Oh lord, I'm back in the 1980s, or somewhere like that, certainly not 2008. Is this a rehash or republishing of some old tired article? You need to update a few things, this one for instance "Without the arms giant McDonnell Douglas, there can be no McDonald's worldwide.", McDonnell Douglas merged with Boeing in 1997, so it no longer exists.

Philip Tang, I note your comment "It would take about 5 to 6 generations for the (native) population of the West to die out. World peace would then be a reality because the self-righteous, war-like siege mentally of the West would be a thing of the past." Previous to this you sanction opening up immigration to a range of African and sub-continent peoples.

Are you suggesting that the people of Africa are a peaceful, loving people, did you hear about the Hutu and the Tootsi in Burundi, the 800,000 people massacre - yes, without any help from the west at all, let's hand over the planet to them. Or Charles Taylor or the likes of Idi Amin or any amount of other despots, the Sudan, Darfur?

Thankfully this sort of thinking is rare these days. If you hate the West so much, leave.

People shouldn't get obsessive about blaming socialism for everything. It's a distraction. Government expansion and control are the greatest threats to us citizens of Australia.

“The US, Europe and now Asia teeter on the brink of recession. War stalks the planet.”

And yet, whilst the US and Europe “teeter”, it was USSR which fell, into the abyss and has been devouring its own young in Chechnia and more recently Georgia since.

So what does that say about the so called ”imperialsist”, who in recent history relinquished the guiding hands of colonial mastery across the globe versus the defunct “internationalists” who are entrenched with unyielding, out of date ideas of some mythical “socialist utopia” of their own?

“Australia's infant imperialism means it has invaded and currently occupies countries in the neighbourhood ...”

East Timor has its own constitution and independently elected parliament and holds no fealty to Australia.

Invaded? - No.

The Solomon’s asked for assistance and negotiated its own terms for secondments.

Invaded? - No.

The Australian government has a duty its taxpayers to ensure financial resources, gifted to PNG, are used in an honest and proper manner, bearing in mind the history of graft and corruption which exists there.

Invaded? - No.

“The task for Australian socialists is to build opposition here to Australian imperialism in any of its forms.”

They are hard to find, except for the guilt ridden masochists who are ashamed of the advantages their parents bought them. They lack the ardor of real revolutionaries, more like they will have a mild rant over a glass of chardonnay, then go home, put on their slippers and watch Dancing with the Stars.

“The crises of capitalism create their own alternative solutions. From little things, big things grow.”

And that “growth” is known as “the cancer of communism”, a debilitating and crippling killer of all hope, innovation and aspiration.

Passant has been drinking too much of what he must be distilling himself and is now completely delusional.

As for the collapse of the libertarian/capitalist empire, don’t hold your breath, your idea of a socialist utopia on earth “melted down”, like its nuclear competency (Chernobyl), along time ago.

Steel “Socialism” is “Government Expansion and control

Oh My GOD,

I haven't laughed so much in ages.

steel says >> "People shouldn't get obsessive about blaming socialism for everything. It's a distraction. Government expansion and control are the greatest threats to us citizens of Australia."

Steel, you have clearly and emphatically shown you have no understanding of what socialism is. Socialism is DEFINED by the intervention, expansion and control of gov't. Frankly I am more than a little surprised you don't understand that. Fear of gov't expansion and control places you squarely in the liberal tradition, where we believe that gov't should stick to its core responsibilities and leave citizens to get on with their lives.

I suggest you look up socialism in Wikapedia or somewhere and find out what it is you are actually supoporting. No wonder you thought i was a socialist, you don't even know what it means to be one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism

You are so right, John, and certainly it began with us allowing future Pax Americana to try to take over Iran with the fake Peacock Shah.

And so it has got worse, with finally our Jonny Howard and Tony Blair backing Bush to the hilt with the attack on Iraq, now six years ago.

Now we want Costello back who also made nary a complaint when our Howard backed Bush.

Might be a good thing that Putin is now backing Iran, and more than true that China is not only on a colonial quest for African oil, but also now in Iraq, would you believe.

So who do we blame for it all after the forgiving of Germany and Japan with the wonderful Marshall Plan?

Disappoints me so much that I'm sort of glad I'm nearing my end with me reaching 88 next June.

Have Fun, BB, Buntine, WA.

PHILLIP TANG: Would you also agree that China or Japan, should also open their borders to Somalianss, Bangladeshis, algerians,Pakistanisand Sudanese.

The West is not responsible for the problems in these countries. .

The West has only become imbroiled in these countries trying to stop the ethnic cleansing.
If they got rid of some of the extreme religions that split countries into two groups and foster horrendous populations and the killing of one group by the other for control of resources that would be a start.

Pakistan was formed after the tribal warfare between the sikhs and hindus in India, incidently that was after the British pulled out and gave them back their country.
The same as in Iraq, it is the Arabs doing much of the killing as they fight for tribal control of Iraq. It seems Saddam Hussein was simply keeping the Sunni tribe in control but now the Shia tribe want control.

The Chinese and Japanese also have bloody history of ethnic cleansing and war perpetrated by them. The Muslims dont exactly have an unblood stained history either.