Liberal Party’s anti-Turnbull saboteurs recruit two Labor identities …
Israeli defence strategist suggests “soft” approach to ISIS … Media on course of self-destruction … Great Crashing Bores continued …
Tony Abbott’s poisonous campaign to destroy Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has recruited two new allies – former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd and former Labor spin doctor, Cate McGregor, formerly known as Malcolm McGregor.
Both recruits have incontestable form – Rudd stalked his nemesis Julia Gillard and eventually overthrew her, while McGregor worked for Army Chief David Morrison, 2016 Australian of the Year, before turning on him with a vengeance.
Rudd and McGregor join a sick-minded rabble which include publisher Rupert Murdoch, his highly-paid stable of hacks at The Australian, Abbott’s former “chief of staff” Peta Credlin, now working for Murdoch’s tabloids as a columnist and commentator on his Sky News, and a coterie of far right Liberals like Senators Eric Abetz (Tasmania) and Cory Bernardi (South Australia), Kevin Andrews (Victoria) and George Christensen (Queensland).
It’s a Dad’s Army of wild-eyed people from the political fringe. Abbott would be the first to acknowledge that to gain traction he needs allies with more credibility that his current motley cheer squad.
The dreadful paucity of his fan club explains why he keeps altering his ambitions. One week he is swaggering around London saying he looks forward to returning to the prime ministership, and the following week he sends out Cate McGregor (!!) in Murdoch’s Daily Telegraph to write that he’d be happy with a junior ministerial post in the Turnbull government.
Abbott’s major setback
Every over-ambitious Liberal dullard who has craved the party’s leadership has ultimately recognised that they have needed the support of at least two State divisions to succeed.
Malcolm Fraser enjoyed the backing of three divisions – Victoria, NSW, Queensland (it didn’t last long) – John Howard had NSW plus the Peter Costello fan club in Victoria and the Alexander Downer faction in South Australia. (As a result, Costello became Treasurer and Downer became Foreign Minister throughout Howard’s 10-year term.)
Abbott’s bid to gather the support of the NSW division collapsed at last month’s state conference. When Turnbull, supported by Premier Mike Baird, proposed a sweeping party reform over the selection of election candidates, it was carried unanimously.
Abbott then insisted on a vote on his reform package as well. He was roundly defeated. In other words, the state conference not only rejected the Mad Monk’s proposal but also repudiated his destructive and divisive tactics against the federal government as well.
Labor supporters are cheering the intense savagery of the Turnbull-Abbott battle, and why not? If the Liberals and their Coalition partners, the Nationals, are self-destructing surely that is good for Labor?
Not if Bill Shorten’s ALP is itself moving to the right. Labor’s current strategy is based on accommodating and trimming. “Let’s wait for the Turnbull government to implode and then we’ll take over,” seems to be the current thinking. It is a mindset which ignores policy development, party recruitment, community engagement and the careful selection of candidates and not hacks.
Israel woos Oz defence chiefs
In case you missed it, the far-right Israeli government sent emissaries to Sydney this week to forge defence alliances with the Turnbull government.
Because Malcolm Turnbull holds the Sydney seat of Wentworth with one of the largest and most vitriolic pro-Zionist lobbies in the country, the PM is keen to placate them.
The Sydney beanfeast was hosted by the little known Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a taxpayer-funded defence (war) thought tank.
ASPI facilitated the Israeli-government funded Australia Israel Be’er Sheva Dialogue whose main mission is to sell Israeli arms and Zionist ideology to Australia.
Guest of honour was Efraim Inbar from Israel’s Begin-Sadat Centre for Strategic Studies, another hawkish think tank.
He has warned the US and its western allies (Australia included) that while weakening ISIS is an acceptable policy, its destruction isn’t.
Inbar argues that IS’s psychotic terrorist gangs should be kept “weak but functioning”. That would keep IS focused on killing other Arabs and Moslems (as they are in Iraq and Syria) and not killing Westerners or bombing Western targets.
At the same time Inbar calls for a regular “mowing of the grass” approach to Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza.
And by “mowing the grass” he means military blitzkriegs like the one faced by the people of Gaza in 2014 during which 2,250 Palestinians were killed and 71 Israelis. “Israel simple needs to ‘mow the grass’ once in a while to degrade enemy capabilities,” he wrote.
What about the UN, US, European and Australian call for a two-state solution – separate states of Palestine and Israel, both with guaranteed, secure borders?
“An Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank would be ill-advised, and a Palestinian state would in any case inherently undermine Israel’s security,” Inbar said.
So let’s get it straight: the Israeli “guest of honour” believes ISIS should be weakened and not defeated. If an Australian Moslem made that statement he/she would be demonised and harassed by ministers in the federal government, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation and the media.
Meanwhile the mainstream media continues to ignore Inbar’s other view that Palestinians should be subjected to regular blitzkriegs from the Israeli army and air force – surely encouraging more Israeli war crimes.
Naturally, the pro-Zionist propaganda conference in Sydney received boisterous support from The Australian’s Greg Sheridan, a veteran freeloader to the Zionist state. He’s enjoyed so many free air trips and so much first-class accommodation in Israel that they’ll soon be naming a forest after him. What a great holiday destination for the Turnbulls.
Media continues to melt down
Just when you thought the self-destructive course of the mainstream media could not get any barmier, along comes another example.
When the distinguished Boston Globe lost its classical music critic (he is taking up an academic post), editors decided to hire a freelance, Zoe Madonna, with her salary to be paid by the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Rubin Institute for Music Criticism and the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, all non-profit groups.
The Guardian’s venerable theatre critic Michael Billington wrote: “It is perfectly possible that Ms Madonna may find herself reviewing work by the products of both organisations. I know nothing of Ms Madonna but I am perfectly sure she will jealously guard her integrity. The danger in such a situation is not that the critic will give a soft ride to her fellow beneficiaries, it is more likely that she will be unduly rigorous in order to display her independence.”
Billington added that if West End theatre companies ever began subsidising his salary “I would feel the job was untenable”. (The Guardian, 2 November 2016).
How many “subsidised” journalists are working for the Australian media?
Such ethical considerations don’t ever appear to have crossed the mind of American TV presenter Donna Brazile. She forwarded two questions to Hillary Clinton prior to a CNN-sponsored debate with Democratic Party challenger Bernie Sanders.
The tip-off helped Mrs Clinton to rehearse her answers in advance and take the high moral ground over Sanders.
After an internal investigation Ms Brazile was sacked and CNN issued a statement saying: “We are completely uncomfortable with what we have learned about her interactions with the Clinton campaign while she was a CNN contributor.”
Ms Brazile, the network’s regular political commentator, didn’t remain out in the cold for long. When the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee Debbie Wasserman Schultz was forced to step down after the revelation of her emails sabotaging Sanders’ campaign and smearing him, Ms Brazile was appointed interim head. Her salary was not disclosed.
Just for the record, Ms Brazile was Bill Clinton’s adviser during his presidential campaigns in 1992 and 1996 and an adviser to Al Gore in 2000.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with a journalist being engaged in politics, but it is unpardonable to let his/her political views dictate what they write or present. Ms Brazile flagrantly broke that ethical code.
Festival of Dangerous Ideas – 5
Gina Rinehart, Australia’s richest woman, will reveal the secret of her phenomenal success to become a billionaire ironmonger. Be amazed by the way State and Federal governments gave her exploration and mining licences over ore-bearing tracts of land owned by indigenous Australians. Listen to her torrid tales of fighting against tax inspectors, greedy relatives and uppity blacks to preserve the fortune bequeathed to her by her unscrupulous father, Lang Hancock.
Sponsored by Barnaby Joyce, Warren Mundine and the royal family of Monaco, where the event will be staged. Tickets $1000 each or $750 for over 80s. All cameras and tape recorders will be confiscated; Ms Rinehart will give them to family members as Christmas presents.
Great Crashing Bores – 20*
I had a big tip for Almandin for the Melbourne Cup but I didn’t back it. No way. I reckon it was a Muzzie ring-in. Al Mandin, it’s a Muzzie name and I bet it eats Halal grass. They just changed the spelling of the nag’s name to give it a run in our cup. We’ve already got the Emirates Melbourne Cup – next thing it will be the Sharia Melbourne Cup. No way, mate, I’m not going to let the Muzzies take over this country the way they took over England. We have to draw a line in the sand – and I don’t mean the desert, I mean Bondi. Winning our Melbourne Cup is just the thin end of the wedge. I hope Pauline rallies the troops with a speech about this in parliament.
* Great Crashing Bores is a work of satirical fiction.
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