The Dead Roo

Like other Greens involved in the current election campaign, I’ve had cause for despair at times. When you think it’s tough being Green, spare a thought for those Greens working in some of the worlds harder political situations.
Ladies, Gents and others, let me introduce you to the Green Party of Saudi Arabia.
The organising environment presents […]

I’ve been following developments in the Papua New Guinea legislative elections over the past couple of weeks, and as usual, there’s been some quite interesting results. The election appears to have produced remarkably more stable results than previous parliaments, presumably in large part due to electoral reforms which replaced first-past-the-post with limited preferential voting. This […]

There can be no acceptable defense for deploying weapons that indiscriminately kill civilians.
Military necessity? Rubbish. One hardly needs to gas an entire population to crush an insurgency (despite what the yanks might be feeling right now). People you’re gassing aren’t loyal? No excuse. Following orders? hah.
Although on principle I deplore any death sentence, the likes […]

Since Fiji have sent the New Zealand Ambassador home, could Australia the US Ambassador on the basis of their human rights abuses?
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For all his blathering on about "western values", Howard’s Australia would not pass the "national citizen test" for Europe, the home of "western values".
I was just going through bits of the EU treaties relating to the establishment of a EU constitution, (see a map, and the preamble on values).  My guess is Howard would hate […]

Disturbing news from The Economist "Democracy in America" blog, with the original post, entitled "Known unknowns" here
AS ABC News has reported, George Bush has authorized the use of covert operations to destabilize the regime in Iran. One disturbing part of the article is the apparent American support for Jundullah, a fanatical Sunni militant organisation […]

The sick puppies at The Economist applaud the choice of Zimbabwe as chair of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development with the perverse but brilliant reasons that "making bad countries run good causes is actually a promising notion" (2007-05-19 p13), and citing the taming of Libya from its chairing of the UN Human Rights Commission.
The […]

Kieran’s article on Senate reform raises the more general question of constitutional reform processes, in particular, whether some form of regular constitutional convention is warranted.
The long-term goal of constitutional reform is obviously the dissolution of Australia.
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It’s a weird day when a self-professed lefty supports the USA throwing it’s weight around, NATO activity, and is angry that Australian politicians are not giving the USA enough support, but Putin’s Russia is a huge threat that must be controlled.  If terrorists are to get a dirty bomb or a weaponized haemorrhagic virus, Russia […]

Harvard Business School again comes out with statements lefties can relate to. In another HBS Working Knowledge newsletter, The Business of Global Poverty, Professor Bruce Scott clearly differentiates between capitalism and democracy, in a subsection entitled "Absent a Visible Hand, Capitalism Can Make Matters Worse."
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We have a clear national interest in helping to prevent Afghanistan again becoming a safehaven for terrorists. - JWH
I could almost “buy” the need for Australia to commit more to Afganistan for a number of reasons. But this isn’t it.
One does not have to be a genius to realise that the minescule terrorist threat […]

One could say that the Democrats have looked to to be getting a relatively easy ride for the 2008 presidential election. The three main Republican candidates all have serious problems. Rudy Giuliani is disliked by a substantial part of the religious right, has a number of skeletons in his closet, and may have left his […]

I was watching Insiders on the ABC this morning, as I often do, and one discussion caught my eye in an otherwise dull program largely about David Hicks. For a moment, there seemed to be some agreement on the panel that Hicks, having “confessed” to terrorist acts, would now be seen as indefensible. This would […]

AUSTRALIAN David Hicks entered a guilty plea today before a US military tribunal. Hicks’s military attorney entered the plea on behalf of his client, who stood alongside with a sombre expression. - The Australian
In a dissappointing move, David Hicks has plead guilty before a US military tribunal. Whilst I emathize with his desire to get […]

Economic sanctions on Zimbabwe? Wow, that’ll really help things for people on the ground. Libs senator Alan Feguson justifies a call for sanctions on the grounds that “things have probably almost got as bad as they can for the ordinary population of Zimbabwean people anyway“.
A couple of quick facts for the Senator:
Economic sanctions are weapons […]