Our prime minister, who in my carefree days I habitually referred to as ‘the grub’ to indicate my opinion of his ethical standards, takes an idiosyncratic approach to his responsibilities. At times he is a kind of Everyman’s commentator with an opinion on issues large and small. On other occasions, however, he’s keen to remind us of […]

 
According to various news sources, Saddam Hussein was hanged today at 6am Baghdad time (2pm Australian ESST).
Sunni and Shiite insurgents immediately ceased all hostilities and hugged each other in brotherhood, chanting “Bush! Bush! Bush! oi! oi! oi!”.
All factions agreed that it was worth the systematic destruction of Iraqi infrastructure, its economy, the looting of its archaeological treasures […]

I just have to share this with you, courtesy of Crooks and Liars:
HENRY: You know, going back to September 2001, the president said, dead or alive, we’re going to get him [Osama bin Laden]. Still don’t have him. I know you are saying there’s successes on the war on terror, and there have been. That’s […]

The other day a commenter took me to task for ignoring ‘established lying by Iran about its nuclear activities’. Despite an invitation by mars the commenter failed to elaborate, so I thought I would go and do some quick research to see if I could find out what the commenter had in mind.
I found an […]

Barnett Rubin has written an extremely informative piece on the current state of affairs in Afghanistan, and provided a concise account of the history which is crucial to understanding the various actors and interests.  The situation is, to say the least, dire.  Echoing the concerns expressed by Anthony Cordesman (pdf), Rubin warns that the Bush administration’s neglect of Afghanistan in […]

 
Our quality daily rag, The Australian is at it again.
The editorial for December 28, is a double whammy: first Global Warming, second Gerald Ford.
On Global Warming, they cite a CSIRO scientist’s opinion that the drought is not down to Global Warming and, while admitting GW is real, tell us that “the risks are too great to be […]

My post yesterday about Iran was cryptic to the point of incomprehensibility - I blame the time of year - so perhaps I should elaborate.
IMHO there’s not enough public discussion about the Bushistas’ aggressive stance towards Iran. There’s a real risk that while everyone’s attention is concentrated on the tragedy of Iraq, the lunatics in […]

Despite the fact that Ayatollah al-Sistani unceremoniously quashed the plans to forge an alternative political coalition aimed at diminishing Moqtada al-Sadr’s influence in the Iraqi government (effectively rendering those plans a non-starter), certain aspects of the overarching strategy to marginalize Sadr appear to be alive and kicking.  US military personnel in Iraq may have just, intentionally or unintentionally, triggered a […]

Over the past few days I’ve seen references and links to “Howard talks to Zemanek” all over the News Ltd. papers. Assuming it would have been the usual Howard/Zemanek drivel, all about responsibility and heavy burdens (with a dash of xenophobia and dole bludger bashing thrown in). So, I ignored it.
But today, for wont of anything better […]

The naivete of soft left institutions never ceases to amaze. Now some head-in-the-clouds American academic reckons Iran might be telling the truth when it says its nuclear program is to generate electricity. The National Academy of Science has actually published his study. Some people, honestly.
Apologists for the Bush Administration will no doubt dismiss the study as irrelevant because everybody […]