APSNet Semi-Weekly Bulletin, July 12, 2007

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"APSNet Semi-Weekly Bulletin, July 12, 2007", APSNet Semi-Weekly Bulletin, July 12, 2007, https://nautilus.org/apsnet/apsnet-for-20070712/

APSNet for 20070712

Austral Peace and Security Network (APSNet)

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

Thursday 12 July 2007

  1. Wobbly Democracy for East Timor
  2. East Timor: God, Democracy and Oil
  3. West Will Fail, Says Ex-CIA Operative
  4. Understanding Current Operations in Iraq
  5. Defence Update 2007: Homeland Still More Vital than the Middle East
  6. Japan and India as Partners for the Peace and Stability of Asia
  7. China’s Military Boost No Threat: Nelson
  8. Fiji Military Leader Appointed to China

Policy Forum 07-14A – The Abuses of Realism and Australian Security Interests: the 2007 Defence Update – Richard Tanter


  1. Wobbly Democracy for East Timor, Fabio Scarpello, AsiaTimes, 2007-07-11

    The inconclusive result of recent parliamentary elections is raising the specter of new political confrontation rather than resolution. President Jose Ramos Horta could eventually be called on to mediate the electoral deadlock.  Australia and East Timor still have to decide who will get the downstream contract for the Greater Sunrise oil and gas fields in the Joint Development Area.

  2. God, Democracy and Oil, Editorial, Jakarta Post, 2007-07-11

    Australian Defense Minister Brendan Nelson’s admission that securing oil was a key factor in his country’s deployment of troops in Iraq should come as no surprise to anyone. Now that they have admitted they were in Iraq for the oil, we can fully expect to one day hear Australia confess they were in East Timor for the same reason.

  3. West Will Fail, Says Ex-CIA Operative, Sarah Smiles and Brendan Nicholson, Age, 2007-07-11

    A former top CIA officer has said that defeat is inevitable in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Mr Scheuer said the US and its allies continually became involved in Middle East wars because of their reliance on Arab oil supplies and had little other interest in the region. He said Al-Qaeda was motivated by anger towards US foreign policy in the Middle East rather than by hatred for Western culture.

  4. Understanding Current Operations in Iraq, David Kilcullen, Small Wars Journal, 2007-06-26

    Here is a field perspective on current operations. These operations are qualitatively different from what we have done before. Our concept is to knock over several insurgent safe havens simultaneously, in order to prevent terrorists relocating their infrastructure from one to another, and to create an operational synergy between what we’re doing in Baghdad and what’s happening outside.

  5. Homeland Still More Vital than the Middle East, Paul Dibb, Australian, 2007-07-10

    The PM’s recent foreign policy statements don’t spell the death of the defence of Australia doctrine. There’s a great deal more continuity than change in our existing defence policy. My understanding is that the Government has agreed that it is the defence of Australia and our area of paramount defence interest that will remain the primary determinants of the ADF’s force structure.

  6. Japan and India as Partners for the Peace and Stability of Asia, Hiroshi Hirabayashi, Policy Forum, NAPSNet,  2007-07-10

    India and Japan should set out in concrete terms the political, economic and other goals of their “strategic global partnership”. India should strengthen its commitments to East Asia. India and Japan must convince Beijing that the world, particularly Asia, has a better chance of achieving peace and stability if the three Asian heavyweights work closely together.

  7. China’s Military Boost No Threat: Nelson, Mary-Anne Toy, SMH, 2007-07-10

    The Defence Minister, Brendan Nelson, has reassured Beijing that Australia does not see China’s increased military spending as a threat – as suggested in the Government’s Defence update – and has suggested greater military links between the two nations to deepen the bilateral relationship.

  8. Fiji Military Leader Appointed to China, AAP, Age, 2007-07-10

    Fiji’s military government has appointed a leading military figure as its defence attache to China. Fiji is recalling envoys it considers to be political appointees of the ousted government. Other diplomats being recalled are the ambassador to the United States; high commissioner to New Zealand; high commissioner to Australia; high commissioner to Papua New Guinea; and high commissioner to Malaysia.

Policy Forum 07-14A: The Abuses of Realism and Australian Security Interests: the 2007 Defence Update – Richard Tanter

Richard Tanter of the Nautilus Institute writes that the Australian Defence Update 2007 comes after a decade of constant and still unfinished increases in defence spending, a tripling of domestic security spending, huge weapons systems orders, Australian defence Forces deployments from Lebanon to the Solomon Islands, three large and extremely demanding deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan and East Timor, and world politics turning on the hinge of a massive strategic miscalculation by Australias closest ally. Tanter argues that the Defence Update is a deeply flawed policy document, shaped by double standards and selective learning, shortsightedness and a botched use of realism, the aggressive demands of alliance maintenance, and an almost complete failure to consider the real and salient threats to Australian security – both the state- and human- versions – of global problems such as climate change, health and poverty.


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