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Zak From Downunder

~ Zak de Courcy's sometimes incendiary thoughts about politics, life and religion.

Zak From Downunder

Author Archives: Zak de Courcy

There’s No Excuse for Putin, But NATO Should Have Seen This Coming…

01 Tuesday Mar 2022

Posted by Zak de Courcy in Int Pol. Posts Index, International Politics

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

international politics, NATO, politics, Putin, Russia, Ukraine, Ukraine War, USA, War

This opinion piece by Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, eloquently outlines what I think has been the biggest single blunder of the West, in its relationship with Russia, since the end of the First Cold War in 1989: the expansion of NATO to the doorstep of Russia.

This expansion championed by the Clinton administration in the late 1990s, tweaked a long held, and after the Nazi invasion of 1941 which resulted in 20 million Soviet deaths, an easily understood paranoia of Russians to perceived encroachment from the West.

That, despite protest from Moscow, the USA and Europe pushed NATO into former Soviet and Warsaw Pact states bordering Russia, was an act of hubris that is now reaping the blowback that everyone should have expected.

This is not to excuse Putin, who owns his own despicable place in history, but it has provided him with an all too Trumpian looking nationalist fig leaf to justify his tantrum smackdown of Ukraine, for daring to want to leave his putrid umbrella of influence.

ps. In light of Putin’s own fascistic behavior at home and in invading Ukraine, it’s ironic that he claims to be doing it to ‘deNazify’ Ukraine; which unlike Russia, at least has the seeds of a democratic future…

[This New York Times article is gifted via my subscription and is freely available]
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/21/opinion/putin-ukraine-nato.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuomT1JKd6J17Vw1cRCfTTMQmqxCdw_PIxftm3iWka3DPDmwbiOMNAo6B_EGKfbd_Zt12wjeBTd5HPfopTeB1iO9DOkgnAy-Znqy5orVXaSMktdD0GWosw5PGWb1_-jWyZDXnI706nefhtFfba2m6RPfZ0nc-IAYy9MBudVqr3CEO1b6FRrAuoqR23_crBZl6RTYSNmLd77SzVUIIaJjRZQrc6wI2R-hYRTjQ-NeZ4LoGewhTYknUGDI9uS1vrYMBZ65Eefr3PBUie8HhgL8OCGQOLYmhB5A5QoK8hKz8l6WU1jVngbnQC4SvpOa6&smid=url-share

Labor Shocker!

18 Saturday May 2019

Posted by Zak de Courcy in Australian Politics

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

ALP, Australia, Australian politics, Bill Shorten, Bob Hawke, Election 2019, Franking Credits, Greens, Labor, Liberal Party, Scott Morrison

Vote for a Future
I know it’s too early to call, and I didn’t want to say anything during the campaign that might jinx it, but I think the ALP ran a shocker of an ad campaign. They didn’t focus on vision or a fair go for all Australians, they concentrated on instability in the Libs which Morrison countered very well by changing the party rules and campaigning as a one man show. Why the hell didn’t Labor play to its strength? They had a very talented team that side by side was streets ahead of their Liberal counterparts. I think the current Labor team is the most impressive since the ‘nations best ever team’ that Hawke had around him. Why didn’t we see those ads, instead of the ineffectual voiceover behind the Morrison/Palmer ads.

I cannot see how the ALP message could have cut through. It was full of mixed and incoherent themes. Labor were very bold in laying out an ambitious agenda which was great and unprecedented. There was a lot of vision for a kinder, fairer, smarter, cleaner, healthier, and more prosperous country that worked for the many not just the few. However, they didn’t educate the electorate enough to counter the Libs baseless scare campaign.

There is no way that anyone could have grasped any story that Labor was trying to tell. Where were the very effective Workchoices style campaign ads from 2007 that humanised the Labor agenda. It just wasn’t there. All we saw were lots of micro campaigns on marginal issues that diluted the message.

Two days after Bob Hawke died, I think he would be asking, where was the gravitas? Where was the straight talk? Where was the coherent message? Rather than help Labor win, I think his death only set the contrast between his campaigns and the pathetic campaign that this Labor campaign organization ran.

I’m bloody angry because this was the most important election in our lifetime and you wouldn’t have bloody known it. The Labor party didn’t hammer that home. This was the election that Labor should never have even come close to losing and if they do, and I think they have, they’ve got some very serious soul searching to do and some serious arsekicking to do.

This was the worst Labor campaign I’ve seen in 25 years.

Pissed off!!!

Rant over

Vote For A Future!

18 Saturday May 2019

Posted by Zak de Courcy in Australian Politics

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

ALP, Australia, Australian politics, Bill Shorten, climate change, Election 2019, Franking Credits, Gough Whitlam, Greens, Labor, Liberal Party, Medibank, Medicare Australia, Negative Gearing, Scott Morrison

Vote for a Future

When I was 17, I was a very undercooked but also very ambitious member of the Australian Liberal Party (I know, I’m shocked too). At that time, 1975, one of the people that inspired me to get involved in politics was an aspiring Liberal senate candidate, Andrew Thomas from Northampton, just north of Geraldton in Western Australia, who entrusted me to organise campaign events for him in places like Carnamah and Mingenew.

We became firm friends and after he was elected in 1975, I started studies at the University of Western Australia and he allowed me to crash nearby at the Crawley apartment, he kept for stopovers on his way home to Geraldton. Quite often he would arrive home on Thursday night, shattered after a long and turbulent week in Canberra. I vividly remember one such Thursday night when, over a couple of stubbies, conversation turned to the Fraser Government’s plans to gradually destroy Medibank (the precursor to Medicare Australia), introduced by the Whitlam Government in 1975. The reason I so well remember the conversation was that as a young Lib, I reflexively joined in the denunciation of Socialist Medicine as we called Medibank. So I was stunned when Andrew said that, although as a Liberal MP, he was required to join the chorus of derision, he was privately full of admiration for Gough Whitlam and his Medibank scheme.

I’m telling this story because this is a pivotal moment in our history. Not only does the fate of Climate change action rest on the outcome of Saturday’s election but so too the fate of our beloved ABC which will be dead within 10 years if the Morrison/Palmer Government is elected.

On top of that, there is a chance to wind back some gross inequities in society that result from past attempts by Liberal governments to shore up their vote by splashing money at their wealthy patrons via measures such as extending franking credit rebates (or gifts) to investors who had not paid any income tax. This is the most contentious of Labor’s economic reform agenda and while the number of people affected by this change is small, the impact on budget savings will be huge, as will Labor’s changes to Negative Gearing.

Liberals are reflexively required to oppose these economic reforms as well as real action on Climate Change. They are also tied to the Murdoch media agenda to destroy the ABC, something he has been pushing for years. Murdoch succeeded in his long campaign to nobble the NBN to protect his Foxtel from streaming services such as Netflix that would benefit from a superfast full fibre NBN. Now he also wants to nobble the ABC because it takes eyeballs away from his paywall protected news outlets and Sky News.

I firmly believe that there are many Liberal MPs who will be privately relieved if a Shorten Labor government is elected. I believe that many of them would be glad to be rid of the albatross of Abbott’s legacy of Climate Change denial; energy policy civil wars; denigration of people on income support; attacks on wage earners via cruel cuts to penalty rates; barely concealed racism; and unsustainable welfare subsidies for the relatively wealthy, like Negative Gearing and Franking Credits.

If I hadn’t heard a Liberal senator say something akin to that to me 40 years ago, I wouldn’t have believed it possible. My friend the Liberal senator, provided me with the proof that politicians quite often say one thing while firmly believing the opposite. Knowing that, I also know there must be decent people who also happen to be Liberal party MPs. I also believe that many of them must be embarrassed that they have been forced into defending an indefensible corner filled with cruelty, corruption and cognitive dissonance.

Help relieve the tortured souls of fair minded Liberal MPs who have a social conscience and are not Peter Dutton, Tony Abbott, Scott Morrison and their like, and…

Vote Greens or Labor on Saturday.

Vale Bob Hawke

17 Friday May 2019

Posted by Zak de Courcy in Australian Politics

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

ALP, Australia, Australian politics, Bob Hawke, Gough Whitlam, John Curtin, Labor, Malcolm Fraser

Bob Hawke PM

Former Australian Prime Minister Robert James Lee Hawke

Yesterday, Australia lost one of its giants. Throughout our short history we have counted a handful of truly towering figures, people whose existence has sharply shaped the destiny of our nation. And towering above them all was Bob Hawke, our country’s 23rd prime minister. He served in that office from 1983 to 1991, an eight year span that enchanted, at times transfixed, and ultimately transformed this country.

It’s hard in 2019 to convey how omnipresent Bob Hawke was in the life of Australia from the late 1960s right through to the 1990s. No one before or since has had such a profound impact on this country (with the only possible exceptions: Gough Whitlam and war-time prime minister John Curtin). In 1970 he was the most popular and respected person in the country and by 1984 he had also become the most popular prime minister in history with sustained approval at an astonishing 75%. No one has come close since.

In the coming days and weeks, many words will be written and even more will be spoken, lauding this wonderful and great man. I don’t have any great insight into his life and work so I won’t add mine to the many eulogies to come, but I would like to relate my brief impression of him.

In 1975 I met (soon to be prime minister) Malcolm Fraser just before he delivered the first Menzies oration at the University of Western Australia and was impressed by how he turned an innate nervousness backstage into a confident and polished performance on stage. Great (and tall) as he appeared, he was all too human and didn’t fill me with awe the way meeting Bob Hawke did.

In 1981 I met ex-prime minister Gough Whitlam and formed an unlikely friendship with him that lasted several years. While my first meeting with Gough was exhilarating, it still didn’t fill me with awe the way meeting Bob Hawke did.

In 1983 when I met Bob Hawke for the first time, I felt my whole body tingle in a way I hadn’t experienced before or since. I know there were a lot of people around me on that day who also had that strange otherworldly feeling. Bob Hawke had that weird effect on people wherever he appeared.

There were some questionable actions that he took both publicly and privately but when it comes right down to it, who could compare with the way he made us all feel. We could sorely use some of that authenticity and electric raw charisma right now.

There’s a very good case to suggest he was our greatest prime minister. I wouldn’t argue with that.

It will be a very long time before we see his like again.

What a life.


Although Bob was out of office for more than 25 years, he was adored by new generations of young people. Who can forget the chant ‘Hawkie, Hawkie’ at the cricket, when he would skol a beer.

Do you have any recollections or impressions of Bob that you’d like to share?

:: Please leave a comment ::


Trump’s Government Shutdown, Iran and the Kitchen Sink…

14 Monday Jan 2019

Posted by Zak de Courcy in International Politics

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

current-events, Democratic Party, Democrats, Donald Trump, Iran, National Emergency, Republican Party, Republicans, Shutdown, Trump, USA, USA Politcs

donald trump 01e

In its 4th week, the record breaking US government shutdown is affecting millions of people who rely on the government for their survival, seems far from a resolution, and for what?

This shutdown was instigated by Trump when the Democrats refused to cave to his ludicrous demand for $5.7B to build his Mexican wall, which he promised Mexico would pay for. Apart from the fact that this money would only build a fraction of his wall, most observers question whether it would be effective at all, given that most contraband comes through border road entry points anyway, or via drones, planes, cannons and tunnels. Worse, Trump has fired up over this dispute that surely comes nowhere close to justifying the catastrophic harm he is causing.

I wondered why someone as cunning as Trump would resort to this issue as his first protracted confrontation, his potential Alamo? What’s in it for him? The first obvious answer is that it fires up his core ‘Build the Wall’ base of support. It also provides a huge distraction from the many flashpoints bursting around him. But, surely there’s got to be more to it than that?
With the Mueller investigation of Russia and Trump wrapping up soon, and with several bombshell revelations soon to follow, Trump must be able to read the tea leaves: he’s in for a very torrid time.

Now back to the shutdown… Trump has been openly flirting with the idea of declaring a ‘National Emergency’ which he says he could use to divert money from the military and FEMA to fund his wall. Whether he actually does declare an emergency on this occasion, I think is moot. I don’t think he will. But by keeping the idea of a declared emergency bubbling in the public consciousness for weeks, Trump is softening Americans to the very notion that such an emergency could be readily called.

Why would Trump be so keen to have the possibility of a ‘National Emergency’ handy in his back pocket? Because such an NE declaration gives him access to unprecedented and potentially almost dictatorial powers, at least in the short term. And as I’m sure he knows, the congressional review of such powers has rarely been exercised and would be very difficult to curtail. With his army of partisan judicial appointments, it’s also likely that at least some courts could be found to support him.

Trump’s rabid base has already been indoctrinated to the view that CNN, the Washington Post and the New York Times are the “enemy of the people”, so they are prepared for a barrage of negative press against their hero from that quarter of the media. As well, the Republicans in Congress have already proved to be completely spineless and without a shred of principle or decency, as they have fallen in behind Trump. So, we cannot expect much in the way of resistance from them. And while the Democrats do now control the House of Representatives, critically, after the mid-term elections where they lost Senate seats, they now have next to no influence in that more powerful chamber. It’s the Senate that will ultimately determine Trumps fate and that body is now Trumps happy spitoon.

So, back to Trump’s ‘Emergency’. Trump has always seemed to operate behind a wall of obfuscation, misdirection, fantasy, invention and created chaos. It wouldn’t take much for Trump to concoct a cyber war or even a hot war with Iran to justify ‘controls over the internet’, including search (just Google ‘idiot’ and select the images tab: the first 12 images are of Trump). Already, Trump has reportedly ordered the Pentagon to draw up plans for military strikes on Iran. It also wouldn’t take much for Trump to bury adverse reports like Mueller’s, or even an impeachment, under the cover of a ‘National Emergency’. And, if you think war with Iran is far fetched, remember the concocted intelligence that led to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

When the real push from the Democrats and the media comes, don’t expect Trump to put his nation first and consider the consequences of his actions, do expect him to chuck everything, including the kitchen sink to defend himself.

We’re all in for one hell of a ride.

More
• The Atlantic have produced this interesting piece which takes these themes a bit further. It’a a long read, perhaps best savoured in bites, but it’s quite illuminating.
What the President Could Do If He Declares a State of Emergency [The Atlantic]

An Aussie Flag…

12 Thursday Jan 2017

Posted by Zak de Courcy in Gotta Life

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Australia, Flag, Flags, Indigenous flag

My Aussie Flag

An idea for an inclusive Aussie flag

I’ve seen many crap suggestions for a new post-rule-Britannia Aussie flag design, mostly featuring Kangaroos and/or the Southern Cross. The kangaroo is a beaut looking animal but unlike the Canadian Maple Leaf, which has a simple and beautiful symmetry, the roo is all gangly arms, legs and tail which makes it an awkward fit in a national flag.

So… I’ve had a go at my own crap designs. I think the symbolism is pretty easy to see, including the boomerangs in the above suggestion which symbolise inclusion.

My simple Aussie flag

Another simple idea for an Aussie flag

Oh, and before you say it… no there’s no Southern Cross and no Federation Star (that 7 pointy thingy for the 6 states and a 7th for territories and future states) Really!! Do we need to advertise that. Also, I think we all know that in the southern hemisphere, you can see the Southern Cross… Woopdeedoo. And anyone who thinks that blue, green and gold belong together, try wearing it without attracting giggles.

Although the red might be a bit too nuanced for the flag snobs (heraldic tradition and all that), there are plenty of flags out there that also flout heraldic tradition in order to look beautiful.

So, What do you think?

Note: To be honest, I would have preferred the existing red, yellow and black Indigenous Flag that often flies from government flagpoles around the country but unfortunately, that flag is copyright and its designer has specifically rejected its adoption as our national flag.

Australia Days…

11 Wednesday Jan 2017

Posted by Zak de Courcy in Australian Politics, Gotta Life

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Australia, Australia Day, Mabo, Tanzania, Terra nullius, Uhuru Day

My Aussie Flag

I’d just like to chuck this out there and see what happens…

I know that there is significant and understandable disquiet with the current Australia Day, January 26, a celebration day that might feel like it’s been around forever but hasn’t and a day that causes anguish for many indigenous Australians. The current Australia Day only became generally accepted throughout Australia in 1935 and only came into real prominence when the public holiday shifted from a long weekend to the actual date in 1994.

Of course indigenous Australians are reminded every year that their country (or rather, the colony of New South Wales) was annexed by Governor Arthur Phillip for Britain on that colonisation date. So for many, it is a day of sad reflection on their history after that date rather than a day to celebrate. Imagine a Tanzanian being asked to celebrate, as their national day, the date that they became a British possession rather than, Uhuru Day (freedom day) – 9 December, the day in 1961 that the country gained its independence.

The overwhelmingly obvious celebration day for Australia is the date we joined to become a united Australian federation on January 1, 1901. However, having a dual celebration of a New Year combined with a national day would dilute both (and even worse, deprive us of a cherished public holiday).

An alternative, May 27, would celebrate the day in 1967 that Australians voted to amend the Constitution to recognize the indigenous population (previously they had been excluded from the population census and were not full citizens) and the right of the Commonwealth to make law relating to indigenous Australians (previously that had been a state prerogative). While there might be a compelling case for selecting this day, I believe a strong argument could also be proffered to instead choose the date 3 June 1992 when Mr. E. Mabo won his momentous High Court ruling that overturned ‘Terra nullius‘ (which had previously assumed Australia to be uninhabited prior to British colonisation). Both these days celebrate an unfinished process of inclusion and reconciliation that may never be completely realised but will certainly not be satisfied until an indigenous treaty and/or full constitutional recognition is achieved.

In the meantime I’d like to suggest January 25 and 26 as ‘Australia Days’, with the public holiday shifted to the 25th. These two days symbolise the critical demarcation between ancient and modern Australia while providing an opportunity to showcase indigenous cultural heritage and celebrate the immigrant nation that is Australia. And, as a trivial aside, the days are a lot warmer than a wintery day in May or June and… hell, how many countries devote a whole two days to celebrate their nationhood?

I’d also like to suggest that May 27 be declared Australian Citizenship Day, the day when Australia voted to confer citizenship rights for all Australians, including the first nations. The current Citizenship Day is 17 September, a day which recognises an obscure event in 1973 when the Nationality and Citizenship Act 1948 was renamed the Australian Citizenship Act 1948.

#Brexit. The Darkest of Days…

24 Friday Jun 2016

Posted by Zak de Courcy in International Politics

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

#Brexit, Boris Johnson, Britain, Conservative Party, David Cameron, EU, European Union, international politics, Ireland, Jeremy Corbyn, Labour Party, Nigel Farage, Northern Ireland, Scotland, UK politics, UKIP, United Kingdom

Brexit.jpg

This is the darkest day for Britain since the Second World War and a day that also marks the beginning of the end of the UK.

What a scared, narrow minded, backwards little country England has become? There are millions of people who don’t look like Boris Johnson who will be waking up in England today shit scared of the mobs that will now feel that their neo-fascist inclinations have been vindicated. Not everyone who voted for ‘Brexit’ is a football hooligan but you can bet the house that every single one of those neo-nazi thugs voted with Boris and his band of extremists. Within 3 months (unless in the interim, he becomes the most reviled man in the Britain), Boris Johnson will be hoping to be the prime minister of the UK. This was always his objective, and what a self-serving and miserable objective that was. Boris will be well pleased with himself but his reckless indifference to the welfare of his fellow citizens, most of whom do not have his intelligence, knowledge, political judgement or privileged Etonian background, is gobsmacking in its audacity.

So craven is this lust for power, I think many would suggest, it’s a safe bet that if David Cameron had supported ‘Brexit’, Boris would have led the campaign to stay.

Scotland, who overwhelmingly supported the vote to stay in the EU, will surely now vote to leave the UK and to remain in the EU, before the final English exit from Europe within the next 2 years.

Northern Ireland also voted heavily to remain in the EU so it’s very likely that there’ll be a renewed push for Irish unification and continued EU membership (as part of Ireland). As part of Europe the border between the north and the rest of Ireland, had become nebulous and increasingly unimportant with residents freely crossing north and south. With ‘Brexit’, Britain will have only one land border between itself and Europe and that will be the contentious border in Northern Ireland. The reinstatement of formal border controls between the two parts of Ireland (one British, the other, Europe), will only heighten the separation and open old wounds and renew tension and troubles. Northern Ireland, Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness (Sinn Féin) has already called for an Irish unity vote. It’s hard to imagine that the Good Friday accord, that ended the violence in Northern Ireland, won’t be severely tested, with the fury this vote will unleash in Belfast.

And apart from the turmoil that this vote and the disintegration of the UK will bring to Britons, there’s also the inevitable retribution from Germany and France that will follow this vote. As an example to the rest of Europe, they will be relentless in punishing Britain for ‘Brexit’. They will ensure that there’s no business-as-usual in trade and access to the EU. Doors will close, phone calls will go unanswered and a big chunk of Britain’s biggest industry, financial services, will move to Dublin and Frankfurt.

When the dust finally settles on this calamity, England will shrink into real obscurity. Sooner than might otherwise have happened, Britain, as we know it, will cease to exist and in all probability, will have a doubtful hold on its UN P5 place, and with it the last vestige of its hollow imperial greatness. What a great price Britain will pay for Boris Johnson’s hissy fit vanity project. And what a great price they will bear for David Cameron’s lack of leadership and courage to face down the call for this referendum in the first place.

There are clear moments in history when leadership failure has had catastrophic consequence: one when Neville Chamberlain arrived back in London waving his capitulation to Adolph Hitler and proclaiming he’d achieved “Peace for our time”, months before Hitler invaded Poland; and another when David Cameron secured his place as prime minister by agreeing to this referendum but at the cost of the very country he so desperately wanted to rule.

With this cataclysmic vote, the march towards a new neo-fascist rise in Europe now seems almost unstoppable. Hungary and Poland already have Eurosceptic far right governments with neo-fascist undertones. France’s own far right National Front, who are also campaigning to leave the EU, is already the second largest party in that country. Even Denmark, a former poster child for progressive social and economic values, has lurched troublingly to the right under its new radical hard-right prime minister and, has distanced itself from the European project.

Only a few years ago the European Union was controversially awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with the citation: “for over six decades contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe”. That hope for: that peace; that reconciliation; that democracy; and that human rights is now in tatters.

What a very sad day.

‪#‎Brexit‬ ‪#‎endoftheUK‬

Clinton Supporters are Scaremongering about Donald Trump to Silence the Concerns of the Young and the Poor

26 Saturday Mar 2016

Posted by Zak de Courcy in International Politics, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Benjamin Studebaker, Bernie Sanders, Democratic Party, Democrats, Election 2016, Hillary Clinton, USA, USA politics

This is an incredible piece of analysis that really blows the fluff and bubble off the Bernie Sanders / Trump scare campaign. I’m an ardent supporter of Bernie because he strikes me as someone who has walked the walk for more than 50 years with unimpeachable service to humanity. He also talks about a new compact with Americans that amounts to a FDR style ‘New Deal’ but writ so much larger. His campaign also promises much in the way of example for the rest of the world.

This is a long read but I promise you it’s worth it.

Benjamin Studebaker's avatarBenjamin Studebaker

I started seeing it a few weeks ago, when Daily Kos told its contributors that after March 15th, they were no longer allowed to robustly criticize Hillary Clinton from the left. As Donald Trump continues to win, win, and win some more, it has only intensified. First they asked Bernie Sanders supporters to unite behind Clinton. Now they’re accusing Sanders supporters of being privileged if they resist. And from there, it’s just a small step to calling Sanders’ people enablers of racism, sexism, or even fascism. If you haven’t seen these arguments yet, you will soon. The arguments being peddled are very poorly constructed. They rely on a mix of fear and bias toward the near.

View original post 3,160 more words

Abbott’s Syrian Messaging Cock-up!

09 Wednesday Sep 2015

Posted by Zak de Courcy in Australian Politics, International Politics, Religion

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Australian politics, Christians, Cory Bernardi, Eric Abbetz, George Christensen, Julie Bishop, Refugees, Syria, Tony Abbott

Tony Abbott

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott

Well, a few days ago I saw a report that Slovakia, with its far right government, were going to take in a couple of hundred Syrian refugees. But they would only accept Christians. At the time I thought, what sort of warped, bigoted sense of humanity allows them to think that’s somehow OK? Today I got my answer… I heard Tony Abbott’s colleagues, Eric Abetz, George Christensen and Cory Bernardi say that Christians are the most persecuted people in the world and so Australia would take in 12,000 Syrian Christian refugees. I think these comments reveal the dark entrenched prejudice that exists within the Liberal Party against those who are not pious Christians like themselves. To deflect the obvious howls of derision that this announcement would surely deserve, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop added the fig leaf, saying we’d take in a few other ‘persecuted minorities’, such as Yazidis and Druze as well.

Every ethnic and religious group in Syria is persecuted by another group; no group is safe in that bombed out ruin of a country. So what Abetz and co are effectively saying is that they’d offer non-Muslim Syrians a lifeboat and basically let the rest drown.

So, even when Tony Abbott thinks he’s revealing his compassionate side by doing something good for humanity (apart from exporting the dirty little black rock, that is), he still somehow manages to turn it to his radical right wing Christian ideological agenda and cover his gesture in a big steaming turd.

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