APSNet Semi-Weekly Bulletin, May 14, 2009

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APSNet 14 May 2009

  1. No Defence for Secrecy
  2. Defence reopens death case of Michael Fussell
  3. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono running mate Boediono has Aussie links
  4. Voters reject terror of Timor
  5. Mission in Iraq winding up
  6. Switch signals new path for Afghan war
  7. Climate change dire for Coral Triangle

1. No Defence for Secrecy, Geoffrey Barker, AFR*, 2009-05-13

In what may well prove a fantasy budget, the government stressed new 20-year funding and savings plans which it claimed would pay for the multibillion-dollar rearmament program outlined in the recent defence white paper. The grandiose financial structure spun vaguely by Fitzgibbon assumes either the Rudd government will stay in power to 2030 or that any new incoming government will continue the program unchanged.
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2. Defence reopens death case of Michael Fussell, Mark Dodd, Australian, 2009-05-14

Defence has reopened an inquiry into last year’s death in Afghanistan of special forces soldier Lieutenant Michael Fussell to determine whether his squad had been properly trained and briefed on the danger posed by deadly roadside bombs.

3. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono running mate Boediono has Aussie links, Stephen Fitzpatrick, Australian, 2009-05-14

The man almost certain to become Indonesia’s next vice-president, central bank chief Boediono, has a well-established history in Australia that will deepen relations between Canberra and Jakarta. The choice of Dr Boediono has shattered the Indonesian political establishment, cementing the President’s reformist credentials at the same time as it leaves the various groups opposing Mr Yudhoyono’s Democrat Party little room to move.

4. Voters reject terror of Timor, Tom Allard, Age, 2009-05-12

Eurico Guterres, the pro-integration militia leader who terrorised East Timor as it voted for independence, has failed to win a seat in Indonesia’s Parliament.

5. Mission in Iraq winding up, Brendan Nicholson, Age, 2009-05-12

The Australian Government has confirmed that another contingent of troops is coming home from Baghdad. The withdrawal still leaves 100 ADF personnel providing protection for Australian diplomatic staff at the embassy in Baghdad and two ADF officers with the United Nations assistance mission in the capital.

6. Switch signals new path for Afghan war, Eric Schmitt and Mark Mazzetti, NYT, 2009-05-12

Until now, the successive American generals in charge of the war in Afghanistan have argued that their responsibilities ended at the border with Pakistan. But the choice of a new and very different breed of general to take over the seven-year-old fight may mean the old mind-set has begun to change. The new commander, Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, is an expert in counterinsurgency warfare who for years has viewed the violence in Afghanistan and Pakistan as one thorny problem.

7. Climate change dire for Coral Triangle, Adam Morton, Age, May 13, 2009

About 100 million people living on Australia’s doorstep could be forced to leave their homeland due to climate change this century, according to a new report. The report found Australia will have a key role in avoiding ecological and humanitarian disaster in what it calls the Coral Triangle – the marine area including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and East Timor.

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