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Section: Australia

  • AUSTRALIA

    The roots of Obama's Afghanistan strategy

    • Ben Coleridge
    • 10 July 2009
    4 Comments

    The current strategy is underpinned by a consensus on counter-insurgency that has gained ground since 2007. Marine Brigadier General Nicholson advocates drinking tea and eating goat with the locals, over and above firing bullets.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    A soft voice for China's wild west

    • Paul Rule
    • 09 July 2009
    3 Comments

    It is hard to imagine any solution to the discontent in Xinjiang without a general change in the political culture of China. That seems a distant prospect indeed. For Australia's part, a soft and friendly voice may do more than condemnation or contention.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Indigenous health: 'Things that work'

    • Myrna Tonkinson
    • 08 July 2009
    2 Comments

    The focus on the sensational when discussing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous health tends to obscure some positives. Many families are dealing with problems of abuse and neglect with remarkable success.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Malaysia's threat to Rudd's Asia Pacific Community

    • Greg Lopez
    • 07 July 2009

    Kevin Rudd's visit to Malaysia this week reminds us of stormy bilateral relations under former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. With Mahthir's son now serving as an important deputy minister, some now fear a return of 'Mahathirism'.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Russia's Soviet nostalgia trip

    • Colin Long
    • 07 July 2009
    15 Comments

    It is strange to see so many symbols of the Soviet past alive and well in Russia. It is too simplistic to say this reflects nostalgia for Soviet times. Much of it is personal nostalgia. The intertwining of private and public memory is complex.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Back to the future for Indigenous youth

    • Brian McCoy
    • 06 July 2009
    4 Comments

    Young people ideally move into adulthood with pride and a sense of generational history. Identity is not just about becoming an individual, but knowing, valuing and embodying one's ancestral past. But moving forwards while looking backwards can be risky.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    The Bill of Rights power struggle

    • Jonathan Campton
    • 03 July 2009
    1 Comment

    While day one of the National Human Rights Consultation hearing ended with a growing hope for the rights of the oppressed, day two, dominated by politicians and lawyers, diluted this hope in legalism, fear and falsehoods.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Irish and Indigenous gathering places

    • Shane Howard with Regina Lane
    • 02 July 2009
    15 Comments

    Five generations ago, rural Irish migrants built and paid for St Brigid's church at Crossley in south-west Victoria. Today, the people of Crossley and Killarney are fighting to save the gathering place from private ownership.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Migration reform good news at last

    • Kerry Murphy
    • 01 July 2009
    1 Comment

    'Migration reform' rarely has positive connotations when dealing with refugees and asylum seekers. As asylum seekers continue to reach Australia by boat, reforms to Labor's immigration policies point to a more just approach.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Turnbull's Utegate mudslide

    • Michael McVeigh
    • 30 June 2009
    3 Comments

    The biggest casualty in the Ozcar affair appears to be Malcolm Turnbull, whose approval rating has plummeted. Turnbull is learning that a politician's job security isn't just tied to their ability to play politics. It's also linked to their character.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Inside the Zimbabwe blast furnace

    • Munyaradzi Makoni
    • 26 June 2009
    2 Comments

    Yesterday's political archrivals are today's strange bedfellows. The coalition government of Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara has halted Zimbabwe's hemorrhaging. Now that a veneer of progress exists, can Zimbabwe heal itself?

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Utegate: Wayne Swan's 'marginal crime'

    • John Warhurst
    • 24 June 2009
    10 Comments

    The Utegate affair has revealed once again that Australian politics at the federal level is not squeaky clean. Some interests and individuals do better out of the system than others. But neither is it deeply flawed and corrupt.

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