Out of Africa

Masquara said :

Gawd, and I thought the products of public schools circa 1960 tell us they were taught history.

I recall very little being taught about African history at least until 1965. We all had preconceived ideas about Africa from watching movies like African Queen, Zulu, Nor The Moon By Night.
Australian history was more interesting and more relevant in those days.

Gawd, and I thought the products of public schools circa 1960 tell us they were taught history.

The brutal truth John; nobody cares about Africa. I don’t remember the West invading Rwanda in 1994 to stop the genocide there (the Belgians and French were there without a lot of success).

The Middle East has oil (so does Nigeria and yes Australia buys some of oil from there) which is why the West doesn’t want the boat rocked in that part of the World.

John, Op ASLAN currently has a small contingent of Australian troops in South Sudan in a training and monitoring role and through R2P we have poured a fair whack of dollars into Africa along with quite a few military and non-military personnel.

We have in the recent past sent troops to Somalia, Rwanda, Uganda, Ethiopia, Sierra Leonne, Mozambique and a few others. To my knowledge, we don’t have the literal boots on the ground which seems to so occupy your thoughts, but I know we have quite a few shiny diplomatic shoes distributing cash to the African Union and directly to governments to support action against Boko Haram and other Islamist hardline groups.

Boko Haram does not pose a direct threat to Australia, the few nutjobs we have encountered domestically have been waving the ISIS flag, so we are fighting ISIS.

For Kiribati and the Marshall Islands, Australian aid to Kiribati is about 20% of their GDP and for the Marshall Islands, our aid is equivalent to about 15% or GDP. With NZ aid and American aid, they are on quite an earner.

Foreign affairs don’t seem to be your strong point John, perhaps stick to potholes and public art.

John Hargreaves said :

HenryBG said :

The second crusade was almost a thousand years ago.
I think we’d be up to the “Tenth Crusade” now.

In fact, as the whole concept seems to carry overtones of failure – let’s call this, “The Second Reconquista”, and as John says, we have to be consistent – whether it’s Syria or Nigeria – we have to deal with all of them.
It is interesting that the islamic-related genocide that is occurring on our doorstep right now in West Papua doesn’t rate a mention on John’s list of things we aren’t doing….I wonder why the Left in this country consistently refuses to comment on this?

http://theconversation.com/all-the-ingredients-for-genocide-is-west-papua-the-next-east-timor-9340
https://www.facebook.com/freewestpapua

I apologise for leaving out West Papua. It is right to include that theatre.

Yes, they have the right to have their massacre’s reported along with everyone one else.

John Moulis said :

I have to say how disappointed I was in Abbott saying climate change is real and an important issue just a few days after he and his supporters criticised Obama for trying to “hijack” the G20 with the issue. It continues a pattern of duplicitous behaviour by Abbott, the latest being his breaking of the “no cuts to the ABC” promise.

In 2007 Abbott called climate change “absolute cr#p” and many were attracted to him because of that. Once he became Liberal leader he then started making pro-climate change noises, no doubt in response to opinion polls suggesting a majority of people supported the theory of climate change. Now as Prime Minister Abbott doesn’t know whether he is Arthur or Martha saying one thing one day then contradicting himself a few days later.

It appears that in his desire to please everybody by taking various positions on key issues he is pleasing nobody and the public is seeing through the facade. No wonder he is so far behind in the opinion polls.

Generally I agree with you but as climate, by definition, changes all the time, Abbott is correct about it being “real” but incorrect to say it is “important”.
Your Arthur or Martha analogy suits perfectly.
And what he said about climate change being “cr*p” is not correct – he actually said the science on climate change is “cr*p”.
He was 100% correct on that so the media reported it differently.
Abbott has made a few verbal slip-ups but he isn’t in the league of Gillard’s “hyperbowl” and “high dungeon” yet.

I have to say how disappointed I was in Abbott saying climate change is real and an important issue just a few days after he and his supporters criticised Obama for trying to “hijack” the G20 with the issue. It continues a pattern of duplicitous behaviour by Abbott, the latest being his breaking of the “no cuts to the ABC” promise.

In 2007 Abbott called climate change “absolute cr#p” and many were attracted to him because of that. Once he became Liberal leader he then started making pro-climate change noises, no doubt in response to opinion polls suggesting a majority of people supported the theory of climate change. Now as Prime Minister Abbott doesn’t know whether he is Arthur or Martha saying one thing one day then contradicting himself a few days later.

It appears that in his desire to please everybody by taking various positions on key issues he is pleasing nobody and the public is seeing through the facade. No wonder he is so far behind in the opinion polls.

HenryBG said :

The second crusade was almost a thousand years ago.
I think we’d be up to the “Tenth Crusade” now.

In fact, as the whole concept seems to carry overtones of failure – let’s call this, “The Second Reconquista”, and as John says, we have to be consistent – whether it’s Syria or Nigeria – we have to deal with all of them.
It is interesting that the islamic-related genocide that is occurring on our doorstep right now in West Papua doesn’t rate a mention on John’s list of things we aren’t doing….I wonder why the Left in this country consistently refuses to comment on this?

http://theconversation.com/all-the-ingredients-for-genocide-is-west-papua-the-next-east-timor-9340
https://www.facebook.com/freewestpapua

I apologise for leaving out West Papua. It is right to include that theatre.

What is the point of posts like this? A discussion starter? – hardly, unless the OP is seeking a discussion of how he can find such a long-winded way into drawing such a long bow.

And for someone who, in previous posts, has claimed a qualification in ‘Defence Studies’ or similar, he has once again shown remarkable ignorance of Australian overseas involvement – ignorant or choosing to be ignorant of our roles in Timor or the Solomon Islands for example – both significant interventions with little or nothing to do with the US.

The fact that Australia hasn’t intervened in every world troubleshot proves nothing at all – only that the OP continues to work tirelessly to deliver increasingly tiresome new ways to deliver his one central thought. The Libs done it.

John, you are against Australian boots on the ground in Iraq/Syria – but pro boots on the ground in Nigeria. Why the different approach to each?
You don’t want Australia’s position on ebola to be considered in the context of our region, where if ebola reaches the Pacific our rapid-response team will be needed right nearby. Why don’t you want our region to be part of the considerations?
What action would you like Australia to take in Burma? Detail please.
Where’s your track record on developing expertise that allows you to contribute effectively to foreign affairs commentary, John?