Hopefully, Shorten will declare his joy rides and luxurious accommodation.

But, what has Gillard’s standing up to the unions (as she should) got to do with Afghanistan?

What has Rudd’s being a Christian got to do with Afghanistan or anything else?

It’s a very strange person who connects the two areas in order to call Julia Gillard a hypocrite: a product of, and practitioner in, our weird Left education system, it seems.

Leigh it is a bit of a stretch but...
Christians should be peaceful if they are true to Christ. We can all check what He said and it certainly doesn't include "kick ass when profitable to do so". This applies just as much in international relations as the local street.
To say "violence is bad as a means to an end" in the context of a industrial dispute, then believe the exact opposite when energy resources are involved: yes, that is hypocrisy, though a very common and accepted form.
It is the sort of hypocrisy that annoys us science nerds: Big, scary, and completely normal in today's culture. Mostly it is tribal based: Love thy neighbor, so long as they look and talk and act like you. Fight the rest 'coz they are evil and scary. Politics trumps morality in power/wealth games so the cry of "hypocrite" is dismissed by the cynical as yelping by the ignorant.
It is sadly typical that people say "what does being Christian have to do with me supporting a war?". In other words "What does my religion have to do with my behavior and morals?".
Atheistic philosophies who *do* have ethics cannot work this way. They apply their morals throughout life more consistently because they are not Dogma that can be dipped into when "holiness" is called for. It is every moment of every day, a part of being. Rarely is perfection gained, but at least it works in theory!
So excuse the ignorance of the author for assuming folks morals should be consistent: he is probably an atheist who has yet to battle the duplicity of the religious mindset.
BTW. Blaming a Leftist Education system! Now *that* is a stretch! I came out of the Public system on the Right: It took advanced economics and 10 years in the workforce to move to the center, where both sides hate me! :-)

Marko forgets that Julia is no longer part of the bra burning university brigade that lives in fantasy land. She is now Deputy Prime Minister with responsibilities. Maybe Marko needs to leave the university life in order to discover that dogmas adhered to at university are not the least bit practical in the real world. Marko also needs to know that in the eyes of most of our press an African President is not capable of being responsible for civilian deaths like his former white predecessor.

What a disgraceful article.

It is to Julia Gillard's great credit that she, from the Left faction, is governing with Rudd in the interests of the nation and is not in the pocket of extreme unions.

We are in Afghanistan because we are taking a stand against Islamo-fascism. The Taliban gave refuge to Osama bin Laden and have comprehensively trashed the civil rights of everyone in the country, including especially the women. I am certainly sad about the "collateral damage" suffered by civilians in Afghanistan during this war, but Marko's bleeding heart for this is special pleading. Where is his bleeding heart for the thousands of victims of extremist Muslim atrocities against other Muslims in Afghanistan, and in Pakistan today, in Iraq, everywhere in the benighted Muslim world, where bullying and violence define the shopfront of the culture?

I feel contempt for the article and for its author. Dammit mate, we are defending *civilization* in Afghanistan. Do you want to live in the 14th century?

Marko your article is piffle.

Hang on there Marko, you are verging on the ridiculous.

Perhaps the Taliban should stop hiding behind all those
women and children. Would you really like to see them
return and close down all schools etc?

I have no doubt that stupidity happens within any army,
we should learn from it and improve our ways. To point that
out is only fair enough.

But to have a go at Gillard for not condemming the Americans,
is perhaps just showing your own personal bias in all of this.

Would you like to see Mullah Omar back in power?