APSNet Semi-Weekly Bulletin, September 29, 2008

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"APSNet Semi-Weekly Bulletin, September 29, 2008", APSNet Semi-Weekly Bulletin, September 29, 2008, https://nautilus.org/apsnet/apsnet-29-september-2008/

APSNet 29 September 2008

  1. Police Urged to Arrest East Timor Collaborator
  2. Navy Has Right to Fire at Illegal Fishing Boats
  3. Ambush in Papua: Lost in the Fog
  4. Afghanistan Slips under a Blind Eye
  5. Australia and the World: Public Opinion and Foreign Policy
  6. Air Force May Have to Forgo Hopes for Joint Strike Fighter
  7. Indonesia’s Statement at 63rd UN General Assembly

1. Police Urged to Arrest East Timor Collaborator, Connie Levett, SMH, 2008-09-26

Guy Campos, the East Timorese man accused of high-level collaboration with the Indonesian military involving kidnapping and torture, was convicted of “torture leading to death” of an 11-year-old boy in 1979, according to newly uncovered East Timorese court documents. Clinton Fernandes, principal analyst, East Timor, for Australia’s intelligence corps in 1998-99, who saw the court documents in Dili last week, said the conviction was contained in a large court file.

2. Navy Has Right to Fire at Illegal Fishing Boats, Mark Dodd, Australian, 2008-09-26

The Department of Defence confirmed the extreme measure approved by the former Howard government and upheld by the Rudd Government. “In exceptional circumstances the use of (gun) fire to stop a non-compliant vessel in the water may be permitted following consideration at senior levels within Defence,” a Defence spokeswoman said. Fisheries and Defence officials are now quietly confident they are winning the war on illegal fishing in Australia’s northern waters, with only four boats apprehended since May.

3. Lost in the Fog, Tom Hyland, Age, 2008-09-28

New US documents reveal a curious Australian role in the aftermath of a fatal ambush in Papua [in 2002]. It involved US diplomats, the FBI, Queensland Police, the Australian Defence Force and other unidentified agencies acting, according to an insider, on directions given at “high government level”. Why this operation was launched remains a mystery – just like the identity and motives of the gunmen who ambushed the picnic party. [What is known is that] Australian and American officials and the giant US-owned Freeport mining company imposed extraordinary secrecy on Townsville Hospital.

4. Afghanistan Slips under a Blind Eye, Paul McGeough, SMH, 2008-09-27

With the focus on Iraq, the war on terrorism is getting a lot harder to win. The US allocation for Iraq this year – $US 150 billion – is three times what it was in 2003. By comparison, the Afghanistan docket merely doubled in the same timeframe – to $US33 billion. And contrary to the portrayal in these figures, Afghanistan is more complex than Iraq, socially and ethnically.

5. Australia and the World: Public Opinion and Foreign Policy, Fergus Hanson Lowy Institute, 2008-09-29

The fourth annual Lowy survey of Australian public opinion on foreign policy including attitudes towards Japanese whaling, foreign investment in Australia, China, climate change and uranium. On Afghanistan: a majority of Australians (56%) are opposed to military involvement, with 42% saying we should continue to be involved.

6. Air Force May Have to Forgo Hopes for Joint Strike Fighter, Brian Toohey, AFR*, 2008-09-27

With Australia committed to $6.6 billion of Super Hornet fighters, the future of our air combat capability is under debate. Former defence department assistant secretary, Alan Behm, says that manned fighter aircraft have reached the limit of their ability to counter improved anti-aircraft missiles. He says, “The most sensible way to ensure to have a real strategic effect is with more submarines.” He says Australia should also think seriously about acquiring long-range land-based cruise missiles.

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7. Indonesia’s Statement at 63rd UN General Assembly, N. Hassan Wirajuda, Jakarta Post, 2008-09-28

It is timely and wise that we focus our deliberations on the global food crisis and on the democratization of the UN. Democratization of the Council also means an equitable distribution of its membership – not only in terms of geographical representation … but also in terms of constituencies. The world’s community of 1.1 billion Muslims must be represented on the Council if it is to be truly democratic.

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Richard Tanter,
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