In a speech to the nation, Bainimarama laid out the first details on an electoral timetable since April, 10 2009 when the Fiji’s president annulled the country’s 1997 ethnic-based constitution, fired the entire judiciary and eventually gave Bainimarama a five-year mandate. This was in reaction to an appeals court verdict of the previous day forcing Bainimarama to step down because the judges ruled the military commander came to power illegally in December 2006 when he dissolved Parliament and ousted the government of Laisenia Qarase.

Bainimarama carried out that December 2006 coup – Fiji's fourth since 1987 – to counter what he called the Qarase government’s corrupt and racist rule. He complained that Qarase and his SDL-led government ruled solely for the benefit of the majority indigenous Fijian community at the expense of other ethnic groups, especially the minority Indo-Fijian population, descendants of workers imported roughly 100 years ago by British colonials to toil in Fiji’s sugar and copra industry.

Until April 2009, Bainimarama’s rule was punctuated with creating the People’s Charter, a counterpart to the 1997 constitution, hoping to tame Fiji’s religious and ethnic tensions that have occasionally boiled over since independence in 1970. He also sparred with Fiji’s neighbors, including successive governments in Australia and New Zealand and the regional group, the Pacific Islands Forum, which in May stripped Fiji of full membership because Bainimarama had reneged on plans to hold elections in 2009. (Continuing to vote with the country’s ethnic-based electoral system still installed, Bainimarama has long argued, would only benefit racially polarizing parties in Parliament.)

A few weeks after the Pacific Islands Forum suspended Fiji, the European Union cancelled the country’s 24 million Euro subsidy for its ailing sugar industry because of differences with the Bainimarama government. The country may soon face suspension from the group of former British colonies, the Commonwealth of Nations, for its refusal to hold elections.

In Wednesday’s speech, Bainimarama reached-out to those neighbors and development partners, thanking those who have “shown the willingness to listen and understand.” He also asked for foreign assistance when the country begins work on the new constitution in September 2012, after “extensive” consultations with all members of society. While the constitutional framework will come from the People’s Charter, many details are up for discussion, he said, Including Parliament size, length of term in office and creating checks and balances on power.

The constitution must be in place by 2013, Bainimarama said, so elections can be held one-year later.

As I have stated earlier the new constitution must include provisions that will entrench common and equal citizenry, it must not have ethnic based voting; the voting age shall be 18; and, it must have systems that hold Governments accountable with more checks and balances.

Bainimarama’s speech also touched on modernizing laws and institutions, but stated that his government will take the next three years to work on strengthening socio-economic conditions, upgrading Fiji’s infrastructure and propping up the country’s economy.

Coup Four Point Five argues Bainimarama is playing games with the election dates to prolong his rule.

Frank Bainimarama tried to fool Fiji and the world when he delivered his strategic framework for change national address today.

His claim that work on a new Constitution will start in September 2012 reveals that the regime will not relinquish power in September 2014 as he claimed today.

We draw your attention to his interview with Australian journalist Graham Davies in early May.

During the interview Bainimarama said he had the shortest time of five years to carry out economic and constitutional reforms and this was a very hard task.

If five years is a short time, then Bainimarama’s announcement of work on a new Constitution starting in September 2012 – 2 years from the projected elections in September 2014 is nonsensical.

Coupfourpointfive believes it is basically to pull wool over people's eyes.

At Raw Fiji News, fijidemocracynow2009 ties Fiji’s poor economic situation to the current political climate.

Delaying the process of drafting a new Constitution is a desperate gambit to give the Bainimarama regime some breathing space. It’s a transparent stalling tactic.
Leaving the country without a Constitution for three years will only act as a disincentive to potential investors
The dictator talks of engaging and re-engaging international partners, but if his stated intention is to keep our beloved nation in illegal limbo for another five years, how do other civilized countries engage with this dictatorship?
No, folks, the speech could never be called a “strategic framework”. It’s just a generalised exposition of propositions that is big on sweeping statement and very short on meaningful detail.

Let’s stick with the “buying time” theme a bit more. From Japan, L. Douglass Garrett, who writes the Competing Hypotheses blog, says a new constitution could serve Fiji well, but questions whether the Bainimarama regime is the right team to create that document.

The good news about that would be getting rid of the ethnically-divided means of electing representation in the 1997 Constitution… and that does need to happen if there is ever to be a practicable concept of “Fijian” as a nationality, not a hyphenated part of some identity… but…

The distinct possibility that such things are being said to draw out the tenure of the junta is real.

As this author has argued recently in other examples, the basis of Rule-of-Law governance is the Constitution *as it exists*. You follow what you have, and it changes by a process of amendment or replacement (whichever is allowed; one of them certainly is).

Fiji would be well served by a new Constitution. Let's let a constitutionally formed government perform that process.

In an unsigned post, Raw Fiji News doubts the new constitution will ever come to fruition.

Frank Bainimarama’s self-imposed wish list is just that, a far-fetched wish conjured by his conniving think-tank to delay the process of keeping the tyrant and his backers away from their imminent life-long jail sentences.
Frank’s “roadmap to nowhere” is not even worth the paper it’s written on.
Like all his previous twisted lies and PR stunts since December 2006, Frank just can’t seem to be able to hold down any of his previous motherhood roadmaps.
His clean-up corruption roadmap only resulted in a plethora of self-enriching programmes designed to puff up his and his cohorts bank balances.
His farcical charter has turned out to be the works of professional con artists out to line their own pockets while fanning the dictator’s ego with their promise of a heavenly peace and prosperity crap for the ailing Fiji.
Frank’s pretentious role as a guardian of the 1997 Constitution turned shitty when he ordered half-dead Iloilo to join him in abrogating Fiji’s supreme law on Easter Friday.
Banana republic of Fiji is now being promised a new constitution. Really?

From the blog at the Lowy Institute for International Policy, director of the Melanesia Program, Jenny Hayward-Jones, also questioned why the constitutional process should take so long:

For those sceptical of Bainimarama’s commitment to democracy, the speech offered little to persuade them otherwise. Bainimarama renewed his commitment to hold elections in September 2014 and outlined a new promise – the preparation of a new constitution by September 2013. While this was inevitably the consequence of the abrogation of the 1997 constitution on 10 April this year, it is not clear why he decided public consultations on the drafting of a new constitution cannot commence until September 2012.
Commodore Bainimarama said the new constitution would derive its impetus from the recommendations of the People’s Charter for Change, Peace and Progress. That document has been in the public domain for at least six months and has already been subjected to a consultative process. It is therefore strange that Fiji’s citizens have to wait another three years for an opportunity to participate in the process of determining their own future. If there are to be public consultations, why not start now? It would have cost the interim Government little and demonstrated to the region and the international community that Fiji was serious about political reform.

Hayward-Jones also predicted Fiji’s constitutional consultations will involve very little dialogue on the role of the military in Fiji’s politics.

More worryingly, the lack of any reference in the address to the future role of the military in Fiji was a strong indication that Commodore Bainimarama does not intend that the military retreat from its dominance of government and politics beyond 2014.

From New Zealand, No Right Turn also wonders what the government will be doing for the next three years.

Soli Vakasama didn’t come away impressed:

Jolly good thing that he believes in his own rhetoric, because he’d be the only one.
Every utterance from the illegal prime meanster is hollow like that thingamajig held up by his neck, and so terribly terribly shallow.

In the comment section at Soli Vakasama, Jean D’ark points out if previous governments – or Fiji’s military – can’t obey Fiji’s former constitution, who’s to say those institutions will follow a new one?

no use working on a new Constitution if we can’t obey the one we have. We will just disobey that one when we don’t like everything it dishes up, either.

A Constitution has no intrinsic value in and of itself other than that which WE, ITS PEOPLE give it! Other than that, it’s just a piece of paper!

And if we don’t have any discipline in ourselves now to follow our current Constitution, we won’t be able to impart anything of that sort into the new one, either!

So it doesn’t really matter how much faith Frank, or you, or the military council has in the new piece of paper, if the people don’t go for it (and they won’t), then it won’t have any value, or power, either.

So there we’ll all be – stuck in exactly the same quagmire we are already in today.

A major narrative in Fiji’s current political situation remains that Australia and New Zealand are making matters worse with heated anti-Bainimarama rhetoric and corresponding sanctions. In the Soli Vakasama blog, commenter Budhau claims that Fiji’s neighbors must use more of the carrot than their usual stick approach with Bainimarama and help the country create a constitution — so everyone can move on.

We can easily start work on the new constitution right now, with help from experts from ANZ and have it ready in a year. We can easily prepare for elections with the help from ANZ and have an election in 2012 instead of 2014. If we begin work on the constitution and the elections – I am sure the EU will release the funds, with the sanctions removed, our economy has a chance to recover, the tourists will start coming and so on.
But no – some of you want nothing to do with a new constitution, elections etc. What you want is the 1997 constitution back, Qarase reinstalled as the PM and Frank and his boys to march straight to Naboro – and you will hold you breath until you turn blue unless you get your way – well, good luck.

Fiji:The Way It Was, Is and Can Be echoes those sentiments:

One might hope the international community, having given up on earlier elections, might sometime between now and then respond to Bainimarama's appeal for assistance.

The blog also posts a timeline on Fiji’s political events for the next five years.

In a previous story we talked about Egyptian telco Orascom helping launch a 3G mobile network in North Korea. Last week several press reports claimed that internet access is now available on this network. There is a lively discussion on at nkeconwatch.com on just what type of content is available on this network and if the access is to the full internet or is it a limited intranet of sorts. I found one comment by a visitor to North Korea that gives us a glimpse of wider internet in the secretive nation.

Also interesting, a trendy local college girl we met in the hotel bar told us that she used to have Internet at home and that in the 2004-2005 timeframe she had been doing Internet dating. She would find a boy online and have him show up at a public place near her apartment block. Spying on him from above, if she didn’t like the way he looked, she would not come out to meet him. The Internet service was suspended in the 2005-2006 time-frame and she was very unhappy about that. She liked the Internet, regardless of the limited and NK-specific services that may have been available.

Nokia's Ovi Store

Nokia launched it's version of app store  called Ovi store. Nokia phone users can now register on this store and buy apps for their mobiles. Tech bloggers are comparing Nokia's attempt to Apple's offering.  Medianama, an Indian tech blog compares the usability of Ovi store to Apple's app store

Nokia has a substantial number of handsets in the market, each has its own form factor and operating system. Consumers won’t exactly be pleased when a particular application isn’t available for theirs. That’s where the iPhone App store has an advantage, since it’s the same OS, and just one type of app. In that context, Nokia’s reach doesn’t quite appear to be the advantage one thought it was.

Malaysia Mobile Tech News talks about another challenge facing Nokia app store initiative

However, it is difficult to achieve what Apple has done with the AppStore, simply because Apple didn’t give software publishers a choice when it started selling the iPhone - either sell through the AppStore or via very-limited-reach third party means (meaning Cydia and the Cydia Store, if you’re familiar with the iPhone). Nokia didn’t start off this way - every software publisher sold through their own website, or another mobile software e-marketplace, and to force “coerce” them to now come under the Ovi Store to the exclusion of every other avenue is an impossible task. After all, what’s the compelling reason for them to move over to the Ovi Store?

See also: Nigeria now Number 9 on Opera Mini Global Chart

Web Services

While access of any sort is a good news in North Korea, netizens in Vietnam are lamenting the loss of a popular online service - Yahoo 360. Taitran in Vietnam describes the feeling in Vietnam after Yahoo announced that it would be closing the service.

Google was busy at its developer event giving away free Android phones and launching a new product called Wave.

Singapore based elearningpost writes how Wave is more than a groupware application that other vendors are selling.

The Wave is not just another application, it's a whole new way of using online information. If you have not seen the demo yet, you should. The Wave takes collaboration to a whole new level. When I was watching the collaboration demo, I felt the entire experience was more like an extension into multiple minds rather than the 'switch-type' collaboration we see in the likes of Sharepoint and Lotus Notes. The engagement just felt more organic, more emergent, more fun.

Also from Singapore,  Rambling Librarian analyzes how Google Wave can be used by librarians to  “transform the way we provide Enquiry and Advisory services. Or how we research, collaborate and publish documents”.

Tech entrepreneur Jonathan Gosier at Appfrica and based in Uganda isconcerned about the usability of the product in low bandwidth situations.

Of course, I have to point out that all this real-time communication stuff only matters to the fraction of people on the planet with good bandwidth. Here in Uganda, I’m so glad when an email actually makes it out of the queue that I don’t even bother to think about ‘rewinding’ conversations and dragging and dropping video! In all seriousness, it’s this reduction in basic utility for all users that worries me. Most Google’ products are by-in-large accessible no matter what kind of computer you’re on (except maybe Google Earth). With Wave they seem to be going down a path that might be a little more exclusive in nature. Not a deal-breaker but a concern none-the-less.

See also: The Startups That Rocked UnConference 2009 (Singapore), Indiblogger State of the Indian blogosphere report for May 2009 (India)

Events

Web designers in Vietnam had their WebcampSaigon 1 event that Fresco2.0 describes as a “a dedicated community by designers for designers”. Fresco2.0 has pictures and presentations from the event.

Neighboring Thailand had its Barcamp at the Sripatum university in Bangkok that also attracted technogists from Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Hong Kong. The two day events had people talking about web 2.0, design, databases, content management systems, social media and hardware hacks. Some of the participants stayed overnight at the venue, coding and hacking. The presentations are at the Barcamp Bangkok 3 Slideshare page. Here is one from Kulawat about Agile.

Not every thing was tech though. Vietnamese delegate Huy Zing conducted a Salsa dancing session.

31o5 has a collection of great images from the event.

Earlier in May, Tokyo tech enthusiasts held their Barcamp. Participants gathered at Sun's Yoga office and talked about tech startups in Japan, Twitter, Japanese popular culture among other things. One of the popular session was a demo of Solaris Live USB creator by Hiroshi Chonan. Hiroshi is the developer of this utility that lets PC users try the Open Solaris operating system without going through an installation. In the video below a fellow Sun presenter points out why this live usb creator is important for the distribution of Open Solaris.

Another gadget that you see a lot in Tokyo tech events these days is the Poken. It  looks like a USB drive and come in cool designs. You can store your contact information on a Poken and then exchange it with someone else just by placing your Poken next to another one. Here you see attendees at Tokyo barcamp networking with their pokens.

If you are in India, and working on a tech startup, the proto.in event would interest you. Amit Mittal at venturewoods.org writes

What got me excited though is the 3 day bootcamp that Proto.in is putting together. Day one will focus on diving into the business plan you have for the company, and combing through all the fine details. Day two, they teach you and groom you on how best to deliver a pitch (some advertising guys coming in here to help.) Day three, is all about the stage — well known event management company “BuzzWorks” will teach you how to handle yourself in front of the camera, what to do and what not to do when in a public forum.

Sydney tech enthusiasts have also announced a “recession” edition barcamp to be held on the 27th of June. Their new activity this time round is the Think Tank room.

Finally, we have a new idea for a few of the sessions - the Think Tank room. The Think Tank room is a small room with no projector and no tech - just enough room for a small group of people discussing ideas. And what better ideas to discuss than ideas about the future.

See also: Make Tokyo Meeting 03: Where You Can See Future, Magic And Junk In A Place

First off we have the Atomicos, an indie rock band from Puebla who have written a song and uploaded a video with English Subtitles regarding the swine flu and the different measures taken. The video has also been translated into French for the videoblog Le Buzz Dorothée. The band's videos and other non-swine flu related songs can be found on their MySpace page.

Big bands are also cashing in on the Swine Flu: The Agrupación Cariño has the Influenza Cumbia which has been dubbed in English, for the listening pleasure of many more people. Following is the English version, and after that you may also view the one in Spanish.

The Bandaloz Group from Durango in Mexico also produced a quite catchy Influenza song where they sing about all the security measures needed to protect oneself from the virus:

In Mexico, people have also been making videos of how life is going on for those who live in the cities, how the situation is being faced at the origin. shizo79 uploaded this video taken on the streets of Mexico City, where of the few people who are outside on the streets some have their masks on, some are mask-less and others wear their masks around their necks:

This cute Mexican girl named Jimena wrote a song about how daily life is going in for students like her, and the smooth rhythm and poignant lyrics reflect what the safety measures are doing for the citizens. Part of the lyrics of her song We're out of Face Masks (which she translated into English on her YouTube page) say:

CHORUS
Damn flu
I can't get out of my house
the news tell me to get rest
naaananana
don't start saying bullcrap
cus is not the world's end yet

We're out of face masks
a note on a door: “There's no vaccines till november”
peoples gettin crazier
panic purchases & we don't even have enough food

Bars, concerts & festivals
shows, “antros” & restaurants (that kind of rimed yay)
the movies, coffee shops & sweet16s
everything was cancelled to keep us safe

So what about the rest of the world? From Australia where a Swine Flu case was already confirmed, Community Channel's Natalie posts a video commenting on the paranoid reactions people have been having to anyone who makes the mistake to cough or sneeze:

And last but not least: it was only a matter of time before someone came up with a video game for the swine flu. In SwineFighter, you have to aim a syringe to flying pigs over a map, innoculating them and preventing the virus from spreading before time runs out. You can play HERE.

Australia remains undecided about whether it will attend a controversial United Nations conference, which begins in a fortnight.

There are fears the Durban Review Conference, to be held in Geneva from April 20-24, could become a repeat of the original South African event in 2001, which was marred by claims of anti-Semitism.

Govt not sure over UN Durban conference

The decision was only taken at the last minute:

AUSTRALIA will not take part in a controversial United Nations anti-racism conference in Geneva this week.

Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith said the Geneva meeting reaffirms the 2001 outcomes, singling out Israel and the Middle East.

“Regrettably, we cannot be confident that the review conference will not again be used as a platform to air offensive views, including anti-Semitic views,” Mr Smith said.

Australia to boycott UN anti-racism conference

Many Australian bloggers took the opposite view.

Duckpond argued:

Sometimes the truth needs to be told, and it can be unpleasant and discomforting. So was President Admadinejad doing that?

Ahmadinejad is not saying anything here in these extracts that is extraordinary. Anybody who even half follows events knows what he is saying is accurate. So why all the drama?

SPEAKING THE TRUTH

At group blog Larvatus Prodeo, Paul Norton explained his position on the Middle East:

I support Israel’s right to exist and a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, and I am a critic of unbalanced, inflammatory and obsessive criticism of Israel. However, I am also critical of unbalanced, inflammatory and obsessive idealisation of Israel, of the kind that is rife in the polities of various Western countries including Australia and the United States.

He then addressed his concern about the boycotting countries:

One wonders how the countries participating in the Conference (including all of Africa, Russia, Asia (except for Israel), South and Central America and the Vatican) will interpret a boycott confined exclusively to the wealthy white men’s club. How might they respond to the fact that nations such as the US and Australia consider a purported slight on Israel’s good name to be of greater moment than many other issues on which agreement and cooperation is possible with countries of the global South and global East, and sufficient grounds to refuse to attend a forum to discuss such cooperation?

What if they held a conference on racism and all the whiteys stayed away?

Jason Soon, a supprter of the boycott, began an open forum at catallaxyfiles:

… devoted solely to the recent UN talkfest which for once has made Kevin Rudd do the right thing and boycott. So fire away. A little fuel for the fire
here.

Open forum for UN lovers and haters

On the other hand Gary Sauer-Thompson at Public Opinion decried the Rudd government's lack of courage:

I wasn't surprised that Australia didn't have the courage to attend the UN conference on racism (known as the Durban review) and then debate the views of those it disagreed with, namely President Ahmadinejad's interpretation of Zionist history. They just stayed away, rather than making the arguments that need to be made against Ahmadinejad and his followers.

Zionism does need to be questioned because this form of nationalism rationalizes conquest and colonization as “redemption” of Jewish territory on behalf of the world’s Jews. It treats the Palestinians only as an obstacle and threat to its own purposes, not as people with the same rights as Jews and with legitimate claim to the land on which they were born.

at the UN

Dan Goldberg, national editor of the Australian Jewish News from 2002-2007, put the case against the Conference in the strongest terms at New Matilda.

The UN's conference against racism opened yesterday. But Dan Goldberg writes that the meeting is a sham which reminds him of some other low-points in the history of hate:

Remarkably, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was welcomed into the bosom of Europe at a conference intended to deal with racism. It's a perverse irony at best; an utter abomination at worst. And all this on April 20 — the anniversary of Hitler's birthday.

Unsurprisingly, the tyrant of Tehran launched his invective at the Jewish state, accusing it of being the “racist perpetrators of genocide”. The bulk of the Arab delegates applauded. The 23 representatives of the European Union walked out. On the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day, the United Nations, which has long been a bastion for Israel-bashing, hosted a dyed-in-the-wool Holocaust denier. Ahmadinejad didn't refer to the Holocaust by name, but left little doubt of his support for a second Holocaust against “the most cruel and repressive, racist regime in Palestine”.

Red-Letter Days For Racism

Author of the My Israel Question and The Blogging Revolution, Antony Loewenstein, is a well known and controversial commentator on the Middle East and critic of Zionism.

As a Jew who writes extensively about Israel/Palestine, I have no desire for Iran to speak for me on human rights (and my recent book, The Blogging Revolution, details the woeful record of the Islamic Republic.) But the fierce resistence to even examine the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and its well documented recent abuses in Gaza is shameful. These are not actions of a civilised nation. It is the behaviour that we would condemn if done by a relatively unknown Third World nation, but Israel is seemingly untouchable.

Durban II, the how, why and who

A final word comes from the mass media. Tim Blair who blogs for Sydney’s Daily Telegraph made his opinion of Iran's President Ahmadinejad quite clear:

Civilisation declined to attend the UN’s anti-Israel festival. Other representatives left once they realised what kind of atrocity they’d blundered into.

They can’t say they weren’t warned.

HATEFEST TURNS HATEFUL

The Middle East continues to divide Australians and the world.

A refugee boat has exploded off the north west coast.Three people are dead, two are missing and more than thirty have been injured, some with very serious burns. Three members of the Australian Defence Force, which was towing the boat, are among the injured.

Western Australian police say three people are dead and two are missing following an explosion on board an asylum-seekers' boat being escorted to Christmas Island this morning.

Three dead, dozens injured after explosion on asylum boat ABC News Online 17 April 2009

Allegations that the fatal explosion was caused by asylum seekers have also revived the political storm surrounding the children overboard affair.

Claims that fuel was deliberately poured over the small wooden fishing vessel before the blast will be the focus of inquiries by police and the Northern Territory coroner.

Sabotage fear on boat blast The Age 17 April 2009

A political stoush has erupted with Opposition parliamentarians accusing the government of causing the increase in boat people and encouraging people smuggling through its changes to border protection.

Bloggers are also taking off the gloves. Gary Sauer-Thompson at Public Opinion bemoaned the attempts to politicise asylum seekers again:

Doesn't the old hang on. The Liberals are banging the drum about border security, bad asylum seekers, boat people and soft on security. It is just like a replay of the old children overboard affair with undercurrent of Asian hordes invading Australia because they read The Australian and realized that Rudd Government has gone soft on the processing of asylum seekers.

The reality is that most asylum seekers arrive by plane, many are sent back, whilst the asylum seekers who arrive by boat are processed on Christmas Island. Children are treated more humanely, the so-called “Pacific Solution”, which had people sent to Nauru has been abolished and it has scrapped temporary protection visas, as well as reforming detention policy.

banging an old drum

Mark Thomson’s blog, Seeking Asylum Down Under, has a clear purpose:

Yes, we remember! Blame the victims for their own plight, extract as much sensationalism out of the role of people smugglers, put words in the mouth of ADF personnel who cannot answer for themselves, and then whip up public sentiment against refugees. Throw in dollops of confected outrage over your political opponents complete lack of preparedness to face down the ‘threat' and you have the typical Lib's stock in trade response to the terrible plight of some of the most vulnerable people on the planet.

Oh, I forgot - then you set about making weak neighbouring countries complicit in policies that violate human rights!

Human rights in Australia - the fear & smear Liberals are at it again over asylum seekers!

Another progressive blog, Club Troppo, was more restrained:

Yesterday’s “boat people” explosion near Ashmore Reef west of Darwin, in which 3 people were apparently killed outright and many more seriously injured, has eerie if obvious parallels with the “children overboard” saga of 2001 which helped John Howard to his third successive election victory.

Returning to the present, there is a crucial difference between the situation the “children overboard” and “Tampa” asylum seekers faced and that of yesterday’s group whose boat apparently caught fire and exploded. The current group didn’t face being towed back out to sea, and they almost certainly didn’t face prolonged immigration detention while their protection visa applications were processed.

In those circumstances, WA Premier Colin Barnett’s claims that the asylum seekers deliberately doused their vessel and the surrounding waters with petrol doesn’t seem to make sense. There must be more to it than we’re being told, unless these particular asylum seekers simply hadn’t heard that the old Howard government “towaway zone” or ”lock ‘em up offshore and throw away the key” policies were no longer operative. There’s a lot more to be told about this story.

The old explosive asylum story reignites

The alternative view was put strongly by Andrew Bolt, newspaper columnist for Rupert Murdoch’s Herald-Sun and perhaps Australia’s best known and controversial right-wing blogger:

AT least three boat people now dead. So how much “kinder” do Kevin Rudd’s policies seem now?

John Howard was supposed to be the cruel one, said Labor. It was Howard when Prime Minister who put in the Pacific Solution, whisking illegal boat people to Nauru, rather than land them here.

Too harsh, said Kevin Rudd, and scrapped it. It was Howard who cut the legal circus that allowed illegal immigrants to play the system for years, until we gave up trying to deport them.

Too harsh, said Rudd, and laid on lawyers. It was Howard who cut the lure of benefits and then imposed on illegal immigrants the imminent threat of return.

Too harsh, said Rudd, and scrapped the Temporary Protection Visas, giving all illegal immigrants—including well-heeled ones fleeing no particular danger—instant access to permanent residency with all the tempting benefits and rights.

Too harsh, said Rudd. And enlightened opinion cheered. Now we were nice. Really? So how nice is it to have now lured at least three people to their deaths? To have not one child overboard—oh, what a confected scandal that was—but a whole boatload of 49?

Yes, indeed. This is a “people overboard” scandal, but for real this time.

People overboard, and the kindness than kills

Possum Comitatus at Pollytics did not show any restraint when condemning Bolt’s post:

… there is no larger magnet for outright bigotry than asylum seekers.

With refugees it’s literally Moral Panic Bingo; Islam, terrorists, race, xenophobia – refugees are the ultimate canvas upon which the shallow end of the public affairs pool can paint their own preferred pathological animosities. If you don’t believe me, then undertake an experiment:

Write down 9 favourite themes of the small minded nutjob set, not specifically about any given thing, any old generically bigoted idiocy will do – then pop on over to the usual creatures that prey on such feeble minded antipathy and read the comments sections on any post they have about asylum seekers. Every time one of your predicted themes is mentioned by a commenter, mark it off - you won’t have to read far before you’ll be shouting “Wingnut Bingo!”.

Of all the Wingnut Bingo halls in the land, there is none bigger than that hosted by The Undescended Testicle.*

He started yesterday with his sneering innuendo, of asylum seekers being “Lured by Rudd to their deaths?”. There really are no boundaries that Bolt’s hysterical Rudd Rage refuses to cross – although the only thing really being “lured” here are miscreants by the bucketful into Andrew Bolt’s site –herding the dross of the internet into News Ltd advertising by playing up to their shallow and spiteful little fantasies.

Why Andrew Bolt should be Sodomised with a Calculator – Part 142

Not the usual sort of criticisms we expect from a statistician and psephologist. For his data analysis you’ll have to visit Possum’s post.

It appears that most of those on the boat were fleeing Afghanistan, a country where Australian troops are currently fighting the Taliban.

The Fiji Sun reports it will not “publish political reports- either from the interim Government or their critics - until it can do so with accuracy, balance and fairness.”

Fiji Television viewers turning into the Sunday, April 12 received this notice over a black screen: “Viewers Please Be Advised There Will Be No 6PM News Bulletin Tonight.”

This reporting by omission is in response to new government “public emergency regulations,” (opens .doc file) which will be in place for 30 days, prohibiting the broadcast or publishing or any material that “may give rise to disorder” or could create “a breach of the peace, or promote disaffection or public alarm, or undermine the Government and the State of Fiji.”

Since April 8, Fiji has been ruled by three different governments. Thursday, April 9 a court of appeals declared that military ruler Commodore Voreqe Frank Bainimarama came to power illegally in December 2006 when he dissolved Parliament and deposed the government of Laisenia Qarase. As directed, Bainimarama stepped down, and the court instructed the country’s President to appoint a caretaker government to lead the country to elections. President Ratu Josefa Iloilo said he had no constitutional authority to install a new leader, so he nullified the country’s constitution, fired the judiciary and appointed himself head of state and the military. The following day he re-appointed Bainimarama and gave him a five-year mandate to complete carrying out his stated reforms of ending corruption and communal, provincial and religious politics.

The new government will rule by decree. Under the “public emergency regulations” it has the power to curtail assembly, expanded search and seizure powers and gives police and military the power to detain “suspected persons” for up to seven days without charges.

In relation to the press, Bainimarama's government installed “information officers” at newspapers, television and radio stations to enforce the regulations against publishing any story “negative in nature” regarding the extraordinary recent constitutional events. In a letter to media organizations, the government pointed out they should broadcast “news that is pro-Fij.”

Thus, the newspapers and television programs have decided to ignore all political events.

In other news,

The government has asked one Australian and one New Zealand journalist to leave the country because of their negative reporting;

One local internet forum has closed until further notice;

The Fiji Times editor, Netani Rika, was arrested Sunday after the government asked him to refrain from publishing blank pages blaming government restrictions.

Writing about Fiji TV's canceled news bulletin, the pro-government blog IG-Fiji explains the new media regulations.

The govt. will not tolerate any forms of sedition, treason or civil disobedience from any quarter. We have stated that all media outlets need to exercise a high degree of caution before publishing any article which may cause riots or civil unrest of any sort.

For the government, this means, publishing stories “by contacting parties such as [opposition political parties] NFP, SDL and other NGO’s who all chose to use the limelight as an opportunity to voice their personal opinions and attempt to cause an uprising against the govt. of the day.”

Back to IG-Fiji:

If the Fiji TV management team chooses not to run their news bulletin as normal, but under the Emergency Decree, then the govt. will not interfere with the decision taken by the management. This also applies to the Fiji Times who were cordial enough to agree that specific news articles would not be run but the requirement was that the company be allowed to publish a censorship message in its stead. This was readily agreed to and it was further agreed that no news that had been censored would be published on any of the media outlets websites. We are of the belief that the media council will be working closely with us in a professional manner in order to ensure the 30 day transition passes smoothly. The Emergency Regulations will be reviewed after this period and renewed IF necessary.

We ask that all the people of this country come together in a patriotic harmony and work with the govt. to help build a better Fiji which is free of corruption and racial politics.

The journalists and media watchdogs at Café Pacific explain how Fiji’s media has its work cut out for them.

[E]ditors, journalism and the news media have an unenviable job ahead of them – trying to pick their way through the Fiji minefield and maintain some level of media freedom and independence in the current climate of censorship and self-censorship. Expulsion of expatriate Australian publishers under the glare of immediate glare of international media publicity over the past year was one thing, the day-to-day unsung hard graft and risks now facing courageous local journos is quite another. Café Pacific believes Fiji is now entering a sinister era where journalists are stepping out of the regional rhetoric of media freedom and may face real dangers as suffered in many other developing nations.

From Intelligentsiya.

It is appropriate therefore that we try to assess why there are such intense attempts to censor the media.

To do that we begin by going back to the Rabuka Chronicles or his “No Other Way” steps to dealing with the media.

Our view is that this time around Bainimarama is aware that the mood of the people in this country will not be as acquiescent in comparison to 6/12. So in their true hearts and minds fashion, they will label every piece of news that does not support them as inciteful (big word there Leweni, sure you know what it means?).

But the real intent is to clamp down and ensure that small pockets of opposition do not become public information in case other people in the country decide to support it and hey presto we have a big protest against being robbed of the right to live in a free and democratic society en masse.

Unfortunately by picking up Rabuka’s tips from ’87 and trying to control the media, the media houses defiance today will instead inspire many others to also stand up and oppose the military junta.

Yes they’re still amateurs. That is why they will continue to be out-done, out-gunned, out-flanked, out-maneuvered and out-numbered.

Note: Sitiveni Rabuka, a once low-ranking officer in Fiji’s military, carried out the country’s first two coups, both in 1987, that overthrow a government headed by an Indo-Fijian political party.

According to most counts, Fiji has endured four military coups since 1987. A new blog calculates the weekend’s actions amounted to half-a-coup. With that in mind, coup four and a half has been covering the media. The blogsters at Coup Four and A Half ran this report.

Sources say Fiji TV reporter, Edwind Nand, was questioned this afternoon because of his interview with ABC journalist, Sean Dorney.

Nand is understood to be still at the Central Police Station in Suva.

Fiji TV have been told it's not allowed to air the Dorney interview.

The internal censorship has given rise to the importance of the foreign press and blogs who are taking comments.

The media has been muzzled, says Soli Vakasama.

REMEMBER, PEACEFUL RESISTANCE IS THE WAY AS THERE IS NO LAW IN FIJI TODAY.

It’s hard to do but try to carry on as normally as you can. There are many supporters who have to work in areas that the ig contro,l to keep the wheels turning, we need to stop vilifying them otherwise we’d all be in the shitpit.
Do not vent in public, come in here and vent your frustrations. We all feel your pain.

Use other sites like You Tube, Twitter and Anti Fiji Coup sites to add your resistance to the illegal stance in Fiji.

From Talking Fiji a few days back:

Other media outlets are exercising caution less they too be censored by the militarised Police.

The only source of uncensored news and commentary in Fiji now come from blogs.

It is an undeniable truth that media censorship is the first step towards creating a police state…

In times of darkness and despair, a free and balanced media is a beacon of hope for a people supressed.

If you take away that hope, then all that is left is misery.

And misery, if left to fester, can turn into resentment and then to anger.

Put another way, State censorship of the media is the first slippery step toward anarchy because the people of Fiji will not remain supressed for very much longer.

Not everyone in Fiji is critical of the recent government moves. A commenter at Fiji Live, Kumar, argues:

Media should work with the government of the day. They have responsibility to use their freedom for the benefit of the country. The media in Fiji is known to incite racial tension and portray one sided information. It has been constantly trying to portray a negative image of the current government which is trying hard to build a better Fiji. Let Fiji move forward … don't kill her!

International citizen journalists have also chimed in. From Kiwi Blog, David Farrar reports:

In the NZ blogosphere there has been a diversity of opinion on Fiji. Most have been highly critical of Bainimarama, but several (mainly on the right) have supported him, as they admired him standing up for the minority Indians and wanting to abolish the race based constitution.

To be honest over the last year I had been creeping more towards the camp that if he does get rid of the race based constitution, and hands over power to a truly democratic Government, then he may be seen one day on the side of the good guys.

But no-one should be defending his regime’s attack on media freedom. Supressing criticism at he point of a gun is what the Stalinist bloc used to do, and what Castro and Kim do.

Australian blogger Andrew Bartlett writing in Crikey Blogs.

Kevin Rudd has said that Fiji is now “virtually a military dictatorship”. I’m not sure what else needs to happen before the word “virtually” gets dropped, but whatever term you want to use, it sure isn’t democracy – especially with the latest censorship crackdown. The dictatorship’s Secretary for Information, Major Neumi Leweni, is kindly providing ‘information officers’ and police to assist every media newsroom in Fiji with deciding what is and isn’t newsworthy. Some more details are on the Talking Fiji blog.

The renewed censorship will mean blogs and other sources of online information will probably become the main way to access uncensored information out of Fiji.

Not long after this current coup first occurred, the military attempted to shut down access to anti-government blogs. No doubt similar efforts will be made now, but at present there is a wide range of blogs providing some information and some vibrant rallying calls.

On Bartlett’s personal site, a commenter, TRS, argues you have to take what you read online with a grain of salt.

The blogs have never really had to try to counter censorship as it’s very nature has allowed bloggers to post without any degree of external influence. Most blog sites contain posts written by anonymouse bloggers.

What is important to note are the truth claims of many bloggers. Whilst the blog posts at the moment seem to carry a lot more information then what is available from traditional media outlets, we have to very careful in absorbing what it’s contents are.

Unlike tradtional media, the stories contained in the blog posts have not been subjected to normal journalistic standards nor have they been vetted properly.

In any case, the only option for any coup related news for many Fijians right now are the blogs sites. Some news is better then nothing.

Photo by Americo Verme/WWS Brazil

Like Brunei and many other countries, Brazil joined Earth Hour for the first time. Reactions ranged from optimistic and supportive to critical and cynical posts. Guilherme Nascimento Valadares, from Papo de Homem [pt] blog, spent some time monitoring reactions on Twitter and counted over 8,000 posts related to relevant tags between 20:45 on Saturday 29 and 6:00 am on Sunday 30th. He concludes:

Fato peculiar. O mais críticos eram justamente os mais conectados, jovens, hypes, espertos. Me corrijam se estiver errado, mas tenho uma forte impressão de que o retrato da juventude produtiva brasileira de hoje - estou falando da turma que saiu da faculdade e já faz o seu $$$ - é um tremendo bundão, cético, hedonista, indolente, inseguro, maria-vai-com-as-outras.

Of those who turned the lights off, many Flickr users took pictures to pass the time. See below a selection of photos uploaded under Creative Commons licenses from Brazil, India, Malaysia, Australia, Singapore and Chile:

Photo by Alexandre E Silva's - Brazil

“Transmitindo a Hora do Planeta ao vivo pelo Ustream.”

Earth Hour in Bangalore, India - Photo by Earth Hour Global. For a local blogger who reminds us that the country faces a chronic power shortage on a daily basis, observing Earth Hour was a symbol of foolishness. View of My World says:

Bangalore, and large parts of India, have been observing earth hour / earth day / earth night for many many years now. Even this morning there was no power supply to my home between 9 AM - 11 AM.

Photo by Dani Pontes, Brazil

“Nós participamos!!
E aproveitamos pra namorar a luz de velas!! rs”

Photo by Luciano Joaquim, Brazil

Give earth a chance… photo by CW Ye- Malaysia

Photo by Max y Miliano, Chile

Photo by Mondayne. Sydney, Australia.

Earth Hour was both disappointing and pointless in Sydney. They didn't even turn the lights off on the Opera House or Bridge really… just a few lights were shut down. I can't imagine they really saved that much power.

A self portrait by Hsien-Ku, Australia.

Photo by Nathan Hayag, Singapore

Reform Wollongong City Council, a blog from Australia, writes:

On Friday 3 April 2009 the Australian government, on behalf of Australia’s people, endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

And top marks to the Rudd government for doing what the Howard government found to be inconsistent with their 1950s vision for Australia!

[…]

Open Your Eyes News, though, seems unimpressed: “Tragically this is just a symbolic PR exercise to further boost Government ratings.”

But a blog from New Zealand, Big News, is encouraged:

[…]

Australia was one of just four countries to vote against [the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples] in 2007, joining the United States, New Zealand and Canada.

Now, wonder if New Zealand will adopt UNDRIP and reverse its decision like Australia has done? Should it?

Though the Declaration is non-binding, NZ's endorsement would signal to the international community this country is serious about commitment to Indigenous Rights. So it has a political effect, not a legal effect.

[…]

Bubbles

The global effect of the bursting of the bubble economies in the developed world was sudden and devastating. For example, Jamaica’s dollar-earning bauxite industry has shed hundreds of jobs already because of the downturn in US car production.

In Bangladesh, the housing bubble is tied to the reliance of the country to the remittances sent by overseas workers. Now that migrant workers are returning home because of mass layoffs in Europe and US, the property boom in Bangladesh has come to an end:

The diaspora Bangladeshis have sent remittance of almost 6.5 billion US dollars in 2007. There is no doubt that remittances are good for a country's economy. But it is the sad truth that most of these remittances are used in investing in unproductive assets like lands and apartments. Because liquidity chases assets, those diaspora workers will certainly want to invest in a secured asset.

A huge sum of money is going after a tiny piece of land among limited land resources. So we have created our own bubble (like dotcom bubble). Everybody knows how the prices of lands and apartments shot up. The remittances are responsible for it.

Cambodia is also experiencing a property bubble. South Koreans are Cambodia’s biggest investors. Since South Korean businesses have been badly hit by the financial crisis, many of them have already pulled off their real estate investments in Cambodia.

Meanwhile, the Caribbean financial crisis originated in part from the sharp drop in methanol and real estate prices. In Antigua, the face of bank fraud is U.S. billionaire Allen Stanford who has been charged with investment fraud. Stanford has considerable investments in the Caribbean.

For many months, the Brazilian government has claimed that the local impact of the economic crisis is only minimal. But recent reports have shown that Brazil is now the second most affected country by the crisis. Blogger Luiz explains why Brazil’s economy is vulnerable:

Sim, o Brasil tem um mercado interno, mas não vive só dele. Vive, também, da exportação de seus produtos. A crise atingiu não apenas os Estados Unidos, mas também a União Européia. Dois grandes mercados brasileiros. Reduziu o crescimento na China, outro mercado importante.

Romania’s lending bubble is familiar because it is almost the same credit bubble which burst in other rich nations.

Political Cartoon by Sacrava from Cambodia

Bailouts

Many companies which asked for a bailout from governments were financial institutions. The response of some governments was to nationalize these money-losing firms. Bank nationalization schemes have been enforced in some countries like Iceland and Kazakhstan. Trinidad and Tobago banks were rescued not just by their government but also by governments from neighboring countries.

Is nationalization a wise economic decision? Should bankrupt companies receive government assistance? The opinion of bloggers is divided:

Barbados Free Press criticizes the lack of transparency concerning the decision to bailout the banks in the region:

How much will Barbadian taxpayers eventually be on the hook for? Good luck finding out the truth because the amount of taxpayer money and concessions being given by Trinidad, Barbados and other countries is being kept secret from the taxpayers.

Barbados Underground, reacting to the renewed government involvement in the financial sector, notes that this unorthodox thinking should generate a healthy debate:

If in fact, “national financial institutions,” enhance the capacity of a national government to respond to crises in the financial services sector, the question may well be, not whether a country can afford a “national financial institution,” but whether it can afford not to have one. Such a perspective goes against my many years of training, but economic orthodoxy has been found so sorely lacking in this crisis that I am open to new ideas. New answers often require new questions and a willingness to engage in fresh open minded debate.

Streetwise Professor from Russia disagrees that failing banks should be revived by the government:

These are companies that should have been euthanized. No, let me correct that. They should have been terminated with extreme prejudice. Instead they are being revived, and pushed into doing the kinds of things that created the financial crisis in the first place.

This politicization of these large financial institutions makes their continued reliance on the government inevitable. Soft budget constraints are addictive. More bad loans will pile up, making these firms even less able to survive in the marketplace without government assistance.

Even poet dergachew from Kazakhstan is afraid that the nationalization of business enterprises will be counterproductive:

I am not a politician, but nothing positive will eventually happen in result of nationalization of big business that takes place in our country now. Sure, the government remains the only capable market player because it accumulates income from extraction of minerals, but a priori it is well-known fact that business people run a business better, than the government.

In Jamaica, blogger Jamaica Salt suggests a bailout for the country’s rum industry because of declining tourism activities:

It is indeed a sorry state of affairs. Usually in times of downturn, alcohol sales increase as people look to drown their sorrows! But I imagine that the dent in tourism to Jamaica is largely to blame for the decreasing sales figures of rum.

Political Cartoon by Sacrava. A Big Fat Cat, AIG

Stimulus plans

To assure the public that something is being planned or done to revive the economy, governments around the world are drafting various economic stimulus packages.

Hungary will implement a tax reform. Taiwan has signed a controversial trade agreement with China and several Southeast Asian nations. Hiring street sweepers is part of the Philippine stimulus plan. Mongolia has unveiled a 1.5 trillion tugrik stimulus plan (USD 980 million) – but critics claim the program is only intended to cover the budget deficit. Malaysia has recently launched its second stimulus program. Named as mini budget, this stimulus plan has generated a lot of discussion and also criticism in the country.

Sean's Russia Blog notes that Russia is relying on “gunpowder economics” for its version of a stimulus plan:

Feeling the pains of economic crisis? Can’t find a suitable place for expanding market share? Don’t fret. There is one sure fire way to keep those exports up. Sell more weapons.

China’s central government has announced a four trillion yuan stimulus package (USD 570 billion dollars). Below is the coverage of the stimulus plan:

The four trillion yuan is going to be spent on 10 categories, among them welfare investment such as housing for low-income, health-care system and education, also infrastructure-building such as new railways, roads and airports. Specially, aid to post-earthquake reconstruction in Si-chuan is mentioned in the agenda. Equally notable is the subsidy for farmers and an explicit announcement to increase the price of state food purchase from farmers.

But some bloggers are worried that corruption and poor infrastructure projects will cause the failure of the stimulus plan.

In Cambodia, it is the opposition which is suggesting a stimulus package. Predictably, the government rejected it. The stimulus hopes to realize the following:

- Setting up mechanisms to support and stabilize agricultural prices in order to protect farmers' revenue and living conditions
- Investing in human resources by increasing spending on education, training and health
- Building infrastructure that Cambodia lacks most (roads, railways, water-control and irrigation systems, housing for the poor)
- Works to protect the environment and to restore the ecological system that has been disrupted nationwide, including replanting trees and dredging lakes and rivers
- tax cuts and reduction in fees for the use of public services including road tolls and the electricity price
- Special social allowances for the poorest segment of the population
- Loans with reduced interest rates for small domestic entrepreneurs and the needy.

Adolfo from Brazil, enumerates his stimulus proposal:

O Brasil tambem tem anunciado seu pacote, eu vou fazer a minha parte e sugerir um pacote tambem: que tal o governo brasileiro diminuir o imposto de renda? Operacionalmente o procedimento eh bem simples, basta devolver R$ 1.000 para cada contribuinte. Que tal esse pacote? Ele pelo menos tem o merito de devolver o dinheiro para quem ja pagou muito mais, e em nada distorce os incentives futuros em relacao ao risco.

There are bloggers who reject the wisdom of “stimulucrats”. John Quiggin from Australia shares this negative view on implementing a stimulus:

If you believe that the economy is like a swimming pool, and that no matter how big a splash some shock (such as the collapse of the financial system) might make, the water in it will rapidly find its own level, then you will agree that there is no need for, or possible benefit from, the stimulus package.

Adolfo from Brazil believes the government intervention in the economy is more dangerous:

Para a economia brasileira mais perigoso que a crise internacional são as recentes medidas anunciadas pelo governo. Os recentes anúncios de aumento do gasto público podem perfeitamente fazer estragos na economia. Ou seja, se o governo brasileiro ficasse calado e nada fizesse estaríamos a salvo. O problema é que o governo insiste em querer intervir na economia.

He explains why a bigger public spending will hurt the taxpayers:

Da próxima vez que você ouvir alguém pedindo por um aumento do gasto público lembre-se que isso implica em menos dinheiro no seu bolso, isso implica em menos dinheiro para as empresas investirem, implica que cada vez mais você dependerá dos favores do governo, e cada vez menos de seu próprio esforço e habilidade.

The quote from Bangladesh was an English translation provided by GV Editor Rezwan. The Portuguese translation was provided by GV Editor Paula.

Irfan Yusuf at Planet Irf saw it this way:

Pakistan may describe itself as an Islamic republic, but the real religion which unites all Pakistanis is cricket. This is a cricket-mad country. I remember being in Pakistan when an overseas team was touring, and seeing crowded city streets become almost deserted and shops open but with shop keepers having their eyes glued to the TV sets.

During the early 1990's, one Pakistani mufti became a laughing stock after delivering a fatwa that cricket was haraam (forbidden under religious law). His reasons? He claimed people who watched cricket rarely took time out to perform their nemaaz (the worship Muslims are required to perform at five set times a day). And that Pakistani women would get excited by watching Pakistani bowlers like Imran Khan rub the ball in a certain place as he walked back to start his run-up.

Perhaps the shock of the Marriot Hotel blasts in Islamabad shocked people in the middle and upper classes. However, cricket is something Pakistanis of all classes enjoy. Cricket is played in both slums and on the turf pitches of posh Pakistani private schools. Cricketers, be they Pakistani or foreign, are like the revered saints of this secular religion. Umpires (except when they are deemed to have made the wrong decision) are like the high priests.

Presenting others' claims about the usual suspects, he asks:

Who is responsible? Muslim extremists? Tamil Tigers?

PAKISTAN: Some comments on the recent Lahore blasts …

Andrew Bolt, controversial journalist and blogger for the Herald Sun newspaper in Melbourne, is no friend of what he sees as dangerous lefties:

I think the apologists are running out of excuses. The US, we were told, brought 9-11 on itself through its aggression. We invited Bali on ourselves by siding with the US. India provoked the Mumbai slaughter by discriminating against Muslims. But the Sri Lankans? How on earth can even the barking mad blame them for this? Now, can we start discussing the role of Islam in political violence, and without the usual shut-ups of “racist!”.

Cricketers shot

Duckpond, a regular political blogger, started with a very popular figure in Australia, the former Pakistan cricket captain turned politician Imran Khan:

Imran Khan, who is close to matters cricket, says the level of security provided to to the Sri Lankan cricket team was scandalous. He is suggesting the Pakistani Government was negligent or incompetent.

He expressed his concern about Pakistan's instability:

It would not be the first time that attack on a soft target has organized to create maximum publicity. Pakistan with its history of military dictatorships, supported by the West, especially the United States, and its fractious ethnic populations, and a nuclear power, is not looking especially stable.

But he sees this attack as part of a failed global policy against terror:

The invasion of Afghanistan over seven years ago was supposed to be a quick fix, like that of Antigua or Panama, but as perhaps was predictable by those knew something about the area has proven to be very destabilizing, if not catastrophic.

CRICKET TEAM ATTACKED

Skepticlawyer, also referred to Imran Khan but with more negative connotations:

Despite Imran Khan’s repeated assertions that terrorists would never attack cricketers in Pakistan (even though the Taliban frowned on the game), terrorists have fired on the Sri Lankan team’s tour bus in Lahore, killing several local police officers and wounding several of the players, two seriously. Understandably, the Test currently underway has been abandoned, the Sri Lankan players have been airlifted home, and cricket lovers the world over are in utter despair.

Pakistan shits in cricketing nest

This terror attack has taken bushfires off the front pages of Australian newspapers and the lead stories of the electronic media.

Update:

Jack the Insider, who also blogs for a Murdoch paper, The Australian, has similar concerns about Pakistan's stability:

Elsewhere in Pakistan cities like Lahore, Karachi and the capital, Islamabad, have become war zones where chaos and carnage have become a way of life. The cities have become grid locked as people travel from one military checkpoint to the next and the sound of car bombs exploding reverberates around the cities on an almost daily basis.

Just 10 years ago Australia’s cricket captain, Mark Taylor made 334 not out at Peshawar, Pakistan’s most northern city. Now the city belongs to the Taliban and no Westerner with a scintilla of sanity would consider travelling there.

It should come as no surprise that Pakistan’s national game and the game loved by millions around the world has become entangled in the violence.

The world needs to view this disgraceful act as a call to arms. The rule of law is on the verge of collapse in Pakistan and there is a real prospect that the nuclear-armed country will lurch into a civil war.

New theatre in war against terrorism

The comments are worth reading for their diverse range of opinions.

The film, “The Combination“, was pulled from several cinemas in Sydney after brawls broke out, following the screenings.

“The Combination” was eventually re-scheduled, however extra security was added to keep the troublemakers at bay.

Written by and starring Lebanese-Australian actor George Basha, the gangster flick is set in the 2005 Cronulla race riots which saw white supremacist gangs pitted against Australians of Lebanese/Middle Eastern appearance.

The aim of the movie is to portray the real life and pressures facing the Lebanese in Sydney's west. Australians of Lebanese descent number roughly 400,000, a large proportion of whom reside in Sydney's western suburbs.

The controversial film has been the talk of the town, receiving wide media attention.

Australian film critic/blogger, Marc Fennell, gave his thoughts on the film:

Australian Lebanese gangster flick The Combination is special – it’s hooked into the zeitgeist and hit upon something very current and now. Above all things however, it’s marketed itself freakishly well. So far The Combination has been raking in the news coverage left, right and centre. It’s been generating heated comment, um, also from the left, right and centre and it’s even been accused of starting riots.

And all this for a movie that is actually not very good.

Okay, that’s not entirely fair. Lemme explain. The Combination takes place against the backdrop of the Cronulla Riots. It’s the tale of a Lebanese man (George Basha, also the writer) in Western Sydney who gets back from jail only to discover that his younger brother is shooting down the path that lead him to the big house. (Australian History X??). Meanwhile Basha falls in love with a white girl with racist parents and - judging by her acting ability - a penchant for horse tranquilizers.

I give this movie a serious A+ for ambition. And I mean that quite genuinely. I also LOVE the fact that we finally have a film about Western Sydney that focuses on the non-anglo character.

There are also some elements within this movie that just pop. The way it captures of Lebanese culture – the dancing, the food, the family - is brilliant. The movie just springs to life when these moments come along. And there are a couple of standout performances.

At the end of the day, I think it’s important that The Combination was attempted. It deals with issues that are relevant and important to our time and country – and over time, I suspect that it’ll become an important social document of Australia. I also think that the positive elements in this film are a pretty strong indication that George Basha and Director David Field have got some serious talent. I’d love to see what they come back with next, but for now The Combination only gets 2/5 from me.

Scott Henderson, on his blog Dark Habits, offers a similar review, with a focus on the issues “The Combination” seeks to explore:

It is through Sydney that audience experiences much of the cultural beauty within the Lebanese community, the food, the generosity, dancing in restaurants. Of course it is also through Sydney, and more specifically Sydney’s parents, that we experience some of the social observations about prejudice and xenophobia The Combination contends with. The long and short of the film's non-too subtle remarks being white people assume dark people are Muslims (which is like double points prejudice), Lebanese-Australians are Australians too, older generations don’t help matter by thinking the two should mix in affairs of the heart (“It’s not racist, that’s just the way it is”) and racism is, you know, bad.

Violence proliferates The Combination and the film makes explicit mention of the 2005 Cronulla Riots here in Sydney, during which the action takes place as a background to reference rather than a driving force in the narrative. Fights in school, street stabbings over video games and the tentacles of gang violence in general reach deep into the live's of the main protagonists. These actions (and involvement with drug dealers) are not without their repercussions as some boys go to jail and some to the morgue – violence is not the answer is the resolute message from screenwriter George Basha and director David Field. That is until it is necessary for a narrative exclamation mark of course.

In respect of this central meme of The Combination the film sacrifices much of effort to show the consequences of violence in favour of an act of vigilante justice which says it's okay when someone who deserves much worse instead just gets beaten senseless and humiliated in front of more upstanding members of the community. It is a moment that muddies the message and one showed a lack of courage or thought to go the whole way and complete the circle of violence leaving an ambiguity to the film's ending. Instead The Combination settles for the easy way out, a macho one audiences can really cheer for.

An Australian Muslim blogger, Nurisha Ali at Brisbane Qalam, is impressed by the film's risk-taking: