Terrorism

In order to make the Taliban what they are, they had to be taken away as small boys not only from their parents (if they had them; many were orphans) but from daily village life and from the influence of women, according to an archival history of the destruction of civil society in Afghanistan.

People everywhere have been appalled by the tragedy in New York and Washington and have joined together in sympathy for the bereaved and in condemnation of the perpetrators. The terrorists went to their deaths convinced of instant entry into Paradise. There appears to be an absence of public assurance for the mourning believers that the victims received the same treatment.

It may come as a shock that the nation which parades "In God we trust" should suffer such a colossal calamity.

I have often argued that the rich nations of the world have not done nearly enough to share their wealth with those who have less. It should have been possible, over the past decade, to make much greater inroads in the number of people living in absolute poverty

Saturday September 15, 2001

A guided missile corrects its trajectory as it flies, homing in, say, on the heat of a jet plane's exhaust. A great improvement on a simple ballistic shell, it still cannot discriminate particular targets. It could not zero in on a designated New York skyscraper if launched from as far away as Boston.

ANGERED BY SNUBBING, LIBYA, CHINA SYRIA FORM AXIS OF JUST AS EVIL.

Cuba, Sudan, Serbia Form Axis of Somewhat Evil; Other Nations Start Own Clubs.

Beijing: Bitter after being snubbed for membership in the "Axis of Evil," Libya, China, and Syria today announced they had formed the "Axis of Just as Evil," which they said would be way eviler than that stupid Iran-Iraq-North Korea axis President Bush warned of in his State of the Union address......................

Friday September 21, 2001

The prime minister's "we are at war" statements are irresponsible in the extreme. It is said that some of his senior officials understand this, as do many MPs: thus the messages of "restraint" now being whispered to journalists.

It is an extraordinary thought that a federal election campaign in a country like Australia - remote, peaceful, tolerant (though decreasingly so), hospitable (though decreasingly so), safe, secure and prosperous - could be hijacked by hatred and fear.

Even more extraordinary is the possibility that an unpopular, divisive, high-taxing government could be returned with an increased majority, mainly because voters were freaked by their fear.

When the President of the United States of America, the most powerful military and economic force on the planet, utters such an inflammatory phrase, it can only be done so with the corroboration of his top advisors and with a knowledge that the at-home audience will accept it. When that president is a recognized Bible-loving Born Again Christian, with a firm and absolute "belief" in the nightmarish concept of Armageddon, then the World had better sit up and take note.