Uranium deals with China are possibly the clearest indicator yet of John Howard’s short sightedness. It shows our Prime Minister sees the world in only dollars and cents and is incapable of comprehending the larger picture.

I would also go further in saying that Mr Howard’s crusade for democracy does not stop at China's border. I think he's crusade has ended here. A tighter concentration of media ownership is yet again on the cards, electoral 'reforms' making corporate donations harder to disclose, draconian anti-terror laws, all of this indicates to me that John Howard’s definition of democracy is extremely narrow.

He may well genuinely believe that what he is doing is the right thing for Australia (It's certainly the right thing for Rio Tinto, BHP and their shareholders) but John Howard’s actions, particularly since last July demonstrate that he is not on a crusade for democracy, but on a crusade against it.

R I P Democracy. You served us well for a while but greed has sucked the life out of you.If Democracy is run by the people, for the people, and of the people, what do you call a system run by (big) business?

aspro,
You call it the right wing of the Labor Party, or the Liberal Party, there is not a great diffence between to two.

We should be selling our advances in wind and solar power, not uranium. Whole trouble is it's free, so untill companies can figure out how to continue to slug us after the initial purchase, we are doomed. Still they have managed to sell some of us bottled water, ring tones for mobile phones, so who knows corporate Australia maybe humming away working out how to charge us for alternate energy.

Uranium is the only mineral we can take out of the ground that can both produce power, and accidents in power stations, and also produce a neclear weapon. But don't worry JWH has it all under control, he will sell to China, and also China's enemy, Taiwan, isn't he a clever little fellow, please in 2007 let's return to a progressive government, not a conservative one.

The price of Uranium has quadrupled in the last 5 years. Why not leave it in the ground a bit longer. If oil really runs out the price of Uranium will go through the roof.

We are already running a surplus, how much money do we need for tax cuts and pork barreling? Lets leave something for our kids to sell.

gusi,
Not the tories mate, sell, sell, sell, greed, greed, greed, that's their one and only policy. Who cares if the world blows itself to pieces, we {the wealthy} will be long gone, "buggar you Jack, I'm all right" is their motto. Corporate Australia Government, let's replace it with one sympathetic to humans, and humanity, rather than profit!

Like too many of our Online group, no worries much now about the future, no worries about what sort of world our great grandkids will inherit.

No worries about the past either because they are all caught in this crazy modern phenonomen that this is the way to go. A few of us that have received credits in our old age, even overseas in International Relations, getting Honours in Third World Problems, are virtually called Pedlars of old Pap.

Thus we find younger ones, not even giving a stuff about past history, especially about going way back to Socrates who seemed to have the answer to many of our problems of today. Try to be very true, think deeply and take the overhead view. But also as Socrates would go on, while up there in mind, out with the Gods and in with the Good.

So with Middle East problems, be simple about them and take note of Mubarak of Egypt some time ago when asked by a journalist his opinion of Middle East problems. Mubarak made no bones about it when he swore that such problems are largely the result of Western intrusion and injustice. Maybe we could cut it a bit finer and agree these days, that Western should be changed to American. We might also add Americana's Anglipholic allies, us and the Brits.