FIASCO
Sapa in North Vietnam Picture by John Stapleton
There were strange sapped times and a million silences. Turnbull has been to Washington and seemed to have done well; at least the journalists were impressed and his speech on terror and the Middle East far more nuanced and understanding of the complexities than his predecessor. Kim Beazly is bowing out as Australia's Ambassador to the US, which is a pity as he seemed perfect for the role. Now we will have Joe Hockey, who critics regard as far less appropriate. But Beazly is leaving with reputation intact, highly regarded. It seems a pity he couldn't stay; it would probably have been for the best in an election year.
Finished reading Farewell Kabul: From Afghanistan to a More Dangerous World. Brilliant book. Essential reading. Christina Lamb writes beautifully; and is a highly accomplished journalist who seems to know everybody. Some people sneak along in the back alleys; others embrace all the opportunities the world throws their way. Compassionate. Knowledgeable. Insights every other paragraph; one of those books you wish you could read bits to the people around you. But there aren't so many people around anymore; he was out of sync with who to trust or not trust, and life was not so much an adventure as a denouement some days. Everybody grows older; not always wiser. Two steps forward one step back. Two steps forward and three steps back. Too many mistakes at a time when there should be no mistakes. He got pissed and wished he hadn't; stupid things.
The streets grew quieter. Australians seemed just as disillusioned as they had been. The boost in optimism that came with the ascendancy of Turnbull seemed already to have vanished. Good front man, they would say, the admiration, or was it relief, sinking away. But there were no alternatives; the opposition leader Shorten widely regarded as hapless and hopeless, Abbott, despite some very poor grace in defeat, extremely unlikely to ever return to the top job.
He had predicted once, that Abbott would lose his own seat; although at the time it had seemed fantastical, he was still doing reasonably well in the polls and held the seat of Warringah by something like 20%. Now one poll showed most of his own electorate want him to move on; much like the country as a whole.
Seven journalists were killed in Afghanistan; and there was trouble everywhere, death everywhere. The world was a considerably more troubled place than it was even a few short years ago. Summer has been largely grey and overcast, often cold, wet. There were cold snaps in Europe and the US. The story of a million migrants flooding into Europe, mostly Germany, was continuing to play out; and many doubts now being raised about the policies Angela Merkel adopted as an angel of mercy. It is all beginning to look very naive. Sometimes he wondered, what would have happened if all those people had stayed in their home countries; would they have been a pressure cooker for change, by fleeing were they just allowing things to deteriorate. Ruined cities. Collapsed states. Mind bogglingly complex scenarios.
Lleyton Hewitt has played his last singles match; after a sterling 20 year career; widely lauded. Lleyton was a hero in a land with few heroes. Sport taking up an ever increasing percentage of the news bulletins, bread and circuses, and there seemed little room for serious analysis. Australians may once have been happy to talk about politics till the cows came home, but now it was the last thing they wanted to discuss; and it, too, had become a kind of sport for an increasingly narrow band of afficionados.
Australia Day is predicted to be grey and wet, similar to last year.
Sydney University's leading spokesmen all decry the day as a colonialist relic, the celebration of an invasion, the British destruction of an Aboriginal world.
What crisis? What time? A singular loss. He still heard things he wished he didn't; he was going to seek help.
THE BIGGER STORY:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-19/prime-minister-malcolm-turnbull-washington-speech-barack-obama/7097166
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has acknowledged that boots on the ground are needed to defeat Islamic State (IS), but says local and regional troops are the key.
Key points:
Malcolm Turnbull delivers keynote speech in Washington
Says local troops key to defeating IS in Iraq and Syria
Says recent taking of Ramadi an example of Iraqi army leadership
So far refuses US request to increase military commitment
In a speech at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, the Prime Minister addressed the contentious issue of ground troops directly, having just visited Australian soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"The destruction of ISIL requires military action including boots on the ground but they must be the right boots on the right ground," he told an overflowing room.
"The recent retaking of Ramadi is a prime example.
"Led by the Iraqis themselves, assisted by the Coalition's respective air and special forces, it was not just a blow to ISIL, but an example of the right combination.
"An enduring victory must be won and owned by the people of Iraq and Syria."
The Prime Minister met with the crown prince of the UAE, the President of Afghanistan and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi during his visit to the Middle East.
He said the Iraqi Prime Minister thanked him for Australia's involvement there but that it was "politically vitally important for him that the retaking of that city [Ramadi] was done and seen to be done by the Iraqi forces".
The United States has asked Australia, along with other nations, to increase military commitment in the Middle East.
Thus far, Australia has refused although while visiting Australian troops over the weekend the Prime Minister said that stance could change with changing circumstances.
There has been no repeat of the request so far on this visit.
A meeting with Defence Secretary Ash Carter at the Pentagon this morning covered discussions about solutions to problems in the Middle East and possible political solutions in Syria.
In his speech, the Prime Minister highlighted the need for a cohesive approach.
"It is above all a time for all parties … to get on the same page and bring this war to an end.
"All of our words and deeds must be calculated with one aim in mind, to defeat the extremists.
"The biggest challenge is plainly finding that political settlement in Syria.
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Here is the link to a television interview on the program Washington Journal the with the author of America's Destruction of Iraq.
http://www.c-span.org/video/?327868-5/washington-journal-michael-obrien-iraq-war
Compelling in detail, compounding in outrage, America's Destruction of Iraq fills in the gaps of how America's disastrous invasion of Iraq created the ultimate breeding ground for the Islamic State.