The Paris ' Peace Conference' Turns Into A Farce

 
 Pro -Israel protesters outside Paris Conference


The Paris peace conference designed to be another slap at Israel turned into a farce devoid of meaning. It certainly didn't have the kick Barack Obama and John Kerry intended.

Instead of strengthening the insidious UNSC 2334, it actually buried it and made it ridiculous.

UNSC 2334, as biased as it was, had reiterated the Security Council’s:

“vision of a region where two democratic States, Israel and Palestine, live side by side in peace within secure and recognized borders,”

The final Paris communique threw away this “two democratic states solution” and changed it to:

“that a negotiated solution with two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security, is the only way to achieve enduring peace.”

They eliminated 'democratic' 9 times in the final communique. This seems self-evident because neither the Palestinian Authority or Hamasistan are democratic in the least, but the Paris communique not accepting the terms of the “two-state solution” proposed by the Security Council gives the lie to the whole enterprise and takes the mask off, weakening 2334's clout.

It also reaffirmed that the only way to any settlement was direct negotiations between the parties rather than a UN diktat, which 2334 most assuredly did not do.

There's also no followup, and no new demands of Israel.

The Paris statement did praise Saudi Arabia's 2002 Arab Peace Initiative as "a comprehensive framework for the resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict, thus contributing to regional peace and security." That's to be expected. But since it was a diktat that mimics 2334 in re-dividing Jerusalem and gifting all of Judea and Samaria to 'Palestine' and the Israelis will never abide by that anyway, it's meaningless...just like the entire conference.

Surprisingly, Britain refused to ratify the Paris statement, thus blocking the EU from signing on to it. Australia refused as well, as did most of the Eastern European EU members.

And even France's lame duck president Hollande changed his tune, saying that only negotiations between the two parties would result in peace, which 'cannot be dictated.'

 

What changed things? In part at least, Donald Trump:

In a recent interview with Bild and the Times of London, Trump said he hoped the UK would veto any anti-Israel resolution at the UN Security Council.

“The Brits read what Trump said and implemented it immediately,” an unnamed European diplomat who attended Monday’s EU meeting told Haaretz.

 


Quite simply, Trump explained that Obama was on his way out in a week or so, and there was a new sheriff in town. It's no coincidence that British PM Theresa May is now exulting over offers of  new trade deals outside the EU with America.

The Australians and the most of the  Eastern European countries were always on board with Israel anyway. Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was fairly open about saying that the Turnball government didn't think much of 2334 and even less of the Paris communique:

Without specifically mentioning the conference's endorsement of resolution 2334, Ms Bishop noted the Coalition did not support "one-sided resolutions targeting Israel".

"The most important priority must be a resumption of direct negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians for a two-state solution as soon as possible," she said.

Australia became one of the few countries other than Israel to condemn the New Zealand-sponsored resolution 2334, with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull labeling it "one-sided" and "deeply unsettling".

U,S, Secretary of State John Kerry phoned Israeli PM Netanyahu and promised that the U.S. would not support any further UN action at tomorrow's UN Security Council Meeting, to which Netanyahu reportedly replied that Israel has already suffered enough damage thanks to the U.S. abstention on 2334.

It's the part about Kerry promising something is what has me concerned...stay tuned.

UPDATE: The UNSC meeting turned out to be nothing. Except for Israel's UN ambassador Danny Danon ripping the UN for encouraging  (encouraging? try financing amd abetting) Palestinian terrorism and intransigence.

What Would YOU Do If A Bank Error Gave You Unlimited Funds???

Well, what would you do if a bank error gave you access to unlimited funds???

That's exactly what happened to Luke Moore, a debt-ridden Australian student.




The fun started when he opened a small 'Complete Freedom' account with St George Bank. And boy, was it ever fun!

A computer error by the bank gave him an unlimited overdraft based on 'your excellent credit and balance total' and our hero decided they meant it. He plunged into a  rich playboy lifestyle which included lavish vacations, a a Hyundai Veloceter for $32,000, a $91,000 Aston Martin DB7 Vantage coupe , a $169,000 Maserati,a $54,000 Stressl boat and in his own words, lots of drugs, alcohol and women. He also withdrew wads of cash which he stashed in different accounts.

He was able to pull this off for two years and spent over $1.5 million before the bank finally realized the glitch. After that, he was caught, convicted of fraud and sentenced to 4 years in jail.

But wait, there's more.

Luke Moore, 29, was released this week after spending five months in jail before he was released on bail. And, yes, he was able to overturn his conviction on appeal on the grounds that his conduct was not 'deliberately deceptive.'

Americans will be familiar with this as 'the Clinton defense' AKA lack of intent. And why not? Can Luke Moore be blamed because he thought the people at his bank decided to gift him all that money? He just thought they were being nice because, after all, he's Luke Moore. How was he to know it was an error?

So he's out, free as a kookaburra and laughing about as loudly, at least inside. As he told the Daily Telegraph he did not miss his lavish multimillionaire lifestyle “besides the cocaine, the strippers and fast cars.”

Living now with his mother in in Goulburn, New South Wales, Moore is 'readjusting to real life' but he's apparently learned an important lesson about how to pull this kind of thing off successfully.

He's now studying to be a lawyer.

The Siege Ends In Sydney - Updated

 

There was a dramatic end to the hostage situation in Sydney, Australia early this morning at around 2 AM local time as police stormed the Lindt Cafe with stun guns and automatic weapons fire.

There are reportedly two dead, and at least one of whom was the gunman who was holding the staff and the early morning customers of the popular cafe hostage.

 

The terrorist was identified as Haron Monis, AKA 'Sheik Haron' and he definitely was someone with an interesting history, which we'll get to shortly.

Early this morning, the hostages started emerging from the cafe. Initially one man was seen coming out with his hands up who laid down on the ground in front of the police. Seconds later, a group of of five hostages appeared suddenly after they appeared to have escaped from the cafe.

The police likely decided that there was a possibility that Sheik Haron had started brutalizing or killing a hostage, so they moved in within seconds, and it says a lot about their training and preparedness that they were fully prepared to move at a moment's notice. They blasted open the cafe door opened fire with automatic weapons and hurled stun grenades as they stormed the cafe.

 


More hostages came out of the cafe afterwards, 11 of whom have been accounted for. I have heard reports that a policeman was also shot, but I haven't been able to confirm that yet.

UPDATE: I have been able to confirm that 3 people died, including the hostage taker. Two hostages, a 34-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman were also killed. The police confirm hearing shots before they stormed the building, and it's likely that the Sheik had decided to start killing some or all of the hostages off. A policeman was shot in the face, but is said to be in good condition.

A bomb disposal robot was sent into the cafe, so the police aren't taking any chances.
Sheik Haron had previously said he had a bomb in the cafe, as well as two others in other parts of Sydney.

 

So, who was 'Sheik' Haron Monis? He was an Iranian who came to Australia in 1996 as a refugee. He was a self proclaimed expert in astrology, magic and meditation who ran a 'spiritual healing' clinic in West Sydney.

Among his other hobbies, one of them was sending hate mail to the families of Australian soldiers who were killed in action between 2007 and 2009. Instead of being booted out of Australia, he received 300 community service hours and a two year suspended sentence on probation, called a 'good behaviour bond' in Australia.

In November 2013 he was charged as an accessory to the murder of his ex-wife, who was stabbed and set on fire on a flight of stairs in her Sydney apartment building.The man's current girlfriend,Amirah Droudis was charged with murder but they both received bail. His wife's name, by the way, was Noleen Hayson Pal. Since that is not a Persian or Islamic name, I think the chances are good that Sheik married a native Australian as a way or working his ticket to get asylum. That also might be something the Australian government might want to keep a closer watch on in the future.

He was also arrested in April this year for the sexual assault of a 27-year-old woman in 2002 at a 'clinic' he ran. Since those charges were filed, a number of other victims have come forth.

You have to wonder what someone like this was doing running around loose in Australia. Even worse, the Sydney police have admitted that Sheik Haron was well known to them.

Another thing to consider is that Sheik Haron had no problem obtaining a weapon at all. That's always how it is..people intent on criminal activity can always get a gun when they need one, no matter how strict the laws are..because laws are not their concern in the least. Australia's strict gun laws have pretty much disarmed most law abiding Ozzies. Had some of the innocent people inside the Lindt Cafe been able to own firearms to protect themselves, this whole situation would likely have turned out much differently.

Most interesting to me was that Sheik, being from Iran was likely (but not conclusively) a Shi'ite. There are Iranian Sunnis, but they are only 9% of the population, mostly Arabs whom live in mountainous Larestan, Kurds in the northwest, and Arabs and Balochs in the southwest and southeast. Assuming Sheik Haron Monis was a Shi'ite, why he would want an Islamic State flag? Did he convert to Sunni Islam? I suppose we'll find out.

UPDATE:  According to his Facebook page, Sheik Haron had indeed converted to Sunni Islam.

The one thing we can all be glad of is that Sheik Haron is no longer Australia's problem, the siege is over and that the injury and loss of life were less than they could have been.

Sydney's Turn...

 

The Lindt Cafe in Sydney's Martin Place downtown is normally by all reports a pleasant, friendly place to grab a snack to go with your morning coffee.

Today it's a chamber of horrors.

At 9:45 AM today an armed Muslim terrorist man wearing a headband covered in Arabic walked into the cafe took out a shotgun from a blue bag and took the entire staff and the customers hostage. He also reportedly has an explosive device which he set up later.

Unfortunately,  Australians have essentially been disarmed legally, so no one was able to stop him.

There's no telling how many hostages there are, but the estimates range between 13 and as many as 30. Most of them appear to have been ordered to press up against the windows so the impede police snipers. Some of the terrified female hostages have been ordered to hold up an Islamic banner.




 

Contrary to earlier reports, this is not an Islamic State flag, but a common Muslim jihad banner engraved with the shehada, the Islamic principles of faith.It's frequently used by Jahbat al-Nusrah and other Islamist and salafi groups,.

The gunman and some of the hostages have been in touch with local media. They haven't released too many details for obvious reasons, but the gunman has reportedly requested an Islamic State flag and a conversation with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to be broadcast live over the radio..in other words, maximum publicity. That doesn't bode well.

The gunman also claimed he had 'two bombs inside the cafe' and that there are two elsewhere in the city.

  Worth noting, by the way... Sydney's Muslims went public quickly condemning this barbarity utterly in a joint statement signed by over 50 groups. And a number of interfaith prayer vigils are being held in mosques, synagogues and churches throughout Australia.

 

It's possible this atrocity was a jihadi operation related to the one foiled in September that was to be part of a fairly intensive terrorist strike throughout Sydney. Among other things, it involved setting off several car bombs, including one near the Israeli embassy according to one of my sources.Also reportedly targeted was Sydney's world famous Opera House.

Omarjan Azari, a 22-year-old Sydney man arrested in a large anti-terrorism raid in September, was allegedly planning the attacks, which included the kidnapping of a random Australian, and a filmed beheading to be aired on social media as propaganda for the Islamic State cause.

According to the charges filed, the attacks were mentioned in a conversation between an Australian terrorism recruiter in Syria, Mohammad Ali Barylei and Azari.

About six hours into the siege, some of the hostages, 3 men and two women managed to escape.



The Australian police now have the cafe surrounded and the entire area, a very busy part of downtown Sydney has been evacuated.



It's evening right now in Sydney, and reportedly there are no lights on in the cafe.So far, as far as we know none of the hostages have been hurt. We can only pray at this point that it stays that way, and that this evil is defeated. Needless to say, Australia has already received an offer of any help they require from a very good friend with a great deal of experience and expertise in these matters.

Guess Who Else Just Refused To Help Obama Fight ISIS?

 

This is getting embarrassing.

The Obama Administration sent out a request to - wait for it - Iran for help in fighting ISIS through the Iraqi ambassador.

And Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei's reply?

 

No, no way, not interested in the least.

That actually surprised me at first, since at first glance the U.S. taking out ISIS would appear to aid Iran in their own ambition...putting together a nuclear armed Shi'ite bloc including Iraq, Syria. Lebanon and Iran. But Khamenei is obviously weighing the president's non-strategy and probable failure against cooperating with the Great Satan and decided it was better to bow out. I can understand that, from Khamenei's viewpoint.

The Iranians can now simply sit back, eat popcorn and enjoy the show, (and incidentally, keep the centrifuges running on their rogue nuclear weapons program)while the U.S. spends its time, blood and treasure.

As I pointed out, President Obama has no coalition at this point. The only country who has agreed to come in with any concrete and useful help are our dear friends in Oz, who always seem to be willing to stand by our side no matter what, G-d bless 'em. PM Tony Abbot has stated that Australia will send 600 advisers of their own to help fight ISIS.

Given this president's no win plan, I'm not sure how wise this is, but it's an absolutely wonderful gesture. And as anyone who served with them in 'Nam, AfPak or Iraq knows, the Diggers are superb fighting men who punch far above their weight in numbers. They will cause some serious mayhem among the jihadis.

But so far, that's pretty much it.

Some 'coalition!'

Good-o! Australia Slashes Funding For 'Climate Change' Programs By 90%

 

Good old Oz! You can always depend on them to do the common sense thing eventually.

Under former PM Julia Gillard (whom I still retain certain personal liking for despite her politics), Labour's governing coalition was dependent on appeasing the Greens and other progressive fascists, who insisted on massive government programs based on global warming, including a hugely unpopular carbon tax and onerous regulations on energy creation. Just like the one's President Obama's EPA is putting in place here, this resulted in a huge surge in energy and fuel prices with an accompanying rise in the price of food and goods.

Australian PM Tony Abbot and the conservative Liberal coalition (yes, in Australia they still understand what the word 'liberal' really means) campaigned on repealing the carbon tax and today announced that they are slashing the budget for the remaining 'climate change' programs by 90%, from $5.75 billion this year to $500 million, over the next four years.

The Labour and Green members of Australia's senate are stopping repeal of the carbon tax so far,but the arrival of new senators in July will likely change that.

I love this quote from Tony Abbot, who referred to the carbon tax as "an act of economic vandalism."

“You can’t trust (Labor) anywhere near an economy.”

True enough, and Australians have only to look back at Labour's dismal record during the Rudd/Gillard years to see it.

Honoring The ANZACS On Their Day

How do you adequately thank a true friend, someone whose stands by you when it counts?

Today is ANZAC day, when our brave allies in Oz and New Zealand honor their superb Kiwis and Diggers, the fighting men who have been at our side through the best and worst of times.

Officially, this is a commemoration of the 99th anniversary of the ANZAC landing at Galipolli, a bold attempt to end WWI that almost worked but ended in defeat. But like the Americans at the Alamo, the gallantry exhibited at 'Jolly Polly' amazed the world.

The Australians And New Zealand fought with us in two world wars, in Korea, and in Vietnam. And the Australians also fought by our side in Iraq. Under their code name Operation Falconer, they were some of the first troops to have boots on the ground.



The Diggers even went to war with us in Afghanistan, even though they're not a NATO country. Anyone who's served in AfPak will tell you how superbly they fought there. Every report I've heard of their performance in AfPak marks them, along with the Canadians, as some of the most useful and resourceful non-U.S. troops in the theater, miles ahead of most of the motley crew supplied by our European allies. They were always willing to mix it up with the jihadis, never shirked the hard jobs, and lost 40 of their mates in AfPak as their share of the sacrifice involved.

 

Here's a salute to true friendship that never dies..may we be allies and friends forever.

Australia Day!!

 

Today is the day our friends and allies in Oz celebrate their country.Australia is one of America's most important and loyal friends in the world. They've fought shoulder to shoulder with America in every conflict since WWI, even in places like Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan where they came simply because that's what allies do.

January 26th, 1787 is the day what Australians refer to as the First Fleet returned to Botany Bay, went ashore and established the first settlement in Australia. It was originally intended to be a penal colony.

From that unlikely beginning came the vibrant nation we know today.

 

So let the celebration rock!!

And yeah, it's summer over there now, which means it's beach weather...time for bathing suits, barbecues and beer...

 


 


Australia's veterans come out to honor the country they served so honorably:



It's a national celebration:








Best wishes on Australia Day...many more!

Afghanistan: U.S. Embassy Hit, No Agreement With Karzai And The Last Oz Troops Leave

 

An interesting Christmas in Afghanistan...

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul was fired on today just before dawn, with two rounds of what was referred to as 'indirect fire' hitting the compound. 'Indirect fire' usually means rocket attacks, RPG's or mortar rounds.

No Americans were reported as casualties, but the fact that our enemies were able to get close enough to target and fire heavy weapons at our heavily fortified embassy in what is supposedly a safe zone says quite a bit.

The Taliban claimed responsibility, but given the attacks on Americans by our supposed 'allies' among the Afghan forces, that's a pretty wide range.

Afghan police were targeted in two bombing incidents, one on a roadside restaurant in Puli Alam, the capital of Logar province some 35 odd miles east of Kabul that killed six and wounded 13 and a second attack in east Kabul that wounded three Afghan policemen.

As we retreat and draw down, they're getting a lot bolder. Winter used to be something of a lull for the most part in Afghanistan because of the weather and topography. Not anymore.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai is still refusing to sign a security agreement with the U.S. that would leave some American troops in his country. He is still insisting on a ban of airstrikes,raid and the entry of U.S. forces into Afghan homes, is demanding the U.S. broker a peace with the Taliban and is still insisting that any new treaty should be signed by his successor after the next Afghan elections in the spring. Translation - Karzai, his brother and their families want to make sure they have a secure way out of the country before the Americans leave, and they won't sign on to anything until they get that guarantee.

Karzai reiterated this, interestingly enough, at a three day conference with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, with whom Karzai has signed a security agreement. Afghanistan does share a small border with India, and the Indians have a vested interest in making sure that their border is secure and that a potential flashpoint with either the Taliban or more likely Pakistan is checkmated.

And finally, today is the day the Diggers left.

 

The Australian forces represented the largest non-NATO contingent in AfPak, and as usual, they came in because they're one of the best allies we have and to them, that's what allies do. Every report I've heard of their performance in AfPak marks them, along with the Canadians, as some of the most useful and resourceful non-U.S. troops in the theater, miles ahead of most of the motley crew supplied by our European allies. They were always willing to mix it up with the jihadis, never shirked the hard jobs, and lost 40 of their mates in AfPak as their share of the sacrifice involved.

They left for Oz today from Tarin Kowt in Uruzgan province, Australia's main base in the country and I don't blame them one bit. With President Obama giving the Taliban a set in stone withdrawal date, the Australians realize that there's no reason to hang around. And PM Tony Abbot underlined that today:

"This war is ending, not with victory, not with defeat, but with hope that Afghanistan is a better place and Uruzgan in particular is a better place for our presence," Prime Minister Tony Abbott said. "I firmly believe that to be the case." 

 When one of your best allies takes a look at your strategy and at your commander-in-chief and realizes that there's no sense hanging around anymore, that says something.

Around 400 of the Australian military are committed to remain in Afghanistan through 2014 to train the Afghan military in Kabul and Kandahar. Whether that holds good if the U.S. completely bugs out as President Obama is threatening to do if no security arrangement gets signed by Karzai is doubtful.

Fair dinkum.

Conservatives Get Big Win In Australian Elections!!

"From today I declare that Australia is under new management." - Tony Abbott

The Australian elections are over, and the Liberal Party Coalition (Australia's conservatives)ended up with a major victory, making Tony Abbott Australia's new Prime Minister. The Coalition could end up with 90 seats in the 150 seat parliament.

Kevin Rudd and the Australian Labour Party (ALP) are out of power after a strange saga a that saw Rudd ousted in a coup as leader of his own party by Julia Gilliard, then turning the tables and ousting her shortly before the election. Rudd, in his concession speech announced he will not contest new leadership for the Labour Party.

A big issue here was taxes, which have sharply risen under Labour's rule, pretty much as they always do. In particular, a sore spot was the ridiculous 'carbon tax' ALP put in place after promising not to. It not only spiked energy prices, but led to the loss of a great many mining jobs, one of Australia's big industries.Australia, like America, has a lot of coal and this attempt to bankrupt the coal industry didn't sit well.

Americans who are watching President Obama trying to pull the same nonsense had better take a lesson from this and remain watchful.

In any event, Abbott as PM will probably restore a certain amount of fiscal common sense to Australia, lower taxes, deal with Australia's illegal migration problem ( not near as bad as ours, but like any other problem of this sort, best dealt with early and decisively) and shrink government to an extent. He will also continue Australia's long time alliance with America, which seems to go on no matter which party's in power.

All in all, a fair dinkum election.

US And The Philippines Discuss Larger US Military Presence To Restructure Old Alliance

 

The Filipino government, anxious about what they say is increasing Chinese aggression in Philippine-claimed waters in the South China Sea is now in talks with the US about an increased US military presence and help in refurbishing and training its own military.

Filipino Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario sent a letter to the FIlipino congress emphasizing the necessity for American troops to have an “increased rotational presence” will help the country attain a “minimum credible defense” to help the Philippines guard its territory while it works to modernize its own military, something that has not been a priority for quite some time.

The Philippines, a former U.S. colony actually bans foreign troops being permanently based on its soil, something that was directly aimed at the US after the two countries had a falling out in 1991 and forced the U.S. to vacate its two major American bases in the Philippines at Subic and Clark.

A few U.S. troops were allowed back in to help the Filipino military battle Abu Sayaff, the local al-Qaeda affiliate (the Philippines has a large Muslim population, mainly located on the southern island of Mindanao), but this recent call is directed at increasing tension between the Philippines and China.

China claims huge stretches of the South China Sea as its own sovereign territory, and that has led to clashes with not only the Philippines but with Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan. The Chinese sent a fleet into the waters of the Spratly Islands, which the Philipines claim as their own sovereign territory just last July, and China has also turned Mischief Reef, which it occupied, into a naval base.

So the Filipino government is once again seeking to base U.S. forces there.

While this is being dubbed as 'temporary' for political reasons, there's no doubt in my mind that the superb harbor at what was a major U.S. base at Subic Bay will once again become a prominent American military asset.

In his famous speech to Congress 62 years ago, General Douglas MacArthur reminded America that the western Pacific is America's maritime redoubt against our enemies. He was entirely correct.

We're seeing this basic truth reaffirmed again, as our ally Japan rebuilds its Navy and the U.S. builds ups its forces in Northern Australia, Guam, the Marianas and the naval fortress of Singapore. Look for the Philippines to be another important link in our Pacific defenses.

This is a much bigger deal than it appears.

Aussie Labour Party Self-Destructs; Conservatives Poised For Big Win In Election

Turnabout is, if you'll pardon an Americanism, a bitch.

Since the intricacies of Oz politics are perhaps difficult to follow, I'll give you the short n' simple version.And why it could matter.

Australia's great PM John Howard (and I still have a standing offer out there dating from 2006 to swap him for the current occupant of our own White House, with maybe some cash thrown in from our end) ended ten years of Liberal rule (the Liberals are the Conservative party in Australia) with a strong, resurgent country, a virtual end to illegal migration and a $A20 billion surplus thanks to the reforms instituted by Howard and his treasurer Peter Costello.

In a 2007 election Howard didn't have his heart really in anyway (he even leveled with his constituents and told them he might not finish out another term) he was defeated by Labour's Mark Rudd, who ran an unusual campaign of touting Howard's programs and pledging no changes to the point that some Oz journalists referred to him as 'Mr. Me Too'.

Being Labour, Rudd of course was unable to keep his word. He promptly embarked on a huge 'stimulus' spending spree that wiped out the surplus and put the country back in debt.He also went after Australia's mining industry with a highly unpopular special tax that would have seen millions flow into federal coffers from Australia's states and meant that the mining companies simply canceled projects and moved jobs overseas.

With an election coming up in 2010 Rudd was deeply unpopular...which is when Julia Gillard, his deputy Prime Minister engineered a coup d'etat, leaking polls that showed Rudd getting beat like a gong by Tony Abbot and the Liberals. She cut him off at the knees(or somewhere down south)engineered a party vote and got him tossed out of the party leadership in favor of herself.

Gillard did manage to get herself elected as Australia's first female PM, but only by a knife edge with the support of a far Left Green Party MP and three independent MPs. It was not a stable marriage, to say the least.

She promptly broke a major campaign promise and instituted a farcical 'carbon tax' that raised priced and the cost of utilities nation wide, went after Australia's slot machines, and wasted billions in funding obscure projects.

Like her predecessor Rudd, she ignored John Howard's 'Pacific Solution' which practically ended illegal migration into Australia, with the result that it skyrocketed.And she allowed a large number of refugees into Australia from very non-Australian cultural backgrounds into the country with little or no oversight, with the sort of results you might expect.

With an election coming up in September, Gillard had become markedly unpopular in OZ, to the point that people were throwing sandwich remains at her.In public.

So Rudd went ahead and sandbagged Julia Gillard in a ballot of MPs for Labor party leadership.

Gillard operated with some real stones, I have to say. She forced Rudd into a do-or-die ballot, on the condition that the loser retire from parliament to end the Labor leadership war.

She lost, by a margin of 57 to 45.

Gillard stuck by her word, saying she would not contest the next election.

In her concession speech, Gillard congratulated Rudd and called on the party to fight to win the September election. She acknowledged that her tenure as prime minister had been difficult, saying: "In the years in which I've served as prime minister, predominantly I've faced a minority government and political division in my own party. It has not been an easy parliament to operate in."

At this point, Tony Abbot and the Liberals are well ahead in the polls, and Abbot is calling for immediate elections instead of waiting until September. If Abbot wins, we could see Australia joining Canada as another resurgent Anglosphere democracy under conservative rule.

I have to admit, I had some liking for Julia Gillard, even though I disagreed with a lot of her politics. It seems like she got caught in a trap of trying to please too many people at one time. She had a decent sense of humor that a lot of politicians lack, ( after she got a sandwich thrown at her, she quipped 'Maybe they thought I looked hungry')  and she was no mindless Leftist ideologue. After a great speech she made at the White House about the Australian and American alliance, I dropped her a line on the PM's website (yes, in Australia, they haven't embraced the hypocrisy of having an insulated Ruling Class just yet) just to give her a thumbs up and tell her how much I enjoyed it.

You wouldn't expect a politician to take the time to bother to answer someone who can't vote for them or give them money. Ms. Gillard did, and it was quite a nice reply. Even if she farmed it out to one of her staffers (and I doubt it, because it didn't have that form letter phrasing), it was a nice gesture.

Whatever happens, I hope she's OK.

 

How Gun Control Worked In Australia

I guarantee you, if President Obama and the Democrats have their way, the stats will be even worse here.And remember Australia has a a very different culture than America, and it is also an island...so it's much harder for criminals there to obtain illegal firearms than it is here in America.

Give up your guns America, and give up your freedom. It really is that simple.

Woman Hurt During Sex on Work Trip Wins Lawsuit For Worker's Comp

Gotta love this one...from our friends in Australia.

A woman who was injured during a romp in her hotel room while on a work related trip was awarded worker's compensation by a judge after it was initially denied and she sued:

In the Federal Court today Justice John Nicholas ruled that the woman was injured during her “course of employment”.

The woman’s barrister argued that sex was an “ordinary incident of life” in a hotel room, much like showering and sleeping.

The Judge ruled that “if the applicant had been injured while playing a game of cards in her motel room she would be entitled to compensation” and the fact that the woman was engaged in sexual activity rather than some other lawful recreational activity while in her hotel room does not lead to any different result.

What happened is that the girl blew into town, called up a male friend and they went out for a meal and then back to her hotel room. She filed a workers' compensation claim for 'facial and psychological injuries' she suffered when a glass light fitting came away from the wall above the bed during their activities:

The male friend said in his statement at the time that they were "going hard” and he did not know if they bumped the light or it just fell off.

“I think she was on her back when it happened but I was not paying attention because we are rolling around.”

Happy Australia Day!!

A shout out to all my fiends in Oz...enjoy the day and make it beaut!


Australians all let us rejoice
For we are young and free
We've golden soil and wealth for toil,
Our home is girt by sea:
Our land abounds in nature's gifts
Of beauty rich and rare,
In history's page let every stage
Advance Australia fair,
In joyful strains then let us sing
Advance Australia fair.

Beneath our radiant Southern Cross,
We'll toil with hearts and hands,
To make this Commonwealth of ours
Renowned of all the lands,
For those who've come across the seas
We've boundless plains to share,
With courage let us all combine
To advance Australia fair.
In joyful strains then let us sing,
Advance Australia fair.

Taking On Israel Hatred Down Under

A very illuminating video of a panel discussion in Australia, with comic Austen Tayshus (aka Sandy Gutman)taking on two particularly repulsive anti-Israel Lefties.

(h/t Liberty's Spirit, Gates of Vienna, and Daphne Anson)

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(Uncut Video,Maybe NSFW) How They Sell Real Estate In Australia!!

I only hope the house lives up to the sexy buildup...

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A Different Look At Afghanistan - From Down Under

We frequently forget that there are a great many nations involved in Afghanistan, and som eof them even have boots on the ground.

As it is here in the US the Afghanistan war is a hot topic in Australia, one of our allies who isn't even a part of NATO but who sent combat forces to help carry the load simply because they're our allies and that's what allies do.

Australian PM Julia Gillard has an op-ed in The Australian that gives us a good look at the war from the Australian perspective - as do the comments.

Simply put, Gillard tells her constituents that things are going to get harder in Afghanistan before they get easier as things ramp up and that a precipitous pullout would be a mistake. She also details some additional steps the Australians are undertaking as part of their contribution to this war.

All in all, an interesting read.

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A Palace Coup In Oz As Australia Gets Its First Woman PM

(Eh, I just cut down the Tall Poppy!)

The Labour Party savaged its own leader yesterday, with PM Kevin Rudd resigning in an emotional farewell less than three years after his 2007 election victory as he was ousted in favor of 45-year-old Julia Gillard, who will be Australia's first female prime minister.

Gillard is widely credited with engineering her party leader's Rudd's demise.

What cut Rudd down was controversy over his shelving of a carbon-trade scheme of the type beloved by the Left everywhere and his attempt to implement a huge tax increase on Australia's mining industry that sparked widespread protests among companies, workers and members of Rudd’s own party. Another issue was Rudd's failure to move against an influx of boat people illegally entering Australia.Rudd was tanking in the polls, and his fellow Labour Party members were concerned about being tossed out in the next election.

Gillard has pledged to resurrect the carbon trade initiative and negotiate with the miners, which has made her popular with her own party. Also , as Australia's first female PM, she's something of a novelty and likely to attract the votes of the sheilas, who are quite excited at her ascendancy to power.

If this sounds a bit like Obama, I note the similarity, but being as it's Australia, the Labour Party generally is not quite as far Left as our Democrats, although Gillard is definitely in the party's Left wing.

In terms of Australia's chief trading party, China and its chief security partner, the US, things are unlikely to change much.

Gillard will be squaring off in the elections against the Liberal Party’s Tony Abbott, a former Rhodes scholar and priest trainee. Remember, in Oz the Liberals are the conservative party.

Her success may very well depend on whether she can negotiate successfully with the mining industry and to what degree she's willing to moderate her views more towards the center.

UPDATE: According to Isi Liebler Gillard is a proven friend of Israel.

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Australia's `Jihad Jack' found guilty

When it comes to Islamic terrorism, our cousins down in Oz mean business.

An Australian man known as "Jihad Jack" has been convicted of receiving funds from al-Qaeda.

Jack Thomas, a Muslim convert, was found guilty of accepting $3,500 (£2,000) and a plane ticket home from an al-Qaeda agent in Pakistan.

A Melbourne court also heard evidence that Thomas had visited al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan shortly before the 9/11 attacks.

`Jihad Jack' is the first Australian to be charged and convicted under the stiff terrorism laws passed in 2002.

The former taxi driver could face up to 25 years in jail when he is sentenced by the Supreme Court in the next few days.

He was also found guilty of possessing a false passport, but he was found not guilty of intentionally providing resources for al-Qaeda.

Thomas trained in al-Qaeda bases in Afghanistan before moving to Pakistan. He was arrested in November 2004 upon his return to Australia. Jack's defence was that he accepted the money and plane ticket because he wanted to return home and had no intention of becoming an al-Qaeda operative.

Yeah, I believe that one, all right.

Jack Thomas is one of 24 men charged under anti-terror legislation introduced in Australia in the wake of the 11 September 2001 attacks.