CALLING A SPADE A SPADE

"The hostility of the Arab world for nations of Western cultures goes back into the earliest history of their chequered relationships. The historical factor, however, pales beside the West's supreme crime - the establishment of the State of Israel and the expulsion of the Palestinians from 1947-1949." - B.A. Santamaria, in The Weekend Australian, August l8th-l9th

The full story of events, from Biblical times, to the setting up of the State of Israel, in 1948, and events thereafter to 1956 are set down in detail in Douglas Reed's masterpiece, The Controversy of Zion (Price: $20.00 posted from League bookshops). If the West's supreme crime is the establishment of the State of Israel, then as all crimes bring their inexorable punishment, all those concerned with this crime will bear the punishment. We, ourselves, do not have to be convinced that this has been happening for decades, and will continue to happen until some form of international justice takes place.

It is true that Israel could not exist; indeed, could never have existed at all, without the massive financial and other aid from the United States of America. Mr. Santamaria quotes the figure of $U.S.4 Billion as an annual subsidy. One does not have to ponder the reasons for the Arab hatred of the United States throughout the Arab world. The Zionist power-machine within the United States of America is clearly set down by Dr. Alfred Lilienthal, himself a non-Zionist Jew, in his highly competent work, The Zionist Connection (2), Price: $30.00 posted from League bookshops.

Is Saddam Hussein the strong leader who will unite the Arab world, and who will be able to confront the U.S.? Only time will tell, but we can say that he could be "that" man. Already, Australians are beginning to suffer because of the dispatch of a token naval force to the Gulf, bearing out the ominous forecast of Peter Robinson, quoted in last week's issue of On Target. He remarked, "The Prime Minister's decision to commit Australian naval forces to the Arabian Gulf 'peacekeeping' effort was no doubt taken after some considerable agonising, but it is one he - and we - may come to regret'.

We could not agree more that, "the assumption of Australian citizenship denotes acceptance of the proposition that Australian foreign and defence policies are to be determined by Australia's security interest, not by ancient animosities of other lands, however justifiable they may be in the context of their own borders". Most certainly if a person cannot give his ultimate political loyalty to Australia, he should not assume - and should not be accorded - the privileges and concomitant obligations of citizenship. One can imagine what Saddam Hussein, and for that matter, still, Mr. Gorbachev, thinks of citizens who place their adopted countries (in this case Iraq and the Soviet Union) - second. Islam has a short way with nationals it considers to be traitors. No bleeding hearts, no do gooders, no radical feminists, there.

MULTI-FUNCTION POLIS STILL ON THE AGENDA

"The Federal Budget to be announced next Tuesday will contain funds to enable Stage 2 of the multi-function polis feasibility study to proceed, as well as a community consultation program." The Weekend Australian, August l8th-l9th

It appears that the M.F.P. issue will shortly "hot up" again as we read that $4 Million will go towards a public relations campaign to "sell" the M.F.P. to the Australian people. Senator Button talks of "consultation" within the Australian community, which is a sick laugh; we are as sure as we can be that the decision to establish the M.F.P. was taken years ago; all else is politicians' waffle. One Premier of a State once said that one never holds an official enquiry unless the outcome is known well in advance! The M.F.P. will go ahead unless we and other bodies of our stand and opinion can stop it. We are hearing wonderful sounding balderdash about "technology transfers", "high technology industries", and "new business opportunities": nothing concrete, no hard and fast plans: just empty blather.

THE KEATING FILE

"The biggest problem in assessing Paul Keating's policy performance is Paul Keating." Alan Wood, in The Weekend Australian, August l8th-l9th

Yes, yes; he dominates the Hawke Labor Government with the imperious manner and the arrogance ("there are 'generals' and others", says Paul). Continually being assured the fiscal and monetary policies, micro-economic form, are "on track", we ask ourselves why we have 8.0% inflation (soon to go higher because of the price of OIL), why the ever escalating foreign debt, why the growing unemployment, shortly, we believe to grow more sharply. The efficiency (is that the right word?) of the Taxation Office is responsible for raking in very much of the loose cash which was sloshing around in the "cash economy". Even age and service pensioners now have to notify the Taxation Office of holdings of cash and seek tax exemption.

There is no doubt that fiscal and financial policy have become more sophisticated than in the days of severe credit squeezes, these politically risky and damaging, of course. The same, or even "better" results can be obtained with the strategy of high interest rates to "dampen down" that awful demand. This means that many people are hanging on to their money (or they think they are), but they are not hanging on to it as they were in past years. The Tax Office sees to it that all interest on moneys held in bank and non-bank sector deposits are declared as income.

We hear of pensioners' funds in passbook accounts (3-3/4%) - half the rate of inflation - about to be ripped off. We'll know on Budget night. Perhaps the destruction of middle Australia and small business is the policy, to prepare us for the "new" economic order. Perhaps the destruction of rural industries is a policy, too (read "Farming Lambs to the Fabian Slaughter", June 1986 issue of Intelligence Survey, Price: $2.00).

BRIEF COMMENTS

The decision to send Australian frigates could well come to haunt Mr. Hawke. He acted without the authority of full Cabinet behind him; he spoke with a few of his senior Ministers, and that isn't consulting Cabinet. Australians are already at risk in the Gulf region, and should Australians lose their lives, then Mr. Hawke will carry most of the "personal" responsibility, not Cabinet. Now the Federal Resources Minister, a "new boy" in the Ministry, is warning that the Gulf crisis would bring about a "massive" increase in the price of oil - a boost to world inflation. We know that; what we don't know is "how much inflation". This inflation is now likely to upset Mr. Keating's Budget strategy; he won't be able to predict "inflationary expectations". He's walking a budgetary tightrope; he could have a nasty fall.

Racial realities will out. As the black populations of South Africa sense the loosening hold of the Afrikaaner, old tribal animosities and hatreds, which were responsible for Africa last century being referred to as a charnel-house are re-emerging. Indeed, they were never extirpated, just temporarily smothered. The Zulus and Xhosas are killing each other; but there are many other tribes that are "traditional" enemies. No doubt this is bad news for the African National Congress and Nelson Mandela. The Zulus are not likely to accept the A.N.C. as a future government. It is virtually impossible that one Black Government could speak for the many mutually hostile tribes of South Africa.

Recent figures show that Australia is "lightly taxed" compared with some other Western nations. But, the "catch" is that social security obligations in Australia are paid out of current revenue, whereas the obligations in many other Western countries have special social security taxes. The ratio of federal to state and local taxes in the Australian federation is 4 to 1; compared to 2 to 1 in other federations such as the United States, Canada, West Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. What does it mean? It means that the Australian States are being forced into a more dependent role on Canberra, in line with traditional Fabian Socialist policy , a far cry from Fabian bleatings about being merely a "debating group". Some debate!

Taxation has almost become Holy Writ. Addressing the A.C.T. Fabian Society, Mr. John Kerin, Minister for Primary Industry, warned that farmers will have to pay for irrigation water. He told his audience that it was essential to calculate the "full social worth" of a resource in order to tax it appropriately. And who decides what is the "full social worth"? Why, the politicians; presently the Fabians. The Fabians want still more power. Mr. Kerin stated, "Free water for irrigation is a nonsense. They would tax the air we breathe, if they could. Mr. Kerin begrudges the water from the Snowy Mountains Scheme to farmers of the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area, the "problem" lies in Canberra's lack of constitutional powers. We bet the bureaucrats in John Kerin's Department have been looking for some Treaty (covering water charges) upon which to legislate, so that they can rip off more farmers for the water they use.