tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28192219.post1021491995429689..comments2024-03-24T18:22:40.376+09:00Comments on Timor Online - Em directo de Timor-Leste: Campanha porta-a-porta da ADF ao estilo de Timor-LesteUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28192219.post-19038875972022076532007-08-23T19:14:00.000+09:002007-08-23T19:14:00.000+09:00The Nation (Papua New Guinea) – Wednesday August 2...The Nation (Papua New Guinea) – Wednesday August 22, 2007<BR/><BR/>Focus: Rudd as PM augurs well for the Pacific<BR/><BR/>By Dr Tim Anderson<BR/><BR/>What difference will the election of Labor leader Kevin Rudd as Australia’s next prime minister make for his Pacific neighbours? Will there be significant changes, or just more of the same?<BR/><BR/>Unlike the sometimes tumultuous democratic change elsewhere, Australian elections are a staid affair. But consistent polls tell us that a limited version of “regime change” is about to take place in Canberra.<BR/><BR/>The Rudd team has successfully marketed itself, and the investment groups, mining companies and corporate media which dominate Australian policy – despite their prior uncritical support for prime minister John Howard – broadly accept the proposed change. Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch even gave his personal blessing, after Rudd visited him in New York.<BR/><BR/>No small part of the Rudd team’s success has been the ugliness of the incumbents.<BR/><BR/>Domestic legitimacy was difficult to maintain in face of the unpopular privatisations, bloody war, racist policy towards immigrants and refugees, and attacks on domestic civil and industrial rights.<BR/><BR/>The Pacific legacy, similarly, is not pretty.<BR/><BR/>While preaching “good governance” and security in the region, intervention and corruption were hallmarks of the Howard administration.<BR/><BR/>Regional intervention was linked to commercial and strategic interest, but argued in the name of “stability” and “assistance”.<BR/><BR/>The Ramsi intervention in the Solomon Islands, although initially invited, led to a near collapse in relations between the Australian and Solomons governments.<BR/><BR/>The 2006 intervention in Timor Leste, following a long conflict over oil and gas revenue, affronted the major political party.<BR/><BR/>Fretilin now in opposition, blames Australia for backing a coup.<BR/><BR/>And the planned Enhanced Cooperation Programme for PNG collapsed after unconstitutional immunities sought for Australian officials were overturned in PNG’s Supreme Court.<BR/><BR/>Under Alexander Downer’s stewardship of foreign affairs and trade, the Australian Wheat Board (AWB) personnel paid nearly A$300 million in bribes to Saddam Hussein’s regime, to secure pre-invasion wheat contracts.<BR/><BR/>As an official inquiry showed, Downer then argued the case for Australian participation in the illegal invasion of Iraq, on the basis that support for the US-led war would benefit “Australia’s commercial position in Iraq”.<BR/><BR/>As it happened, exposure of the AWB scandal <BR/>allowed the US to completely squeeze Australian <BR/>wheat suppliers out of the Iraqi market.<BR/><BR/>Neighbouring leaders were treated with contempt.<BR/><BR/>When PNG Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare was <BR/>forced to remove his shoes in Brisbane airport, <BR/>Downer claimed this was a “standard operation” that applies to “everybody”.<BR/><BR/>Yet when US vice-president Dick Cheney arrived in <BR/>Australia, state laws were changed overnight, at <BR/>Howard and Downer’s request, to allow Cheney’s <BR/>bodyguards to carry their weapons through the <BR/>airport and onto the streets of Sydney.<BR/><BR/>Then as Solomons prime minister Manasseh Sogavare <BR/>sought to appoint Australian lawyer Julian Moti <BR/>as his attorney-general, Canberra and the <BR/>Australian federal police decided they would <BR/>sideline Moti with charges that he had engaged in child sex in Vanuatu.<BR/><BR/>In fact, Moti had been cleared of all charges and <BR/>was not wanted in Vanuatu. His real offence, it <BR/>seems, was that he had advised an inquiry into <BR/>the role of Australian police in the April 2006 disturbances in Honiara.<BR/><BR/>When Moti passed through Port Moresby, the PNG <BR/>Government did not comply with an Australian <BR/>extradition request, and instead deported him to <BR/>the Solomons, Howard and Downer then turned on the PNG Government.<BR/><BR/>With such a history, most Australians and their <BR/>Pacific neighbours are keen to see the back of Howard.<BR/><BR/>Indeed, regime change in Canberra at the least <BR/>brings the prospect of some new faces, and <BR/>perhaps a change of tone in the conversation.<BR/><BR/>Rudd and his shadow foreign minister Robert <BR/>McClelland may well take a step back from the <BR/>overt racism that characterised the Howard-Downer <BR/>regime, where neighbouring governments were <BR/>bluntly told what was good for them.<BR/><BR/>This change in tone may be reflected in some <BR/>actual policy changes, for example a resurgence <BR/>in the teaching of Asian languages in Australian <BR/>schools, and an increase in AusAID scholarships.<BR/><BR/>Rudd has spoken of a “Pacific Colombo Plan”, <BR/>suggesting significant numbers of scholarships.<BR/><BR/>He has also indicated a planned increase in the <BR/>AusAID budget, from 0.3% to 0.5% of GDP, by 2015-16.<BR/><BR/>Most of this, as we know, will return as <BR/>“boomerang aid” to the handful of Australian <BR/>companies who are AusAID’s “preferred contractors”.<BR/><BR/>Nevertheless, aid money is clearly a central <BR/>means by which Rudd hopes to rescue Australian <BR/>influence. He recognises the damage Howard has <BR/>done, speaking of a “long-term drift in <BR/>Australia’s strategic standing right across this <BR/>region” and expressing a desire to control <BR/>“anti-Australianism” and avoid “costly military interventions”.<BR/><BR/>What might this mean in practice?<BR/><BR/>It may include increased intervention.<BR/><BR/>Rudd’s party now speaks of a “staged withdrawal” <BR/>of troops from Iraq, but a build-up in <BR/>Afghanistan and the Pacific, possibly including Timor Leste.<BR/><BR/>The budget of the Australian Federal Police in <BR/>the Pacific already nearly exceeds its domestic <BR/>budget, but Rudd has promised them even greater resources.<BR/><BR/>Education aid will be targeted. Rudd will likely <BR/>follow Howard in plans to increase scholarships <BR/>to Timor Leste, now that Australian troops have helped sideline Fretilin.<BR/><BR/>Due to Howard’s chilly relations with the <BR/>Alkatiri government, scholarships to Australian <BR/>universities for Timorese students had fallen <BR/>from 20% a year to just 8% per year. That may now increase.<BR/><BR/>McClelland, who is likely to be the new foreign <BR/>minister under a Rudd government, has spoken of <BR/>Labor’s desire to train “a new generation of <BR/>young leaders” from Timor Leste, PNG, the <BR/>Solomons and Fiji, with greater Australian loyalties.<BR/><BR/>This brings us back to the continuities between <BR/>Howard and Rudd. We can expect Rudd as prime <BR/>minister to continue to back Australian mining <BR/>companies and to work against potential <BR/>competitors, in the Timor Sea and in PNG.<BR/><BR/>He will be hostile to plans to develop gas <BR/>processing capacity in Timor Leste and PNG, if <BR/>Australian companies are not involved.<BR/><BR/>Rudd will probably continue Howard and Downer’s <BR/>opposition to Cuban health and health training <BR/>programmes in the region, but the opposition will <BR/>remain private, because Australia cannot compete.<BR/><BR/>Timor Leste already has one of the <BR/>fastest-growing health systems in the world, <BR/>largely thanks to Cuban generosity.<BR/><BR/>Relations with China are in a class apart, due to its economic power.<BR/><BR/>Rudd, who speaks Chinese, has said he will seek <BR/>greater engagement with China while maintaining a strong alliance with the US.<BR/><BR/>A further continuity will be Rudd’s backing of <BR/>the “open market” or export-oriented approach to agriculture.<BR/><BR/>This is dictated by the global ambitions of Australian agribusiness.<BR/><BR/>On this basis, Australia refused to help rebuild <BR/>Timor Leste’s rice production after 1999, even <BR/>though it sells no rice to that country.<BR/><BR/>Australia does have substantial rice exports to <BR/>PNG, and typically does not support staple grain programmes.<BR/><BR/>A Labor government led by Rudd would not be quick <BR/>to move on the “migrant worker” issue, because of trade union fears.<BR/><BR/>A possible breakthrough might come for skilled workers in the mining sector.<BR/><BR/>The simplest solution, of course, would be to <BR/>extend to young Pacific people the backpacker <BR/>visas now offered to young “working tourists” <BR/>from wealthier countries such as Britain, Germany and South Korea.<BR/><BR/>However, residual racism in the Australian <BR/>immigration system may make this difficult.<BR/><BR/>As Rudd says, he “will listen” to the region.<BR/><BR/>His background as a diplomat and a linguist give <BR/>him some advantages, in this regard.<BR/><BR/>However as a technocrat – who quibbles more with <BR/>Howard’s means than his ends – he can be expected <BR/>to maintain support for all the important <BR/>commercial and strategic interests backed by Howard.<BR/><BR/>The pressure and influence is likely to be less <BR/>crass and less public, but somewhat more “backroom” and cheque-book driven.<BR/><BR/>Note: The author is a senior lecturer in <BR/>Political Economy at the University of SydneyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28192219.post-49550292087478518602007-08-23T13:12:00.000+09:002007-08-23T13:12:00.000+09:00Bla bla bla...Bla bla bla...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28192219.post-20508110546123358762007-08-23T08:30:00.000+09:002007-08-23T08:30:00.000+09:00Se isto é verdade, é urgente que se revelem testem...Se isto é verdade, é urgente que se revelem testemunhos desta inconcebível interferência das forças australianas num país soberano que se pretende reencontrar consigo próprio. Fazer pender a balança para um dos lados intimidando a sua população é criminoso, punível por todos os normativos internacionais e passível de condenação moral em qualquer parte do mundo civilizado.<BR/>A bem da paz em Timor-Leste é bom que estas acusações (se devidamente provadas) sejam deunciadas publicamente, já, não vos parece?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28192219.post-8407913630923110062007-08-23T00:33:00.000+09:002007-08-23T00:33:00.000+09:00Timor: Questão humanitária depende melhoria situaç...Timor: Questão humanitária depende melhoria situação política<BR/>Diário Digital / Lusa <BR/>22-08-2007 14:43:00 <BR/><BR/>O Alto-comissário da ONU para os Refugiados apontou hoje a existência de «questões humanitárias» em Timor-Leste decorrentes da tensão que se vive no país, defendendo que só uma evolução positiva da «situação política» poderá contribuir para as debelar. <BR/>«Espero que a situação política permita resolver rapidamente as questões humanitárias e de protecção que se têm posto à população timorense. Como sempre, nos problemas humanitários a solução nunca é humanitária», disse António Guterres, em declarações à agência Lusa, no final de um encontro com o Presidente moçambicano, Armando Guebuza.<BR/>Observando que actualmente «não há refugiados de Timor», mas apenas «algum deslocamento interno por causa de questões de insegurança», António Guterres reforçou que para ultrapassar os problemas existentes «a solução é sempre política».<BR/>«Quando os problemas políticos se resolvem, os problemas humanitários deixam de existir», defendeu.<BR/>Cerca de 5.000 pessoas estão deslocadas e concentradas em pelo menos oito campos temporários no leste de Timor-Leste devido à violência que afectou a região durante a qual foram queimadas mais de 320 casas.<BR/>As maiores concentrações temporárias de deslocados localizam-se nas montanhas de Viqueque, onde estão cerca de mil pessoas, enquanto centenas de outras estão em vários pontos da cidade, na costa sudeste do país e cerca de um milhar no quartel da polícia em Uatu Carbau.<BR/>Os distúrbios em Timor-Leste, que atravessa uma crise política desde Abril de 2006, foram desencadeados no dia 13, quando o Presidente timorense, José Ramos-Horta, designou como primeiro-ministro Xanana Gusmão, do Conselho Nacional para a Reconstrução de Timor-Leste (CNRT), e não o candidato da Fretilin, o partido vencedor das eleições de 30 de Junho.<BR/>Xanana Gusmão dirige uma coligação de quatro formações políticas que controla 37 dos 65 lugares do novo parlamento de câmara única, enquanto que a Fretilin, embora vencedora nas eleições, apenas obteve 21 deputados.<BR/>No final da sua visita de quatro dias a Moçambique, António Guterres manifestou ainda o «apreço e gratidão» da agência das Nações Unidas a que preside pela «política exemplar de generosidade e de solidariedade do Estado e do povo moçambicano relativamente àqueles que procuram abrigo» no país.<BR/>«Estamos a trabalhar muito activamente para clarificar quem é e quem não é refugiado para que os refugiados possam ser eficazmente protegidos, mas também para que ninguém possa usar abusivamente dessa condição para abusar da hospitalidade do povo moçambicano», especificou.<BR/>O ex-primeiro-ministro português prometeu ainda «apoiar a fundo» o programa do governo moçambicano destinado a reforçar a capacidade de integração e de auto-sustento dos refugiados, bem como «projectos que estão a ser preparados nos domínios da educação, saúde, apoio à agricultura e segurança», que visam «apoiar a população refugiada, mas também a comunidade local». <BR/>«Moçambique está a dar um exemplo ao mundo de uma política muito bem pensada. Temos que fazer tudo para apoiar Moçambique na concretização dessa política», notou.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28192219.post-31752685132732966142007-08-22T21:59:00.000+09:002007-08-22T21:59:00.000+09:00Francamente, não dá para acreditar numa reportagem...Francamente, não dá para acreditar numa reportagem como esta. É risível<BR/>Alfredo<BR/>BrasilAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com