National Observer - Australia and World Affairs articles from June 2008

National Observer - Australia and World Affairs archives from June 2008

Editorial comment.
June 22, 2008... Afghanistan: accommodating the Taliban With a frankness rare in American presidential pronouncements, Barack Obama has answered the question whether NATO is winning its war in Afghanistan with a categorical "No", and said the United States...

Australia's nightmare: bushfire jihad and pyroterrorism.(Articles)
June 22, 2008... Victoria's tragic Black Saturday bush-fires persisted through most of February 2009 in the face of courageous, sustained, and selfless efforts by thousands of firefighters and other personnel to bring them under control. A Royal Commission has...

IPCC climate alarm advocacy has failed: what's Plan B?(Articles)
June 22, 2008... The emissions trading scheme that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd presented in December is now a nasty headache for the Government. Its problems are both presentational and substantive. More and more, the ETS looks like a costly and ineffective...

Eight reasons why Australia should not have a federal charter of rights.(Articles)
June 22, 2008... In the lead-up to the 2007 federal election, the Australian Labor Party committed itself, if elected, to "initiate a public inquiry about how best to recognise and protect the human rights and freedoms enjoyed by all Australians". (1) Thus, on...

The tyrannical logic of liberalism.(Articles)
June 22, 2008... "The tyranny of liberalism" seems a paradox. Liberals say that they favour freedom, reason and the well-being of ordinary people. Many people consider them high-minded and fair to a fault, "too broadminded to take their own side in a quarrel",...

Facing up to the question of torture.(Articles)
June 22, 2008... The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either--but through every human heart. --Alexander Solzhenitsyn The concept of torture sickens most people, not...

British Cold warriors and the War on Terror.(Articles)
June 22, 2008... If they want to write about the war, the way is clear for them... They must be, or have been, part of it. --Evelyn Waugh We all like to think we know how the dead would react to unforeseen situations. A sentiment once...

Changing the guard at Harvard.(Articles)
June 22, 2008... In March 2005 the Harvard faculty of arts and sciences did something that was unprecedented. It passed a motion overwhelmingly expressing lack of confidence in Harvard President Lawrence Summers. Although a self-proclaimed Democrat and Jewish...

J.A. Lyons--the 'Tame Tasmanian'.
June 22, 2008... Appeasement and Rearmament in Australia, 1932-39 by David S. Bird (Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing) Paperback: 430 pages Rec. price: $44.95 A number of years ago a banquet was held to celebrate the anniversary...