1. Australia: Uranium Deal for India under Attack
2. Fiji to Hold Elections in March 2009
3. Escalation by the Numbers: What “Progress” in Iraq Really Means
4. New Zealand: Clark ‘Appalled’ at Air NZ’s Iraq Troop Flights
5. Philippine Army in New Offensive
6. Whither the Bush Doctrine?

Policy Forum 07-15A: The Defence Management Review and the Super Hornet Decision – Senator John Faulkner

1. Uranium Deal for India under Attack, Katharine Murphy and Brendan Nicholson, Age, 2007-08-15

   Senior Howard Government players have talked up the benefits of selling uranium to India as Labor prepares a fresh political assault over nuclear power. Ahead of a meeting of cabinet’s powerful national security committee, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer confirmed the Government was considering a new export agreement with India.

   • Neither a Determined Proliferator nor a Responsible Nuclear State: India’s Record Needs Scrutiny, David Albright and Susan Basu, ISIS, 2006-04-05 [PDF]

   • Separating Indian Military and Civilian Nuclear Facilities, David Albright and Susan Basu, ISIS, 2005-12-19 [PDF]

   • More on the India 123, Jeffrey Lewis, Arms Control Wonk, 2007-07-30

   • India: Missiles Overview, Nuclear Threat Initiative, April 2007

   • World Nuclear Forces, Appendix 13A, SIPRI Yearbook 2006, Shannon N. Kile et al, SIPRI 2006 [PDF]

2. Fiji to Hold Elections in March 2009, Pita Ligaiula, Washington Post, 2007-08-15

   Fiji’s military ruler said that elections will take place in March 2009, as demanded by EU officials who have warned the South Pacific nation would lose crucial aid if it does not return to democracy.

   • Fiji’s Elections Dates Not Realistic, Brij Lal, RadioFiji, 2007-08-16

3. Escalation by the Numbers: What “Progress” in Iraq Really Means, Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch, 2007-08-13

   Here, then, is escalation in Iraq by the numbers – almost all of them continue to “surge” – as of mid-August 2008: Number of American troops stationed in Iraq: 162,000 (plus at least several thousand government employees). Estimated number of U.S. (taxpayer) paid private contractors in Iraq: more than 180,000 * Number of Iraqis estimated to have fled their country: between 2 million and 2.5 million.

   • Tonga Deploys 2nd Contingent to Iraq, Tonga Now, 2007-08-16

4. Clark ‘Appalled’ at Air NZ’s Iraq Troop Flights, Colin Espiner, Stuff, 2007-08-16

   Air New Zealand faces questions from the Government after it was revealed it chartered flights to carry Aussie troops to the war in Iraq. Furious Government ministers are demanding answers from Air New Zealand after it admitted carrying Australian troops to and from the war in Iraq.

5. Philippine Army in New Offensive, BBC, 2007-08-13

   The Philippine military has launched a full offensive against Islamic militants in the south, President Gloria Arroyo has announced. Ms Arroyo said the assault, on Jolo Island in Sulu province, was directed against “terrorist cells”.

   • Elite US-Trained Troops Arrive in Sulu, AFP, Inquirer, 2007-08-15

6. Whither the Bush Doctrine? Rod Lyon, ASPI, 2007-08-14

   With Congressional criticism of the war in Iraq mounting, and the Bush presidency now deep into its fourth quarter, speculation is increasing about the future trajectory of US strategic policy. This paper considers the ‘Bush doctrine’, geopolitical realities and the outlook for US strategic policy.

7. Policy Forum 07-15A: The Defence Management Review and the Super Hornet Decision – Senator John Faulkner

   This policy forum is the text of a speech by Senator John Faulkner (NSW, ALP) in debate in the Senate on 13 August on the Defence Management Review, headed by Elizabeth Proust which reported in April 2007. Faulkner concentrates on “dysfunctional” ministerial-departmental relationship, and on the case of the decision by the National Security Committee of Cabinet to accept Defence Minister Brendan Nelson’s recommendation to purchase 24 Super Hornet fighters at a cost of $6.6 billion, without a specific recommendation from the Defence Department.

   “At some stage perhaps more will become known about what occurred at that infamous National Security Committee of Cabinet meeting, but the bottom line is that a $6.6 billion decision had been made without considered input from the CDF and the Secretary of the Department of Defence or their staff and advisers.”

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