APSNet 4 August 2008

1. Canberra Approves US-India Nuke Pact
2. This Is Our War: Pakistan Unlikely to Accept Advisers
3. Rudd’s Subtle Israel Shift
4. Work Lifeline for East Timor
5. Darwin Beats Timor for LNG Plant
6. Blame Shifts off Indonesia for Trashing our Shores
7. Britain Admits Dangers of 1950s Nuclear Tests
8. Senate Committee Recommends White Paper on Peacekeeping

1. Canberra Approves US-India Nuke Pact, Dennis Shanahan, Australian, 2008-08-02

Australia has moved to heal a rift with India over uranium sales by giving the green light to the new nuclear power agreement between the US and India. The Rudd Government backed the deal last night at the International Atomic Energy Agency board, and will do so at the Nuclear Suppliers Group meeting next month.

• International Agency Approves Nuclear Inspection Deal for India, AP, IHT, 2008-08-01
• IAEA-India Safeguards Agreement, Media release, Stephen Smith, Australian Minster for Foreign Affairs, 2008-08-01
• Rudd’s Uranium Ban a Form of Racism, Says Veteran Indian Diplomat, Daniel Flitton, Age, 2008-08-02

2. This Is Our War: Pakistan Unlikely to Accept Advisers, Mark Dodd and Bruce Loudon, Australian, 2008-07-31

A Rudd government offer to send Australian counter-insurgency trainers to Pakistan to help rid the country of Taliban extremists had not been raised with the Government in Islamabad and faces a cool response. Senior Pakistani officials last night emphasised that “this is our war” while other analysts pointed out the potential pitfalls of identifying Australian soldiers with what is a massively unpopular Pakistan army.

3. Rudd’s Subtle Israel Shift, Paul Daley, SMH, 2008-08-03

Ever so gently, the Prime Minister has changed Australia’s stance on the Middle East. Before Christmas the parliamentary secretary for international development assistance Bob McMullan announced Australia had doubled its 2008 aid package to the Palestinian territories to $45 million. A senior Australian diplomatic source said the increase “succinctly reflected a subtle repositioning and a new approach” in the Middle East.

4. Work Lifeline for East Timor, Ben Doherty, Age, 2008-08-04

East Timor could win a last-minute place in an Australian pilot program for guest workers after Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao wrote to his Australian counterpart urging that his country be included. The Government is now entertaining the idea of a guest-worker program for East Timorese in Western Australia.

5. Darwin Beats Timor for LNG Plant, Matt Chambers, Australian, 2008-07-31

Woodside Petroleum has ruled out a $15 billion East Timor liquefied natural gas export plant to process output from its Greater Sunrise fields. East Timor’s natural resource secretary of state said the decision would be a “major problem” for the Government. A Woodside spokeswoman said a local plant was not commercially attractive and it would instead focus on piping gas to Darwin or building a floating LNG plant.

6. Blame Shifts off Indonesia for Trashing our Shores, Sean Parnell, Australian, 2008-08-02

In northern Australia, some of the locals blame Indonesia for everything – stealing the fish, threatening the border, destroying the environment. But our northern neighbours may have been falsely accused of one crime: trashing the pristine coastline of Arnhem Land, Cape York and the Gulf of Carpentaria.

7. Britain Admits Dangers of 1950s Nuclear Tests, SMH, 2008-08-04

British defence chiefs have admitted servicemen were exposed to dangerous radiation during nuclear tests in Australia and the South Pacific in the 1950s. The admission, made after years of denials, is in papers filed with the High Court in London by Ministry of Defence lawyers.

8. Senate Committee Recommends White Paper on Peacekeeping, Australian, 2008-08-01

Australia should not take on peacekeeping missions without clear objectives and an exit strategy, a Senate committee has said. It also says the ADF and Australian Federal Police should develop effective inter-operability strategies, after troubles in the field caused by different work cultures.

• Australia’s Involvement in Peacekeeping Operations, Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, August 2008 [PDF, 4.71 MB]

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