Pretty good article.

But it all makes sense because nothing much happened - none of the globalisation warrior violence witnessed in Melbourne several months ago and no bombs going off.

What of the argument that the army of black clad police and Stalinesque streetscape acted as a deterrent to hardcore ski-mask protesters and (conned) jihadists alike? So it was costly but then again it could have worse... goes the argument.

Anyway one good thing is that Howard's big expensive international security show hasn't won him any votes (in the polls). He failed to create a violent wedge in the community and then herd those in fear in his electoral direction.

Rudd's moderation won out and Rudd proved he could talk to China and Howard's boss.

Pete

Interesting comment Plantagenet about talking to China. This means tugging of forelocks and general bowing and scraping from Mr Rudd while a few million Chinese do forced labour for their sins and several million Tibetans wonder if these leeches will ever get off their backs. Talk about a well-thought out suck-up! As has been pointed out endlessly, Cantonese is the language of commerce while Mandarin is that of beurocracy; Mr Rudd is proficient in.... Yep.

Anyhow,this aside, I am in a tourism busness in Qld and had quite a weekend dealing with Sydneysiders who'd bolted away for the 3-Day break due to APEC. At the Saturday market, with our local Federal MP (Nationals) having a one-off information stand, there was ample (more than) for anyone to whinge about anything they wished, or even to say "shove it up your date, fascist oppressor of the working class". Funnily enough, a number of people (even some in Bulldogs Jerseys! For non-NRL followers, the team representing Bankstown, Paul Ks old seat; centre of Australian Islam) took, and read her "propaganda" about stuff like workchoices, super-changes, generous pension arrangements such as the $20,000 tax free thresh-hold and bonuses for working past pension age etc. Several specifically mentioned how happy they were about APEC.

The paltry turnout to protest against APEC shows that there was no will to protest. The security measures were to stop violence; the protests could have easily been 100,000 strong and 2 Kilometres up the road, with a phalanx of fawning press in attendance, AND NO COPS OR FENCES. They were not, and this because no one gave a f**k, about protesting if they couldn't run riot as well. Cheers.

punter, you got one thing right: no use protesting if your not on the evening news.

fair is fair, though- the traveling apec show could have been done on a resort island where security was a doddle. putting it in sydney is part of the softening up process meant to turn ozzies into proles.

When 'nothing' happens... IT'S POLICE OVERKILL....

When Cronulla happpens.. "Where are the police"?

When the mayor of Brussells disapproves of a 'Stop Islamization' rally, because he cannot guarantee public safety.. but in the weeks beforehand can allow a "9/11 was a US conspiracy" RALLY.....

When 9/11 is 'seriously' claimed to be a "conspiracy by Jews and CIA"

You have to start asking SERIOUS questions about the Leftoids in our community and check the mental assylums for mentally unbalanced escapees.

Perhaps it's about time most of us grew some testicles and stood.. up... and were counted.

“Essentially, it was a PSYCHO-SEXUAL FANTASY OF DISCIPLINARY POWER that dispensed with the usual restraints of valid reasons for an arrest, presumption of innocence and access to legal representation for those detained.”

Oh yeah this was a balanced, reasoned opinion piece. NOT. The soft left really are deteriorating.

Posted by Paul.L: "Oh yeah this was a balanced, reasoned opinion piece. NOT. The soft left really are deteriorating."

Gosh, after such a deep, detailed, and referenced argument, they're probably quaking in their bottom of their lattes in fear of RightThinks intellectual might.

You know, the RightThink that brought us deregulated capital and credit markets.. and Bear Sterns, Amaranth, LTCM, BCCI, Enron, HIH...

That allowed AWB to fund terrorism (Iraq is about terrorism, right?) & weapons that are now being used against aussie troops.

That brought us the US Free Trade Agreement, worsening balance of trade by many millions of $/yr.

And the same RightThink brainiacs that insist on buying fighters from Uncle Sam, despite Uncle Sam not having actually made any of the fighters in question nor being able to say how much they might eventually cost. Or when they'll be ready. Thank god for old pal Andrew Peacock (once Liberal Leader, until recently armaments salesman to our Liberal government). Need i go on about RightThinks genius?
ps. Leftists can be just as dumb, but theres so few of them left they're not relevant).

Well said Liam. The RightThinks are so far right that anybody who is centre is seen as a Leftie! There are very few of those left.

The fear factor has been used since time immemorial to keep the masses in check and obedient. It has always been very successful and will continue to be so. It has been used by regimes of every political persuasion and by any organisation you can think of, from unions to religions, anybody wanting to rapidly build a big power base.

The APEC security show was just that. An in your face show to convince any doubters that we live in very dangerous times. There are demons out there preying on your soul, oh no, wrong century, there are terrorists out there preying on your life style.

Just a question for this day. American presidents have been assassinated, or attempted to be assassinated, before and the US of A, or the rest of the world, never even wobbled. In the past the death of kings or their heirs on the other hand, because of inherited power and connections they forged caused conflagration. Are we now treating our elected leaders with the same awe and deference as once monarchy was treated? When did elected politicians become so precious they weren't replaceable and would cause a collapse of the nation?

Hi Liam

As basically a centrist (whose been in some really odd parts of Government) forgive me for concentrating on your US aircraft comment.

I take it you're referring to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) slow, short range, poor paylload. I agree with you that we shouldn't buy it for the reasons you state.

The promise of local industry offsets (in marginal electorates) of more than $1 billion appears to be the main reason the Howard Government has overridden good sense for promised political goodies. So far Australia hasn't made a final decision on choosing the JSF although it has put down many millions in project entry money.

Lockheed is flogging the JSF and Lockheed has also persuaded the US Congress to withhold another Lockheed aircraft from any (non US) customers.

This aircraft is the F-22 Raptor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-22 which has been built, tested and now being deployed. It has all the capabilities that Australia will eventually need. The F-22 is gradually being developed to also take on the bomber role.

As Lockheed and the US have a monopoly on supplying the F-22 this allows them to pressure allies to order the inferior JSF first (say in 2009) before the F-22 is released to us foreigners around 2015.

Lockheed will thus basically attempted preplanned obsolescence of the JSF thus making sucker countries like Australia, UK and Japan etc buy the JSF and THEN the F-22. This will make Lockheed, US Congressmen and the US Treasury all very happy with the extra loot.

The ALP awhile ago said it preferred the F-22. While the F-22 is from Uncle Sam I think we should go for that aircraft even if we need to knock back US offers of the JSF and wait 7 years till the F-22 is magically released by Lockheed.

Pete

POWER NAVEL GRAZERS - ALL the money spent.... all the engery directed to the purpose of .... (?) ... it is so (unjustly) sad it is "comical, speculative and even mundane' ... poor of debate and opinion (that over-ALL) is notable - such a valuable + big event with numerous opportunities for things to happen, to go wrong, and to be challenged, but with very little of substance actually materialising.

I DO appreciate the role of exchange... so much that I understand it and the way it could help humanity gain the higher things in life... if it were not traded for the sake of it.

We do need a HUMAN FACE... it START's with ALL not by ONE. ie: ONE can fall foul as we see throughout history. Equity is an equation that needs us to tolerate (the strength) of our differences and create spaces to put it face to face... this is the lean part.

On hearing of Helen Clark going after people who aint doing enough to retrive funds from those who are being diddled.... I say this has to be done from the TOP DOWN to the streets.

Become a COUNTERFEIT-DIVA... do more to make sure that those working for administrations "everywhere" actually engage - develop - plan and create... some-THING that deserves a celebration and our ongoing respectful response.

The POINT IS - we are being NULLIFED by a-no-named response except when it comes to CRISIS and WAR (anywhere).Hence the build up of FEAR!

THIS is a COMMUNITY ISSUE - OUR PREPAREDNESS - WE ARE ALL VILLAGE FARMERS

HUMAN CAPITAL is being traded-Off for POLITIC's which is why we have poor reguard for it.

I believe BUSINESS Groups WANT TO DO THE RIGHT THING...

I BELIEVE AUSTRALIAN's WANT TO DO THE THING....

WHERE IS THE REAL PROBLEM.... ARE WE ALL SO BUSY (IDOTS) THAT LIFE it-self is not worth FIGHTING FOR....?

We need to discuss ECONOMICS - the economics of everyday life...

WHO ARE WE?

http://www.miacat.com/
.

Observing the same principals, one can dig back into the past to see identical (NOT similar) methods used by some very nasty people.

Liam,

Anyone who suggests that the police have PSYCHO-SEXUAL FANTASY OF DISCIPLINARY POWER clearly are sexually perverted themselves. To even suggest such a thing you cannot be interested in reasoned debate.

There are plenty of soft-left politically correct disasters. . Massacres in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. Whitlam’s absolute mess of everything. Massive debt. Gov’t and councils who employed five supervisors for every person who did any work. The failures of Self Determination in Aboriginal communities. Nationalising the banks. Multi Culturalism.

Thanks to free trade middle classes have sprung up in India and China and hundreds of millions have been lifted out of poverty. Gov’ts don’t make wealth, business does. What the left really fears about free trade is that the unskilled work will go where the labour is cheapest( as long as there is sufficient infrastructure). These types of jobs, whilst paying less than there first world equivalents, normally pay significantly more than traditional work in the third world.What you leftists never do is ask the people who work in these factories what they think about their opportunities.

As for the JSF, its people like you who convinced gov’t to downgrade our military capabilities and left us in such a parlous state before both ww1 and ww2.

Yvonne

The far left imagines it holds mainstream views, yet it could only manage to recruit a handful of supporters for its APEC marches. If anyone was in any doubt that these people do not represent the average Australian, this was the proof.

The recent G20 and other meetings of world leaders have almost always been marred by violence and rioting by immature idiots.

The importance in the assassination of an American President isn’t just in the loss of the Head-of-Gov’t. It is in the propaganda coup for terrorists who would use this success to recruit more members and renew their desire to fight. Its in the loss of face for the host country who’s security services have been shown up. Its also in the fact that any response to such an assassination is likely to create more conflict and more death

Such erudition in describing arguably the most expensive strop-fest held in this country. And the author is right, it shows Sydney is a city to be taken seriously (World's best practice) with basically a quiescent populace and enough rough, tough, ugly policemen to make the average demonstrator think twice.

So how come the Chaser's little prank wasn't mentioned? The ABC is never exactly been flush with funds but this comedy group made it through the checkpoints and past the hotel where Dubya and his team were staying. And to think there's half a dozen or so rocket launchers still unaccounted for, probably in New South Wales.

The ABC is busy congratulating itself on this wonderful achievement. In many of the countries represented at APEC, the snipers would have taken some of the team out once it was realized that they were not genuine. By all means watch the bloody program if you have to but consider this: a grave security breach occurred and it could have ended with blood on the pavement and funerals to follow.

Thanatos,

Do you honestly believe that our snipers are that ill disciplined and under trained?

I love the fact that everyone trots out the "they could have been shot" line without consideration for the rules of engagement. I'm willing to bet that the snipers would have been given very strict instructions not to fire unless directed.

Stop blaming the Chaser guys for getting in, how about asking the Police Commissioner how they were able to get in? $170 million spent on security and a bunch of well known (especially to the political and hence the security that guards them) comedians manages to make their way to within 10 metres of GWB's hotel.

Aww comeon,

No ones going to pick this one up? No one watched the Chaser? No one heard the police officer say: "do what you want mate, the road is yours" when asked if they could turn the motorcade around?

Yvonne,

I always have the greatest interest in your posts and find them intelligent and thoughtful.
However, I think that if Howard (whatever one might think of him) was assassinated,
Australia would have lost its innocence. It is traumatic to have the leader of one's country
killed. It strikes at the very heart of the country ... especially at these times. A domestic assassination is one thing; an assassination carried out by another country is quite another.

As for other APEC leaders, if any had been assassinated here, Australia's reputation would have been on the line - not very good PR.

Regarding kings and their heirs - killings were "usually" dynastic and generally carried out by their nearest and dearest. I doubt very much if the common man would have been shocked, nor even cared, by such carryings-on ... unless it resulted in war.

Regards