Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

The Law Council of Australia today issued its considered position on the new terror laws in the light of their effect in practice. Here is its press release. Webdiary has campaigned for many years on the necessity of stopping the government, any government, from having the sole right to breach our democratic rights. The citizens in a democracy are supposed to live under the Rule of Law, not of men, and that offers the fundamental protection of citizens against arbitrary action by a government is the only real protection any of us have against governments taking away our freedoms to suit their political agenda.

Hello. Just seen the news tonight and am absolutely dumbfounded that Howard and his defence minister have admitted that we're in Iraq because of its oil. He strongly denied it before the war. Most Australians now know that he was lying about his reasons for ordering our troops to invade Iraq. But who'd have thought they'd admit to the lie!

"A lot of people ask me why I seem to be so committed to Israel - I mean, I’m a Christian, not Jewish and although I remember staying here in this hotel about three years ago ... and I think I could almost be described as an honorary Jew with a lot of the views that I hold about the issues that Jewish people confront.  But a lot of people do ask me why I am so committed to Israel.  And I think there are a variety of explanations for that.  One of them is a bit historic and I think some of you have heard me say this before.  When I was a child at school and subsequently when I went to university in England, for no particular reason, Jewish people seemed to befriend me as some other people did as well [laughter], but I seemed to have quite a lot of Jewish friends." Alexander Downer

Two years after South Australia and Victoria "competed" to win the job of constructing Australia's (and perhaps other country's) contribution to the Bush Administration's Missile Shield, we finally know what we're going to be building. Surprisingly, its a Spanish ship instead of an American one.  Victoria has also had a win, with the same company helping out Tenix in building two amphibious ships.

"An instant poll for Israel's Channel 10 sought to discover how many people would vote for Olmert if elections were held today. The answer was 0%, surely a political first in any country at any time."

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute and FirstWatch International have undertaken a project to produce profiles of countries that have the potential to be a "Nuclear Strategic Concern." Last Wednesday they listed Australia.

How do you feel about the idea that the new work at Spaceport Woomera isn't really about the conquest of space, but actually the control of other nations? What if South Australia is set to become a base from which the US could deploy troops to anywhere in the world?

I have been mulling over a question or two. 'What if ...' questions. They are future focused, solution focused questions that ask what if we could do something. What if we could work through a problem together?

Our trial is set down to commence on 29 May 2007. I'll be acknowledging all relevant facts, and availing myself of the defence of necessity under Section 10.3 of the Commonwealth Criminal Code.

The scenario has become painfully familiar. A war ends. An international donors’ conference is called. Pledges of billions of dollars are announced. But actual reconstruction and recovery is delayed, perhaps for years. Crony businesses from the US and Europe, which are utterly unfamiliar with local conditions, squander time, aid funds, and opportunities. Recriminations fly, the occupying army remains, and a new insurgency spreads.

Shining brilliantly in Rolls-Royce's online media room is the two-week-old press kit for a great story that didn't even make it to Google News, let alone into Australian print. It's how Cheney's Men and Rolls Royce have signed a A$50 million deal with the Australian Navy to service and maintain the amphibious ships HMAS Success, Tobruk, Manoora and Kanimbla (links courtesy of RR)

"When the Soviet Union collapsed, many predicted the end of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Yet a few weeks ago, NATO held its summit meeting in the Latvian capital of Riga, formerly part of the USSR.": Joseph S Nye

"We cannot afford to fail in Afghanistan. Recent history has given us graphic evidence of what would happen if we do. But any solution in Afghanistan depends on eliminating its opium.": Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime

"With Congress lost to the Democrats and exit polls showing six in ten voters opposed to the Iraq war, Bush finally fired Donald Rumsfeld, his disastrous secretary of defense. But while Americans gave the Bush low marks on the war in Iraq, polls show that they still support him on the struggle against terrorism. Unfortunately, America is not winning the "war on terrorism." An official National Intelligence Estimate confirmed that more jihadist terrorists are being recruited than the US is killing.": Joseph S Nye

"9/11 is not only a moment in history – it is also a moment in television history. This leads us to our opening questions. Do we respond to the images themselves, or to what the images depict? And further, what part do these images play in cultural memory?": Stephen Smith

"John, on this anniversary I’m here to remind you that this re-writing of post-9/11 history is pure bullshit. A simple examination of the arguments had in those days reminds us all that we did not have to and indeed should not have invaded Iraq if we really wanted to win the global fight against terrorism; that many of us argued as much with every ounce of passion and clarity we could muster, at the time; that events have, largely, proved our arguments prescient and yours utterly, disastrously wrong." Jack Robertson

"We're engaged in a global struggle -- and the entire civilized world has a stake in its outcome. America is a nation of law. And as I work with Congress to strengthen and clarify our laws here at home, I will continue to work with members of the international community who have been our partners in this struggle. I've spoken with leaders of foreign governments, and worked with them to address their concerns about Guantanamo and our detention policies. I'll continue to work with the international community to construct a common foundation to defend our nations and protect our freedoms." George Bush, President of the United States

"Was it really a war that started on September 11, 2001? Not all are happy about this American notion. During the heyday of Irish terrorism in the UK, successive British governments went out of their way not to concede to the IRA the notion that a war was being waged. “War” would have meant acceptance of the terrorists as legitimate enemies, in a sense as equals in a bloody contest for which there are accepted rules of engagement." Ralf Dahrendorf

"US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld once said that the measure of success in this war is whether the number of terrorists we are killing and deterring is larger than the number that the terrorists are recruiting. By this standard, we are doing badly. In November 2003, the official number of terrorist insurgents in Iraq was given as 5,000. This year, it was reported to be 20,000. As Brigadier General Robert Caslen, the Pentagon’s deputy director for the war on terrorism, put it, “We are not killing them faster than they are being created.”" Joseph S Nye

"The chickenshit Baby Boomers are scared-waredy of... dying. They're getting older, and they've killed God, and as a generation they've lived greedy, nasty, rich, braying, self-applauding, vacuous, self-serving lives, and they've f***ed up the planet and their kids' futures and their parents' post-WW2 legacy along the way to fund it all, in the greedy short term, and now, Left and Right and all in between, the poor greedy dears are shit-scared-terrified of what God and History and the drowning, choking planet's Third Worlders are f***en going to say to and about them, as they die, and after their deaths." Jack Robertson

"Last week we had the latest terror scare/media frenzy with the uncovering of the 'plot' in Britain to blow up multiple airliners over the United States. The lurid story told how, using a technique attempted in the 1990s but not previously on the radar in the post 9/11 media stories, well organised suicide bombers would breach airport security and simultaneously carry out their dreadful mission.": Tony Phillips

"In light of this State’s proud victory in the battle to secure the Air Warfare Destroyer I thought it timely to provide you with a defence industry perspective of South Australia. As part of this discussion, I would like to give you a very brief overview of Raytheon Australia and our position in the defence market in order for you to be able to put my remarks in context." - Mr Ron Fisher, Managing Director Raytheon Australia, to The Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce.

"Tonight seems to be the eve of the hoped for ceasefire in the conflict in southern Lebanon and northern Israel.  If all falls into place tomorrow there is a real opportunity to make a play for a greater peace, if only the pause in hostilities can be translated into something longer lasting and further reaching.  Will all those involved in the immediate conflict, and more importantly the war by proxy behind it, just give peace a chance? Or is hope in what is possible only false promise and more probably the parties will be taking us to the brink again before the year is out?" Craig Rowley

"Some days ago I received a photo of a young Israeli loading a DU shell into a tank, somewhere near the Lebanese border. To be exact it was a M829A3 120 mm APFSDS-T (High Explosive Anti Tank Multipurpose Shell with Tracer). While it looked as if it had been modified in Israel, it is one listed by ATK, with 10kg of DU as the warhead. ATK used to be known as Honeywell. The shells are fired from tanks, for instance the American supplied Abrams M1, usually against other armour plated vehicles. But interestingly neither Hamas nor Hezbollah have tanks ... the shells are being used to blast buildings like those in Qana - of which Beiruti artist and musician Mazen Kerbaj sighed: 'Qana was where Jesus turned water into wine. Now they are turning children into ash.'": Melody Kemp

"Students across the nation – Jewish, Muslim, Catholic and Baha’i – have announced a united national prayer chain for peace in response to the growing and increasingly serious nature of the middle-east conflicts. The student groups call on all Australians to pray together in unity for peace in the Middle East, particularly in Lebanon and Israel, that we may encounter one another in harmony, having deep concern for the victims of violence, and for all those who suffer. We hope that all may be inspired by the wisdom of peace, the strength of justice and the joy of fellowship." Media Release from The Australasian Union of Jewish Students, The Muslim Students Association of Australia, The Australian Catholic Students Association and the National Baha’i Youth Committee.

"The wars in Lebanon and Gaza constitute a grave threat to democratic reform in the southern Mediterranean. These wars are inflicting heavy punishment on precisely those peoples who have held fully free and fair elections in the region, while eroding the legitimacy of Israel’s democracy.": Álvaro de Vasconcelos

A Statement on the Middle East by Canberra’s Church leaders

"The fires of the Middle East must not be allowed to distract the world’s attention from the threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, which it demonstrated by its recent test of a long-range missile. Yet that is what appears to be happening." Joseph S Nye

"The problem lies not in seeing the solution, but in getting to it, because powerful and often violent minorities on both sides oppose it."

"There’s a lot of bombing the bejeezus out of all sorts of people around these days and Webdiarists seem to be much keen on discussing it.": Malcolm B Duncan