Comments

population overshoot (not verified)

Sun, 2016-05-08 13:43

The majority of our population growth is not because of our humanitarian intake, the boats, but economic migration. People don't question why there are millions of refugees, and asylum seekers. It's somehow assumed that it's just how it is! The UN should be negotiating peace, in Syria and Africa, not just ignoring the causes and spreading millions of people around the world, to the West. The wealthy and oil-rich Arab countries refuse to take asylum seekers, and expect Western countries to carry the load. Once they have passed the safest and closest country, they are then refugees, but once they keep travelling for the "best" country, for welfare, jobs and housing, they lose their status to become opportunists, and country-shopper.

Sheila Newman

Sat, 2016-05-07 13:35

I am sure that this article will interest many of our readers. I just want to say that those readers will also have noticed that we have been taking the position that the situation in Syria is the result of western interference to provoke wars for geopolitical reasons. This is the responsibility of politicians and the mainstream media, not the responsibility of ordinary citizens who have been snowed by misinformation. Our responsibility is, however, to inform ourselves, to create responsible citizen media to pressure our disgraceful political elite into refraining from supporting wars and encouraging the destabilisation of their own countries by inviting mass migration under guise of receiving refugees. See, for instance, . Looking at some other comments recently published here on the definition of refugee, I think that we need to remember what is driving refugee creation, but also to refresh our knowledge of the actual rules, which require people to seek the closest safe country to the one they are fleeing. (Yes, sometimes it is not possible to remain in such a country - because there is no means of surviving or because there is no provision for refugees.) We should all also be aware that Syria has been the recipient of millions or refugees from neighboring countries for decades now, so that interference in the existence of the Syrian state has destabilised established refugees as well as creating new ones. Whilst I am in favour, in fact it is my priority, of limiting Australia's population in line with an ecological and democratic optimum (democratic in the sense of being able to organise as families and clans, rather than as engineered densified populations), I am also in favour of attributing blame where it should lie - with the politicians and big business, rather than with individuals fleeing demolished economies where repeated interference in social organisation has created mass migration to cities and soaring birthrates, not to mention black economies and loss of social impediments to violence.

anon (not verified)

Sat, 2016-05-07 13:12

I have been treated by Dr. Nabil Antaki. He's a very good physician and I trust him. He has Canadian citizenship, and his brother (who I think was an obstetrician) was shot dead in 2012-2013 on the road to Aleppo, whilst travelling in a public bus. I have checked five websites that list hospitals. Two gave a single phone number for Al-quds, the others did not mention it. Usually hospitals have more than one phone number. So I think what Dr Antaki said is correct. The situation could be that in 2012 an ordinary building was turned into a clinic in for injured terrorists. No one seems to have heard of it before. My brother, who lives in Aleppo, has said that the building in question was hit by a US missile, as a false flag to blame the Syrian Arab Army. I need to dig further on this and access better resources. A random mortar hit a crossroads 100 meters away from my parents' home. So far they are still relatively better off than many others. As for Channel 4 News, they are showing daily reports about that purported hospital and a dead doctor, over and over again, and blaming the Syrian Arab Army. They haven't shown anything about the other hospitals that had been hit by their beloved terrorists within the last week. They haven't shown the hundreds of injured people, the dozens who had been killed daily, the 500 year old mosque and orthodox church that have been shelled by mortars while people were praying in the first and celebrating the Good Friday in the second. It had been hit on Sunday while celebrating Easter. Nor has Channel 4 shown the residential buildings that have been destroyed by new types of mortars and rockets that are much powerful than the old ones. Buildings have collapsed on the heads of their inhabitants. One kid lost ALL of his family members. There are plenty of stories Channel 4 might follow but doesn't. But it lying instead, and showing reports about the children of terrorists to generate symptay for the 'rebels'! It's very stressful for anyone who has actually been there to watch. Pregnant women and newborn babies have been killed in the obstetric hospital of Dabbeet in Aleppo, by mortar. Ar-Razi hospital, one of the few FREE hospitals in Aleppo, was hit with mortars and some sections caught fire. A private hospital was also hit in New Aleppo sector. Midan neighborhood was also badly damaged last week. Originally inhabited by Armenian residents, today it's a mixed place for mostly poor people due to the crises of war, immigration and refugees. I feel our only hope is for Russia, the Syrian Arab Army, Hezbollah and others to prevent Aleppo from falling into the hands of those barbarians and whoever is supporting them. Aleppo was doing so well before the ceasefire. During the ceasefire agreement the terrorists seem to have rested and acquired better weapons in preparation for the attack the way we are witnessing today.

Sheila Newman

Sat, 2016-05-07 13:08

Aleppo Doctor Attacks Western Media for Bias, Censorship and Lies         



       By Silvia Cattori
 



 

“With regards to recent events in Aleppo, I state very clearly that the mainstream media are lying by omission. Since the beginning of the war in Aleppo that began 4 years ago, they have consistently failed to report all the facts.
All of us here in Aleppo are disgusted by their lack of impartiality and objectivity. They only ever talk about the loss of life in the east of Aleppo which is entirely controlled by Al Nusra, a terrorist group affiliated with Al Qaeda. These are their “moderate rebels” a title that affords them an unmerited degree of respectability.
This same media remains silent on the daily losses and suffering endured in the Western areas of Aleppo living under the rain of mortar fire from these terrorist factions.  This media never mentions the terrorist blockade upon our people or the electricity cuts and water shortages inflicted upon us by their “moderate rebels”
Read more on Aleppo’s terrorist blockade, water shortages and starvation here:
This media never mention the continuous bombardment and the carnage we have witnessed in western Aleppo where every single sector has been targeted. On a daily basis we see dozens of people murdered.


What makes these omissions even more despicable is that these areas represent 75% of Aleppo and there are 1.5 million people living in them. Compare this to the 300,000 living in the eastern zone which is occupied by terrorist groups.
This twisted narrative engenders the belief that these terrorist groups that are attacking us are actually the victims. Even more abhorrent, these media have distorted our “Save Aleppo” appeal, to make it look as if we are calling for Assad and the Syrian Army to cease hostilities!
This is FALSE. Added to which, they are not “Assad’s forces“, they are the national forces of the regular Syrian army that is defending the Syrian State.
The western and gulf media could at least have had the decency to mention the terrorist massacres of our people. For example, on Friday 30th April, when one of their mortars targeted a mosque at prayer time.
The attacks and losses we suffer are reported in a way that leaves the public in the dark about the true perpetrators of these crimes.
For three days now, these media outlets have been accusing the “Assad regime” of bombing an MSF hospital [Medecins sans Frontieres] to the east of Aleppo and of killing the last paediatrician in the city. This demonstrates that, for these media, the only priority is this pocket of the city where terrorists are embedded.
The three quarters of Aleppo under Syrian Government control where numerous paediatricians are practicing is of no consequence for this media. We witnessed the same bias when Al Kindi, the biggest hospital in Aleppo, was targeted by terrorist mortars and then intentionally burnt down about 2 or 3 years ago. The media ignored this criminal act.
We are disheartened and disgusted by this continuous disinformation.”
 |30th April 2016

Original:

Translation:  | MAY 1, 2016

ecoengine (not verified)

Sat, 2016-05-07 08:49

It took about 200,000 years for modern humans to reach 1 billion people, by 1840. Populations globally have exploded in recent decades, and it's unsustainable. Now there are refugees living permanently in refugee camps! It's human overflow and will inevitably cause more "refugees" fleeing drought, poverty, conflict and third world hardships. The migration crisis can't continue, to spread the problems. There must be a re-defining of what a "refugee" is and it shouldn't be rewarded by the "free ride" of welfare and residency. The UN need to be doing more to address what causes refugees to flee their homelands, and mitigate them. Refugee centres should be close to the conflicts, or in regional settings, not spread to the West. The UN are more intent on breaking down borders than actually addressing the refugee crisis. According to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, by 1993 the average refugee crisis was lasting for nine years (pdf). A decade later, that had risen to 17 years. Long-term refugee life is becoming a new type of humanitarian phenomenon, driven by complex crises such as those in Syria, Yemen and Ethiopia. We are witnessing not only one generation of young people born in the camp and growing up in exile, but now their children. Malthus wrote over 200 years ago to point out that human populations rise exponentially, whereas the means to support them does not. Because of our greater ability to increase crop yields many think that Malthus is now discredited. This is not so, as too many countries have uncontrolled population increase and many of these countries are in the Middle East and Horn of Africa. Policies for all nations must be implemented to ensure drastically lower birth rates. Shuffling refugees around the world will only ensure more people on the social security programs in the nations that accept refugees.

peter (not verified)

Fri, 2016-05-06 10:17

[ello ed, if you read it quick you might avoid wetting your pants] The never ending push for refugee and immigrant dumping into our society from the political caste, misguided altruists and similiar, all who evidence a lack of respect for Australian heritage, is increasingly being rejected by fairdinkum Australians. Understanding of the status for genuine refugees, against third worlders seeking a free ride to a better standard of living, is part of this outlook. The difference between a real refugee and an illegal immigrant: A refugee is someone who under intense persecution flees to a neighbouring country. An illegal immigrant is someone who enters a country without a permit, in order to live a better lifestyle. Any person escaping persecution who flees to a neighbouring country can be a refugee, and it is the neighbouring country that is responsible for support pending resettlement back home; and assistance to enable return of refugees is legitimate, but if they continue their journey into or bypass other countries, seeking something they consider is a better place to live, then they are just freeloading illegal immigrants. Media flunkeys emotional labelling of same as “asylum seekers” is a ploy that now fools no one, and so called Australians whining for altruism for such aliens to be brought to Australia, even on sectarian grounds, whilst masses of Aussies are homeless, living with appalling poverty and unemployment, and subject to the drug scourge, beggars belief. This folly of misguided altruism aids the decline of the National Faith. It also contributes to the Globalisation agenda for undermining of our national identity and culture as a European derived civilisation. A people lacking the organic community bond inherent to a cultural identity are just flotsum and no real opposition to the money changers intent for their Asian graveyard. It is not the responsibility of Australians, that incessant breeding to overpopulation, internal conflicts, and overuse of available resources is leading to a stampede from Third World countries. The swarms now being encouraged to line up, and the lot in the detention centres, are free rider opportunists, encouraged by misguided altruists and attracted by Australia's standard of living. Such opportunists seem incapable of or not prepared to struggle to improve their own countries living standards. Australia does not have the infrastructure, or sustainability to cover such dumping. Combined with plague level immigration to feed the money changers exponential growth pox system, the effect to our Aussie way of life, culture, and identity is for serious decline to a low grade society. Repeated studies completely disprove the myth that population increases from migration or refugee dumping improves community wide economic wellbeing, but is in fact a disasterous drain on resources available to meet the ongoing requirements of our own people. The myth is a duping by money changing exploiters and their connected vested interests. Australia First says charity begins at home. Population plague driven exponental growth capitalism is past use by date for Australia! And to the misguided altruists :- "There's nothing more dangerous than a shallow-thinking compassionate person." G Hardin The Australia First Party will end the fake refugee/immigration rackets – no ifs, no buts - ALL WILL BE CLOSED DOWN, and our resources redirected to Australians in need. Australia First Party P.O. Box 223, Croydon, 3136 Tele: 0408 554542 National Contact 02 8587 0014 Australia First Party - Reclaiming Australia for Australians.

admin

Fri, 2016-05-06 00:39

Previously (3/5/16) on Breitbart

According to the Archbishop of Aleppo, when Westerners open their doors to Syrian refugees, it hurts, rather than helps, their cause. The solution lies not in welcoming more refugees, but in helping resolve the situation back home so they will not need to leave.

Archbishop Jean-Clement Jeanbart said he is “not happy” with the news that Canada has welcomed about 25,000 Syrian refugees in the past few months, despite its good intentions.
“We’re not happy when we see the Canadian government moving refugees and facilitating their integration. It hurts us. A lot,” he said.

Jeanbart, who has served as Melkite archbishop of Aleppo since 1995, stated that his real wish is to see the Syrian population, especially the Christians, stay in Syria.

The migration crisis is gutting Syria of its native population, particularly its Christians. “More than half of the city’s population left over the last four or five years,” Jeanbart said.

“It’s a glimpse of the hardships happening back home. To understand the tragedy that struck our city, we have to look at its story, what it was in the past. The city is 8,000 years old. It gave civilization to the world,” he said.

Jeanbart said the Canadian government should devote more time and energy to helping the Syrian population stay in Syria, and less to figuring out what to do with Syrian migrants.
“It has to help them stay where they are, to have the bare necessities, but also to find peace. And to get it over with these rebels, these terrorists, and drive both sides to talk. To find a political solution,” he said.

Jeanbart’s words echoed those of his counterpart from the Chaldean church in Aleppo, Bishop Antoine Audo, who reported recently that in only five years of conflict and persecution, the Christian population in Syria has been reduced by two-thirds, from 1.5 million to only 500,000 today.

Bishop Audo said that the situation in Aleppo is even worse than in the rest of Syria, with only a quarter of the Christian population remaining since the beginning of Syria’s civil war in 2011.
Devastated by the fighting and persecuted by Islamic extremists, the number of Christians in Aleppo has fallen from 160,000 to just 40,000. Most of the Christians population lives in areas controlled by the government.

Audo also said that Aleppo’s three cathedrals have been almost completely destroyed, and that the local population lives under constant fear and hardship.

“You cannot imagine the dangers that we face every day,” he said.

In February, Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill released a historic joint statement in which they denounced the emptying of the Middle East of Christians in the very cradle of the Christian faith, at the hands of Islamic radicals who have driven them from their homes.

They said:

It is with pain that we call to mind the situation in Syria, Iraq and other countries of the Middle East, and the massive exodus of Christians from the land in which our faith was first disseminated and in which they have lived since the time of the Apostles, together with other religious communities.

In the home of the Islamic State, Christians have been killed by the thousands, and millions of others have been displaced.

ecoengine (not verified)

Thu, 2016-05-05 18:02

Only women can be stoned for "adultery", even victims of rape, because men are allowed to create an temporary "wife", whereas women aren't allowed to. Why aren't feminists up in arms about the assault on women, coming from Islam? What's being faced now is a long way from the challenges previously - of married women being prohibited from working, votes for women, access to jobs and status etc. Now, we are faced with primitive 11th century ignorance, barbarism, and misogyny. We have FGM, women's faces covered, whipping and/or stoning for adultery, and potentially "honour" killings!

James Sinnamon

Thu, 2016-05-05 12:56

In the 18:17 minute video in presenter Christopher Greene (pictured) claimed that Edward Snowden was not who he claimed to be. In fact he was still working for the United States' government! He also claimed that the United States and Russia were acting together with Edward Snowden to mislead all of us.

The whole video should have taken 5 minutes at the most, but Christopher Green managed to keep it going for 18:17 minutes. Fell free to watch the video linked to above, but I recommend: don't bother.

In the meantime, please do everything you can to promote Oliver Stone's "Snowden". See your local cinema management and ask and urge them to show it.

ABC listener (not verified)

Wed, 2016-05-04 17:32

This morning I caught about 3 minutes of Jon Faine’s show on the car radio. What I heard shocked me. A man rang in saying that he had a friend who was a Muslim- a regular bloke who loves his “footy” . He said he had known this bloke for “long time, maybe 2 years”. This Muslim friend had come up with something to which he had no answer and he wanted to know what JF would have said to this person. The Muslim man had said that he thought that stoning was an appropriate punishment for adultery. The caller pressed JF to say how he would have reacted. JF said he would have ignored it as though the bloke were not serious. The caller insisted that the bloke was dead serious. JF said something like “well he is just quoting what his religion says on the matter, it doesn’t mean he is saying he would do it." Co-host Sally Warhaft expressed surprise that JF would not condemn this. I had to turn the radio off so didn’t hear the rest and now would have to listen to the whole show to find it, but I was thinking, "God, JF should be given the sack for condoning anyone advocating stoning. There has been so much publicity over at least two years about family violence, that normalizing someone who says stoning is appropriate punishment on the ABC undermines a whole heap of the work that has been done. It seemed to me that Anyone listening who has a propensity to violence would feel normalized. I thought it was shockingly poor judgment and/or a bad case of cultural relativism He was put on the spot –but it was his true reaction. Sally Warhaft did not react in the same way in a bit longer timeframe.

quark

Wed, 2016-05-04 09:16

Australian treasurer, Scott Morrison interviewed by Leigh Sales on ABC1 last night hailed as a Coalition government achievement the fact that 300,000 jobs had been created in the last 12 months. Australia's population would have grown by at least that number in that period so it would be a disaster had those jobs NOT been created!

Dennis K

Tue, 2016-05-03 20:53

The culture in Australia seems somewhat anti-science and anti-technology. Only in Australia would so many people scoff at the benefits of high speed internet. Science is seen as a waste and unproductive. The Liberals are pushing "innovation", but all their policies seem geared at rewarding the speculator of the researcher, the developer of property over the developer of technology and new drugs. Europeans have a different attitude. They respect science. I can understand who so many Aussies leave for Silicon Valley.

ecoengine (not verified)

Tue, 2016-05-03 09:49

I was a design lecture yesterday about how Scandinavian countries are world leaders of high quality design, innovation and high standards. There was a list of well-known global companies, that manufacture and export all over the world. They are all from Scandinavia, small but productive countries. Their population is about 25 million, in total, a bit higher than Australia. However, the lecturer said we'd be scraping to find a list of companies that any where equal the list from Scandinavia! Australia's biggest export seems to be tertiary education, and on the domestic level, service industries and housing! Australia has a long way to catch up to the developed countries. Biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca also facilitates the research and discovery of new life-saving medicines used to fight serious illnesses such as cardiovascular and gastrointestinal diseases, cancer and a variety of other life-threatening medical conditions. Electrolux - this Swedish company is the world’s second largest home appliances manufacturer. Ericsson is known worldwide for its mobile technology and networks, and remains at the cutting edge due to the company’s approach to innovation. H&M has expanded to over 2,500 stores around the world selling trendy clothes and accessories at affordable prices. Known for stylish do-it-yourself (DIY) home décor and furniture, IKEA continues to bring out the handy craftsman in people and is a must for many college students on low budgets. Skype singlehandedly brought grandparents living on different continents closer to their grandchildren. Skype allows people to make free voice and video calls over the internet through personal computers, laptops and a variety of mobile handheld devices. These are just a few of the numerous innovative and successful companies, and they still make cars! Our government really does not know how to run our country. What is called an "economy" is really just consumption, relying on the injection of massive population growth. Governments are selling off large swathes of agricultural land to China, and must keep selling off infrastructure to build more infrastructure. It's a self-consuming growth machine, eventually devouring our very existence.

ecoengine7 (not verified)

Sun, 2016-05-01 12:50

The Age was hardly going to publish this comment! They have their snouts in the trough of big corporate interests, and the property/real estate industries. They call themselves "Independent" but they are not. High population growth can be the result of an economic boom, of rich resources and increasing wealth. However, it's assumed that the converse is also true - that high population growth CAN produce the wealth! It does, but only for the elite who are able to watch from lofty heights, while the "normal" people struggle with traffic congestion, homelessness, increasing crime, a mounting debt crisis, and dis-economies of scale.

ecoengine7 (not verified)

Sun, 2016-05-01 12:45

NEW regulations on how high buildings can rise could have a dramatic effect on Australia’s skylines but may lead to higher house prices. The growthist will always feign false sympathy for home buyers, in an effort to provide mythical "affordable housing" to the public. Australia is currently in the midst of a skyscraper boom with Melbourne, Sydney and the Gold Coast leading the craze to go high. Developers would like to be able to sidestep the new regulations, and scrape the sky as now, by providing more community spaces, such as playgrounds, parks, social housing or a laneway with cafes and shops. They think they can do deals by providing public space and get the right to soar to dizzy heights, in return. Mr Wynne said the proposed building requirements were vital. "Housing density in the CBD of Melbourne [is] now greater than some of our Asian cities such as Singapore and Hong Kong,: someone said to ABC. Did we really choose to densify our city to this extreme? It's not organic growth, but bloated, forced growth through high rates of immigration. We only need one huge disaster, of an aeroplane collision, tornado, terrorist act or some other fall to really bring a wake-up call that there are limits to any growth in the real world. Our governments are pursuing a policy of endless population growth, but it's megalomaniac and can't be sustained. Nature will stem this policy, eventually.

admin

Fri, 2016-04-29 23:34

The following was posted to a discussion, -269635">Anzac Day, 101 years on …, on johnquiggin.com.

As terrible as the Gallipoli campaign was for Australia and New Zealand, even worse carnage awaited our soldiers in France and Belgium after 1916.

"The Murdoch Archipelago" (2003 - 580 pp) by Bruce Page shows how war correspondent Keith Murdoch - so lionised for blowing the whistle on the Gallipoli campaign - was subsequently uncritical of the campaign in France and Belgium.

On a related issue, "Hell-Bent - Australia's leap into the Great War" (2014 - 353pp), by Australian Author Douglas Newton, shows how, on two occasions prior to the start of the First World War, the Australian government actually tried to persuade the British Governent to go to war. The first occasion was the Agadir crisis of 1911. The second was during the Second Balkan War of 1913.

On each of those two occasions, popular opposition within Europe prevented the outbreak of a larger war.

In 1914, after the Sarejevo incident, the majority of the British cabinet was initially opposed to going to war.

However, in the ensuing weeks, the Australian government did all it could to persuade the British cabinet to declare war. As we know by 4 August 1914, that majority was reduced to a minority. So, Britain and the whole Commonwealth went to war and lost 900,000 lives, 60,000 of which were Australian.

So, Australia was both a victim and a perpetrator of that war.

Dennis K

Fri, 2016-04-29 20:31

An OK article in The Age on population growth, though it follows the silly "both sides" fallacy.

peter grace (not verified)

Thu, 2016-04-28 18:16

I think John Howard was fooled (he would never do anything that bad and didn't believe the left would either but, he was wrong) as it has always been a Labor party, left wing, UN, Communist ploy to take guns from the people. He probably didn't know that it had been set up by the people who control the world governments from those back rooms. Obviously a professional job with some local police having inside information that can't be explained by the evidence. Too many preparations for the incident, the media conference to bring it world wide so quickly, the hospital training for it, the police sent on a decoy job, the preparations for taking the bodies that had been built before the incident, Barry Unsworth's statement about the incident 7 years earlier, the use of infra red vision at the farm to tell the police to send their men back, two shooters on top of the buildings keeping the police away, shooting heard upstairs while Bryant was on the phone downstairs, access to police radio to start the shooting, the use of a similar vehicle and doppleganger or look alike man to set up Bryant, the lack of forensic evidence, casings, bullets, keeping the coroner away and the delay in getting police in there. Not to mention the gun lobby statements and their members being at the scene. Schapelle Corby may have been set up or her normal security guard may have been sick that day, in any case her father has drug convictions and if you took a sample from her and tested it you could find out if she is a user as well. In any case I don't know the family and I'm glad they are not my neighbours.

ZPG (not verified)

Wed, 2016-04-27 17:57

Saudi Arabian oil money has financed many hundreds of new mosques all around the world. They must preach the ultraconservative, extremist Wahhabi version of Islam. The version created by a desert hermit in 1750. The version promoted by ISIL. As "Wahhabi" has now become derogatory among moderate Sunnis and Shias, the faithful prefer the term "Salafi". I wonder where the money is coming from to build the proposed Narre Warren mosque?

ecoengine (not verified)

Mon, 2016-04-25 10:42

Professor David Lindenmayer, a landscape ecologist at the Australian National University, said while he admits "culling animals is not very nice", the lack of modern-day predators, especially dingoes, means the huge number of kangaroos is destroying the ecosystem.

Just what empirical evidence does Lindenmayer have of ecological destruction from kangaroos? He might be a great supporter of the Pigmy Possums, in our Central highlands, but he's questionable on kangaroos! Danial Ramp says that "there are populations of legless lizards doing perfectly well in areas where there are lots of kangaroos in Canberra. What we have is a reserve management issue, not a kangaroo management issue."

There's a superficial perception that short grass equals environmental destruction. This Canberra "cull" is more about political use of land, for planning purposes, rather than a science-based, demographically justified management of kangaroo numbers. It's easy to use lethal methods, of gunshots, rather than actually have holistic studies, and consider long-term analysis. It's knee-jerk reaction to pure numbers of animals, ignoring their mob dynamics, their evolutionary and ecological basis in Australia's past, and present.

With Canberra's projected human population growth, there's little kowtowing about legless lizards and environmental destruction from housing, and urban sprawl!

(23/4/16) by James Hall | The Age.

Vivienne (not verified)

Sun, 2016-04-17 17:53

You've done a great job of unmasking the contradictions in the lethal "management plan" for kangaroos! The contradictions in Fletcher's thesis are also revealing. No doubt to secure his illustrious job, he must "agree" to the conditions and the common understandings of what's required in justifying the "cull". Nature manages numbers of animals, and their natural demographic dynamics. It's assumed that kangaroos just breed and breed and overwhelm their habitats, like humans? The fact that Canberra is "projecting" their own population is ironical, considering that (introduced) humans have a much heavier and long term impact than gentle, native kangaroos. Easy to use them as a scapegoat.

Sheila Newman

Sun, 2016-04-17 09:41

John Gray Says Human Progress Is a Myth

By Johannes Niederhauser

March 28, 2013

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Feb 28, 2013
by John Gray
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"Haven't we humans come such a long way? In the past 200 years alone we've managed to abolish slavery (by moving it to the sweatshops of the Third World), rid our lives of industrial pollution (by moving it to the factories of the Third World) and introduced peace, human rights, and democracy to various undeveloped hinterlands through long, mindless, bloody conflicts.

We really are the sparkling glint of diamond in the otherwise shabby lump of coal that is the modern world, and anyone who hasn't tasted the ethical sweetness of Western progress surely will soon, presumably via extended bombing campaigns. We have Fair Trade acai berries, high-speed internet, and pop-up scrunchie markets; we are still basking in the afterglow of the Enlightenment, while the rest of the world drags its feet through the Dark Ages.

Noted political philosopher, author, and regular contributor to the Guardian and the New Statesman, John Gray's latest book is about how all of that is bullshit. The Silence of Animals deals with the touchy subject of human progress, which, Gray asserts, is a myth. Considering the fact there seems to have been genuine progress in the fields of science, medicine, and technology, I was a little confused by that, so I called him up for an explanation. [...]"

Article by By Johannes Niederhauser appears at

admin

Sun, 2016-04-17 08:09

From (16/4/16) | RT interview:

Hillary Clinton is the most dangerous candidate of those running from a war standpoint, says , American author, chairman of the Ludwig von Mises Institute. She promoted the destruction of Libya and killing people in Syria, he adds.

Since the start of the NATO intervention in Libya to topple Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the country has suffered through instability and political chaos.

RT: Why does Hillary Clinton refuse to take at least some responsibility for the Libyan bombing campaign? 2011 was right bang in the middle of her stint as US Secretary of State.

Lew Rockwell: She is a liar. That’s why she won’t. She is attempting to wiggle out of what she did. She promoted the destruction of Libya, the murder of Gaddafi, and murder of many thousands of people in Libya, sending all kinds of horrendous arms with the approval of the US to the Syrian so-called rebels, to kill people in Syria. This was a criminal act and an imperial act. She was cheering it on… You can’t believe her, she is a liar and now she is trying to wiggle out, but she was, if we want to put this in legal terms, she was an accessory before, during and after the fact. Yes, Obama had the final decision. She was egging him on, she was cheering him on, she was pressuring him and she went right along with it and she is co-responsible for all those deaths, for all that blood and destruction, all the families destroyed, all the mountains of corpses in Libya. Just as of course she is co-responsible for what George W. Bush did in Iraq. She is a very nasty lady.

See also: (23/11/15) | RT video interview (in this interview, author Michael Savage opposes open borders that Obama and Clinton have imposed on the United States and which Angela Merkel has imposed on Germany), (15/4/16) | RT.

admin

Sat, 2016-04-16 23:16

The following was posted to the No Syria Intervention mailing list at 23:59 +10:00 on 16 April 2016:

The election commission has postponed the announcement of election results because of some difficulties with a few polling stations in Aleppo, parts of which are still under rebel control.

This was reported by Ken Stone of the Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War who is currently in Syria as part of the Second International Peace Tour and is reporting from there.

Some of Ken's reports relating to elections and events in Syria can be accessed on the following website:

Sarah Henty (not verified)

Fri, 2016-04-15 10:09

I feel that I have been taken in for years by the Canberra government on the 'kangaroo problem'. After reading this article I think that people must stop being so trusting of the authorities. It seems that the 'science' here consists of just a few cronies backing each other up. You really wonder why they would bother. Is it really so important to support the undemocratic population growth in the ACT? The case that shooting, resulting in the loss of the large animals from a mob of kangaroos and consequent disorder and increased breeding with smaller males is convincing. Culling if it were in fact necessary (and I am convinced that it is not) is to remove animals based on specific criteria. Taking this into account, If your aim were to reduce a population ,you would NOT select the large males! But Sheila Newman makes a case that should be tested on how kangaroos manage their own populations and do a much better job than interfering humans. The current “management" regime would appear to be ensuring a supply of unfortunate animals for target practice. It would appear to be not in the interests of the ACT government to entertain Ms. Newman’s evidence from which there is much to be learned but it’s the last thing the kangaroo shooting stakeholders will want to know. And so the our kangaroo populations continue to be destroyed for no good reason.

quark

Fri, 2016-04-15 08:30

Marcus Filinger talks of the demonising of the kangaroo and how this facilitates and incites ever more cruel treatment by shooters whose handiwork is even more excruciating for their victims because of their dismaying lack of marksmen skills. Let's go back a few decades and the Tasmanian Tiger or Thylacine was demonised, shot en masse and exterminated. The demonising is an important strategy and is also used with certain groups of people. If you can believe that something or someone is nothing but a pest and has no feelings that matter, the sky's the limit as far inflicting injury and taking life.

admin

Wed, 2016-04-13 23:35

By Eva Bartlett. 4 Feb 2015 on .

“Welcome to the United Nations. It's your world,” reads the UN logo. Apparently, however, there are limitations as to just how “welcome” some of its representatives are.

Syria's Ambassador to the UN, Dr. Bashar al-Ja'afari, was sworn in as Permanent Special Representative in 2006. Yet, in spite of his thirty plus years as a diplomat, his being highly-educated and multi-lingual, and the fact that he is the UN's official Representative of the state of Syria, the United Nations has little interest in hearing what he has to say. Not only do they lack interest, since the Western-NATO-Israeli-Gulf war on Syria began in early 2011, they actively work to silence him or distort his words.

The UN has pulled endless stunts on Syria's Ambassador, with the obvious intent of distorting reality and prolonging the proxy war on Syria.

...

Following the June 2014 Syrian elections, international representatives who had observed the elections in Syria convened at the UN to report back (emphasis added – see story ). Roughly five minutes in, after Ambassador al-Ja'afari had opened the meeting and thanked the Secretariat for facilitating it, the webcast feed was cut. Ironically, the Ambassador had stressed he wanted to leave “enough time to give you the right picture of the Syrian landscape that was prevailing during elections. They are eyewitnesses.”

Vivienne (not verified)

Wed, 2016-04-13 17:16

The only place you'll hear a rational, democratic and logical debate about population growth will be organized by concerned public members, and not celebrated from the TOP of the housing Ponzi scheme - where all the profits and benefits flow. Back in 2014, myself and member of Victorian Branch of Sustainable Population Australia submitted a petition with hundreds of signatures. It was to reduce population growth and an explanation of the reasons - all were quite sensible, and real concerns. However, after 2 years, Peter Dutton, Minister of Immigration, actually responded! His response was arrogant and dismissive. So, what we presented was just imagined, or irrelevant? Our immigration programmes are designed to meet its social and economic needs. It's for the benefit of our long term social and economic benefits. Do we actually experience the "social and economic' benefits? What about environmental, households costs, standards of living, unaffordable housing, our roads being crushed by congestion, and infrastructure debt that's mounting to $billions! While the elite and growthists sit at the top of the housing and growth Ponzi, our economy will remain dumbed-down and measured by housing growth, and a fake GDP propped up by raw growth in population!

JQ (not verified)

Tue, 2016-04-12 18:01

Victorian State Opposition leader announced yesterday that the Opposition's position with respect to population growth is that it should be dispersed into the regional areas of the state to alter the current situation where most of the state’s 100,000 per annum growth accrues to Melbourne. This breathtaking announcement led to a discussion on local ABC radio where one man rang in to question the very assumption of the state's huge population growth. This brave man made the point that both the major parties advocated high population growth. He cited Dick Smith who said that population growth was good for business people but not for anyone else or words to that effect. The caller could thus understood where the Coalition was coming from but could not understand Labor. The presenter did her best to interrupt , contradict and confuse his message. He managed to get in that The Greens were “fence sitters” with respect to population growth before Sally Warhaft (Presenter/host) contradicted him on that as well, saying that she didn’t think The Greens were in favour of a large population before cutting the man off (as they do unless you are talking a lot of harmless, uninformed drivel ) .

anon (not verified)

Fri, 2016-04-08 11:07

The culture or vilification of kangaroos, as "pests" and their killing has become engrained into our history as a macabre type of environmental "management". It's rationalized as a human responsibility to control their numbers, as we have changed the environment so much, due to infrastructure and agriculture, to such as way as to encourage their overpopulation and breeding! They thus over-produce and cause mayhem, including environmental damage and threats to other species. The great Canberra "cull" of kangaroos is being considered again, in our so-called "Bush Capital". It's an oxymoron, and it's using kangaroos as a scapegoat for mismanagement and human-caused environmental destruction. One of Australia's leading koala experts has labelled this week's unveiling of the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games mascot an embarrassment. The sad irony is that koala numbers have plummeted by more than two thirds in less than 20 years in south-east Queensland. They like the symbolism of our native animals, but not the actual animals! Tweed Heads ecologist Steve Phillips said the use of a koala as the Gold Coast's mascot was frustrating. "What we've seen is that progressive development, and the end result is that decline [of koalas] is proceeding at pace," he said. High human population growth on the Coast has seen koala numbers plummet, due to urban sprawl. Some critics hit out at what they believed was state government hypocrisy in using a “vulnerable” species as the Games’ emblem but conservationists said it could actually work in favour of helping the threatened animals.

Andrea (not verified)

Thu, 2016-04-07 15:54

We have received an email advocating death, by the same method, for people who skin dogs and cats alive in China. We cannot publish the email because it could be construed as advocating violence and it gets very angry. We try to avoid censorship except where comments break the law (advocating violence or singling out particular races). However we are sure that a lot of people do feel just as angry about this kind of torture and believe it to be unnecessary and a sign of severe dysfunction in a society. So I hope that the writer (Andrea) will accept this compromise.

Anonymous (not verified)

Wed, 2016-04-06 16:03

I am an avid reader who likes engaging content. That's why I am here. Your original views on this topic are refreshing and interesting. You've done a great job of expressing your views. Thank you.

al loomis (not verified)

Wed, 2016-04-06 10:39

You are circling the core of the problem: there is no shortage of suggestions on how democracy should be run, could simply start with swiss model, for my money. but the core is naked power. the elected aristocrats of parliament will not hand over power without pressure, possibly might have to show them the gun. not many people in oz are sufficiently enthusiastic about democracy to upset the national cart, so it isn't going to happen on current conditions. but conditions change, and young people may see the need for democracy, so don't give up hope and don't stop pressing for change. democracy is necessary, because hieratic societies are killing the ecosphere. we will have to change our ways someday, better now.

admin

Fri, 2016-04-01 18:15

The following was posted as a -57111">comment to the Syrian Free Press article (30/3/16) :

It's gratifying to have learnt that the much of the ammunition of the CIA-backed Fursan al Haq and the Pentagon-backed Syrian Democratic Forces is being used against each other rather than against the Syrian people.

However, I have to take exception to likening of members of either the CIA or the Pentagon to members of that other species of primate, the gorilla.

Observed in their natural habitat, most gorillas behave towards each other as well as the best of humanity and do not behave towards each other as the the top brass of the Pentagon, the CIA or their proxy terrorists in Syria appear to be behaving towards each other at the moment.

The whole civilised world is immeasurably indebted to the heroism of the Syrian Army, Hezbollah, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, the Russians and their allies.

Let's hope this war can end soon and that the surviving members of ISIS, al-Nusra, al-Qaeda, etc, whether backed by the Pentagon, the CIA or both. can be publicly tried for their crimes and punished accordingly.

Concerned (not verified)

Fri, 2016-04-01 17:23

I have just read this and viewed the ">Syrian Girl video. It is profoundly moving as once again the pieces of the jigsaw start to assemble in some sort of order my head. and I understand the entrenched plan and dictates of the US in the area. The problem is with the media because most people never hear this side, the one that makes sense!! People just give up because the story they are exposed to doesn’t make sense and so the US gets away with it! Maybe they’d get away with it anyway.

population overshoot (not verified)

Fri, 2016-04-01 14:31

According to the report, there are over 1.8 million temporary visa holders in Australia (see Table 2.5 below), with approximately 1.4 million of them having work rights. Rather than worrying about the abuse of migrant workers, we should be more worried about the resident Australians who are being denied jobs because migrant workers are ready to undercut wages and working conditions. It's assumed then that they are "lazy", when many have just given up! Before the end of the White Australia policy, Pacific Islanders were being recruited from Melanesia, the Soloman Islands in particular, to work in the sugar plantations on the coast of Queensland. Kanaka, as they were known, were forced to live in a state of indentured servitude under extremely harsh conditions. In an attempt to control the growing death rate of the kanakas, the Queensland Government passed the Polynesian Labourers Act in 1868 and another Act in 1883 to control the number of kanakas being imported and the environment in which they were living. Many sugar cane farmers felt that the cheap labour of the Pacific Islanders was essential to the success of the industry. Victoria passed a law in 1855 to restrict the number of Chinese immigrants who could come through it's ports, but that only forced the Chinese to seek other ways of entering the country. New South Wales and South Australia passed similar laws in the late 1850's and early 1860's. In indentured servitude Chinese workers would usually sign a contract stating they would work for a certain period of time in exchange for their passage to Australia. This caused unrest among the citizens of Australia because the Chinese were willing to work for lower wages, work longer hours, and were more dedicated to their work than Australian. Now, the inclusion of clauses permitting the employment of temporary migrant workers in the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement has provoked heated debate. If ordinary Australians haven't woken up to this betrayal of the right for Australian work and Australian pay and conditions then the game is over for them and their kids. Why bother training an apprentice when you can bring in cheaper foreign labour on all these plus $150 million projects. Australian unemployed are being exploited by having their jobs lost to foreigners, something that the White Australia policy achieved.

admin

Sun, 2016-03-27 22:26

by Hazem Sabbagh. Previously (26/9/16) on the (SANA).

Kiev, SANA – The Syrian community in Ukraine, in cooperation with the Ukrainian-Syrian Friendship Association, organized a stand in Kiev to express solidarity with Syria in its war against terrorism.

Head of the Syrian-Ukrainian Friendship Association Anatoly Domanski asserted that honest Ukrainians support Syria in its battle against terrorism, calling on the international community to fight terrorist organizations across the world.

In turn, head of the Syrian Community League branch Imad Zaza voiced rejection of all forms of division and fragmentation, stressing commitment to Syria’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Hazem Sabbagh

Dennis K

Sun, 2016-03-27 12:30

Donald Trump has questioned why the USA has a presence in Europe, to defend and steer Europe. Much of what happens in Europe is due to US influence. The European establishment know that the USA will back them if any European states decide to follow their own path. Europe has two potential outcomes. The first is a steady, slow decline where it more and more resembles the conditions found in parts of Asia and the Middle East. Routine low level violence, stratification of society (as practiced in India) and loss of opportunities. We will see Europe resemble Brazil or the Middle East or some other society which occupies the place the a former civilisation, but isn't one itself. The second is the rather more turbulent and abrupt conflict, in which all bets are off. This could lead to global conflict as neo-liberalism wages war against dissenting states. What is becoming clear is that there is a type of class struggle going on, where an international neo-liberal class is fighting for survival to maintain the validity of their social project. They are facing growing opposition, be it tepid opposition in the form of Trump and Sanders, or more vociferous opposition in the form of the "far right" and "far left". Of these groups, I think the "right wing" has a closer grasp of the demographic issues and the left a closer grasp of the economic ones. We need some kind of synthesis of the two, where we both recognise the damage caused by using international migration and meddling in order to engineer individualistic consumer societies in place of real, organic communities, and the damage of Capitalistic excesses and plutocracy. I will make a prediction, that a global solution to climate change will take more and more a backseat as society struggles to maintain itself.

admin

Sun, 2016-03-27 00:01

The article (24/3/16), published by the Russian Internet agency , is based on the longer article of 26 March" id="txt1"> 1 in by Taki Theodoracopulos. Theodoracopulos attempts to draw a historic anology between, on the one hand, Russia's still continuing war in support of the elected government of Syria against the terrorist proxies of the United States and its allies and Napoleon's in 1812" id="txt2"> 2.

Near the end of the article, Theodoracopulos writes:

"... by leaving the playing field, Vlad has fired a shot across Assad's bow, warning him to negotiate or else." (emphasis added)

What the popularly elected Syrian President is unwilling to negotiate about is unclear unless Theodoracopulos is referring to demands by the likes of the Saudi dictatorship that he stand down before the Presidential election.

Given that the President is still dealing with the terrorist emergency, and threats by Saudi Arabia and Turkey to invade and given that President Bashar al-Assad was voted for by Syrians on 3 June 2014" id="txt3"> 3 by a majority far greater than any majority claimed by any of the global political leaders hostile to him, he has every right to insist that he remain President at least until the elections. To step down would before could imperil the Syrian nation.

Given President Bashar al-Assad's record in leading his country against an in invasion by many tens of thousands of terrorists in the five years since March 2011 and his ability to face close scrutiny, both hostile and sympathetic, from newsmedia from all over the world, it seems unlikely that another leader, more capable than President Bashar al-Assad could be found in the near future.

Footnotes

" id="fn1">1."> ↑ (26/3/16) by Taki Theodoracopulos | .

" id="fn2">2."> ↑ Whilst the justice of Russia's defence of Syria should be obvious, I am not sure on which side, if any, justice lay in 1812 – on the side of the French Republic or on the side of Russia and its allies, including the British colonial empire.

" id="fn3">3."> ↑ See our article (20/5/14) with a 56 minute embedded video of the News conference of 5 people who observed the elections.

kurt (not verified)

Sat, 2016-03-26 15:09

just saying how well summed up that was and that if you have any ideas of implementing this mindset in others would like to hear about it

John Bentley (not verified)

Sat, 2016-03-26 12:33

I'm inclined to agree with you Dennis. I cannot see any way out for Europe or European nations with aggrandisement of US hegemony. Furthermore, we as a nation, are at the crossroads with gutless governments acceding to numerous "trade" agreements, the abolition of of manufacturing industries, the dumbing down of the electorate via a spineless mainstream media added to the neoliberal dogma which predicates individualism, elitism, stratification of society, economic rationalism, greed, power lust and more. Combining the above with rampant overpopulation and runaway global warming will produce a confluence of devastation on planet Earth. As a firm believer of Murphy's Law, I shy away from making predictions of what will be in the future, but I do believe in taking out insurance when and where I can. Unfortunately, there is, as far as I'm aware, no insurance against climate change. It's too late!! Our numbers upon the planet have entrenched our predicament casting aside mitigation leaving us with adaptation as our only tool. And, I'm afraid, that adaptation will not be enough for most of us to survive when we face a 6-8 degrees Celsius temperature increase. Given that we are somewhere between 1.5 & 2 degrees already..............

quark

Sat, 2016-03-26 11:53

It doesn't come as any surprise in one of the most densely populated areas of Australia, St. Kilda that thugs have attacked 2 (at least) fairy penguins in recent days. One penguin died and the fate of the other one is unknown. The colony is monitored by members of "Earthcare" but they are not powerful enough to overcome male gangs. The situation requires a 24 hour armed guard. Humans and wildlife are incompatible.

Dennis K

Fri, 2016-03-25 19:52

Simple mathematics and simple demographics will tell you that many parts of Europe will soon be non-European. At this point, it will be too late to realise the truth that if you change the demographics if your country, then its character, well-being and culture will also change. Europeans are holding onto some weird pipe dream that just a little more sensitivity, a little more suppression of 'hate speech' is all it will take to avert the coming crisis. If a generation or two ago, the social experiment was aborted, we could have avoided the rise of the far right and the emergence of extremism, but calling for that to stop NOW is folly. Too late. No society has ever demographically changed hands seamlessly. Violence is in the future. It's already started and there will be no choice but to side with aggressive parties and organisations which defend your ethnic and cultural interests. It will be the establishment and migrants on one side, indigenous on the other. This is what is happening in the USA today. The question is, how will Europeans adapt to the new political reality? The idea of a single state is dying. France, Belgium, UK, will continue to splinter and become balkanised. I think everyone, left and right, is kind of hoping that some changes of bums in parliament seats is all it will take. I think they are trying to avoid the fact that history has not finished, the great conflict between human groups is continuing and that war, displacement and aggressive takeovers are not "in the dustbin of history", but rather still alive and well. I forsee a time when European nations may quite literally be dissolved and replaced with a stratified society, a new caste system or new apartheid.

John Bentley (not verified)

Fri, 2016-03-25 19:05

I totally agree quark, I emailed Lateline this morning venting my anger and disappointment. Maybe more of us should do likewise!

quark

Fri, 2016-03-25 10:31

How many times does the Syrian UN Ambassador have to assert that the political future of the Syrian leader is in the hands of the Syrian people and not be decided or pre-empted in the international sphere or on late night television?

admin

Fri, 2016-03-25 01:54

(23/2/16) by Sharmine Narwani |

On March 23, 2011, at the very start of what we now call the 'Syrian conflict,' two young men - Sa'er Yahya Merhej and Habeel Anis Dayoub - were gunned down in the southern Syrian city of Daraa.

Merhej and Dayoub were neither civilians, nor were they in opposition to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. They were two regular soldiers in the ranks of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA).

Shot by unknown gunmen, Merhej and Dayoub were the first of eighty-eight soldiers killed throughout Syria in the first month of this conflict – in Daraa, Latakia, Douma, Banyas, Homs, Moadamiyah, Idlib, Harasta, Suweida, Talkalakh and the suburbs of Damascus.

According to the UN's Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, the combined death toll for Syrian government forces was 2,569 by March 2012, the first year of the conflict. At that time, the UN's total casualty count for all victims of political violence in Syria was 5,000.

These numbers paint an entirely different picture of events in Syria. This was decidedly not the conflict we were reading about in our headlines – if anything, the 'parity' in deaths on both sides even suggests that the government used 'proportionate' force in thwarting the violence.

But Merhej and Dayoub's deaths were ignored. Not a single Western media headline told their story – or that of the other dead soldiers. These deaths simply didn't line up with the Western 'narrative' of the Arab uprisings and did not conform to the policy objectives of Western governments.

[]

Geoffrey Taylor

Wed, 2016-03-23 23:59

Dennis K -182319">wrote:

They have no choice but to learn to live with it, and damn to hell those who suggest otherwise. So stoically walk arm and arm and face your destiny with a smile and defiance.

I don't accept that Europeans or Australians have "to live with" what the ruling elites have planned for them. The anti-immigration and anti-globalist National Front of won 27.73% of the vote in the first round of the December 2015 French regional elections, more than either the openly pro-corporate on 26.65% of the vote or the 'left wing' ' on 23.12% of the vote.

However, the National Front failed to win a single region, because the other two parties acted together against the National Front during the second round.

Marine Le Pen is a member of the European Parliament. There is good reason to hope that the National Front, with a capable leader like Marine Le Pen and grass roots action, will be able to overcome the manouvers by the other two main parties and win the next French elections.

Dennis K

Wed, 2016-03-23 20:59

Typically when these events occur (which seems frequent now), they cry that somehow if we conclude some sort of incompatibility or issue with Islam, then we're playing into ISIS's hands. So, we are told don't react to violence. Reaction to violence is what they want. Yet what is quite often the very same people, can't help themselves when they react to what they perceive as racist or xenophobic. Here they are happy to fan the flames of division and resentment. Europe is self destructing. It has become obsessed with consoling itself, which is what sometimes happens when members of a pack animal species are ejected from the group and face death. I suspect that part of the reason there is so much obvious display of grief, of compassion, sorry, unity, is because we're looking at a people who have to a degree some subconscious awareness that their fate is sealed, as there is nothing more that you can do. This problem will only escalate, and no measures to curtail it are allowed. They have no choice but to learn to live with it, and damn to hell those who suggest otherwise. So stoically walk arm and arm and face your destiny with a smile and defiance.

Geoffrey Taylor

Wed, 2016-03-23 14:37

See also : (23/3/26) by Peter Koenig | Global Research, (22/3/26) | SANA

In (22/3/16) | New Eastern Outlook ( (23/3/16) in Land Destroyer) Tony Cartalucci uses his exceptional insight and knowledge of Syria and European politics to show how suspicious and inconsistent is the official mainstream narrative of the Brussels Bombing of 22 March.

However, this otherwise informative article is unjustly critical of Europeans who actively opposed the huge wave of immigration suddenly imposed upon them by politicians, notably German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the corrupt Turkish President Erdogan.

Cartalucci cites a Guardian of 22 March which claims that the terrorists were long time residents of Europe and not new arrivals. This would hardly be surprising, as it would surely require local knowledge and familiarity in order to be able to carry out such a devastating attack. Cartalucci continues:

Should the Brussels attack be linked to this same terror network, it will greatly complicate efforts by some to leverage this tragedy to further their agendas against refugees ...

...

In Europe, where the flames of a "clash of civilizations" are being furiously and intentionally fanned, ISIS serves as a constant implement to empower extremists on both sides, while drowning out the voices of unity, moderation, and peace in the middle. It allows for a growing police state and xenophobic tendencies to flourish at home, while justifying further war abroad.

Presumably Cartalucci considers German Chancellor Angela Merkel to be for "unity, moderation, and peace" and would label those, who voted against her in the recent German regional elections as well as the 143 women assaulted in on New Year's Eve, and those who tried to protect them, 'extremists'.

Dennis K

Tue, 2016-03-22 21:18

It is mildly amusing to hear politicians talk about how they will fix this problem, if we just did this or that differently. You get the same themes when you hear a politician talk about growth 1: We need to do something different. "Smart Growth", better planning, etc, etc. 2: It's inevitable. 3: We can follow some lead overseas. This might not warrant side splitting laughter if this problem arose literally overnight, but its been a problem in major cities for what, about a decade now? High immigration started by Howard is well over a decade. I doubt that competent policymakers have been caught by surprise by the effects of policies they themselves implemented. In that decade. nothings been done. These points can be translated to 1: What were doing is wrong, but even though we're the ones who have been consistently bad for years, we'll change, I promise! Just be quiet and stop complaining. The cheques in the mail. 2: We're committed to the population ponzi scheme. High immigration which strains our nation is off the table for discussion. Suck it up. 3: Not only do we now know what we are doing, but we have no idea what a solution might look like. I'm sure that China or Vancouver or Sweden or London has something which we can copy and might work. Don't worry, the works been done. We just have to copy it. Just be quiet and stop complaining.

Dennis K

Tue, 2016-03-22 21:04

Whenever someone decides to tell me that some new modern economic line of thinking is good, I just point out the fact that we now have a generation of people for the first time in a long time, who will actually have a worse standard of living than their parents. I mention that the Global Economy has been on life support and people today are jealous of what their parents could afford NOT the other way around. You can point to rising social conflict, Australias growing debt crisis, lots of things. In short, I ask whether any of this crap is actually WORKING. People who parrot things like "We still need more people" or "We need a strong housing industry" never really think about what they say. I ask, "We have brought in more people and we have high house prices, and we are still worried about a recession and a declining economy. We've done this and it doesn't work". It's a simple but effective line. Far more effective than getting bogged in technical details, such as whether we can accommodate more people, or whether we need more skilled labour, or whether housing stock should increase a little more, or how better to arrange transport systems. Thats all detail. We've done it all, and the results are in. It doesn't work. Globalism isn't working. High asset prices have failed to stimulate the economy. The "Wealth Effect" has failed. If you read commentary from the pro-Growth crowd, they never look at this picture, and its never actually thrust in their face. Someone might argue that some particular 457 skillset could be done by people here or not, but I'd love to see someone just say, over and over again, "We've been bringing in 457 visa workers for years now, and unemployment is still up, debt is still up, wages are stagnant and the cost of living has increased. The RBA has had to keep emergency rates for 6 years and still can't lift them. This scheme has not worked". The "winners" aren't winners. The state of modern Western economies are a testament to them being big LOSERS. But few make the direct connections.

World's End (not verified)

Tue, 2016-03-22 14:12

Posted by Jim at
By Michael Slezak18 March 2016 (The Guardian) – The latest federal government carbon emissions inventory shows Australia has increased its emissions and has come under fire for allegedly vastly underestimating the amount of land clearing that has occurred, and its associated emissions. The, which counts emissions in Australia up to September 2015, says greenhouse gas emissions from land clearing have fallen to record lows. But Guardian Australia that a report commissioned by the Wilderness Society showed a land clearing surge in Queensland since 2012 has been so big that it would create emissions roughly equal to those saved by the federal government’s emissions reduction scheme, where they paid other farmers more than $670m to stop cutting down trees.

Time (not verified)

Mon, 2016-03-21 12:10

Thanks for this Sally. I feel similarly, but could never articulate it as well as you. Well done. Around about the same time the winner / loser thing began to be imported into this country (mainly from the US, I believe), I also recall acronyms like NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) and BANANA (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anyone) beginning to be used, most commonly by aspiring "winner" property developers. Well, as we head into the future of seemingly increasingly privatised profits and socialised costs, I have coined my own barbed response acronym to describe such "winners" - PIMPs. It seems appropriate on so many levels and descriptive of a multitude of characteristics: PIMP - Profit Is My Priority, - Property In My Portfolio, - Politicians In My Pocket, - Pack In More People! I know I've thought of others too, but they haven't stuck in my memory. Maybe the Overpopulation NIMBYs have to rally to take on the PIMPs?

David M (not verified)

Sun, 2016-03-20 19:14

I don't think we should be altogether too worried about this plan, which looks a lot like a beat-up coming from the White House, and through some sympathetic parts of the Syrian Kurdish community - or 'Rojava' as they like to call it. I heard another Kurdish representative stating on SBS news that they had no idea to challenge Syria's multi-ethnic structure. As for the proposals by the Kurdish rep in Moscow mentioned by Turbeville, they are clearly totally ridiculous, unless we want to see ethnic cleansing from multiple areas of Syria to other areas.

Dennis K

Fri, 2016-03-18 22:36

The cards are stacked in Hillarys favour. She has the establishment behind her and many Republicans. Trumps deviation from the Republicans standard whoring to the donor class has disgusted the Conservatives who make their living and base their image on selling out America. A significant part of the Republican party would prefer to hand victory to Hillary than see Trump win. It is this undermining of Trump and self-destruction which will end up giving Hillary victory, not Hillarys non existent virtues. As to sucking up to AIPAC, every candidate has to express loyalty to Israel. It's something that everyone on Capital Hill knows, but cannot say, that you will go nowhere in politics without the right attitude towards Israel. Sanders will lose out because he is appealing to the progressives, but the demographics of the Democratic voters work against Sanders. In short, the progressives are pinning their hopes on someone who us running for a party where many of its supporters vote for who they are told to vote for. Sanders doesn't have the black vote, so white progressives are in a bind because their appeal to minorities is ironically derailing their chance at a better candidate. This election is interesting, because the line isn't between Democrat and Republican, but between Establishment and anti-Establishment (Rebellion). Trump is the rebellious faction of the Conservatives, and Sanders the rebellious side of the Left. Trump and Sanders share some common ground on their populist agenda, and dare I say it, share demographics. Quite a few Sanders voters may have Trump as their number two option, and I've heard of Trump supporters who put Sanders second. This election, and ones of the future will be decided more and more on demographics and rebellion, not "left/right" divides.

Dennis K

Fri, 2016-03-18 22:25

"Travis" is a traitor to the nation. There is on other polite way of putting it. If someone is going to work against the interests of their fellow nationals, then that is the correct word for it. We may like to rail against "developers" and the "growth lobby", but one of the biggest problems that remains is that people who work against us continue to be treated with respect, and have holds barred. Kelvin should not have "debated" the toad-in-a-suit during the population debate, but have put forward volley after volley after volley of accusations and demanded explanations. Therein lies the problem with a modern people, who feel the uncomfortable effects of the machinations of others, but nevertheless have mentally budgeted the perceived emotional negative effects from speaking their mind, and found the latter to be of greater cost. With these prices assigned, one cannot complain about how the market reacts. Only the unreasonable can effect change, as they are the ones, by definition who don't consider the current state reasonable, to paraphrase a philosopher. A spade must be called a spade, and the lexicon that one uses to describe the actions from others must come from the universal truth, and not from the "contemporary" meanings which are already stacked against us. Western politics has reached a point where the time for polite debate has ended and where accusations and fighting begins. It's not a matter of a debate of facts or economic prudence, whether one may sell our homes to criminal Chinese, but a matter of one interest fighting against another. The language should reflect this. Our commentary should reflect that this is a personal, not abstract ideological matter.

Greg (not verified)

Fri, 2016-03-18 16:10

It's worth conceptualising what might have happened if you'd spoken out, and with that vision, what might have been the best, most effective way of doing so. What might have been the worst that could happen? How might you have made them feel more uncomfortable that you did? Maybe one of them, given due provocation, might have even been able to ponder beyond their paradigm? Maybe another quiet soul like your-self was lurking at the table and ready to echo your concerns, but unable to lead with them? It raises the seminal question - exactly how, when and where do we fight this battle for life on the planet? Or don't we?

quark

Fri, 2016-03-18 08:24

These three are working within a scenario where they appear to believe the cause of the problems they are competing with one another to address, rapid population grow is an inevitability. Do they really believe it or are they just taking orders that it is not negotiable?

admin

Fri, 2016-03-18 00:30

(16/3/16) | Brisbane Times by Stephen Huang International students have been offered casual employment at just $50 per day, well less than half the Australian minimum wage, to campaign on behalf of a Liberal National Party councillor in the lead-up to Saturday's poll. Workers manning prepoll booths for Macgregor councillor Steven Huang's campaign have been paid $50 a day for what was advertised as eight hours' casual work. The arrangement angered Queensland Council of Union assistant general secretary Michael Clifford, who said it raised "further concerns" about the LNP's attitude towards workers.

J. Stillwater (not verified)

Thu, 2016-03-17 09:54

When the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee holds their annual convention in Washington DC this March, who are they gonna endorse for the Democratic presidential nominee? Bernie Sanders, who is Jewish -- or Hillary Clinton, the ultimate war hawk who will support anything that Israeli neo-colonialists decide to do with regard to making "Greater Israel" a reality? Will AIPAC choose to support the Jewish race and/or religion by going with Sanders, the ultimate Jewish grandpa? Or will AIPAC go with neo-colonialism and choose Hillary Clinton, the goy who will obviously support attacking Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Lebanon, Jordan, the Gulf States, Egypt, Turkey, Iraq (again) and anything else that might get in the way of creating the "Greater Israel" neo-colonialists' wet dream -- even if the USA gets in the way? This is gonna be very interesting to see how AIPAC's choice turns out. I'll bet you a bagel that they'll choose Clinton. First published at

Dave Macilwain (not verified)

Thu, 2016-03-17 09:00

March 15, 2016 SBS’s 6.30pm news report, which began with the surprise announcement of Russia’s withdrawal, contained a ‘brief history’ of the Syrian conflict.

After saying that the ‘Arab Spring’ had brought upheavals around the region, the presenter put it like this:

"[protests in Syria began in March 2011] with a day of rage by activists, with hundreds protesting in Damascus and Aleppo.”

The attached shot ‘SBS world news’, showing a small protest rally about to pull down a poster of Hafez and Bashar al Assad could have been in Dara’a, or more likely a suburb of Damascus, so fits with the first part of the description. But as the presenter said ‘and Aleppo’, the screen changed to the second photo, which shows one of the big rallies in support of the government in Damascus, that took place perhaps in May or June?

I would contend that almost no-one would see that other than as a photo of a massive anti-government protest, remembering that the SBS audience is not familiar with that picture from watching their news, because those rallies were never shown at the time – to my knowledge.

Continuing the propaganda theme, SBS's presentation of the ‘history’ then suggested that the fighting began between defecting soldiers and the army, – and not much before October.

As I remember there had already been some major atrocities and attacks committed in Homs, which was visited by the UN observers around then.

The SBS 'report' continued, describing Kofi Annan’s efforts, ‘which failed following the Houla massacre.’ Needless to say, although this was simply described as 100 people ‘killed’ and 49 children, the failure to attribute blame, or identify the people, framed it as a government atrocity.

Then we see photos of ruined apartment blocks from the air, and hear that ‘the UN declared it a civil war, and the country split along sectarian lines’ – ‘June 2012’.

And that was it.

So why did SBS steer clear of reminding us about the Ghouta CW ‘attack’? Is that because we might begin to think, and remember that Russia also got us out of that war, just as it is doing now?

It’s hard to know where to go with this, because there is no-one in the government saying or thinking remotely the right thing. Tanya Plibersek was interviewed this morning by Fran Kelly, talking all about Iran’s HR abuses and ‘how you get killed for being gay’, and then talking about Assad having to go and so on.

anon (not verified)

Wed, 2016-03-16 17:33

Game Management Authority chief executive Greg Hyams said the algae was potentially toxic and could be dangerous to both people and dogs. Mr Hyams said there was little research on how ducks were affected by blue-green algae. “However, hunters should be cautious as studies have shown that toxins can accumulate in the internal organs of fish and possibly ducks". “As a precaution, hunters should discard the internal organs (particularly the liver) of ducks and rinse the duck with clean water prior to cooking and eating.” Apart from the toxic algae, long time observers of the Murray say that the climate is becoming drier, or that too much water has been taken from the mighty Murray and Darling rivers by government and irrigators, to the detriment of its forests, trees, wetlands and wildlife. The Murray Darling Basin covers 14 per cent of Australia and produces 40 per cent of the ­nation’s food — to the point where whole districts have lost much of their precious irrigation water, farmers can no longer grow food, and communities are dying. In what is already one of the nation’s worst ever recorded algae outbreaks, experts say only nature can stop the bloom’s spread, through heavy rain and colder weather. We can only rely on Nature's generosity, abundance and excess, not take out more and more and assume it will automatically keep producing more, to fit into our economic model of endless and unlimited economic growth!

Holly (not verified)

Wed, 2016-03-16 04:13

It is very bad when state refuses to carry out and accept legal claims of citizens. As for me, this is illegal practice! i suppose, the state has to work for citizens, not vice versa! People have their own rights! And these rights should be provided!

Geoffrey Taylor

Tue, 2016-03-15 23:51

RT's Lizzie Phelan raises concerns about Russian withdrawal from Syria

In the above video, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Defence Minister state their plans to pull out most Russian military forces from Syria, except for the air base at Lattakia and the naval port at Tartus. The reasons they give are that the terrorists have been defeated and that the Syrian Army, Hezbollah and the Kurdish YPP have matters under control.

RT's reporter in Syria, Lizzie Phelan, largely confirms this. However, she goes on to point out that there was fear amongst local Syrians that some terrorists may use the opportunity to relaunch their war against the Syrian Government. There had been daily breaches of the ceasefire by terrorists. Lizzie Phelan, herself, had only recently witnessed, near her, the explosions of two mortar bombs launched by terrorists, explode near her in Daraa.

Eric Claus (not verified)

Mon, 2016-03-14 14:11

The Discussion about immigration on Channel 7’s Sunrise was revealing this morning (Sunday 13 March 2016). Well done to Mark Latham and Kelvin Thompson fighting the fight on economic grounds and sticking up for the average citizen in the suburbs. Too bad we aren’t advanced enough in the debate to think about the environment and the big picture global impact of high population. The contradictions put forward by the Migration Council and Centre for Independent Studies are also revealing: When there is congestion, poor roads and high house prices business groups say "poor planning by government ". When there are "skills shortages " business groups don't say poor planning by government, they say we need more government action to increase immigration to fill the shortages. When business groups talk about taxes and government regulations they say get out of our way, Free enterprise will solve all the nations woes. When business groups talk about "skills shortages" they don't want the free enterprise system to solve the problem they want more government action to increase immigration. They forget all about free enterprise action like increasing wages and increasing training. The only time business groups talk about increasing training is when they want government to pay for it. When business groups say high immigration helps the economy they mean it helps the top end of the economy. High immigration keeps labour rates low. That is one of the big reasons business loves high immigration. It keeps wages low and helps them improve profits. Corporate profits have increased 5 times faster than the average wage in the past 15 years while immigration rates have been high.

John Bentley (not verified)

Sun, 2016-03-13 10:49

Cyanobacteria is a complex form of microscopic bacteria (algae-like) which inhabits both fresh and marine waters. The bacteria is naturally occurring and their are several varieties. Like all plants cyanobacteria photosynthesise and require sunlight, nutrients and carbon dioxide to grow and produce oxygen. Ideal conditions for cyanobacteria to bloom in inland waterways include poor water quality, low or no water flow and extended hot weather. Any or a mixture of the above conditions can instigate a cyanobacterial bloom. Of those conditions, the former two are man made while not much can be done about the latter although with climate change it too could be classified as human originated. Poor water quality is caused by sodic soils, nutrients and the stratification of water. Approximately one third of Australian soils are sodic (as opposed to salinised) which causes clay molecules to break down and when dissolved in water, make it turbid. Nutrients in the form of nitrogen and phosphorous are leached into our waterways from chemical fertilisers, sewage farms, household products and stormwater run-off. Stratification of water is when the top layer of water warms at a different rate to that lower in the water body. All of these causes can or may result in the eutrophication of water. Blooms can be mitigated using a variety of chemicals and herbicides, but most of these remedies are also toxic to humans, animals and birds. Preventative mitigation is recognised as the best practice ie revegetating the landscape and the use of gypsum to negate sodic soils, reducing the use and over-use of chemical fertilisers, herbicides and pesticdes, recycling sewage water, using environmentally friendly household chemicals and to catch and re-use stormwater. Reducing the stratification of water is a bit harder, but by keeping water flowing and/or not allowing water bodies to become shallow would be a step in the right direction. What can the average punter do to help reduce cyanobacteria blooms? The first thing to do is talk to your State or Federal Government MP and get them to understand the gravity of the problem. Learn and understand the magnitude of the problem Australia including the Murray Darling Basin Authority, faces with sodic soils and how we can negate sodicity. Urge farmers and home gardeners not to use or to limit the use of chemical fertilisers. Reduce our reliance on chemical herbicides and insecticides. Urge MPs to undertake the construction of infrastructure that will recycle sewage and stormwater. Managing a our waterways in manner that is more akin to natural flows than they are currently. Finally we need to change our current attitude to water and how we manage it. Our present water management plans are fundamentally flawed and a major revision is required. Water is Australia's most precious resource and we treat it with disdain. The neoliberals have commodified water and allowed speculators into the market. We need to go back to the drawing board and start again. Water must be given the status of Australia's most precious resource and used in a manner fitting that status, efficiently and sparingly. References:

Dennis K

Sat, 2016-03-12 20:48

I'm very sceptical of the sudden push to dissociate sex with gender, in particular as this idea has origins not in biological or anthropological study but in political study. It is not surprise that it is the Social Justice Warrior or anarchist movement which is identifying with this. This is where it originated! It is a construction of the far left Social Justice Warrior movement. It was populated by borderline deranged people on Tumblr years ago, has edged its way into the mainstream and is now the current preferred mode of moral signalling. Search "Otherkin" for some other insight into what this movement pushes. It seems to be very much politically motivated to try and remove Western norms. I've heard on the radio mothers talking about children who are under the age of 10 being 'intersex' or genderfluid or whatever that is. It seems that having non-binary or non-traditional children is "The New Black", in order to win social approval and preference as marginalised, which not only offers protection from criticism, but curries favour. The danger is that parents are attributing what is probably normal feeling, normal confusion to some other gender category, and then enforcing upon the child or the adolescent that they belong in an "intersex" or "homosexual" or "gender fluid" or "demisexual" or "queer" or one of the many categories that has sprung up. In doing it, it enforces a gender construct which IS a human construct. I suspect this is backwards. The problem isn't that our concept of gender is flawed, the problem is that the concept of "male" or "female" is too narrow, and what is normal male or female behaviour is being treated as atypical or as a result of a different gender. It is incorrect to assume that a girl who prefers trains and cars to dolls and dresses has gender identity issues. The idea of someone "feeling" female doesn't make sense. By what standard is a young man "feeling" like they are a woman? In order to make these judgement, there has to be some presumption, or prejudice as to what being a women, or feeling like one is. If someone identifies as being a female, with what exactly are they identifying with? Particular behaviours? How can they really know? How can they be sure? It's dangerous to immediately entertain these confusions as legitimate biological manifestations, especially if the thought that one may be of a different gender is based on identification with a socially constructed notion of what being that gender entails, than a more scientific, biologically based notion. Also transsexualism rates vary worldwide, suggesting that culture plays a part in this.

niels (not verified)

Sat, 2016-03-12 19:58

What do you mean by Transition Towns ? Is it really any town or its an imagine town?? Its really difficult to understand your article theme.I am still trying to understand your article main theme.

John Bentley (not verified)

Sat, 2016-03-12 09:56

Your are quite correct pop that the neoliberals and their code of 'greed is good' have marginalised different sections of the community. And I do agree with Dennis that the community is being undermined by this very process. This was rammed home to me a while ago when I came across some information on the Roy Morgan Research website. Roy Morgan had done some background on youth unemployment, anxiety, depression and stress and uncovered some startling results. The study was based on young Aussies in the 18-24 years of age bracket and the outcomes gave an insight into the problems of those entering into the workforce. The results of the research can be found at: One can only wonder at the results of similar surveys of say 12 to 18 year olds or as we have discussing older age groups say 50 to 65 years or 60 to 80 years or any age bracket for that matter. My greatest fear is what will the world be like in 20 or 30 years even if we make it through to then. Politicians for most part today are just stooges for/of neoliberal oligarchs as, as I have said previously, we slide into some form of modern day feudalism of robber land barons and penniless peasants.

anon (not verified)

Sat, 2016-03-12 09:15

My friend Kerry Taperall (now 73) came from a large catholic family. It wasn’t large at first of course. There were just two in their two bedroom home in Sutherland. Very comfortable. Then came the babies. One comfortable, two comfortable, three comfortable, four getting a bit uncomfortable. So they built the verandah — which became a dormitory. More children. Problems began with toilets and bathrooms - uncomfortable. But in those days catholics were encouraged to accept those kids as they came. Name changed but true story, the Taperalls had a dozen children - six boys and six girls. It was just post war so they could only get the materials to “Jerry build” a roughhouse room attached to the verandah for the extra children, too hot in the summer, freezing cold in the winter. The Taperalls had overreached themselves population wise. I remember that the eldest left home at 17, the second eldest at 15, desperate to get a bit of space and privacy. Melbourne, it seems to me, is like the Taperalls, We populated to a very good level and made a lovely city. But we didn’t stop or even slow down. Our belief in growth was akin to the catholic belief in the prohibition of birth control. The doctrine of ceaseless growth at an unsustainable rate had become a doctrine of faith. No one could shake it out of what were otherwise sensible heads. Congestion and discomfort are everywhere. And, now we have the destruction of Docklands Stadium (Etihad to you), no doubt to be subdivided, like the filling in with houses of the quite workable Glen Waverley Football ground. The space will be laden with apartment blocks. They will be like the recently built ones, that squeeze and encrust Etihad stadium, which should have stood alone from the beginning, surrounded by some beautiful breathe-easy space. And what is the reason? So we can build yet another stadium in sports city, blowing apart the No.70 tram, and extending the car queue along City Road to the Swan St Bridge by another kilometre. Ah, progress.

population overshoot (not verified)

Fri, 2016-03-11 13:15

Australia's suicide rate rose to 12 per 100,000 people in 2014, according to Bureau of Statistics figures released on Tuesday – the highest level since 2001, when it reached 12.6 per 100,000. The suicide rate among those aged 55 to 64 years surged by 54 per cent in the 10 years to 2014, to 15.1 per 100,000. However, men made up three-quarters of the 362 suicides in the age group 15-24 in 2014. It seems that men, once they decide to kill themselves, are more successful. Suicide was the leading cause of death for Australians aged 15 to 44, while the rate for men was nearly twice the rate for women. Men worry about money, supporting their families, being the breadwinner. High levels of unemployment, and underemployment, no doubt threaten the men's self esteem and status. Alan Woodward, board director at Suicide Prevention Australia, linked the rise in suicide among middle-aged Australians to deteriorating quality of life, chronic health problems and age-based discrimination. Australia was once a wealthy nation, the envy of the world, with affordable housing, and full employment. Thanks to economic rationalism, greed, poor leadership, inhumane and cruel politics, Australia is on the slide. Economic rationalism is the dogma which says that markets and money can always do everything better than governments, bureaucracies and the law. There’s no point in political debate because all this just generates more insoluble conflicts. It's neo-liberalism, in allowing markets and the economy to make the rules, at whatever cost to people, the environment, and communities. People become mere puppets to the system, and end up crushed by costs, being alienated and dispossessed by an economy that deems than nothing more than a useless cog in a giant wheel!

miket (not verified)

Thu, 2016-03-10 23:43

What has got me thinking about this article in response to the documentary, that in many human societies there was or continue to be stratification amongst the sexes, in terms of land ownership, and in occupation (such as the classic hunter/gatherer). On top of this is the notion of gender identity, of which seems to be a fluid concept. For example, as the documentary shows, same sex attractions and blurred gender roles is widespread in the animal kingdom, as it is in the human species. transexualism and third genders have been known throughout many human societies in history and are becoming more visible in modern liberal societies. Many in my own generation (under 35s) are eschewing or rejecting gender definitions as they see these as mainly harmful and unfairly pigeon-hole people. E.G. for women, this persists in cultural and social marginialisation, and in the case of men, in the persistence of bigoted and violent behaviour patterns. Many, particularly in the left wing and anarchist communities, are choosing to be gender neutral. Yet I wonder if there is a middle ground. If the article suggests there are practical, social, and cultural advantages to some degree of stratification between the sexes, could this still allow for people to express any gender identify that feels most true for them?

Dennis K

Thu, 2016-03-10 21:09

The group which has the highest suicide rate in Australia at the moment are males aged over 85. Our profit/greed driven society has changed our view of society from one of community to one where it is nothing more than an agglomeration of people seeking to maximise profit. Older people have gone from experienced human beings to being seen as an economic sink. However, unless we address the underlying philosophy behind how we drive and run our nation, no hand waving or statements to treat them with respect will alter this. We've created for ourselves a system which everything is subservient to finance, one which has no room for anything else. But this system has been a long time coming. It was baked into our society decades ago. We are only noticing it now because the art of raw capitalism is finally being refined, it is becoming a perfected science. We can trace the origin to the "economic rationalism" of the late 80's and early 90's.

Sheila Newman

Wed, 2016-03-09 23:29



 

Mad as hell (not verified)

Wed, 2016-03-09 23:19

As no-one else has yet commented on it, I’ll mention the latest Western campaign to 'rescue' the Syrian people from their government, launched by Save the Children to coincide with the five years since the ‘uprising’. (I think ‘insurgency’ means the same?) The essence of the Save the Children campaign is a report based on the testimonies of ‘125 adults, women and children’ from 22 ‘focus groups’, detailing the conditions in Syria for children in particular. I haven’t looked at the report itself, but a double page spread in the Age extracts various statistics, such as ‘number of people in Syria in need of humanitarian assistance – 13.5 million’, and including an article titled “Children resort to leaves for survival”. It seems hardly necessary to observe that the only places actually mentioned in this article are Moadamiya, Yarmouk and Madaya. But it seems that the focus groups weren’t actually there but probably in refugee camps in Lebanon, like Arsal.. It says: “the findings are consistent with stories told by those who have fled the shell-shocked country”, and ‘the report is dotted with personal stories relayed by humanitarian workers’. SBS TV, which had ‘the story’ on its news tonight, sandwiched between TWO propaganda pieces about Turkey, showed some short videos extracted from StC report, which were evidently filmed either in rebel-occupied and devastated areas, or in refugee camps. Also in an interview on the ABC with a StC rep in Beirut, we heard audio of people talking of snipers shooting at them if they tried to escape, and land mines around, and food being held ‘beyond checkpoints’. No-one said that these were Syrian Arab Army (SAA) snipers, mines and checkpoints, but listeners would assume that. The idea that they might have been ‘terrorist snipers’ was excluded, even though this story could have come from someone in Madaya. So since we had the ceasefire, the whole emphasis in the West and its media is now to get humanitarian aid in to as many people as possible. You can see what sort of problem we have with the way that Turkey is being presented. While Davotglu, liar and war criminal, was being feted in Brussels for his great vision, (and Prince Mohammed bin Nayef was being awarded the Legion of Honour prize in Paris for fighting extremism) al Nusra forces launched a few missiles into Kilis, which just happened to come down near where the Turkish media were filming, so Davotoglu could say – “See we are under attack from IS.” Why didn’t anyone observe that IS forces aren’t supposed to be that close to that border, or note that hundreds of AL Nusra fighters were ferried over it into Syria so recently, along with suitable missiles.. But no, Davotoglu made a great suggestion – to take back all the migrants who have cross into Europe from its soil, in return for more money, visa free travel to the EU and faster EU membership. Great offer!! And it was welcomed by Euro and UK leaders. I also heard some nonsense, that ‘for every Syrian refugee taken back, Europe would agree to resettle a Syrian refugee.’ Did they mean for every NON-Syrian refugee taken back? It’s hard not to conclude that European leaders, but specially Merkel and Cameron, are not just as mendacious and criminal as Davotoglu and Erdogan, when they happily cooperate with these men who have helped to shed so much Syrian blood. And this report from Aleppo says, for what? Syrians may be under siege with life-threatening munitions, but we are also under siege with the propaganda that threatens their lives and ours too!

population overshoot (not verified)

Wed, 2016-03-09 14:48

There's no stability in Australia, no predictability and nothing to ensure young people now of the future. They are likely to be be struggling with unemployment, and/or landed with heavy debts if they dare to take on training or tertiary education. Housing is unaffordable, and so are rents. Despite our high immigration, and the desire of many people to come here, those who here are not living the most enviable lives! Once we become older, we are then part of the dreaded "ageing population" pulling down our economy, and draining the public of costs! "Baby Boomers" are now "rich", because we come from an age in which Australia was wealthy, and lucky, with only a small population. They are easy picking too for taking the blame for the poverty of this generation, and of hogging up houses that should be pulled down to make room for units! Families end up divided due to high cost of housing, and lack of jobs. Australia is going downhill, and there are more and more savage cuts to our budgets, but the growth machine keeps rolling out fake promises of wealth at the end of the rainbow- once we have more people, taxpayers, to fill our coffers. The lies are easily seen through. Lack of hope, usefulness and deprivation is the cause of so many suicides.

Mad as hell (not verified)

Wed, 2016-03-09 09:54

good graphs. Quote - "Alan Woodward, board director at Suicide Prevention Australia, linked the rise in suicide among middle-aged Australians to deteriorating quality of life, chronic health problems and age-based discrimination." Read more: Follow us: on Twitter | theageAustralia on Facebook It is obvious to me that life for ordinary Australians is going downhill. There is no unconditional acceptance into the Oz community. The media pogrom against "Baby Boomers” is enough to make people give up. Four Corners also recently ran a special on the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA)’s insurance arm- doing all in its power to avoid payments to legitimate claims leaving a litany of misery and sacking the whistle blower of course. Such financial practices drive suicides. I'm sure that the powers behind our State and Federal governments actually want this, even if the politicians prefer to pretend that everything is under control.

anon (not verified)

Tue, 2016-03-08 19:40

One of the fascinating things about this is the psychological effect on women's lives and position in the world depending now on the mercurial state of mind called "being in love" and inspiring someone else to be" in love" with you and then the pressure to keep them "in love" with you. This must have an enormous effect on the female psyche and personality. It must also affect the male psyche. This is not a competition from which many females can opt out. They mostly have to be in the race and they don't have much time. When you think of it, it is all very precarious when you have families as the unit responsible for raising children consisting of two adults who need to stay in love or close to it. Furthermore they have to work like crazy to keep a roof over their heads. The topic of the day today, (International Women's Day) is that women do the same work as men and are paid less. This situation has come about through women gaining equal pay in Australia in the 1970s but being defeated now by an economic system where the individual negotiates his or her rate of pay, so it's a sort of auction which confounds any notion of equality or fairness. It's interesting to think of where we came from and the direction we are now going. Think of the anxiety levels involved and the paralysing effect on personalities.

John Bentley (not verified)

Tue, 2016-03-08 16:28

Jane O'Sullivan has an excellent article "CSIRO'S Australian National Outlook 2015: have your cake and eat it too?" in the latest SPA Newsletter: The castration and conversion to neoliberalism of the CSIRO seems to be working, unfortunately!!

population overshoot (not verified)

Tue, 2016-03-08 11:41

" Victoria's population growth rate of 1.7 per cent last year was the fastest in the country, and Melbourne has continued its relentless 200 extra people every day, 1,500 per week, 75,000 each year growth for all of a decade now." Rather than a threat, there are many industries and sectors celebrating this growth, and somehow pretending it's natural response to a booming economy! Growth, profits, expanding industries, and bigger economy, are all seen by the growthists are a great boom. The real problems of environmental degradation, loss of wildlife, growing hole of infrastructure deficits, and declining living standards, are just brushed off. Of course this growth is destructive, unsustainable, and trashing any concept of responsible stewardship. Future generations will condemn us for our greed, gluttony and deliberate abandonment of ethics. We don't have an ageing population threat, but one of too many young people, with little future.

Sheila N (not verified)

Sun, 2016-03-06 17:47

There used to be peace marches on Palm Sunday, but now, instead, the Refugee Action Coalition (RAC) is organising rallies in several states to call for an end to mandatory detention and closure of offshore detention centres and also an increase in the refugee intake. It's as if the anti-war movement that once had so many followers, has lost them to the refugee action movement and begun going round in endless circles ever since. Because Australian refugee activists are completely disconnected from our involvement in the illegal wars that produce the refugees and asylum seekers that come here. Terribly convenient for our government and neocons, who want to make war to pillage the places that refugees come from. In 2003 a huge amount of people in Australia and all over the world massed against involvement in Iraq. That's about the last time there was any national opposition in Australia to war. What happened? I think what happened was that the mainstream press has given the refugee movements lots of coverage and therefore encouragement and has given none to the traditional anti-war movement. And I think this is a calculated policy that extends from Australia to the EU and Britain. Wave a flag for open borders and the neocon press will publish photos of your group; wave a flag against our cruel wars and no-one will know it happened. So the former is on the rise, with churches and hobbyists jumping innocently on the bandwagon and the latter has almost completely declined. The masses now don't even realise the recent history of western involvement in the Middle East, which has been based on lies with consequences bigger than the holocaust: Bin Laden with Al Qaeda (Afghanistan); weapons of mass destruction (Iraq); incubator babies (Iraq); Murderous dictator (Libya). And now, the 'brutal dictator' in Syria. So, how about going out on Palm Sunday on Sunday 20th March 2016 with a sign saying, Stop making war and refugees in the Middle East!

Sheila Newman

Sun, 2016-03-06 16:53

Hi Population Overshoot, I think the circumstances involved in any cutting off of fuel by Russia should be included in any statements. According to my recollection, Russia has piped fuel to Ukraine for a long time but Ukraine has a history of paying late or not at all. During the war between East Ukraine and Kiev, Ukraine continued to default on payments and Russia finally cut her off, in view of hostilities. I think that Ukraine has since blocked the downstream supply of water to Ukraine. The United States has imposed sanctions to prevent Iraq from exploiting or selling its own oil and forced privatisation of publicly owned oil production there. After the fall of the Soviet Union, various neocons from the West aligned with Russian oligarchs to pillage Russian oil and gas. Putin eventually got these resources back into public ownership and the oligarchs fled. This is, I think, why Putin suddenly became so unpopular with the US.

population overshoot (not verified)

Sun, 2016-03-06 12:47

Russia currently supplies Europe with a quarter of the gas it uses for heating, cooking, fuel and other activities. 80 per cent of the gas that Russian state-controlled company Gazprom produces is sold to Europe, so maintaining this crucial market is very important. Russia uses its power over gas as political leverage and has a history of cutting off supply to countries during conflicts. The United States would prefer Russia to have less influence in Europe. The US also wants to use its own natural gas supply, recently developed through fracking, to undercut Russian supply. A gas field located 3000 metres below the floor of the Persian Gulf is the largest natural gas field in the world. The Arab Gas Pipeline, was originally planned to continue traveling from Syria into Turkey. From there, it can be piped into Europe. President Bashar al Assad refused to give permission for the pipeline to go through his territory. The roots of the war in Syria is centered in the development, supply and control of oil and natural gas reserves in Middle Eastern countries and the pipelines needed to send them primarily to Europe. It's not about a humanitarian cause, or the promotion of democracy - but simply the demand for diminishing natural resources. Meddling in Syria came about immediately on the heels of discussions of an Iran-Iraq-Syria gas pipeline that was to be built between 2014 and 2016 from Iran’s giant South Pars field through Iraq and Syria.

From Aleppo (not verified)

Sat, 2016-03-05 22:07

Water started to return to Aleppo city yesterday, after around 2 months of lack of water supply to the city. It was a deal between the Syrian government and Da'esh, where each side was controlling the flow of water to the other side. Da'esh in al-Bab village can't have water because their water lines comes from Aleppo city, however Aleppo water comes from the Euphrates which is under Da'esh control. So they finally reached to a deal. [Means negotiating for water with the enemy; doesn't mean taking sides with the enemy] Red Crescent [Arab Red Cross] is helping with the power generators to pump the water as well, because there is no power in the city for 5 months. We didn't have water yet at home, but other areas started to have.

Sheila Newman

Sat, 2016-03-05 18:50

Why political professionals are struggling to make sense of the world they created. By Peggy Noonan We’re in a funny moment. Those who do politics for a living, some of them quite brilliant, are struggling to comprehend the central fact of the Republican primary race, while regular people have already absorbed what has happened and is happening. Journalists and politicos have been sharing schemes for how Marco parlays a victory out of winning nowhere, or Ted roars back, or Kasich has to finish second in Ohio. But in my experience any nonpolitical person on the street, when asked who will win, not only knows but gets a look as if you’re teasing him. Trump, they say. I had such a conversation again Tuesday with a friend who repairs shoes in a shop on Lexington Avenue. Jimmy asked me, conversationally, what was going to happen. I deflected and asked who he thinks is going to win. “Troomp!” He’s a very nice man, an elderly, old-school Italian-American, but I saw impatience flick across his face: Aren’t you supposed to know these things? In America now only normal people are capable of seeing the obvious. But actually that’s been true for a while, and is how we got in the position we’re in. Last October I wrote of the five stages of Trump, based on the Kübler-Ross stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Most of the professionals I know are stuck somewhere between four and five. But I keep thinking of how Donald Trump got to be the very likely Republican nominee. There are many answers and reasons, but my thoughts keep revolving around the idea of protection. It is a theme that has been something of a preoccupation in this space over the years, but I think I am seeing it now grow into an overall political dynamic throughout the West. There are the protected and the unprotected. The protected make public policy. The unprotected live in it. The unprotected are starting to push back, powerfully. The protected are the accomplished, the secure, the successful—those who have power or access to it. They are protected from much of the roughness of the world. More to the point, they are protected from the world they have created. Again, they make public policy and have for some time. Read more here: or

Anonymous (not verified)

Fri, 2016-03-04 18:32

AHPRA has not been encouraging nurses to do the workforce planning surveys so the govt has no accurate picture. Nurses are losing their properties (I know of more than one nurse this has happened to) but what would the union care. The union organisers are more interested in looking after themselves rather than looking after the people that pay their wages. The union sucks people into paying fees on false pretences by suggesting they offer this service and that service but when it comes to the crunch they let people down. The govt should be subsidizing Australian workers not foreign workers also when it comes to employment. The reality of the matter is that many employers are claiming that they cannot get Australian workers but they are being dishonest and the govt should be clamping down on this because there are going to be huge social problems in the long run. The govt is so short sighted.

Sheila Newman

Thu, 2016-03-03 20:30

Yes, one gets the feeling that, if it were the thylacine (Tasmanian wolf) Mr Hunt, Mr Turnbull, Mr Shorten, and practically every politician in state or federal parliament, including the Greens, would allow it to happen all over again. We seem to be ruled by people who are totally blind to nature except as a sort of discreet thin wallpaper or moving screensaver on their televisions. A few days ago I heard 3AW's Tom Elliot interview Richard di Natale. Tom mentioned that the new Canberra airport seems to be ridiculously large for Canberra's population - as big as Tullamarine - and Di Natale said blandly something like, "Not when you realise how much Canberra is going to grow." I wrote an article, , a few years ago about the official line on the Belconnen Kangaroo massacres, where it was clear that the kangaroos were in the way of development, notably of the airport, and that the so-called research determining that they were 'overpopulating' did not even try to work out whether they were locally born or migrants and used arbitrary definitions of population density that were completely undermined by the pHD work of one of their chief scientists. To hear Di Natale glibly normalise Canberra's population growth was just sickening.

anon (not verified)

Thu, 2016-03-03 18:42

This morning I was talking to a friend on the phone about a variety of things when I mentioned the bandicoot situation. My friend said she had seen the ABC news item last Sunday and was upset about it. She went quiet and said she couldn't cope with contemplating it. Her reasonably happy aspect fell audibly into a sort of depressed helplessness. I know that I cannot discuss the bandicoots again with this friend as she will find my company too painful. It's not that she doesn't care. She cares greatly but does not know what can be done. I feel the need to discuss it because I do know that something can be done. The extinction of the bandicoots is not inevitable.

population overshoot (not verified)

Wed, 2016-03-02 16:10

This is the level of our "environmental" protection - that urban sprawl is considered more "cost effective" than any fences to protect our native species! Native species protection is not about "costs" above benefits. We have environmental laws to protect native flora and fauna, that can just be ignored when convenient? The money towards corridors for the Southern Brown Bandicoot just just disappear? We are locked in to a Colonial, cancerous type of economy, of new settlers, housing expansion, vegetation clearing, or taming the bush, and unbending never-ending "growth" at whatever cost. This type of encroachment onto native species habitats is a Third World problem, not one of a so-called leading, developed economy like that of Australia!

Are we getting ... (not verified)

Wed, 2016-03-02 13:14

Last nights SBS world news bulletin had a report about the ceasefire in Syria by Nastasya Tay which I consider to be egregious propaganda. It wasn’t simply reporting the same old sources as credible, like the ‘HNC’ reps or Kerry, or ‘Syrian civilians’ viewpoint, but actually seemed to be a clear intentional effort to mislead the audience. If you look at this news clip, which is there on i-view till the 8th, it starts at 11.20 in, after a report about refugees in Europe. Report from Nastasya Tay, starting at 11.20 in this section. What Tay does, is provide a commentary that is supposed to be about the delivery of aid to various Syrian cities, but only shows bombardment attributed to either the Russian airforce or the Syrian army. Her commentary is carefully timed to coincide with different short clips of explosions or tank fire, but the cities she names are not those portrayed in the video. At the end of this section we see three shots of tanks firing in sequence – it’s as if to say “this is what the Syrian army thinks of a ‘ceasefire’. I don’t know what to do about this, but it goes beyond any other ‘mis-reads’ and tricks I’ve seen before. It also reports NATO’s Stoltenberg’s view that the Russians are not targeting IS, and then tells us that the ‘Russians blame Turkey’.

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