The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
The Forum - On Line Opinion's article discussion area



Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Main Articles General

Sign In      Register

The Forum > Article Comments > The emperor with clothes > Comments

The emperor with clothes : Comments

By Bruce Haigh, published 28/7/2014

On this issue Abbott has shown greater leadership skills than Barack Obama and other leaders whose nationals were affected by the criminal tragedy.

  1. Pages:
  2. Page 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. All
Tony Abbott has not made any remark concerning the slaughter of innocent people in Gaza, as terrible as Flight M17 is his silence is deafening on this situation, perhaps it is because his friend the USA is supplying weapons of mass destruction to Israel, all rockets do the same thing, kill many children and all children are precious whether they are being blown out of the sky or crushed under collapsing buildings, there is so much horror in the world that we should not have a one eyed view on any situation, unfortunately Tony Abbott does just that.
Posted by Ojnab, Monday, 28 July 2014 11:23:18 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
I'm not sure where the kudos if any really lies.

I think both Abbott and Shorten (although Shorten was by far the least impressive) overstepped the mark to a degree and the result was Julie Bishop, for a period, was not given access to the Russian Foreign Minister nor his deputy nor indeed anyone in the department.

Sure Australia as a member was able to get a UN Security Council Resolution up, albeit modified, but it is hard not to remember Abbott's strident remarks about Australia's bid for a seat on this council.
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/scrap-un-security-council-bid-abbott-20100720-10itr.html

From my reading while we were banging the drum at the Council, not that I object to the drum being banged one bit, it was the Malaysian Prime Minister's personal negotiations with the separatists that secured the black boxes and ensured the passage of the victim's remains.

“Meanwhile, a train carrying the remains of the majority of the victims has left the crash site, after the Malaysian prime minister reached a deal with the leader of pro-Russian separatists controlling the area. For days the bodies have been kept in refrigerated railway wagons at a small station 15 kilometres from the crash site, prompting fury from nations demanding the bodies be repatriated.”
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-22/mh17-un-backs-australian-resolution-condemning-plane-downing/5613214

I always felt Abbott's injudicious positions on foreign policy while in opposition showed a real desire for personal gain over Australia's best interests and was a major weakness, Shorten's effort has come close to matching it.
Posted by SteeleRedux, Monday, 28 July 2014 12:09:43 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
I take great issue with the myopic and one-sided interpretation of events in Ukraine as shown by this author.
For Example:
"military bastardry displayed by Soviet advisers, rebels and militia in the Ukraine." - and by American advisors, coup leaders and rogue neo-nazi elements in the Ukraine armed forces?
"asylum seekers are here to stay for as long as the world allows people like the Russian separatists sway" - and no work on the asylum seekers coming from American theatres of conflict such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran?
"Already the US has said that rebel forces are likely to have fired the Russian BUK missile in error at MH17." - and no hint that the evidence is yet to be collected and forensically examined?
"Putin is very much a player in events leading to the shooting down of MH17." - and no mention of Obama being a player is the same events leading to the shooting down of MH17?
The author has clearly already made up his mind and pushed the Blame Russia button. Not objective. Not responsible. Not good journalism.
Posted by halduell, Monday, 28 July 2014 12:17:20 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
IMHO Abbott's "grief" and anger is confected as are all his actions. Any genuine compassion would be apparent in his government's treatment of asylum seekers. His stunning silence on the appalling and criminal behavior of Israel in Gaza stands as testament to his weather vane personality.

In respect of Julie Bishop she seems to applied the famous death stare to the Ukraine government causing its immediate collapse.
Posted by Peter King, Monday, 28 July 2014 12:17:35 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Oh, right. We are talking about this guy, are we not?

"Russia has responded angrily to Prime Minister Tony Abbott, describing his comments about the Malaysia Airlines tragedy as 'unacceptable'".

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-19/russia-says-abbott-comments-mh17-downing-unacceptable/5608852

"Abbott appeared to go further than other Western leaders in apportioning blame over the crash, demanding that Moscow answer questions about the "Russian-backed rebels" that he said were behind the disaster."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/18/us-ukraine-crisis-airlines-abbott-idUSKBN0FN09220140718

Hardly the actions of a statesman on the world stage. More those of a cynical parochial down-home politician, milking the tragedy for all the votes he can squeeze from it. Sadly, the polls already reflect the effectiveness of this thoroughly reprehensible stragtegy.

Mr Haigh is clearly reading from the Abbott Authorised Version when he avers...

"Already the US has said that rebel forces are likely to have fired the Russian BUK missile in error at MH17. Whilst the latter might be true, the former is unlikely."

To me, a rash action by a trigger-happy rebel unit is by far the most convincing explanation. To subscribe to the "it woz Putin wot dunnit" school of thought is to manufacture the most unlikely chain of events - why this flight? why now? and even more to the point, cui bono?
Posted by Pericles, Monday, 28 July 2014 1:40:09 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
What a load of partisan dribble!
Abbott and his flunky have been a sideshow to the main event, and only because we and the rest of the world stand aghast at his absolute LACK of diplomatic skills, and his willingness to display the same.
He has quite simply attempting to cash in on dead Australians for home points, and I'd imagine he's quite pleased to find a group of Aussies who won't go "off-message" on him, no living ones could be so trusted.
This alleged "man" has no shame, and NO sense of empathy with Australians in general, no-one but his rusted-on fan-club is fooled for one minute by his posturing and prancing, he's a national embarrassment.
He's an all-time perfect example of the Peter Principle, he's "risen to the level of his incompetence"
He wasn't even a very good Opposition leader, all he ever achieved was disrupting Parliament, hardly a recommendation, and he's clearly proved his lack of nous by his complaints that the Australian population are in the wrong, because they don't support his program to take Australia backwards to the 19th century, he just doesn't seem to understand the meaning of "Democracy", all he sees or wants is Power, anything else is beyond his grasp.
Posted by G'dayBruce, Monday, 28 July 2014 2:28:12 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
  1. Pages:
  2. Page 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. All

About Us :: Search :: Discuss :: Feedback :: Legals :: Privacy