On Putin, Tony Abbott and MH17

Dear Editor, The Cairns Post

I quite agree with Malcolm Bell in his letter of Nov 20 TCP that condemning Putin as Mr Abbott has done regarding the downing of FlightMH17 is a very silly thing to do; even though it briefly made Abbott popular. There is no evidence that Russian backed separatists shot down the plane. The Ukrainian army has a multitude of the kind of weapon apparently used. The separatists have one or two. No one knows who did it apart from the folk who did it. Anyone else who knows, well, isn't saying.

 

The US, of course, says it was the Russians; but the US said Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, when they didn't; the US said Mohamar Gaddafi was responsible for bombing a plane, when he wasn't; and the US, although having massive surveillance and high tech radar and laser weaponry in the area around the South China sea exactly where flight MH370 went missing, had no idea at all what happened to flight MH370.

In taking the fictional path to bravery, Mr Abbott simply stood on the misery of the flight MH17 victims' families to gain a bit of popularity. We can all make up our own opinions, Mr Abbott, but we can't all make up our own facts.

John Fitzpatrick

Bob Dylan and Van Morrison in Greece - Crazy Love/ lovely discordance in harmony

Van Morrison, Sinead O'Connor & The Cheiftains Have I Told You Lately ... with Sinead looking appropriately terrified of his well meant affections

nice to see old Van Morrison in love/ well done Sinead

Danny Boy - Sinead O Connor

KATIE MELUA (Moon River)

Katie Melua - Nine Million Bicycles

on Tony Abbott and the FTA with China

One must admit that Tony Abbott is quite effective as a leader of the Liberal Party and he has provided exactly what Australia wanted: a sense that the Government is somewhat unified.
Outside of that substantial achievement, he's mostly an idiot, true. Bad ideologies that harken back to dark times.
So why did he achieve the FTA with China? Why now? The document has been there for years. Most of the hard negotiation work was done by Simon Crean. It's just been sitting there, with Tony waiting for the USA to tell us we were allowed to have a FTA with China. Did they allow it? No.
China was interested in concluding this ten year old plan this year. They stated this earlier in the year in a very public way. As Australia dithered about, still awaiting USA permission, China upped the ante and placed a tariff on Australian coal, completely out of the blue, thus indicating "Sign it now or it all goes away." This is the power of President Xi. So, Australia signed it and it will do us good.
No matter what obscure antediluvian ideology is centred in the heart and mind of Mr Abbott, he knew he had to sign the document, and sign it now, and so he did.
It does impact on Australia-USA relationship in a big, profound, and ongoing way; but that is actually a good thing for us.
Mr Xi leads a China government that is the most unified in the history of China, the strongest, the most powerful and the most future-visioned, the most stable and the most secure. Mr Xi is the most powerful leader China has ever had. It is a good thing to have a deal with him when he suggests that it is time to do so.