THE JUMBO TRAGEDY

"President Reagan yesterday promised a 'calm, controlled, but absolutely firm' response against the Soviet Union for what he described as the 'murder' of 269 people aboard a South Korean airliner" - The Age, Melbourne (Sept. 5th)

It is certainly not our intention to speculate on all the pages of speculation now appearing in the print media all over the non-Communist world. The real answer(s) will no doubt emerge with the passage of time. Only one "guess" we have seen appears to us to have some substance; and that is that at least part of the reason for the tragedy lies in the wholly centralised structure of the Soviet command network.

One of the main reasons for the sheer inefficiency of a Communist controlled economy lies in its chain of communications structure. There is a long chain of command between the planning of the production of goods and services, and their final delivery at the consumer "end". Imagine the "Berlin Wall" of bureaucracy standing in the way of efficiency, as any plan to produce goods and services must be cleared by the Ministry of this and the Ministry of that, with the various bureaucrats all eager to avoid taking any responsibility at all costs. Just like our Public Service, but one hundred times worse. After Moscow finally gets around to making a decision, then it's all the way back down the line, through the myriads of bureaucrats, still eager to avoid taking any responsibility, to the actual stage of doing something, if there are no "shortages" of this and that. We can well imagine that something like this above "scenario" takes place in the military chains of command, but probably with less red tape.

From what we are led to believe (and we don't doubt it) Soviet military tactics are understandably "slower" than what we are used to ourselves. Hence, our willingness to accept the possibility that this type of "inefficiency" was involved. But there are other implications to be considered. Nothing will bring back those 269 lives. What will the West do? Already we are hearing the bleating from Western politicians that there will, on no account be any sanctions against the Soviet: nothing to interfere with trade.

Dr. Anthony Sutton, in his blockbuster "National Suicide" - details the floods of Western military and technological aid that have been literally sweeping over the Soviet Union since shortly after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. It has never stopped. The international situation, which now obtains is one with many Western nations hooked on exports to the Soviet Union (e.g. West Germany), and there will be no 'sanctions' from these countries. The West is selling huge grain shipments to the Soviets, and these will not stop: neither will stop the Western financial credits to the Communist world for the delivery of the above. ("The Capitalists will provide the rope with which we will hang them" .. words to that effect from Comrade Lenin, early in the piece).

Then perhaps this Jumbo tragedy is one of the "unrehearsed events" which unexpectedly occur in the avenues of Man's life from time to time, and which alter the course of events. Perhaps millions more ordinary men and women "in the street" throughout the non-Communist world will turn their thoughts to the West's apparent helplessness in the face of Communist aggression, and begin to heed the strident warnings of men like Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn; warning that the West's basic problem is one of lapsed and forgotten morality - in turn due to a deep spiritual erosion which has taken place over many decades, and which is growing worse.
It is more than doubtful that the traditionally established Churches are providing the leadership, necessary for a real Christian regeneration.

THE ASIANISATION OF AUSTRALIA

"As Australia heads towards the 200th anniversary of European settlement in 1988, the significance of that celebration will be pervaded by an inescapable conundrum". - Mr. Peter Robinson, in The Sun-Herald (Sydney) August 21st.

In last week's On Target Bulletin (September 2nd) we made comment on Mr. Bill Hayden's remarks to the effect that Australia will become a Eurasian country and that, with intermarriage, "a new race will emerge". Mr. Robinson has made a recent extended tour of many Asian countries, and his comments are well made, in our opinion:
"So why should the 200th anniversary of the European rape of Australia be marked by a turning to Asia? "The answer is partly economic and partly political. It is certainly not based on any desire among Asian countries to take over Australia by either peaceful or military means. " the contrary, in Asian capital after Asian capital politicians, officials, and academics sniff rather disdainfully at any notion that Australia is really part of Asia (Our emphasis .. On Target).

"Australia is irrelevant", says Professor K.B.Sandhu, of Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. "It's up to Australia to decide what role it has in Asia", says Dr. Harry Tjan, of Jakarta's Centre for Strategic and International Studies. "So far only a small elite seems to think that Australia is part of Asia. Australians as a whole have to make up their minds to be real part or not".

Meanwhile, Australians are subjected to a non stop barrage of absolute drivel from our politicians (of all "colours") and officials that we are an integral part of Asia; that our future lies in Asia; and that - according to Mr. Hayden (Foreign Minister) we will become Asianised! All nonsense; and probably worse.

SENATOR SUSAN RYAN AND 'HER' BILL

"Non-Government schools should be exempted from the Government's proposed Sex Discrimination Bill, a private school parents' organisation said yesterday". - The Age (Melbourne), September 5th.

What the various pieces of legislation which are based on these United Nations Conventions, are really doing, amounts to interference with freedom of choice. What about the rights of people who don't want to send their children to co-educational schools? What about the private employers who don't want a male, or a female, to do some particular job? What about people who prefer to make their own decisions, and not be forced to do what they don't want to do (this is not a criminal area!) by a group of bureaucrats of the "Human Rights" industry. Is their judgment of life and affairs any better than a person running a company, or a school?

All this is more than stupid; it's really evil. But no doubt the active proponents of this type of legislation don't see it that way; on the other hand we have no doubt at all that the shadowy personages "making the bullets" at the United Nations, and elsewhere do know, exactly, what they are doing.

The type of mind which embraces this type of broad control over the everyday affairs of citizens (Socialist) is essentially immature. C.H.Douglas, somewhere, likens it to the mind of a little girl who chastises her dolly for being naughty, and telling same that it mustn't happen again. These Socialist ideologues with their pre-set "religion", and their essentially immature minds have been let loose to wreak havoc in our society: there will be no stopping them until they are booted out, or they are allowed to continue their path of social destruction until ordinary, sensible men and women call -"enough".

BRIEF COMMENTS

The Most Reverend Sir John Grindrod, Anglican Primate of Australia, in a letter to The Australian, September 5th, defends the World Council of Churches. This newspaper attacked the W.C.C. in an Editorial (with which we agree) in its issue of August 22nd, viz. "W.C.C. Is Listening With Only One Ear". We feel that the Primate is naive ... ''make it possible for our fellow Christians going back to their churches in the U.S.S.R. (and other countries) to retain their freedom and continue to work and to bring their influence to bear on world issues...." There is no freedom for Christians in the U.S.S.R. So far from having any say, Christians who assert themselves are quite viciously harassed and persecuted; sometimes with imprisonment. But we are inclined to agree with the Primate when he says that.... "With now probably more practising Christians in Eastern Europe and Russia than in the West, it is very important to reinforce them in their position and influence". We doubt, again, very much that this can be done, but we can easily be persuaded that there are "more practising Christians in Eastern Europe and Russia than in the West."

The Australian motor industry employs 84,000 people to produce 450,000 vehicles. In Japan, Toyota employs 54,000 to produce 3.2. million vehicles! So that the Australian employee/vehicle ratio is roughly 1:5, whereas the Japanese employee/vehicle ratio is roughly 1:60. But the newspaper article stresses that this doesn't mean that the Australian worker is hopelessly lazy, it does mean that greater efficiency of this Japanese industry: and particularly "capitalisation".

FEDERAL MINISTER FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT