CRAWLING THROUGH THE UNDERGROWTH

Massacre at Chios by Delacroix

If in the infinite, there it was, a faint strain, a confusion of thought, a moment that could not be refused. He himself was going to be massacred, he sometimes thought, but the voices had quietened down, his pursuers moved on to greener pastures. How he missed the constant haunting, as if it was who he had become, the hunted. They had survived the constant disparagement, the voices going "contract, contract", as if he didn't know there was a price on his head. But everything resolved and the flighty moved on to softer targets. He couldn't see that far ahead, but he would miss them; well some of them.

"I've thought about that a lot," someone said. He hadn't given them much else to do; no scandal, no late night all night benders, no fitless dreams and spiralling sprays of creativity. Nothing but the quiet, the silence, the routine of any normal person. "Just another lifeform struggling to survive in a hostile environment," he heard on one of those endless television programs.

"The average person is spending 10-12 hours a day online, and usually have three different devices," a commentator on the ABC informed him. The world was growing smaller, more shallow. He could see them coming around, these silent gasps. And now, the invasion of privacy, it was complete. Oh what a merry dance we led. If only they could have left him alone. The pied piper playing to an increasingly diminished audience;

"This is a waste of time," he heard one of his pursuers say; and he agreed with them.

And then everything went very quiet indeed, quieter than it had been in months, if not years.

The voices, the pursuers, the military trained empaths; all of them retreated to a safe distance, and then were gone.

It was a blessed relief.

But for all of it, for all the massive expenditure, the world grew less safe by the day.

There are more things in heaven and on Earth....


THE BIGGER STORY:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-15/jakarta-bombings-had-been-expected/7090138

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says that deadly attacks like those seen in Jakarta had been expected by experts and authorities.

Key points:
Several blasts struck central Jakarta shortly before 3:00pm AEDT Thursday
Bombs were thrown at a popular Starbucks cafe, then a suicide bombing at a police checkpoint
Blasts struck outside the Sarinah shopping centre and the UN's country office
Islamic State has claimed the attack

Multiple blasts and bombings in the Indonesian capital on Thursday killed seven people, including five attackers.

Islamic State militants have claimed responsibility for the attack.

Police told onlookers to 'run, run'. Indonesia has been on a high alert for a potential terrorist attack since Christmas, and on Thursday the devastating moment came.

On Thamrin Road — one of the busiest thoroughfares in Jakarta — a Starbucks coffee shop was the initial target.

Just before 11:00am, a suicide bomber struck and a gunman opened fire outside the cafe. The next target was a police guard house in the centre of the busy road.

That was where three bloodied bodies lay when the ABC team arrived about 30 minutes after the initial blasts.

Jakarta Police Chief Tito Karnavian praised the security effort saying after the initial blast, it took just four hours to bring the situation under control.

But there was at times confusion over whether the standoff with the perpetrators was over.

The public was allowed close to the blast site when loud explosions and gun fire were heard again.

Police told onlookers and the gathered press to "run, run".

The Indonesian President toured the site shortly after it was cleared, urging Indonesians not to be afraid.

— ABC Indonesia bureau chief Samantha Hawley


Ms Bishop said that attacks of this type had been expected by authorities, prompting an agreement to coordinate counter-terrorism efforts last month.

She told the ABC that warnings had "been coming for some time".

"There has been an expectation that an attack would take place in our part of the world at some time," she said.

"Experts have been expecting some type of attack at some point."

Ms Bishop said authorities understood there was a terror cell within Indonesia, and Australians on the ground have been warned to exercise a high degree of caution.

"The Australian Government absolutely condemns these horrific attacks in Jakarta, and I spoke with my Indonesian counterpart yesterday to convey that Australia stands with Indonesia at this shocking time and offering whatever support Indonesia may need in the investigation of these attacks."

Attorney-General George Brandis said Australia has offered police and intelligence assistance to Indonesia following the attacks in Jakarta.

In a statement, Senator Brandis said he contacted his counterpart in Indonesia yesterday to make the offer as an example of closer co-operation on counter-terrorism between Australia and Indonesia.

"The offer follows our recent meeting at the Inaugural Indonesia-Australia Ministerial Council on Law and Security in

which we agreed to closer operational and technical counter terrorism cooperation," he said.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has also expressed his sympathy over the Jakarta attacks overnight.

In a tweet, Mr Turnbull says Australians' thoughts, prayers and resolute solidarity are with the people of Indonesia as they respond to the terrorist attacks.

Justice Minister Michael Keenan could not disclose details on what form any assistance from the Government might take, but said that Australia would "provide them with whatever they need".

He told the ABC that there would also be a review of security at the Australian Embassy in the wake of the attack, though noted that it has always been tight.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said he had asked the Government for a briefing on the attacks.

"Australia needs to keep working with Indonesia — they've got a successful track record, they're determined to defeat terrorism," he said.

"We need to work with our neighbours and reach out to Indonesia and help them deal with these issues."

At least six explosions rocked the area in Jakarta, including one at a Starbucks cafe in the city centre, near a cluster of embassies and the United Nations offices.

FEATURED BOOK:

Click to Purchase

The daily robbing, bashing, drugging, extortion and murder of foreign tourists on Thai soil, along with numerous scandals involving unsafe facilities and well established scams, has led to frequent predictions that Thailand’s multi-billion dollar tourist industry will self-destruct. Instead tourist numbers more than doubled in the decade to 2014. The world might not have come to the hometowns of the many visitors fascinated by Thailand, but it certainly came to the Land of Smiles.