Well, the PM has basically had his way and the Premiers, probably with an eye on the electorate, have gone along with so-called tougher security measures. No one can quibble about tighter and more efficient security measures at airports. It's the other aspects of the proposed legislation which should concern - no, seriously trouble! - every Australian citizen, especially those who are most likely to be the target of profiling and the like. Even the police are concerned about their role in acting as enforcers of this new security regime. Needless to say the politicians have in effect dismissed concerns about any infringment of civil liberties. The catch-cry? - those who have nothing to hide have nothing to fear! That's not only trite but plain rubbish! For a rather balanced summing up of what the security measures mean the article in the SMH today says it all.
There is no gain-saying that Robert Fisk, fiercely independent and feisty to boot, is the veteran journalist and author covering the Middle East. Who doesn't he know or hasn't he met over the years in reporting from Beirut - where he lives? In his latest op-ed piece for The Independent he lays out his predictions for the Middle East for 2013. Read the piece in full, here - well worthwhile - but an extract... "Never make predictions in the Middle East. My crystal ball broke long ago. But predicting the region has an honourable pedigree. “An Arab movement, newly-risen, is looming in the distance,” a French traveller to the Gulf and Baghdad wrote in 1883, “and a race hitherto downtrodden will presently claim its due place in the destinies of Islam.” A year earlier, a British diplomat in Jeddah confided that “it is within my knowledge... that the idea of freedom does at present agitate some minds even in Mecca...” So let’s say this for 2013: the “Arab Awakening” (the t...
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