Violence – Futility – Violence – Futility . . .

Fiona Uncategorized

Bushfire Bill gets it:

When I was watching 60s war movies with my Dad as a little’n, I used to ask him why the Germans bothered with armies and stuff, when they could just blow up bombs in London and terrify the populace that way.

He talked to me about “rules”.

Later on, after I grew up a little, I thought that if The State (l’Etat?) guarantees more or less 100% security, then anyone who took even 1% off that, was defying the State’s authority and was thus undermining the other 99% of the State.

In my mature(r) years, I have thought that if WE bomb THEM, then why can’t THEY bomb US?

The product sold to us in the West of highly trained fighter jocks, 30,000 feet above the fray, dropping laser guided bombs on hapless and defenceless targets, who then die terrible deaths with their bloody, eviscerated intestines wrapped around the severed, eyeless, lipless heads of their children, was always false advertising.

We sit in our fighter jets playing win-win video games.

They arm themselves with Kalashnikovs and retaliate against our homeland.

Yet the former is moral and surgical. The latter excites worldwide horror and revulsion.

It’s not win-win anymore. The targets have learned how to be the aggressors.

Can we really blame them for retaliating in the best way they know how?Can we condemn them for bringing home to us, in our supposedly secure cities, just what it is like to have random murder perpetrated on our citizens and loved ones?

I’m as horrified as the next person by what happened today. I’m revolted and disgusted about Paris.

But can I blame “the enemy” for giving back to “us” some of what we have done to “them”?

In my heart of hearts, I can’t.

I hate it, but you can’t say we weren’t warned of the consequences of our actions.

Can someone tell me I’m wrong? And if I am, where I’m wrong?

As does Leone (not to mention every Pubster who has been commenting since earlier today):

You are right, and I agree with everything you say.

Tonight New Matilda gave us this –
(IMAGE: Moyan Brenn, Flickr) Paris Attacks Highlight Western Vulnerability, And Our Selective Grief And Outrage
https://newmatilda.com/2015/11/14/paris-attacks-highlight-western-vulnerability-and-our-selective-grief-and-outrage/

It has attracted quite a bit of ‘how dare you say this right now’ comment. But it is absolutely right, and there is no ‘good’ time to point out how hypocritical we are, weeping over one outrage and ignoring another, just as horrifying, because those killed or injured are not white, or European, or Australian.

And Kaye Lee from AIMM:

Does anyone truly believe that violence can lead the world to a better place?

There can be only one reason for the attacks in Paris and that is to draw the West into increased military action in the Middle East, and from the sounds of it, that has been the call from many people today.

To those whose answer to the bombs and bullets is bigger bombs and more bullets, I would say you are being manipulated in the same way as the ignorant deluded handful of people who carried out these attacks.

How can you claim to be on the side of right when you use the same methods – go to a foreign country and kill innocent people?

How can you speak of national security and protecting your borders as you invade other countries?

How can you claim to be protecting human rights as you bomb hospitals?

How can you claim to be fighting for freedom as you lock up the people fleeing from oppression?

We have removed countless despots and dictators but rarely has it gone well. We install corrupt governments or leave when it becomes politically inconvenient to stay and leave people to cope with the mess we leave behind. We train and arm paramilitary groups and then abandon them and show surprise when they team up with others we don’t care for.

The armaments industry is a huge global business with no ethics. Defence forces are empire builders who demand hundreds of billions to ‘keep us safe’ as they spark aggression around the world.

If you kill people, others will want revenge. Where does it stop?

Is humanity capable of civilisation? Capable of tolerance? Capable of accepting the responsibility of caring for and nurturing all children, educating them, and protecting the environment so they can have a future?

Billy Connelly used to do a skit about his mother belting him for hitting his sister. Are we to respond to violence with violence and see ourselves as saviours?

Until we learn to respect each other and the planet we share, we are doomed to let those who would use us for their own power and profit pull the strings.

VIOLENCE BEGETS ONLY ONE THING – MORE VIOLENCE

Somehow, we – the beneficiaries of the West’s crusading, colonising, exploiting activities for so many centuries – have to resolve this hellish brew. As far as I’m concerned, however, Kaye Lee has nailed it:

Until we learn to respect each other and the planet we share, we are doomed to let those who would use us for their own power and profit pull the strings.

525 thoughts on “Violence – Futility – Violence – Futility . . .”

  1. Aguirre

    One small aspect you left out. The msm are all fully behind Turnoff, so it won’t be as potent as rudd was against Julia. The msm are lapping every sigh and sound that Turnoff utters.

    I would love for your scenario to work out, but it won’t be played out in voter land the same as it was for Labor.

  7. Fiona

    Think also of the lovely budget increases he gave them. A sure fire way of receiving lurve from the top ranks. Just the chaps you need to “get things done”.

  9. … it may be that the re-opening of the Ashbygate files is just the start of it.

    Abbott had better be pretty sure that this thing was run out of Queensland, and that any dirty dealings got done well before he knew about it.

    On the other hand, getting Brough, Pyne AND Wyatt Roy would be a feather in his miserable cap.

    Can I throw in a complete hypothetical here?

    What if Turnbull had something to do with it? Even peripherally?

    Too ridiculous to conceive of, I know, but when it comes to plots and secret dealings, Turnbull DOES have form…

    Looks to me like it could possibly be a case of pass the hand grenade, until it goes off in someone’s face.

  10. To me Turnbull making Brough a minister says a lot. He knew what Brough had been up to, but he went ahead anyway. There has to be a lot more to it than just a nice, not -too-taxing portfolio and all that lovely extra salary as a reward for services rendered.

  12. One small aspect you left out. The msm are all fully behind Turnoff, so it won’t be as potent as rudd was against Julia. The msm are lapping every sigh and sound that Turnoff utters.

    I would love for your scenario to work out, but it won’t be played out in voter land the same as it was for Labor.

    A key difference between Rudd’s whiteanting and Abbott’s will be that Abbott won’t launch a pitch to the public to frame himself as the people’s prime minister. His pitch will be to the Liberal party’s conservative base (both inside and outside the parliamentary party). I think these people could make Turnbull’s life a misery if Abbott can convince them that Turnbull’s turning the Libs into Labor-lite.

  13. Shouldn’t Brough do the decent thing and stand aside until the AFP finishes their investigations? Shouldn’t Turnbull demand he do that?

  14. C K Watt

    Bloody hell. Jonah was in a recent doco revisiting South Africa 20 years after the world cup final. I looked at the match which did so much to help Sth Africa post apartheid. A really sad bit was seeing him visit Joost van der Westhuizen , a great Bok half back in that game. The poor bugger is in the late stages of motor neuron disease. Such a fine youngish guy reduced to a shell of his former self barely able to talk and with a young family seeing him gradually deteriorate.

    Jonah looked a bit tired on occasion but otherwise seemed OK.

    Haere rā Jonah.

  18. Shouldn’t Brough do the decent thing and stand aside until the AFP finishes their investigations? Shouldn’t Turnbull demand he do that?

    I’d refuse to accept his vote.

  19. Obviously, our security is “in the very best of hands”

    Security agencies received more than a dozen warnings about Man Haron Monis’s Facebook posts – including a pledge of allegiance to “the caliph of the Muslims” – in the days before the Sydney siege, but decided they “did not indicate a desire or attempt to engage in terrorism”, an inquest has heard.

    Contact between the Martin Place gunman and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio) is the subject of the third phase of the New South Wales coroner’s inquest into the December 2014 siege, which started on Wednesday.

    The inquest heard that 18 calls were made to Asio’s security hotline about Monis’s Facebook page in the week before the siege, but intelligence analysts and police determined he posed no “imminent threat”.

    Nor did his writings meet the threshold for the new offence of “advocating terrorism”, police said.

    http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/nov/18/asio-received-repeated-warnings-about-man-haron-monis-inquest-hears

  20. i am about to go back to the docs again for the results of the latest bit of surgery. I really hope he got it all this time .

    The thing to remember about Ashbygate is all those nice Liberal chaps are completely innocent until proven guilty. Just like how shorten and the Union blokes were treated.

  24. From world leader on climate change action to grudging giving in, but only after trying to wreck the deal – how Australia has changed.

    Australia backs down on coal stand-off

    Jake Schmidt, of the US-based Natural Resources Defence Council, said Australia had watered the deal down, but it would still send “a powerful signal to the private sector that unfettered public financing of overseas coal power plants is coming to an end”.
    ​Julien Vincent, of campaign group Market Forces, said the agreement was a “huge relief”, but expressed concern about Australia’s positioning in the negotiations.
    “Prime Minister [Malcolm] Turnbull said just a few weeks ago that we need to take the ideology out of the climate change debate. For Australia to take a modest proposal … and only agree to it after kicking holes in it is a sign that we haven’t yet shaken off the ‘climate change is absolute crap’ ideology of Tony Abbott,” he said

    http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/australia-backs-down-on-coal-standoff-20151118-gl1ng5.html

  25. Also on this government’s crappy record on dealing with climate change -there is so much spin, so many lies in this I just don’t know where to start. It’s a complete work of fantasy.

    To save Googling here’s the whole thing.

    Greg Hunt to tell climate summit 2020 carbon goal has been met

    Australia will reveal at the Paris climate change conference that it has met its 2020 emissions ­reduction target and it is open to reviewing its 2030 commitment in five years in the event of an agreement for deeper global emissions cuts.

    Environment Minister Greg Hunt has told The Australian that he expects new calculations of Australia’s cumulative emissions reduction task to 2020 to be “below zero’’ when they are ­revealed ahead of the Paris ­conference.

    In March, The Australian ­revealed that the Environment Department had cut the cumulative abatement task between 2013 and 2020 from 421 million tonnes to 236 million tonnes, driven by lower electricity demand, worse than expected agricultural conditions, lower manufacturing output and weaker expectations for coal production.

    “The huge expectation is that it will be below zero,’’ Mr Hunt said of the likely Paris conference emissions abatement calculation. “We’ll be able to say that we’ve ­already met our target. And that will still be on actual performance and worst-case projections.’’

    Mr Hunt said the government would have the capacity to deliver more than its promised target of 5 per cent below 2000 levels by 2020 and would have reductions that could be carried over into the 2020-30 period.

    The Paris conference will ­attempt to fashion an agreement for countries to commit to limiting global warming to 2C, however pledges to date fall short of this ambition and are running at about 2.7C.

    The key to the Paris conference will be extracting a commitment from countries to review and deepen their emissions cuts targets every five years in a bid to achieve the 2C goal or better it.

    Mr Hunt said Australia would maintain its 26 to 28 per cent ­reduction target to 2030 at the Paris conference and would not commit to additional finance to developing countries to combat climate change.

    But the government has built in a 2017 review mechanism of its Direct Action policy, which will give it the ability to sweeten its emissions reduction offer in 2020 in the event of deeper global ­action on climate change.

    Mr Hunt said Australia’s decision to lay on the table the fact that it would be comfortable with a 2020 review of its target had seen its applauded at pre-conference meetings. The 2017 review is expected to pave the way for the government to buy a strategic ­reserve of international carbon credits, which could allow it to deepen its pledge after 2020.

    Companies would also likely be allowed to use international permits to comply with their emissions baselines under the government’s safeguards mechanism.

    “The whole system was designed so we could adapt to the fact that we would probably ­require us to make new pledges in 2020, 2025 and 2030,’’ Mr Hunt said. “I think what we are likely to do is move into a five-year cycle where there are incremental ­improvements.’’

    Australia is likely to promote global initiatives to protect and enhance the recovery of rainforests and a scheme to rehabilitate mangroves, salt bush and seagrass in a boost to boost carbon sequestration.

    Malcolm Turnbull will attend the conference on the first day of the two-week meeting. Mr Hunt will attend for the first week and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop will attend for the final week.

    Mr Hunt said he was “realistically optimistic’’ that the conference would be a success in terms of cementing the 2C commitment and the five-year reviews

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/climate/greg-hunt-to-tell-climate-summit-2020-carbon-goal-has-been-met/story-e6frg6xf-1227612978015?sv=bd8f7a649a2189c57fd658c32cde3fdf

    Grunt is saying the government will do nothing for five years, apart from waiting to see what everyone else does. Then they might think about doing a bit.

    Grunt is definitely not going to mention one teensy little fact – emissions are on the rise for the first time since 2009.

  26. If the AFP are formally investigating Brough for any improper conduct relating to his high purpose as a Federal Parliamentarian – and if he has been advised accordingly by the AFP – he should stand aside from his Ministerial duties, until cleared or otherwise. This could again get very messy as – apart from politicians -it also potentially deeply implicates the Canberra bureau of Rupert Murdochs newspapers.

  29. Hi All
    On Monday am I had to go to a Drs surgery, and while waiting (over an hour) I read the Tele provided. Of course it was revelling in the terror porn of Paris but the really surprising part was that in the letters and sms messages pages most of the mail was all blaming Turnbull for the terror problems, and cries from the heart to bring back Abbott. Turnbull is a craven lefty, too friendly with immigrants, responsible for us being over run by Syrian reffos, as bad as Gillard. Tony on the other hand is a mans man, stands up to both terrorists and Russians.
    I’ve not read the Tele for some months, but I have been aware of the headlines of articles especially from their female political reporter (can’t think of her name, but you know the one, she looks like a self satisfied and overstuffed vampire) who has been revealing some insider stuffups from the Abbott days. I had thought the idea of those articles was to wean the angry old bogan right wingers off Abbott and on to the party in the current interests of Rupert in a sort of “the king is dead, long live the king” fashion. Judging from the letters she has her work cut out for her.
    Word around town is that Abbott is a true believer in “the Resurrection”. Lot of work being done behind the scenes by his Disciples and he has moved in with Mary Magdalene.

  34. “…she looks like a self satisfied and overstuffed vampire’. That has to be Samantha Maiden

    Or the appalling Miranda Devine.

  36. Loved this comment on Lenore Taylor’s lawfare article.

    From hungrycocky –

    Well blow me down!

    Who would have thought; a neoconservative political party is going to introduce neoconservative policies at the expense of the Public and the environment!

    Didn’t Lenore write a Turnbull puff piece a few weeks ago informing everyone this policy was dead in the water?

    She personally berated me for having the temerity to question her journalism on this very issue. I’m not going to hold my breath waiting for her to admit she was wrong!

  37. Oh Noes! Not the $100 lamb roast again!

    Food prices will rise under China trade deal, Barnaby Joyce admits

    Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce has conceded Australian food prices will rise as a result of the nation’s freshly inked free trade agreement with China.
    Mr Joyce told Fairfax radio on Tuesday that the agreement would mean farmers would be able to demand higher prices for their produce, because they would have more potential buyers for their products

    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/food-prices-will-rise-under-china-trade-deal-barnaby-joyce-admits-20141118-11p3o7.html

    The usual Bananaby gobbledegook – food prices will go up because farmers will have more markets to sell to and can demand higher prices, but food prices won’t go up because farmers still won’t get paid much. Or something. Trying to decipher what he is on about always makes my head hurt.

  41. BK

    How did your trip to Dr go today? Hope all is well with the healing. Razz will have another week on IV antibiotics, then two weeks on orals. We have got used to the routine of the Home Nurses coming every day, it will be strange not having them visit, although there won’t be a mad rush every morning to get everything tidied up. Only got caught one day when they arrived about an hour earlier than usual.

    Hunter was a real hit with them all, and he supervised every move they made with great care.

  43. Good news. Test results say all the bad stuff gone for now so am very happy. Stitches removed next Monday ,when we will see how well the surgery went.

  45. Miranda Devine always reminds me of the sad half cut mother of the bride who dresses up for the wedding like a teenager while looking daggers at the ex hubby and his swish trade-up new missus.

  46. Just imagine the abusive tirades la devine miranda and her ilk would have hurled in FPMJG’s direction had Julia ever dared display so much cleavage.

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