APSNet Semi-Weekly Bulletin, April 20, 2006

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"APSNet Semi-Weekly Bulletin, April 20, 2006", APSNet Semi-Weekly Bulletin, April 20, 2006, https://nautilus.org/apsnet/apsnet-for-20060420/

APSNet for 20060420

Austral Peace and Security Network (APSNet)

Austral Peace and Security Network Bi-Weekly Report, from the Nautilus Institute at RMIT, Melbourne, Australia.

Thursday 20 April 2006

  1. Islanders still unable to think as a nation
  2. Editorial: Cool heads needed over West Papua
  3. Papua New Guinea (PNG) to intensify joint patrol in borders
  4. Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) set to stay in Iraq after June
  5. Australian troops ready for Afghanistan
  6. Jet fighter costs go skyward as price of rival nosedives
  7. A blight on our reputation; a potential blow to security
  8. Christian Pine Gap protesters hampered by “secrecy”

Austral Policy Forum 06-13A: The Proliferation Security Initiative: Coming in from the Cold – Ron Huisken

  1. Islanders still unable to think as a nation, Hamish McDonald, SMH, 2006-04-20

    “Localism still prevails over nationalism, and that is a problem throughout Melanesia. But how do you build a nation? There are no blueprints. Can you build a nation as a kind of aid project? I’m not so sure you can”, said ANU’s Sinclair Dinnen.

  2. Editorial: Cool heads needed, The Australian, 2006-04-19

    The ball is clearly in Indonesia’s court right now. The air is already thick with words like “appeasement” and “kowtowing”, and any further concessions by Mr Howard would bring back bad memories of Paul Keating’s uncomfortably cozy relationship with Suharto. In fact, the best way for Jakarta to eliminate the Papuan refugee problem would be to improve conditions in their eastern-most province.

  3. PNG to intensify joint patrol in borders, Antara, 2006-04-14

    Indonesia and Papua New Guinea (PNG) have agreed to intensify joint patrols along the two countries` the borderline to anticipate illegal bordercrossers, including perpetrators of various violences in Papua recently. The two governments have also agreed to increase exchange of intelligence.

  4. GSDF set to stay in Iraq after June, Yomiuri Shimbun, 2006-04-19

    Ground Self-Defense Force troops are unlikely to withdraw from Iraq before June because the situation there is becoming more confused and the new government has not yet been established. The government decided Monday it will send the 10th GSDF contingent to southern Iraq to continue humanitarian work there, government sources said.

  5. Australian troops ready for Afghanistan, The Age, 2006-04-16

    Coalition troops have been involved in a major operation against Taliban forces, with a fierce gun battle leaving 41 rebels and six Afghan police officers dead in the southern province of Kandahar. The Australian Defence Force (ADF) said it could not confirm whether Australian special forces troops based in the southern province of Oruzgan were involved in the latest operation, but said they were equipped and trained to handle anything.

  6. Jet fighter costs go skyward as price of rival nosedives, Tom Allard, SMH, 2006-04-20

    THE F-22A Raptor strike jet – considered the best manned warplane yet – can be bought for about the same price that Australia will pay for the first batch of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, as the price of the F-22A declines, the cost of the Joint Strike Fighter is rapidly increasing.

  7. A blight on our reputation; a potential blow to security, Stephen Loosley, The Australian , 2006-04-20

    Above all else, AWB is actually a national security issue. If it is demonstrated, or commissioner Cole were to make even passing reference to AWB kickback dollars assisting in arming the Baathist insurgency in Iraq, then there are serious political consequences.

  8. Christian protesters hampered by “secrecy”, Catholic News, 2006-04-20

    Catholic “human shield” Donna Mulhearn and two other Christian peace protesters claim “operational secrecy” is hindering their efforts to defend themselves against charges of breaking into the top secret US-Australian Pine Gap base.

Austral Policy Forum 06-13A: The Proliferation Security Initiative: Coming in from the Cold – Ron Huisken

Ron Huisken of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the ANU argues that after a difficult and somewhat unilateralist start, the US-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) now “appears to be maturing into a useful and accepted counter-proliferation measure”. While the inherent imprecision of the terms of UNSC 1540 “combines with the labyrinth of international law concerning governance of the oceans and seas to produce an arena that many states would see as fraught with risk to hard-won reputations for good international citizenship”, a less unilateral US stance on the PSI can deliver “very promising outcomes”.

The Proliferation Security Initiative: Coming in from the Cold

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