Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

It seems incongruous that constant warnings about the terrorist threat should lead to APEC staging itself in the very place most likely to be a magnet for such acts. However, APEC has good reason for not meeting on some tropical island. Far from seeking to avoid the week long APEC chaos diary, the event seems to have a fetish with securing these set pieces. As I shall argue here, APEC serves the cause of military urbanism.

Hello, and welcome to Spring! I'm finishing off my project this weekend before getting back to Webdiary, but just couldn't resist posting this transcript - an interview between Charles Wooley and the PM on the pulp mill. How tricky is this for our tricky PM?

Just seen the Network Ten news here in Queensland. I believe that Peter Beattie is single handedly destroying Labor's chances of winning office at the federal election.

The tin roof is rusty and festooned with debris. The colonnades are cracked, and the rendering fallen in places to reveal the low fired red brick beneath. But it is still as elegant a building as you can find. One of Vientiane’s hidden gems. And due for demolition.

"Old forests usually have deeper more complex root systems. They capture rain and transport it deep into the soil and store it, they are not putting on a huge amount of bulk, they have done most of their growing, so they store more water than they use. The soil in such a forest is less compacted there is an increase in humic acid and as a result the soil holds more water. In dryer times when there is less rain, the old tree root systems are able to move the water up through the soil. But what is truly remarkable is that this water actually makes its way into creeks and streams and flows on down the rivers. So one of the main functions of an old forest is that it maintains water supply in dry times. It amazes me that the Government agencies still haven’t worked out that there is a connection between the groundwater and the surface water." Susie Russell

At last! I've just noticed that an alternative plan to Howard's plan to solve child abuse in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities has been proposed.  It's by the Combined Aboriginal Organisations of the NT. Now we've got 2 plans to compare. What do you think?

Hello.  I've been off line for five days traveling with a friend from the South visiting her friends and mine and chilling out. Thank you, thank you to Fiona, Richard and David for keeping comments ticking along. I hope everyone is content at how Webdiary is traveling but if not, let me know in the comments box.

Sifting through the speech by the PM and the subsequent commentary during the day and a bit since the announcement I kept coming back to the uneasy conclusion that, in true Howard fashion, this is not about really about the children. No doubt many will think me quite an unkind person for saying such a thing but really none of this makes a lot of sense.

Prime Minister why have you judged it necessary to take control of land bestowed under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act? "Because we don't believe we can effectively implement these changes without taking that authority."

No. I will not be voting for the Liberals or Nationals in the next election. I cannot abide cruelty to animals. It would take courage to act against the big interests that run this abominable trade and this Government does not have what it takes. But does Labor? Probably not, so I probably won’t be voting for them either.

Several months ago I wrote about a 17th Century That threatened by the construction of the new Australian Embassy in Vientiane. Here's an update.

The cost of cancelling Iraq's debts to Australia has been paid from Australia's foreign aid budget, a new report has claimed.

The fight to save Lao's environment is being quietly lost and the disappearance of a significant local environmental advocate may have just drawn the line in the forest.

"Upon coming to power in March 1996 the Coalition removed reference to Australia being a “good international citizen” as an objective of Australian foreign policy. Examination of the Coalition’s 11 years in office confirms that omission was deliberate." Robert McClelland MP.

Lao has had a low level insurgency since 1975 when the Pathet Lao took government. But that might be about to wind down.

"What China needs most is a financial sector capable of harnessing the forces of liberalization and globalization to drive economic growth in the decades ahead. The time has come to cast off the burden of building financial centers, and focus instead on advancing the modernization of Chinese finance.": Zhang Jun

"Heavy sighs and teeth sucking have become commonplace in Washington and UN circles as diplomats and hard heads consider what to do about North Korea’s and Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Burma, whose secretive and murderous government recently literally headed for the hills, seems to have escaped the hard laser beam of disapproval, despite its own leading role, and nuclear objectives.": Melody Kemp

"This might be become a reality if ElefantAsia Laos launch a elephant time sharing arrangement. Before you raise your hands in horror and contact your local PETA branch, consider this. Stress and overwork are not just affecting your average downsized worker. Shrinking elephant populations afford little time to rest and recreate, or to be more precise, procreate. Too many elephants are suffering headaches and ‘not tonight-ism’.": Melody Kemp

"Looking back, it is ironic that the Chinese government’s draconian "one-child" policy, imposed in 1979, was implemented at the same time as the "open door" policy, aimed at capturing labor-intensive foreign manufacturing investment. While both policies must be regarded as successes, over the years the family planning program has contributed to an aging population that may diminish China’s attractiveness as a low-cost, labor-intensive manufacturing hub.": Friedrich Wu

Dr Hayes spent the second 'coup week' of December 11 - 15, 2006, continuing to produce special daily editions of his Pacific News Wrap - 'Mo oe mai i le Pasifika (For you, from the Pacific)'

Dr Hayes spent the 'coup week' of December 4 - 8, 2006, producing special daily editions of his Pacific News Wrap - 'Mo oe mai i le Pasifika (For you, from the Pacific)' - for the subscriber-only alert and digest service, The Daily Briefing. Webdiary publishes those daily Fiji Coup/Crisis Special Editions with kind permission from Dr Hayes and The Daily Briefing, as a unique account of the first week of the year's major story from the Pacific.

"The Bainimarama Screw is relentlessly tightening on the Fijian government of 'Smiling' Laisenia Qarase. And if you listen carefully, you'll hear a very clever lawyer whispering in Commodore Frank's ear, guiding his calculated steps through the constitutional minefield his strategy, and now overtly displayed tactics, have mapped out.": Mark Hayes

"On Thursday afternoon pro-democracy activists rallied, and then mostly disaffected, and then often drunk, youths, all but trashed or burned much of the CBD of Nuku'alofa. Such an eruption should not have been entirely suprising given the steadily escalating pressure for serious and prompt governance and constitutional reform that's been building in the Kingdom for several years, coupled with austerity measures imposed on the country by the new government, often under pressure from agencies like the World Bank. The scale and ferocity of the riot, and the deaths of eight people, apparently looters, caught up in it, was the really shocking part.": Dr Mark Hayes

"China’s remarkable growth has been financed recently by a rapid expansion of money and bank credit that is producing an increasingly unsustainable investment boom. This renews concerns that the country may not be able to avert a replay of the painful boom–and-bust cycle such as the one it endured in the mid-1990’s. ": Marvin Goodfriend and Eswar Prasad

"Taiwan’s Public Prosecutor has indicted the wife of President Chen Shui-bien for embezzling public funds. Chen, as a sitting president, cannot be indicated even though the prosecutor says that he has evidence to prove his guilt. But Chen’s legacy was already in tatters.": Sin-ming Shaw

Specialist in Pacific media and journalism and their contexts, Dr Mark Hayes, is a very close Region and Fiji watcher, as well as often a traveller Out There. Back in January, 2006, Mark peered into his tanoa (kava bowl) to help predicted the outcome of the 2006 Fiji election. Dr Hayes does a weekly Pacific News Wrap - 'Mo oe mai i le Pasifika (For you, from the Pacific)' - on Mondays for the subscriber-only alert and digest service, The Daily Briefing. Here's the Fiji section of the Wrap from Monday, November 6, 2006, slightly edited and updated to early Tuesday, November 7, and compiled while fighting off a raging attack of deja vu.

"It's probably older than European settlement in Australia, but a new Australian settlement next door threatens to destroy it. One of Vientiane's oldest relics, an ancient That (stupa) which reputedly contains the remains of a wayward prince, is being threatened by earthworks on the site for the new Australian embassy in Lao.": Melody Kemp

"Hu, Wen, and the rest of the top leadership have turned themselves into superb firefighters with an uncanny ability to, in Party parlance, 'nip the seeds of opposition before they sprout.' Apart from sharpening the 'tools of the proletarian dictatorship' by strengthening the Peoples Liberation Army and the People’s Armed Police, they have created a labyrinthine 'advance warning' system to monitor threats ranging from peasant riots, urban unrest, and bird flu to the influx of Western ideas through the Internet." Willy Wo-lap Lam

"Fortunately, there are signs that both China and Japan are seeking to back away from the impasse of recent years. While Abe has maintained his position on Yasukuni, his summit with Chinese President Hu Jintao was a promising step forward. Some Chinese analysts, for their part, recognize the danger in stimulating too much nationalism toward Japan. The US should quietly try to nudge these steps forward. The US-Japan alliance remains crucial to stability in East Asia, but it takes three sides to make a triangle. " Joseph S Nye

"Japan’s new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has wasted little time in making his mark, particularly in foreign policy. His official visits to China and South Korea – two key countries with which relations suffered under the administration of Junichiro Koizumi – came within a week of his taking office and at a moment of crisis, with North Korea setting off an underground nuclear blast. That Prime Minister Abe and Chinese President Hu Jintao agreed that a North Korean nuclear test "cannot be tolerated" suggests that this new activism may help to stabilize Asian security.": Hideaki Kaneda