The Abbott government’s move to establish a single approval process by passing environmental approval responsibilities onto the states and territories creates a conflict of interest as they raise revenue from land sales and mining royalties.
In early 2014 the Queensland government proposed to confine the objections and notifications process for a mining lease to people owning land within the proposed lease.
The Coordinator-General is fast becoming an almost supremely powerful czar for large projects in Queensland, subject only to the political whims of the state government. He can also prevent any objections to the environmental authority for a coordinated project from being heard by the Land Court. When combined with the severe restrictions on objections to mining leases, very few people can now challenge matters such as impacts on groundwater of large mines that are declared a coordinated project.
Under the federal Coalition’s one-stop shop the Coordinator-General is also proposed to have power to approve projects impacting on matters protected under federal environmental laws.
And that’s not the only avenue for appeal that is being shut down.
Australians could be left with no appeal rights against government secrecy by the end of this year.
The May budget cut $10.2 million funding for the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) which handles Freedom of Information appeals. The government wants appeals to be handled by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal instead. This move is being blocked in the Senate so we will be left with effectively no avenue for appeal.
But perhaps the most blatant disregard for the law is being shown by Scott Morrison who, in a Napoleonic gesture, has conferred on himself the power to revoke a person’s citizenship. The new laws provide the Minister with the power to set aside decisions of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) concerning character and identity if it would be in the public interest to do so and confer on the Minister the power to make legislative instruments.
Morrison has condemned innocent people to indefinite incarceration and washed his hands of any responsibility for their welfare. He has ignored warnings that his actions are in breach of human rights and is actively outsourcing our responsibilities under the Refugee Convention at enormous cost to this country. He is now even blocking refugee applications from people coming through official UNHCR channels.
Journalists have been denied access to detention camps. Even the head of the Human Rights Commission, Gillian Triggs, was denied access to child asylum seekers on Nauru on the grounds that the commission’s jurisdiction did not extend beyond Australia’s borders. The cost of a single-entry media visa to Nauru rose from $200 to $8,000.
And if any of us report on the machinations of this government, our fate is in the hands of Attorney-General George Brandis who has the individual power to determine if we should face a possible ten year jail sentence.
So much for free speech, transparency and accountability.
“Trust me,” they say. Not friggin’ likely.
St Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch To Be Promoted
ST LOUIS, MISSOURI (CT&P) – Frank Ancona, president of the Missouri chapter of the Traditionalist Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, based in Park Hills, Missouri, has announced that St Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch will be promoted to the level of “Grand Imperial Anus” of the KKK at a gala pageant over the Christmas holidays.
Ancona, who made headlines recently by threatening “lethal force” against Ferguson protestors, told Chris Hayes of MSNBC that the group was “proud beyond words” of McCulloch’s handling of the grand jury in the Darren Wilson case.
Wilson, who gunned down unarmed black teenager Michael Brown on a street corner in Ferguson earlier this year, was not charged with a damn thing for his reckless actions.
“We need more guys like Bob in local and state government,” said Ancona. “He really knows how to treat these mongrels that pollute our country with their thuggish music and filthy black skin. I’m proud to call him a member of our group and I think that he will handle the added responsibility of being a giant anus like real pro.”
Ancona also mentioned that Darren Wilson, a longtime member of the organization, will be receiving the James Earl Ray Award for Proficiency in the Use of Firearms, even though it took around a dozen rounds to “bring down that giant nigger.”
Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson and the entire overwhelmingly white police force are also slated to be honored at the banquet.
“We wanted to honor Chief Jackson and his boys for the brutal way in which they dealt with the protests after the ‘turkey shoot,’” said Ancona.
“This whole episode shows what a town and county can accomplish when a white police chief, a white police force, a white prosecutor, and a white governor can get together to protect a white police officer when he murders an unarmed black teenager in broad daylight. It really reinforces the great pride I have in this wonderful country in which we live.”
British SAS quad bike squads kill up to 8 jihadis each day… as allies prepare to wipe IS off the map: Daring raids by UK Special Forces leave 200 enemy dead in just four weeks
- Targets are identified by drones operated by SAS soldiers
- Who are then dropped into IS territory by helicopter to stage attacks
- The surprise ambushes are said to be ‘putting the fear of God into IS’
- The raids are attacking IS’s main supply routes across western Iraq
By Ben Tanosborn
Bishop gives the Chinese broadcasting to the Pacific Island Nations a freebie. Ports, Air bases come with sphere of influence and friendship don’t they?
Rupert Murdoch could soon face his own trial over the British phone hacking scandal, as the British courts complete all the cases before them concerning allegations of illegality by some of his senior staff and journalists.
The other trials have already seen members of his staff sentenced to terms of imprisonment for carrying out activites that have breached British law. One case alone has involved about 1,600 people who have been shown to be victims of Murdoch newspapers.
The next step for the Scotland Yard team heading the many months of investigation into the activities of News Corporation in England will be to conduct an interview or a series of interviews with Murdoch himself.
While his senior editor and chief excecutive in London, Rebekah Brooks, was found not guilty of the charges against her, many of the staff she employed have been punished.
As the head of the giant international companies, News Corporation and 21st Century Fox in America, the Murdoch trial may turn out to be the most sensational.
Early last year Scotland Yard’s Operation Weeting team sought to interview Murdoch, but his lawyers argued that he should himself be interviewed until the completion of the other hacking trials.
The interview will be carried out “under caution”, which means a warning to Murdoch that he has an option of not having to answer questions that might incriminate himself. As with other alleged criminals, he will have his lawyer with him to ensure that his legal rights are protected.
The Guardian newspaper in England has reported that 11 other trials are already under way, involving about 20 Murdoch journalists accused of phone hacking or perverting the course of justice.
Police have aleady interviewed under caution more than 200 people connected with the Murdoch papers, as well as 101 journalists from other newspapers on similar charges.
Civil charges already settled against Murdoch have resulted in damages payments to 718 victims of illegal phone hacking.
James Murdoch, the younger of Mudoch’s two sons, may also be interviewed by the police under the same arrangements.
If both Rupert and James, both directors of their British companies, were able to show evidence that they were not guilty of any breaches of the crriminal law, they could still be charged charged under Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act for prosecution for a breach or several breaches of laws coverning neglect, connivance or having given consent to breaches of their legal duties under laws covering company managements.
The headaches for Rupert Murdoch are not going to go away after his attempts to cover up the shareholder rebellion against the way he manages his companies, always following his own wishes, without seeking shareholder approval.
One of his main UK shareholders has tried unsuccessfully for three years to remove Rupert’s younger son, James Murdoch, from the board of Sky TV in England. Now the powerful Local Authority Pension Fund is trying to have him removed on the grounds of “conflict of interest”, because of his clumsy attempts to avoid blame for the hacking scandal that has cost the Murdoch companies millions of pounds in criminal trials and settlements. Nevertheless, James was re-elected comfortably at the British Sky AGM last week.
James had been standing for re-election to British Sky, but his father has decided to make him chairman of the two European TV companies he has merged — Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia. James, perhaps strategically, stepped aside a chairman of Sky Deutschland last week ahead of the UK vote.
Rupert owns 39 per cent of British Sky and has his own team of directors of on that board.
He faces the possibility of being forced to relinquish his holding on British Sky, depending on the outcome of the current trials. This places a shadow over the next British election.
If Labor should return to government, his divestiture of British Sky is inevitable, however he and James would still control the two European TV stations which would probably still be connected to British Sky.
Rupert is used to dealing with all manner of business complexity and skulduggery, however it clearly remains a serious challenge to his plans for further world domination.
Julie Bishop out of pure retribution cut the ABC’s DFAT contract. 40 years of Broadcasting to the Pacific Island Nations has been handed to the Chinese. So much for us being the pivot of the Pacific pillock is closer to the mark.
TOKYO (CT&P) – The Associated Press is reporting that approximately one hour after the announcement that Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson would not be indicted for the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown, a furious Godzilla waded ashore from Tokyo Bay and began to destroy the city.
Witnesses reported that Godzilla used his patented heat ray along with his massive feet to create a swathe of destruction five miles wide and around fifteen miles long in and around the city.
Japanese authorities used every weapon at their disposal including white cops in riot gear in an attempt to stop the gargantuan reptile but nothing seemed to have any effect on the creature. U.S. troops stationed in and around the home island joined in the battle but Godzilla seemed unaffected by even the most modern weapons.
“Most of Tokyo now lies in ruins,” said a tearful Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. “Godzilla showed no mercy this time. He just walked out of the sea and tore our city all to hell! He even destroyed Ray’s Sushi and Comfort Woman Bar in Shinjuk. Now I have no idea where I’ll go to relieve the stress that builds up from this fucking job. First Fukushima and now this. Can’t those idiot Americans get their act together? I mean Jesus!”
After a full night of unbridled destruction, Godzilla returned to Tokyo bay where he held a brief press conference before returning to the depths.
“The situation in Ferguson reflects the entrenched white male power structure in the United States,” said Godzilla. “It appears that Missouri has made no progress since the days of Jim Crow. I fully expect this kind of thing from that dystopian hellscape they call Florida, but Missouri? I thought those folks were better than that. I guess it’s open season on unarmed black kids in America.”
When asked why he destroyed a Japanese city instead of heading up the Mississippi River to St. Louis, Godzilla replied that it was just force of habit.
This is the 47th time Godzilla has destroyed the Japanese capital.
If you want to put up alternative theories you have to find some kind of credible evidence to support them … if you can’t do that you tend to resort to name-calling, calling global warming things like a religion or a cult or some kind of conspiracy.
Australia’s “Chief Scientist,” Ian Chubb. (Via The Guardian)
He has a point, doesn’t he? (Chubb was responding to Tony Abbott business adviser Maurice Newman advising Australia and the world on Friday of the “perils” of “ignoring nature’s warnings” or global cooling for which we are “ill prepared.”)
Yet it’s what’s repeatedly missed on Climate Change refutation. (Though maybe something else besides true scientific analysis is driving climate change refutation):
Calling AGW a cult or religion isn’t a reason why a radical increase to long term greenhouse gases – to levels not seen on earth in millions of years – would not lead to a similar major shift in climate. Particularly given that climate is ultimately a longer term response to energy changes: And a major increase in atmospheric thermal absorption and re radiation, constitutes a major change in long term energy.
olddogthoughts 
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