'OUT OF CONTROL' CURRENT ACCOUNT DEFICIT

Taken from correspondence from Jeremy Lee
"The US, through its past privilege of having the world's reserve currency, has been increasingly living on imports, paid for by 'printing' huge amounts of global-reserve-debt currency. Its Current Account Deficit is past belief, and if Asian and European nations pull the plug on the dollar - and it's already happening - God help America and all nations which have tied themselves to the dollar - particularly Britain and Australia.

But look at our own Current Account Deficit and Foreign Debt: Imports exceed exports by an average $5 million an hour over the last quarter. Our foreign debt is expected to reach $400 billion by Christmas -- $20,000 for each living soul in Australia.
If the oil-producing nations (OPEC) switch from the $US to the Euro, and the price of oil in $US soars, we can expect carnage. When? I don't know… Can they hold it off until Britain, Australia and the US have their respective elections? Who knows?
John Howard needed some dramatic crisis - like Tampa and Terrorism last time - to scramble home. A world financial crisis would do very nicely.
The future looks bleak but crisis is often the midwife of regeneration."

HAVE AUSTRALIA'S SHEEP HALVED?

Taken from an article by John Carter, in The Land (NSW) 22 July 2004.
Australia's sheep numbers have halved and it appears their genes have been transferred to our journalists and politicians. Instead of thinking, they just follow. Rupert Murdoch and his New York business colleagues want access to Australia's remaining public assets and his newspapers push the US Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
The Coalition is acting as it did over the Iraq invasion. One person rose in the party room to question an unprovoked attack on a sovereign nation, the Prime Minister told him to sit down, his colleagues jeered him and we followed the US into the debacle. The capacity among Coalition members for independent thought hasn't improved with the FTA, and the Labor Premiers are no better as they applaud the consequences of a FTA without doing their homework.

Negative assessments of its impact on Australia have come from the International Monetary Fund, ACIL Tasman and the National Institute of Economic and Industry Research, which calculated it would cost Australia up to $50 billion and 200,000 jobs. They are stating the obvious. Both US and Australian debt increases each month to unprecedented levels. If I was drowning, I wouldn't embrace a drowning gorilla.

Any perusal of the effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement on Mexico (cheap labour used by US has bankrupted domestic companies) and Canada (no US access for their beef despite BSE being found in both countries) should warn us. Subsidies make US farmers much more competitive than ours but this agreement goes much further than trade.
· The chapter on quarantine gives US trade interests power over our scientific assessments and opens the way for multinationals to undermine our natural freedom from diseases.
· It gives the US multinationals power to stop our Government moderating their forays into media, copyright, patents, environment and health.
· And it covers service areas not specifically excluded!
· We are also relinquishing the right of future governments to regulate these services without a major argument with the US.
· Investors (read New York) are entitled to compensation if environmental regulations are too difficult in the eyes of their lawyers.

The Bolivian Government watched helplessly as a multinational charged Bolivians for their own water - until a bootmaker triggered a revolution.
Our Government is silent about the Multinational Agreement on Investment (MAI) which was on the negotiating table. Some years ago they tried quietly to negotiate the MAI. The spectre of Australia signing away its sovereignty and giving multinationals free rein frightened many and it was temporarily abandoned.
The Brazilian President, Luis da Silva, sarcastically dismissed Robert Zoellick (the US trade negotiator) as "the sub-secretary of a sub secretary of a sub secretary" after he suggested Brazil would be reduced to exporting to Antarctica if it shunned the US plan for a Free Trade Area of the Americas. Here, we bow and scrape.

The New Zealanders are not only beating us at rugby this year, they are showing far superior moral fibre as they stare down France, the US and Israel. Our senators have the chance to do a "Helen Clarke" and hold the self respect that our founding fathers gave us, but they will have to ignore the media in a testing pre-election environment.

WA OPPOSITION TO INTRODUCE NEW 'ETHNIC VILIFICATION' LAWS

In a media release 21/7/04 the WA Coalition announced they "will introduce new ethnic vilification laws."
The Coalition's Shadow Attorney-General Sue Walker said, "A Coalition Government would introduce new laws to ensure people guilty of racial and religious harassment and threats and graffiti attacks such as those seen in Perth over the weekend were severely dealt with by the law. They planned to introduce a Private Members' Bill that would "toughen racial and religious vilification laws removing them from the criminal code and bringing them under separate Act of Parliament."
Mrs. Walker thinks "The laws that we have at the moment are clearly inadequate and that is reflected in the difficulty faced when attempting to charge and prosecute people under the laws," she said.

What's the purpose?
It couldn't be that the present 'racial vilification' laws themselves are outrageous and are intended to psychologically, politically and legally pressure people to refrain from speaking out on religious, racial, political and social issues of great concern to them? It couldn't be that what she wants to do is turn the screws tighter and so apply more psychological, political and legal pressure on more and more people to silence them?
The good lady should look around the world at the present time. Tell us where there are not religious, racial, and political social issues needing resolution. Making more and more laws will not resolve the issues. Getting to the reasons for the conflicts might be a better place to start.

Let's look at some of the words the lady uses:
Vilification: meaning 'slanderous defamation':
Slanderous: If I 'slandered' someone, I would be claiming something about them that was harmful and/or often untrue.
Defamation: Meaning I tended to discredit or malign. If I discredited or maligned someone I would be claiming something about them that caused them to be distrusted or disbelieved. If I maligned them, in modern terminology I would be 'bad mouthing them' or speak unfavourably about them.
Harassed: I was tormenting them by continued attacks and criticism.
Threats: Declaration of intention to inflict harm.

I would have thought any acts of vandalism, threats of inflicting harm, or slanderous defamation against any citizen, no matter of what race or religion, was already covered by the present criminal code.
We encourage West Australians to follow up this proposed 'new vilification' legislation, the wording could be most enlightening. The definitions most informative.

Mrs. Walker says: "The new laws that we are proposing will clarify what constitutes a racially or religiously motivated offence and make it easier for police and lawyers to prosecute people for religiously motivated crimes as well as introduce tougher penalties."
Mrs Walker said that if a person threatened to kill someone, they were dealt with harshly (by the law…ed) and it should be no different for those that made racial threats by breaking windows, fire bombing or painting swastikas or threatening messages on, etc., etc.
I would have thought every one of those acts was covered by the criminal codes.

So, what's the purpose?
Are we drawing too long a bow by tying in the above plans of the West Australian Coalition's intention to introduce 'new ethnic vilification legislation' and the news of Israel's plans to make "Holocaust denial crimes committed overseas… an offence under Israeli legal jurisdiction"?
If John Howard's government thought nothing of the rights of Australian citizen David Hicks -- incarcerated by the American authorities, for two years in Guantanamo Bay, without any legal rights, what would they do if Israel demanded Australian "holocaust deniers " be extradited to Israel? Read on…

ISRAEL WILL PROSECUTE HOLOCAUST DENIERS

Jerusalem Post, July 19, 2004 by Nina Gilbert
Holocaust denial crimes committed overseas would be an offense under Israeli legal jurisdiction and serve as grounds for extradition under legislation, which is expected to pass a first reading in the Knesset this week. The government is backing the bill, drafted by MK Aryeh Eldad National Union. Eldad originally proposed the measure as a move against then Palestinian Authority prime minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) for his doctoral dissertation 20 years ago in which he estimated that the Nazis killed less than a million Jews. But the bill is unlikely to be anything more than declarative in nature. Countries that don't have laws against Holocaust denial are unlikely to extradite citizens to be tried in Israel for the crime, although Israel's protective measure would not require such a law to be on their books, according to Justice Ministry officials. Another problem is the fact that Holocaust denial is a crime of expression, and most countries treat such crimes liberally.

A more practical implication of the law is that it would deter Holocaust deniers from visiting Israel.
In 1994, Israel extended its legal protection abroad for the state and its citizens to Jews and Jewish institutions, which enables it to obtain justice for them as it does for Israelis. At the time, the idea of including Holocaust denial in Israel's ex-territorial laws was considered, but eventually dropped.
Eldad said the amendment to the law in Israel, where Holocaust denial is a crime, is necessary because "almost all" of those crimes are committed abroad.
He said he believes the law is going to be "very practical," since violations would give Israel the right to demand prosecution even if it does not request extradition. He said it would also enable Israel to file counter suits if Jews are sued for libel for labelling Holocaust deniers.
The law would also "send a signal to a Holocaust denier like Abu Mazen" that if he enters Israel he is a "criminal," Eldad said.
Moreover, he said the passage of the law would send a message that for the Jewish people there is "no statute of limitations" on the Holocaust. "The generation of survivors is dwindling," he noted, emphasizing the need to keep Nazism from rearing again.
The bill has the support of Knesset factions on the Left and Right.

A REIGN OF TERROR -- BY ANOTHER NAME?

by Ahmed Janabi
The pattern of the elimination of a nation's natural leaders has a familiar ring about it. Whenever Communists took over a country one of the first things they set out to do was eliminate the natural leaders: the teachers, the lawyers, the academics, etc. It is not just Communists who understand the importance of a nation's natural-born leaders.
"Occupied Iraq is suffering a new brain drain as intellectuals flood out of the country to avoid unemployment and an organised killing campaign. In recent months assassinations have targeted engineers, pharmacologists, officers and lawyers. More than 1000 leading Iraqi professionals and intellectuals have been assassinated since last April, among them such prominent figures as Dr. Muhammad al-Rawi, the President of Baghdad University. The identity of the assailants remains a mystery and none have been caught. But families and colleagues of victims believe that Iraqi parties with foreign affiliations have an interest in wiping out Iraq's intellectual elite.

Media reports suggest that more than 3,000 Iraqi academics and high-profile professionals have left Iraq recently, not to mention the thousands of Iraqis who are travelling out of the country every day in search of work and safety. "Iraqis used to leave Iraq during the 13-year United Nations sanctions for better work opportunities, but they are leaving now to avoid being assassinated by unknown well-organised death squads," said political analyst and politics professor Dhafir Salman.

Usama al-Ani, Director of the Research and Development Department in the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research said top Iraqi scientists have been targeted by foreign parties. "I believe Iraqi scientists are being targeted by foreign powers, most probably Israel".
Apart from the terror campaign, measures taken by the post occupation authorities have contributed to Iraq's brain drain. "I would like to ask the de-Baathification committee why they are so happy that many thousands of Baathists have been sacked from Iraq's governmental departments and educational institutions?" Salman asks.
"Do they think they have done well? Of course not. They have sacked Iraq's elite professionals; who will replace them? Where will the replacements come from? After all, these people are Iraqis, is this in line with the national reconciliation they are talking about?

Before the war on Iraq, United States and United Kingdom officials repeatedly accused the Iraqi government of triggering the exodus of four million educated Iraqis. But under the occupation the rate of emigration has increased. "Iraqi universities have lost 1,315 scientists who hold M.A. and Ph.D. degrees," al-Ani said. "This number constitutes eight per cent of the 15,500 Iraqi academics. Up until now, 30 per cent of those who were sacked as a result of the campaign have left Iraq."

Iraq is rich in intellectuals, largely as a result of Saddam Hussein's policy of sending tens of thousands of Iraqi students abroad to gain post graduate degrees in a wide range of disciplines.
The practice fell into abeyance when United Nations Sanctions were imposed in 1990, following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. In the country itself, where education has been free since the abolition of the monarchy since 1958, most of the 20 universities in Iraq also awarded post-graduate degrees."

FURTHER ESCALATION OF WAR IN MIDDLE EAST?

Newsmax.com pushes propaganda for the Bush regime so the following 'news' release needs to be read based on that understanding.

"Too many Washington sources are telling us this, so it may be imminent. Israel is set to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, fearing that the Islamic regime will use atomic weapons on the Jewish state. (Or maybe the Iranians believe the Israelis have Iran in their sights as they push for further control of the Middle East?…ed)
Israel has long assumed the right of pre-emption -- that is, the right to attack and even make war with Arab states that are developing nuclear weapons.
"They are ready to go," a top former American diplomat with close ties to Israel tells a source close to NewsMax.
There have been mutterings that time is short and Israel will do to Iran what it did to Iraq in 1981. During that year, Israeli bombers struck Iraq's Osirak nuclear power plant -- and in seconds destroyed Iraq's ability make nuclear bombs. Israel's Prime Minister Menachem Begin came under fierce criticism worldwide, but at home he became a hero to his people.
Israel's current prime minister, Ariel Sharon, no doubt shares Begin's determination that "never again" will a Holocaust be perpetrated against the Jewish people. Stopping Iran's nuclear program has always been at the top of Israel's "to-do" list.

Before Sept. 11, 2001 there were scattered reports that Israel was preparing to strike Iranian targets. Clearly, Iran today is much more advanced in its weapons program. One source told NewsMax that Israel is not sure it can destroy Iran's nuclear facilities with aerial bombing alone and may need to use special ops forces on the ground. Others suggest that Israel will deploy one of its submarines to the Persian Gulf and fire cruise missiles at key targets.

The U.S. believes that Iran has pursued a nuclear weapon for the past 18 years. In recent years, the Iranians have given only lip service to the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Israel does not believe that oil-rich Iran is interested in building a peaceful atomic program solely for domestic energy needs. And Israel has become frustrated with the U.N.'s inability to get Iran to comply. Last week, Israeli officials were miffed after the head of the IAEA, Mohammed Elbaradei visited Israel and demanded that Israel give up its nuclear arsenal.
An attack by Israel is fraught with worries. How would Iran retaliate? Could the attack spark a regional war -- or worse? And could the U.S., an ally of Israel, become a target as well? An Israeli attack before November may present other problems -- and impact President Bush's re-election effort.
One Washington security expert suggested the Iranians might simply blockade the Straits of Hormuz and cut the world off from Middle Eastern oil for a short period.

MISSING FROM OUR ARCHIVES

BASIC FUND

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Not unique among those threatened by debt
The Geelong Advertiser: Dear Editor,
Geelong Golf Club is not unique among entities in having its very existence threatened by debt. (GA July 14) Why should Geelong golfers have to travel to Torquay for a game? Well, because the merchants of debt say so.
Many a farmer has faced the same dilemma - do as the mortgagee says or go to the wall. Many an Australian business has faced the same - go broke or be taken over by overseas capital. In either case the local identity is lost. In the case of larger businesses that do not attract the interest of the offshore "investors" the company simply collapses under the weight of the debt, HIH for example.
Eighteen months ago Argentina was targeted by the International Monetary Fund when its debt was a couple of hundred billion. The country had five presidents in six months but the internationalists clung like leeches until they got a government to do their bidding.
Australia's overseas debt is now above $400 billion and rising at more than a billion a month but I note they have stopped quoting the total.
If Australians continue to buy imported goods because they are cheaper, how long before we can expect a demand from the mortgagees? My guess is just after the coming election.
When John Howard took over the reins in 1996, when our debt was $272 billion, he was given two demands - bring in a GST that was "never ever" to be, and privatise everything. What will the next demand be? Probably slice pensions and wages.
Yours truly, Ron Fischer, Ballarat, Vic. 19/7/04 (Only a small portion published.)

SYDNEY CONSERVATIVE SPEAKERS CLUB

SOUTH AUSTRALIA'S STATE WEEKEND

NATIONAL WEEKEND COMING UP

BOOKS, BOOKS FROM THE MAILING SERVICES

"NOT HAPPY, JOHN": by Margo Kingston: Solicitor, lecturer in business law and political commentator, Sydney Morning Herald journalist Margo Kingston thinks its crunch time for Australia. She tells us she isn't interested in the old, out-worn left-right rhetoric, what she is interested in is the urgent need for Australians to reassert the core values that once made this nation a humane, egalitarian, liberal democracy -- the core values with which she agrees.
We could agree with her on many issues.
She writes that she is not happy with the way Howard:
· Snuck us into the Iraq war without ever really telling us why.
· Trampled on our democratic right to know.
· Wants to give the Media Moguls control of ALL our news.
· Lets Big Donations/Big Business share a barbecue with him and George.
· Uses "globalisation" to avoid accountability.
· Treats Australians as passive consumers not as CITIZENS and people of goodwill.
And much, much more. Paperback, pp446, $30.00 posted.

MODERN PALESTINE: ONE LAND, TWO PEOPLE by Ilan Pappe: A teacher at Haifa University in Israel, Mr. Pappe is well known for his revisionist interpretation of Israel's history and as a critic of its policies towards the Palestinians. This story of Palestine takes the reader back to the Ottomans in the early 1800s, the reign of Muhammad Ali, traces the arrival of the early Zionists through the British mandate at the beginning of the 20th Century, the continues on to establishment of Israel in 1948 and the subsequent wars and conflicts. At centre stage are those who have lived through these times. It is a story of co-existence and co-operation as well as oppression, occupation and exile. Price: $45.50 includes postage.

TO PROTECT AND TO SERVE by Tim Priest and Richard Basham: Former policeman Tim Priest came to our attention through an article he wrote for Quadrant Jan.-Feb. 2004, "The Rise of Middle Eastern Crime in Australia". His wrote of his own experience 'on the beat' which confirmed that the rise of Middle Eastern organised crime in Sydney will have an impact on our society unlike anything yet seen. But the corruption and decay is much deeper than that and along with co-author Richard Basham he exposes the truth about the New South Wales Police Service in "To Protect and to Serve". The 'spin doctors' are not just working amongst politicians, they are in all institutions and systems, as this book helps to reveal. The authors claim that with crime spiralling out of control, plummeting morale among the rank and file, the police service in NSW is on the point of collapse. Truly a 'wake up call' for us all. Price: $40.00 posted.