APSNet Semi-Weekly Bulletin, March 26, 2007

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"APSNet Semi-Weekly Bulletin, March 26, 2007", APSNet Semi-Weekly Bulletin, March 26, 2007, https://nautilus.org/apsnet/apsnet-for-20070326/

APSNet for 20070326

Austral Peace and Security Network (APSNet)

Twice weekly report from the Nautilus Institute at RMIT, Australia.

Monday 26 March 2007

  1. Afghanistan: Troops Decision on Hold
  2. Ramos Horta Wants UN to Stay Five Years in Timor
  3. Indonesia: Truth Commission to Hear from Wiranto and Habibie
  4. PNG: Coming ready or not, the Election that Australia is Really Sweating on
  5. Iraq, Afghanistan: Two Different Struggles
  6. RAAF Warns Crews on Moral Courage in War Missions
  7. Japan, Australia and the Changing Security Order in Asia
  8. Not the Time to Deal out Beijing

  1. Troops Decision on Hold, Brendan Nicholson, Age, 2007-03-26

    The decision to return Australian special forces to Afghanistan has been delayed because the ADF has insisted they operate under clear Australian command and have strong backup. A 450-strong Australian reconstruction force now in southern Afghanistan operates under Dutch control and under a NATO umbrella.

  2. Ramos Horta Wants UN to Stay Five Years in Timor, ABC, 2007-03-25

    East Timor’s Presidential candidate Jose Ramos Horta says if elected he will urge the United Nations to remain another five years in the country. “More important than so called issues of sovereignty and nationalism for me, is that the common people are able to sleep at peace at night,” he said.

  3.  Truth Commission to Hear from Wiranto and Habibie, Jakarta Post, 2007-03-24

    Indonesia-Timor Leste Commission for Truth and Friendship will begin hearings [into] the violence that followed the 1999 referendum. The Indonesian Military (TNI) has given the green light to the commission to interview active and retired officers alleged to have been involved and guaranteed it will not protect soldiers proven guilty. President B.J. Habibie and then TNI chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto will participate.

  4. Coming ready or not, the Election that Australia is Really Sweating on, Hamish McDonald, SMH, 2007-03-24

    This year’s most crucial election for Australia takes place at the end of June – in PNG. It will be colourful, noisy, confusing and probably violent in parts. But out of the PNG election will come pointers to Australia’s regional security outlook.

  5. Two Different Struggles, Geoffrey Barker, AFR*, 2007-03-26

    Howard’s claims about the possibly apocalyptic consequences of a premature withdrawal from Iraq are essentially the same as the claims made about Vietnam a generation ago. Substitute Vietnam for Iraq, South-East Asia for the Middle East, global communism for global terrorism and the two arguments are virtually identical – right down to the fears for US leadership.
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  6. RAAF Warns Crews on Moral Courage in War Missions, Brendan Nicholson, Age, 2007-03-22

    RAAF aircrew involved in coalition operations have been warned that they must have the moral courage to abort missions if they breach Australian laws. The RAAF’s new air power doctrine also strongly emphasises the need for all personnel to have the courage to give the Government honest advice, even when they know it might be unwelcome or that it could be politicised.

  7. Japan, Australia and the Changing Security Order in Asia, Rod Lyon, ASPI, 2007-03-22

    The conclusion of the Australia-Japan security pact confirms the Asian security order is moving into a new phase.  Although the pact is limited in its scope, it heralds an age when Asian great powers will be more engaged in the regional security architecture, both as players in their own right and as ‘partners’ to other regional countries.

  8. Not the Time to Deal out Beijing, Alan Dupont, Australian, 2007-03-26

    Any attempt to turn the existing trilateral security arrangement between Australia, Japan and the US into a quadrilateral alliance by including India would be a serious foreign policy miscalculation and should be resisted. A quadrilateral alliance would run counter to the whole thrust of post-Cold War multilateralism in Asia, which aims to construct a new security paradigm based on inclusiveness.

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