Chriss,

Many Japanese were just as ignorant of what went on in WW II as were their counterparts in England about British atrocities in Ireland in the 1920s.

If you think that it would have been justifiable to wipe out the whole Japanese people because of what was done to POWs and to civilians in countries that they occupied then how much more justifiable would it have been for the Russians to wipe out the Germans?
One estimate puts Soviet WW II dead at 10 million service personnel and 10 million civilians.
The crimes of the Japanese were less than those of the Germans by a significant margin.

"During World War II, Nazi Germany engaged in deliberately genocidal policies towards Soviet Union prisoners of war (POWs). This resulted in some 3.3 to 3.5 million deaths, about 60% of all Soviet POWs.".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_crimes_against_Soviet_POWs

Dear Belly,

Obviously it is not possible to be suffering at the hands of non-existant Gods, nor do Gods divide us (that would make a
superstitious conspiracy theory). Also, no God, nor even a prophet ever commanded: "Thou shalt molest little girls and cut off their genitals" - it is people who do all that!

We are dealing with people who also happen to profess to be "religious", but are they? Muslims from other cultures, such as Indonesia also profess to be religious Muslims, but do not behave that way!

You know in Israel, every common criminal - thieves, rapists, drug-dealers, extortionists, etc. when caught and brought to court they suddenly place a yarmulke on their head: their lawyers tell them to do it so they can expect a reduction in their sentence for being "religious".

<<What do you think powers them if not their belief?>>

The usual - lust, greed, jealousy, egoism, plus in their specific case, machoism (a form of false pride).

<<And as with the Christian acts against children world wide>>

Is that a Christian act? Did Jesus ever told them so?

<<PC is evil>>

I would say rather stupid than evil - it did start with good intentions, but because it had no religious/spiritual foundations, it lacks understanding of deeper principles, so it doesn't work.

Chriss,

I'm well aware of what Ion wrote in "Drums of Mer" and a number of his books are also in my bookcase, all with a nice little personal inscription. I first met him in Sydney when I was in my teens, he and my paternal uncle had been mining together.
I was rather interested in the Islands and he'd collected far more than he ever published.

I found the apparent ability of the priests of the Zogo le to communicate over great distances to be fascinating.

The Islanders' attitude towards the Mainlanders was, and is, interesting, particularly in Ion's description of the Dance of Death.

Did you know that on one of the New Guinea islands, that was under Japanese administration, the people still remember how much better treated they were by the Japanese Officers than they were by the pre and post war Australian officials?

Is mise,
The article you've quoted admits that slavery is not an accurate description of the indenture process,that the facts are disputed but like all good Liberals the author simply sidesteps the issue by refusing to consider any alternative viewpoint, see Steele Redux et al for examples of this tactic.
Based on the evidence you've produced the allegations of slavery are unproven, other researchers such as Keith Windschuttle have come to a different conclusion so we're right back at square one.
Have you heard of press ganging? Duping, coercing or outright kidnapping of workers was a common practice in the recent past.
Indentured labourers of all races (the vast majority of whom were White) were exploited and treated like slaves in the Australian colonies, just because the Papulanji Dreaming cult contains stories of "Blackbirding" doesn't mean that slavery as you describe it was practiced or that the experience of indenture was in some way worse for the non White labourers than it was for Whites.
The fact that Mal Meninga was born at all proves that there was no egregious form of slavery practiced here, presumably you know that the Arabs and Turks took an estimated 20 million Africans as slaves?
Where are all the descendants of those Africans? Where are the "African Turks"?

Chris Gaff said it all.
If we look at the posts the links we can see a total disregard for our culture and laws from SOME with in the community we speak of.
Look again and even those from that community who agree with us, first say BUT.
And if we wait long enough we will see, wait or not we will see our fears confirmed.
WHY.
It is human instinct self preservation why are we who see a danger ignored by both sides of government.
Sunday papers tells us the Federal government has hired a firm to find out on social media what our views are on immigration.
Well here,s hoping!

Jay,

"blackbirding, the 19th- and early 20th-century practice of enslaving (often by force and deception) South Pacific islanders on the cotton and sugar plantations of Queensland, Australia (as well as those of the Fiji and Samoan islands). The kidnapped islanders were known collectively as Kanakas (see Kanaka). Blackbirding was especially prevalent between 1847 and 1904. The Queensland government’s first attempt to control it came only in 1868 with the Polynesian Labourers Act, which provided for the regulation of the treatment of Kanaka labourers—who theoretically worked of their own free will for a specified period—and the licensing of “recruiters.” Because the Queensland government lacked constitutional power outside its own borders, the regulations could not be enforced; moreover, the fact that notorious and brutal blackbirders were able to retain their licenses seemed to indicate that the government was not seriously trying to end the practice. British government acts of the 1870s—especially the 1872 Pacific Islanders Protection Act (the Kidnapping Act)—provided for agents on British recruiting vessels, stricter licensing procedures, and patrol of British-controlled islands; these measures reduced the incidence of blackbirding by British subjects. Because of the continuing heavy demand for labour in Queensland, however, the practice continued to flourish. Blackbirding died out only in 1904 as a result of a law, enacted in 1901 by the Australian commonwealth, calling for the deportation of all Kanakas after 1906.".
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/68440/blackbirding

Maybe the Editor of The Encyclopaedia Britannica made it up, who am I to tell?
Seems strange that laws were passed about this myth of yours or that warships patrolled to enforce these unnecessary laws.

All the slavery in other parts of the World has nought to do with the assertion that Europeans didn't practice slavery in Australia or the Pacific; it was called 'Blackbirding'.