Cruisin'

Currying Favour

A bit of background for those who are not aware of the situation.

Around the 11th June a boat carrying some 150 Tamil asylum seekers that left Pondicherry in India bound for Australia was intercepted by an Australian customs vessel. They have been kept at sea for about a month, their exact whereabouts a closely guarded secret by the government.

Meantime , a deal has been reached with the Indian government , after a bit of shuttle diplomacy and "gifts" of a couple of naval vessels to the Sri Lankan Navy , by which the boat people will be off-loaded, probably on the Cocos Islands then transferred to the Curtin detention center in WA ( not an attractive spot in the desert)  where they will be interviewed by Indian consular officials. These will decide who to return to India (Indian residents ) and will consider taking Sri Lankan nationals.

There is the ever present risk that those being returned will face prosecution or persecution and despite a High Court challenge, in Australia of the whole governmental detention process, the immigration department under Scott Morrison is pressing ahead with arrangements to return the Tamils to India, which is not party to the Refugee Convention. Australia which has signed the convention seemingly trying to cherry pick its U.N. obligations as well as its legal obligations within Australia. .

The Australian government has been heavily criticised by the U.N. for its  hardline, military led border regime 

One would imagine that the 150 Tamils would be glad to get off the ship, get their feet on dry land and escape endless evening meals  of  baked beans on toast, Nor would it be too hard to imagine that  dyed in the wool, staunch Liberals would be complaining at the cost of it all , since they have to fork out through the nose when booking a four week Ocean cruise for themselves.

It beggars the question as to where all this money is coming from. Apart from these refugee policies there has been considerable outlays on the MH 370  and MH 17 disasters. Time and time again we have been warned that the economy is in dire straits with cut backs and Scrooge budgets reaching out far into distant time horizons. What gives or are we missing something here?

As a final note a recent poll found 26 % of Australian thought we were too harsh on illegals, some 30% felt our treatment was right and the remaining 44% thought we were not hard enough!

(OMG! To be fair, am not certain of the details of the poll but it was quoted by one of the technical gurus on the ABC's  The Drum, a week or so ago). Quite often those who arrived here with the "proper"process are often the most vociferous in voicing their opposition to queue jumpers.

Casualty of War

Mish Mash a la Russe

It's been a frightful week. Tragic. 

It's ironic that Putin's daughter is actually living in Holland . In Australia there have been reports of the Russian Association has been receiving abusive calls and veiled threats. That's the trouble with war, nobody really wins and the recent rise of Russian influence and politics is vaguely reminiscent of the resurgence of nationalistic pride in Germany after the WW1. Pride follows a fall. 

There have been some abortive attempts within Russia itself to impeach, for want of a better word, Gorbachev for his role in the collapse of the old Soviet Union. Listening to Russian citizens , both young and old, many are satisfied with Putin's performance. They claim to like a strong leader, one who can be admired and respected in the world. It is hard to imagine Russia directly implicated in the act, more likely it's an unspeakable action taken  by other factions on the ground. 

Needless to say, the separatists have not impressed the world by their behaviour.  

The one who pressed the button or launched the rocket which downed MH 17 will, no doubt, not be found. The confusion is too great and the political implications  too vast to be able to entertain any sense of real justice. 

In war everyone is a casualty, one way or the other not can conflict be isolated, in today's world, to any particular region.
PS: just learned  that Putin's daughter, Maria,  has fled The Netherlands for security reasons.

Better the devil.....

Today, Peter Greste's brother Michael announced a decision to appeal the sentence passed down by the Egyptian court against the Al Jazeera journalist.

Peter Greste, together with his colleagues , stands accused by the Egyptian government,  of consorting with the Muslim Brotherhood and by association sedition

The lengthy trail of the Al Jazeera  reporters was marked by delays and journeys back and forth from the jail to the court hearing where , caged and isolated,  they listened to the echoes of "justice " from the dim recesses of the judge's bench. In Australia, time has little meaning for hospitals, police stations and government agencies but the Arab sense of hours and minutes in comparison , puts these agencies working in double quick time . Inshallah, God willing, is as vague as a politician being confronted with the truth or something promised during an election campaign.. 

Appeals by the Australian Prime Minister went unheeded , while the judge further accused the journalists  of being "guided by the devil" in their work as reporters. Tony Abbott has more luck appeals to Putin than with the then newly elected President of Egypt.

We are all familiar with the devil, one way or another. Lawyers know that he hides in the detail while competitive sorts leave him to take the hindmost. The Inquisitors of the Spanish Inquisition were also on first name terms with old Nick. For a while there he seemed to have dropped  out of sight but now he's back in the news. 

Acknowledgement to Warner Bros

In all fairness perhaps here , in view of the judge's remarks, the devil should be arrested. After all it seems he is the guilty party stirring up trouble. Too easy?

Mates talk

Boys Toys

Transport is big in Australia, a large country with huge expanses of nothing . Travel has always been a central part of the Australian psyche as many are of migrant parents and trips to Europe and other places are almost as normal as stepping onto a bus. 

Among mates,the subject of cars is important, nay vital. One has to be a sports nut as well as a bit of a revhead. Men know quite a bit about cars and will be able to tell you engine size, features , advantages and disadvantages of particular models as well as the price down to the last cent. 

Ask a lady what kind of car she has and she will answer "Green"or "Yellow"...(Well, most anyway).

In vino veritas...

Rite of passage

A wine tasting tour is a must . This is an essential part of being Australian. 

The Barossa Valley , Hunter Valley , Margaret River , Mclaren Vale , Yarra Valley ,Mornington Peninsula, Adelaide Hills , Clare Valley , Canberra District , Southern Tasmania, these names should trip off the tip of your tongues as easily as you can say "You bewdy!"

The more wine one consumes the more attractive or ugly one's companion becomes and the temptation to say so grows with each passing glass; regrets and embarrassment ensue the following day. Many a friendship has been cemented or shattered thus,

Henry Fielding, in  "Tom Jones" remarked that drink does not alter the character of a man, rather reveals it more clearly! So make sure you go with someone who intrigues you..you might  be surprised at what you discover by the end of the journey!

Last stop on the wine tasting tour