APSNet 03 June 2010
- Australia to take greater Afghan training role
- Rudd urges Gaza report
- RBA note scandal widens as Chavez joins list
- Defence no accounting trickster: Watt
- Call to ban timber logged illegally
- Hatoyama steps down, new Cabinet to be formed on Monday
- Taliban attacks shake Afghan peace gathering
- Sinking of the Cheonan: rethinking littoral warfare
1. Australia to take greater Afghan training role, Dan Oakes, Age, 2010-06-01
Australia will dramatically increase its training role in Afghanistan in the coming months but will not take over from the Dutch as the lead nation in Oruzgan province because it would leave the nation exposed closer to home.
- Winning in Afghanistan: creating effective Afghan security forces, Anthony Cordesman, Adam Mausner, David Kasten, Center for Startegic & International Studies, 2010-05-27
2. Rudd urges Gaza report, John Kerin, AFR*, 2010-06-02
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd stopped short of joining a chorus of international condemnation of Israel after nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed and an Australian injured in a fatal raid on a flotilla of aid ships bound for the blockaded Gaza Strip.
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- Israel’s folly may be the catalyst the West needs, Peter Rodgers, SMH, 2010-06-03
- Historic UNSC condemnation of Israel, and of Gaza blockade; world body demands release of aid activists, ships, Juan Cole, Informed Comment, 2010-06-01
- Outlaws of the Mediterranean, Editors, Middle East Report, 2010-06-01
- The humanitarian impact of Israel’s blockade on Gaza, Katherine Baldwin, Reuters/AlertNet, 2010-06-01
3. RBA note scandal widens as Chavez joins list, Richard Baker and Nick Mckenzie, Age, 2010-06-02
The revelation of Securency’s attempts to land a contract with Venezuela comes before Senate committee hearings at which Australian foreign affairs and trade officials are expected to be grilled about the scandal.
4. Defence no accounting trickster: Watt, John Kerin, AFR*, 2010-06-01
Defence secretary Ian Watt has conceded spending on new military equipment projects will fall in the short term but rejected accusations his department has resorted to “accounting trickery’’ in its $27 billion defence budget.
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5. Call to ban timber logged illegally, Tom Arup, Age, 2010-06-01
Strong Australian laws should be established to stop imports of illegally logged timber, often connected with organised crime and in some cases the Taliban, US campaigners and politicians are urging.
6. Hatoyama steps down, new Cabinet to be formed on Monday, Kyodo News*, 2010-06-02
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said he will step down ahead of a closely watched election expected next month, only about eight months after taking office, citing falling public support triggered by his failure to resolve a dispute over a U.S. military base relocation and money scandals.
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- Ampo’s troubled 50th: Hatoyama’s abortive rebellion, Okinawa’s mounting resistance and the US-Japan relationship, Gavan McCormack, Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, 2010-05-31
- The virtues of Kan, Tobias Harris, Observing Japan, 2010-06-03
7. Taliban attacks shake Afghan peace gathering, Alissa J. Rubin and Rod Nordland, NYT, 2010-06-02
President Hamid Karzai’s peace council, called a jirga, came under fire from inside and out on its first day. Even as the Afghan president spoke, inviting the Taliban to join in peace efforts, insurgents sent a pair of potential suicide bombers, disguised in women’s clothing, in a failed attempt to disrupt it.
- Peace jirga blog 5: The Big Karzai Show, Thomas Ruttig, Afghanistan Analysts Network, 2010-06-02
8. Sinking of the Cheonan: rethinking littoral warfare, Ong Weichong, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, 2010-05-31 [128 Kb PDF]
The sinking of the Cheonan is a timely reminder on the complexities of littoral warfare. A serious rethink about asymmetric threats from the littoral zone is required for an adequate response.