The Daily Briefing 7/10/05

Wayne is still in some transition explaining this new development to his traditional subscribers, so today we still have only an excerpt, but a much better one. Thanks Wayne!

FRIDAY 7TH OCTOBER 2005

2 Terrorism, the left and an open society
Because terrorism is a threat, it doesn't mean draconian laws are the only justified response. Because Saddam was a monster, it doesn't automatically follow that the invasion of Iraq was justified. But they are the kinds of black and white, all or nothing alternatives most politicians and commentators offer (especially among the generally lame bunch of opinion writers on offer in Australia). Which is what makes Sasha Abramsky's article (link below) a rare bird indeed. Abramsky is, we are told, a senior fellow for democracy at Demos and a writer for Mother Jones, Atlantic Monthly, The American Prospect, the Nation and other journals. Abramsky takes issue with the approach of figures like Tariq Ali, Robert Fisk, George Galloway, Naomi Klein, and John Pilger (but does not support the neo-conservative approach) and argues that the left has yet to come up with a response to terrorism that protects both progressive values and life and property. (And given the number of links in this piece, it is one you could dine out on all day.) "In terms of laws to tackle terrorism, instead of activists denouncing any and all special legal powers granted courts and governments in this fight, how about acknowledging that organised terrorism does pose certain tricky legal questions and, from there, attempt to craft responses that, unlike those proposed by the right, don't result in the creation of legal black holes for terrorism suspects? How about, for example, recognising that in wartime there might be legitimate grounds for pre-emptively detaining a person for a prescribed and limited period of time on a suspicion of plotting a major attack, while still denouncing the notion that such a person doesn't have the right to an attorney or to a speedy trial?"

The Independent has just published another extract from Robert Fisk's book, "The Great War for Civilisation" (with links beside this article to other extracts).

Christopher Hitchens gets a couple of mentions from Abramsky, who rightly points out his failure to respond adequately to the failure of the US on the ground in Iraq (frankly, until he does, Hitchens does not deserve his self-proclaimed status as a "contrarian" - he has become a knee-jerk neo-con). Here is his response to the Bali bombings (also run in today's Age) which attacks the left (of course) and implies that the only response to terrorism is to bomb some sense into them.
SASHA ABRAMSKY/OPENDEMOCRACY

3 The women of Afghanistan
The most courageous people alive have to be women standing up to take their rightful place in countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan. Elizabeth Rubin has reported extensively from those countries and in this article, looks at what is now happening in Afghanistan where 68 of the 249 seats in the new parliament are reserved for women. This is a longer magazine article, but worth it. "On the western outskirts of Kabul, in a neighborhood still scarred by the mujahedeen rockets that tore apart Kabul during the civil war 10 years ago, Shukria Barakzai stepped from a silver Mercedes to greet a few dozen women waiting for her in the garden of a neighborhood elder. Though she's one of Kabul's higher-profile women - she started a newspaper called Women's Mirror shortly after the Taliban fell and often appears on political talk shows in bright, translucent headscarves and high-heeled, pointy pink or ivory shoes - on this day she had the air of a schoolgirl breaking taboos. A few days earlier, at the official start of campaign season, she took an unprecedented move for Afghan women and went wading through a crowded bazaar to address men and women, shopkeepers and taxi drivers and the police. She was thrilled by it. She also must have enjoyed the fact that it irritated her husband, and that there was nothing he could do about it."
NYTIMES MAGAZINE

4 Bush, tax cuts and conservatism
This one is a late inclusion, having been obliged to read John Stone's opinion piece in The Australian today (see below, but only read if you must). It also fits in neatly with the split between George Bush and fiscal, small government conservatives, a subject TDB began following before the last US election. Robert Samuelson, a centre-right commentator, looks at Bush's approach to the economy from both that perspective and simply as a question of good governance. An underlying theme of the column is Bush's legacy, and given what is happening to the US budget, in Iraq and on issues like corruption and cronyism, it is hard at this stage to see any section of the political spectrum remembering him well.

To add to the White House's woes, "the special prosecutor in the C.I.A. leak case has summoned Karl Rove, the senior White House adviser, to return next week to testify to a federal grand jury in a step that could mean there will be charges filed in the case, lawyers in the case said today". (NYTimes)

And anger among conservatives at his Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers is also said to be growing. (NYTimes)
ROBERT SAMUELSON/THE WASHINGTON POST

5 Limits placed on military torture
In the face of resistance from the White House and threats of a veto by George Bush, the US Senate has voted to "impose restrictions on the treatment of terrorism suspects, delivering a rare wartime rebuke to President Bush". The move was driven in Congress by Republican Senator John McCain, and supported by a large number of retired senior military figures, including former Secretary of State Colin Powell. Outside the legislature, no-one did more to bring some semblance of sanity and decency to the treatment of prisoners than columnist and blogger Andrew Sullivan (follow the link and scroll down). Sullivan vigorously supported the war and argued that torture and prisoner abuse was undermining it. His blog includes a copy of Powell's letter to McCain and he also names (and shames) the Senators who voted against the measure, adding "Keep this list. And tell your children and grandchildren."
THE WASHINGTON POST

6 UK economy and world house prices
The Times economics editor Anatole Kaletsky sees troubled times ahead for the British economy, a situation made worse he argues, by the failures of Chancellor (and likely Prime Minister) Gordon Brown. "Monetary policy is also in limbo. Lower interest rates are, in principle, the best way to stimulate consumption and accelerate economic growth. And sometime next year the Bank of England probably will cut rates quite sharply, perhaps all the way back to their 2003 low of 3.5 per cent. But the Bank is proving surprisingly slow and reluctant in cutting interest rates and this hesitancy can partly be blamed on Mr Brown's mistakes".

TDB has noticed recently reports that UK house prices have fallen considerably, but couldn't find the link in this morning's rush. Given the degree to which world economic growth has been fuelled by consumer spending driven by the international boon in house prices, two other reports on the subject might be of interest. In Lebanon, the The Daily Star reports that "three years of booming conditions in the region's real estate sector, several markets appear to have entered over valued levels" and house prices are expected to fall. And the NYTimes says that a real estate slowdown that began in a handful of cities this summer has spread to almost every hot housing market in the country, including New York.

The International Herald Tribune reports that European governments were moving late Wednesday to defuse one of the most serious trade fights between the European Union and the United States, examining moves to suspend state funding to the Airbus A350, a planned rival to Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner.
ANATOLE KALETSKY/THE TIMES

7 Climate change kills millions
When TDB started last year, an effort was made to report both sides of the climate change debate. But it didn't take too long to realise that the sceptics were few in number, making tendentious arguments unsupported by science, and were often taking cash for comment from the fossil fuel industry. Since then, the very mention of the words "but more study is needed to know exactly what action to take" is likely to bring on blind fury given the scale of the problem and the direct threat it poses to millions of people, usually the poorest and most vulnerable. Send this article, based on a World Bank report (that'd be that bunch of lefties headed up by Paul Wolfowitz) to the next denier you run across. "Almost a fifth of all ill health in poor countries and millions of deaths can be attributed to environmental factors, including climate change and pollution, according to a report from the World Bank. Unsafe water, poor sanitation and hygiene as well as indoor and outdoor air pollution are all said to be killing people and preventing economic development. In addition, says the bank, increasing soil pollution, pesticides, hazardous waste and chemicals in food are significantly affecting health and economies."
THE GUARDIAN

8 Being happy in Bhutan
Does the US "strike you as a happy country?" the NYTimes asked in an editorial yesterday (the pursuit of happiness gets a mention in the constitution after all.) Well, frankly no. The question was prompted by a report by Andrew Revkin (link below) on Bhutan, where in 1972, "Bhutan's newly crowned leader, King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, decided to make his nation's priority not its G.D.P. but its G.N.H., or gross national happiness". Revkin reports that Bhutan has become a model for "a growing number of economists, social scientists, corporate leaders and bureaucrats" around the world who are interested in the subject. (TDB has folowed this debate with interest since becoming aware of Professor Richard Layard's book on it and you'll find other links in archives.)
ANDREW REVKIN/NYTIMES

9 Wine, petrol and dangerous bicycle seats
In the light of the ethanol debate here, an interesting report (link below) on what is happening in Europe, where petrol is meant to contain 5.75 percent ethanol by 2010. "The worldwide glut of wine has become so huge that for the first time in history, France is distilling some of its higher-rated wines into fuel. It is a painful proposition in a land where winemaking is a labor of love and the fruit of that labor is celebrated as much as any art."

Still on transport, and alternative transport, the NYTimes also reports that men should be careful when choosing a bicycle seat. A raft of new studies "add to earlier evidence that traditional bicycle saddles, the kind with a narrow rear and pointy nose, play a role in s*xual impotence". (That got your attention.)
NYTIMES

10 The news from al Qaeda
"And, from Guantánamo today, still another report that Muslim prisoners there are being subjected to barbaric tortures. The report, due out tomorrow from Martyrs Without Borders, the respected humanitarian agency, says these include being made to listen to 'Purimspiel' klezmer music twenty-four hours a day and being forced to watch the Barbra Streisand movie 'Yentl' while immersed up to the neck in chicken soup. Several prisoners have reportedly beheaded themselves rather than endure more of these unspeakable horrors."

And if you need another laugh, if might come from Joel Achenbach's response (Washington Post) to the NYTimes decision to hide its columnists behind a pay-to-view wall. "Last night a friend handed over two pieces of paper containing words that I quickly recognized to be one of the most precious commodities in the current information marketplace: The Maureen Dowd column. A black market printout. This was like the samizdat of the Soviet dissidents."
CHRISTOPHER BUCKLEY/THE NEW YORKER

11 'Early Music' by Jeffrey Eugenides
For those who have time to spare, a (longish) short story by Jeffrey Eugenides, author of "The Virgin Suicides" and "Middlesex".
THE NEW YORKER

12 IN THE PAPERS: National, Opinion, Business round-up
IN THE BROADSHEETS

What looks like a first-rate piece of journalism leads The Australian this morning as it reveals that John Howard won the support of timber workers for his vote-winning Tasmanian forests policy just three days before last year's election with an agreement to pay $4 million to a union-controlled company. (Drop the mad culture wars agenda fellas, and stick to great reporting.) The paper also reports that five elite police teams began scouring the Indonesian archipelago by helicopter yesterday as the hunt for senior members of the Bali terror network was stepped up after the first suicide bomber was identified; that the NSW Supreme Court has bowed to criticism over its six-week summer shutdown, introducing an "experiment" of opening its courts two weeks earlier than normal (an issue pursued by the paper); a leading IVF specialist who allegedly had an affair with one of his patients shortly before she discovered she was pregnant is facing a $250,000 damages claim from the woman's former husband; that plans to introduce 99-year leases for land on Northern Territory Aboriginal communities to enable people to own their own homes are supported by an all-party committee of the Queensland parliament; and that a Sydney man has won a four-year battle against global entertainment giant Sony after the High Court yesterday found backyard modifications to games consoles that allow pirated or overseas games to be played are legal.

The Age lead says Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone has absolved herself of responsibility after her department's handling of the Vivian Alvarez Solon case was branded "catastrophic" in a damning independent report. Michelle Grattan is seriously unimpressed - "Just when you think Amanda Vanstone can't get more outrageous, she does."

The paper also reports that more than $15 million in public money was pledged to dodgy projects before last year's election under a controversial regional grants scheme, a 10-month probe into the program has concluded; that traces of genetically modified canola have been found in seeds bought by a Wimmera farmer, signifying a possible breach of Victoria's ban on commercial GM crops; and that abusive behaviour and bullying in the military will be stamped on, and out, the chief of the defence forces Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston has vowed.

The Herald reports that motorists using the Cross City Tunnel could be charged different tolls depending on the time of their journey as one of several options being explored to lift sluggish use of the toll road; that from today it will be legal for your bosses to trace your internet use, screen your emails and watch you with a hidden camera - but only after they have warned you what they are up to first; that more than 30,000 families failed to repay overpayments of the Federal Government's child-care benefit last year, a 3000 per cent increase on the number of people who did not make their repayments just three years earlier; and that broadcaster Alan Jones and his station, 2GB, defamed the head of the Australian Olympic Committee, John Coates, seven times in less than three minutes last December, a jury has found.

And did you know that biscuit lovers in India, although not Australia, will soon be munching the world's first Don Bradman Chocolate Chip Cookies; or that it may one day be possible to be part of a personal carbon credit trading scheme; or that for one junkie, being deported to Italy was a blessing (nice little yarn); or that scientists have stumbled on the remains of a four-metre python that exploded when it tried to swallow a two-metre alligator whole in Florida.

OPINION

The Age: Hugh MacKay considers the various ways humans respond to terrorism and warns against trying to distance ourselves from terrorists by promoting the idea that they are fanatical beyond understanding; Tony Parkinson looks at the debate over Turkey becoming a member of the EU; Alexander Downer says that Australia has failed to support governments in the region to fight terrorism and that he is therefore resigning as Foreign Minister (actually I made that last bit up - it seems we are doing a wonderful, wonderful job and Alexander has the facts and figures to prove it); and Christopher Hitchens on the Bali bombings, see above.

The Australian: Frank Devine (in semi-retirement one of our most readable columnists) likes the idea of voluntary voting (as many conservatives do); Dennis Shanahan, a conservative Catholic, talks down more public funding for embryonic stem cells research in the lead up to another Parliamentary debate; Sidney Jones says terrorism is a complex issue that Indonesia is making a good fist of combating; Michael Costello has a three point plan for rejuvenating the ALP (but we wonder if three is enough); John Stone, once a Joh-for-PM team member criticises Peter Costello for daring to attack George Bush's tax cuts for the rich - even though Bush's economic performance is attacked the world over, not least by US conservatives (why does The Australian bother with this clapped out old has-been - are there really no bright young economic minds the paper could foster as a commentator); and Kevin Rudd has some questions, but nothing much else, for John Howard on Iraq (a nothing piece, but The Australian does like this Queensland Labor right types: Rudd, Emerson, Ross Fitzgerald and to a lesser extent Swan - there is a story to all that.)

The SMH: Richard Ackland has a little gem for anyone interested in journalism, the jailing of Judith Miller, shield laws and connoisseurs of fine nicknames (if you don't know who "T*rd Blossom" is, you should read TDB more closely); David Marr says Kevin Andrews is about to let a few businessmen in on some of the details of the proposed industrial relations laws, and that in the interests of considered public debate, it is time everyone knew the details; Tim Grau enters the debate over university funding full of praise for Brendan Nelson's call for private investment; Dennis Overbye explains why a scientific debate may mean that my very easy memory jingle may no longer seem useful naming planets (what is and what is not a planet).

BUSINESS

The Australian and The Age both lead with the obvious story, the stockmarket fall, with the national daily reporting that anxious investors kept their fingers on the sell button yesterday, plunging the market to a second consecutive 2 per cent-plus loss, the worst day for the All Ordinaries since September 12, 2001. Only the SMH looks elsewhere, reporting that BHP Billiton yesterday pulled out of a conditional agreement to buy gas from the long-delayed $4 billion Papua New Guinea gas pipeline.

The Herald also reports that Geoff Kleemann, Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd's chief financial officer, yesterday said he could not recall who attended three crucial One.Tel board meetings in May 2001, just days before the telco collapsed; and that expectations of widespread redundancies at Telstra were bolstered yesterday by a Citigroup report that said 9000 jobs could go as the telecom streamlines its operations around an all-IP (internet protocol) network.

The Australian reports that a trade sale worth up to $500 million to Kerry Packer or Telstra's Sensis division may overtake plans by online accommodation site wotif.com for a public listing early next year; and that Macquarie Bank, has teamed up with the world's biggest share registry group, Melbourne-based Computershare, for a tilt at the London Stock Exchange.

The Age reports that Seven boss David Leckie has taken advantage of the company's soaring share price to lock in a paper profit of about $2.4 million through an exercise of options he received when he joined the then embattled network in 2003; and that restaurants and cafes are being hit hard as consumers tighten their belts because of escalating petrol prices and mounting negative economic sentiment.

Stephen Bartholomeusz looks at Macquarie Bank's bid for the London Stock Exchange and there is nothing unrealistic about it, even if it comes as a shock to the Brits; Elizabeth Knight thinks there is little doubt that, even if the market isn't undergoing a correction this week - or even this month - it will do so some time in the near to medium term; and Bryan Frith continues to show his fascination with Lion Nathan's hostile takeover bid for Coopers Brewery.

STATE ROUND-UP

The Daily Telegraph: The death of a 3-year-old boy - killed by a modified 4WD on an ordinary suburban street - has prompted calls for an immediate ban on the vehicles; Police hunting the Bali bombers are investigating claims the three suicide bombers took three women with them when they visited the crime scenes at lunchtime on the day of the attacks.

The Herald-Sun: A private army of 5000 security guards and a new network of spy cameras will help safeguard athletes and fans during the Commonwealth Games; Everyone who lives or works above the 13th floor in Melbourne should consider buying an escape parachute in case of a terror attack, Victoria's former top cop says.

The Courier-Mail: Police are being given the green light to charge Jayant Patel with killing and maiming Bundaberg Hospital patients; Hotels could be commandeered by the Government and used as quarantine centres under state bird flu contingency plans.

The Advertiser: Premier Mike Rann is coasting toward a landslide victory at the March state election, an Advertiser poll showing the Liberals heading for an electoral wipeout; Prime Minister John Howard today will announce more than $60 million worth of South Australian water conservation projects.

The West Australian: A cancer gene test developed in Perth to help children with leukaemia could boost the chances of survival in patients with breast cancer, melanoma and bowel cancer; The State Government will create a new department with sole responsibility for water resources in a radical shake-up of WA's water management.

The Mercury: More officers and wider powers would be needed to enforce the shutdown of Tasmanian brothels, the police union warned yesterday; An outbreak of potentially deadly salmonella poisoning has led to the closure of two Launceston bakeries.

SPORT

Peter Roebuck thinks Graeme Smith and company must have been disconcerted by the energy shown by the Australians in their first meeting with the Rest of the World (and he's mightily impressed by Shane Watson); Brendan Fevola will remain with Carlton in 2006 following Richmond's decision to give up its pursuit of the spearhead; Roger Federer's spellbinding brand of tennis will again be on show at January's lead-up event to the Australian Open.

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