How much will you bet against the boats stopping?

I could use a few easy quid.

While not providing fawning praise for Abbott's anti-boats policy the militarisation of Australia effort with the appointment of General Campbell will impress the Indonesians. see http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-17/angus-campbell-to-oversee-abbotts-border-protection-plan/4963732

This is due to the traditional and enforced respect of Indonesians for their Generals.

The Indonesians have long associated Generals with legitimate civilian authority with:

- the Independence leader Sukarno frequently dubbed "General"(late 1940s to 1965)

- then General Suharto (dictator late 1960s-1998),

- Sukarno's daughter becoming President,

- then "SBY", a former General, becoming President from 2004.

If the Indonesian's perceive that the "boats" have become such a serious bilateral problem the Indonesians may be less willing to have 1,000 of "refugees" fly into airports in Java every month.

These "refugees" obviously have serious money to spend in Java before being shipped in dangerous Indonesian boats to Australian territory. A large percentage of the "refugees" money goes to Indonesian military and civilian authorities in Java at various levels.

I didn't see the welcome that Abbott received when Gillard/Gillard showed up in Indonesia if that's anything to go by.

OoooK … got it.

Tony Abbott ‘nails Jakarta’ and did ‘handsomely’ in holding ‘frank but clearly warm private talks’ and delivered ‘well-tempered public messages of apology’ that ‘deftly dispelled’lots of 'major clouds' with ‘fulsome respect’.

And with a ‘courteous olive-branch’ he parted the waters all the way to Java. ‘There will be fewer deaths,’ he boomed. ‘The bilateral relationship is much bigger … than people smuggling!’

And the unbelievers trembled and wept ‘at the PMs deft handling of a difficult situation’. The people smugglers hung their heads in shame and threw themselves by the score into the very same seas over which they plied their evil trade, ‘a point the Indonesians well understood and graciously accepted’.

Thank you for sorting this out, Mr Kevin, in the national interest. Looks like the voters elected a bona fide, born-to-rule, dignified statesman for PM. And I’m sure that if we ever forget that fact, the Murdoch-Coalition media will keep reminding us on a regular basis.

Here's timely article.

"Abbott defuses diplomatic tensions of his own making."

How true!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-03/green-abbott-defuses-diplomatic-tensions-of-his-own-making/4994484

"The man most responsible for putting Australia on a collision course with Indonesia over the issue of asylum seekers has been allowed to claim credit for restoring calm, writes Jonathan Green."

<<Here's timely article>>

Timely?

A better word would have been tilted.

What would you expect from Jonathan GREEN --have you ever listed to his little lefty talkfest--green by name and alignment