APSNet Semi-Weekly Bulletin, December 7, 2006

You are here: Home » Mailing lists » APSNet » Semi-Weekly Bulletin » APSNet Semi-Weekly Bulletin, December 7, 2006

Recommended Citation

"APSNet Semi-Weekly Bulletin, December 7, 2006", APSNet Semi-Weekly Bulletin, December 07, 2006, https://nautilus.org/apsnet/apsnet-for-20061207/

APSNet for 20061207

Austral Peace and Security Network (APSNet)

Bi-weekly report from the Nautilus Institute at RMIT, Australia.

Thursday 7 December 2006

  1. Australia: Navy Granted Power to Shoot at Illegal Fishers
  2. Fiji: Military Declares State of Emergency
  3. Indonesia: Ministry to Reactivate Grassroots Spy Networks to ‘Combat Terror’
  4. Agreement between Australia and the Republic of Indonesia on the Framework for Security Cooperation
  5. Get Out of Iraq by 2008, Panel Tells Bush
  6. Afghanistan Opium Crop Sets Record
  7. Yellowcake Exports to China Get Green Light
  8. Japan, Australia Agree to Start Economic Partnership Talks

Austral Policy Forum 06-35A: Avoiding the Cause: Australia and Political Persecution in West Papua – Scott Burchill

 

  1. Navy Granted Power to Shoot at Illegal Fishers, Sara Smiles, Age, 2006-12-07

    The navy has been given permission to fire at illegal fishing boats that refuse to be apprehended in Australian waters. Under new rules of engagement approved by Defence Minister Brendan Nelson, the navy will also be given tear gas, capsicum spray and abrasive acoustic devices.

  2. Military Declares State of Emergency, Names Caretaker PM, Fiji Times, 2006-12-07

    Military commander Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama has gazetted his declaration of a state of emergency in Fiji and sworn in a Caretaker Prime Minister. In the “extraordinary” Gazette, he announced he had assumed executive authority “with much reluctance” at 6pm on Tuesday. He said the military reserved the right to impose curfew, if it saw a need to do so.

  3. Ministry to Reactivate Grassroots Spy Networks to ‘Combat Terror’, M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta Post, 2006-12-06

    The government is planning to set up grassroots spy networks at every local administration in the country, Home Minister M. Ma’ruf says. A new national body, the Regional Intelligence Community Agency (Kominda), will coordinate the work of the local intelligence offices, he said. Ma’ruf stressed the new agency would not spy on normal citizens.

     

  4. Agreement between Australia and the Republic of Indonesia on the Framework for Security Cooperation (Mataram, Lombok, 13 November 2006) [2006] ATNIF 25, National Interest Analysis [2006] ATNIA 43, (tabled) 2006-12-06 [PDF]

    This document contains: A national interest analysis (ATNIA 43) including consultation attachment and text of the proposed treaty action. Background information includes: country political brief and country fact sheet; list of other treaties with Indonesia; list of treaties of the same type with other countries.

     

  5. Get Out of Iraq by 2008, Panel Tells Bush, AFP, Australian, 2006-12-07

    The current US policy in Iraq was “not working” and Washington should pull its combat troops out of the country by early 2008, a top-level US commission said today. The Iraq Study Group said in its eagerly awaited report that US soldiers had a mission “with no forseeable end” and that time was running out for Washington to shape events.

  6. Afghanistan Opium Crop Sets Record, Karen DeYoung, Washington Post, 2006-12-02

    Opium production in Afghanistan (providing over 90 percent of the world’s heroin) broke all records in 2006, despite U.S.-sponsored eradication efforts, the Bush administration reports. The land under cultivation in opium poppies grew by 61 percent. Cultivation in the two main production provinces, Helmand in the southwest and Oruzgan in central Afghanistan, was up by 132 percent.

  7. Yellowcake Exports to China Get Green Light, Katharine Murphy, Age, 2006-12-07

    Sales of Australian uranium to China have been approved by Federal Parliament with the proviso that nuclear watchdogs are given increased funding. A report from the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties recommended more money for the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office to strengthen existing safeguards and ensure that the uranium was used only for nuclear power.

  8. Japan, Australia Agree to Start Economic Partnership Agreement Talks, Trading Charts, 2006-12-04

    Japan and Australia have basically agreed to start official negotiations on a bilateral economic partnership, sources said. Japanese farm organizations have called on the government for the exclusion of major farm products, including beef, sugar, wheat and dairy products, from the subjects of the bilateral EPA.

Austral Policy Forum 06-35A: Avoiding the Cause: Australia and Political Persecution in West Papua – Scott Burchill

In a speech to the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law, Deakin University’s Scott Burchill writes that the responses of the Australian Government to increasing unrest in West Papua have been either comical or disgraceful. “Blaming the messengers and avoiding the root causes of the problem may or may not pacify Jakarta, but they will certainly not resolve a problem which is now in its fifth decade – it will only make matters worse” argues Burchill. “On the other hand, an immediate solution to the issue is at hand and always has been, though it is studiously avoided – terminate the persecution, rather than the persecuted, and the problem largely goes away. As in the case of the East Timorese, anyone with a view on the subject is consulted except those with a primary interest in it – the West Papuans. The only question never asked is the only one worth posing: what do the people of West Papua want?”

Read the complete essay:

 

Free newsletter subscriptions