Tweet
VLADIMIR PUTIN IS NO SAINT, BUT G20 IS A CLUB FULL OF SINNERS
The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
October 13, 2014 Monday 11:11 AM GMT
by Michael Pascoe
The Brisbane G20 meeting is primarily an economic summit, not a
political or human rights convention. Australia's Prime Minister is
correct to welcome Vladimir Putin to attend - if he bothers to come.
The sundry politicians trying to score points over Putin being allowed
to visit Brisbane are merely highlighting their relevance deprivation.
On this, the federal opposition leader and the Queensland premier
are fish on bicycles, tits on a bull.
If Bill Shorten was somehow Prime Minister next month, he would be
admitting Putin. Presumably he knows that. As for Campbell Newman,
we may as well canvas the opinion of the Brisbane Lord Mayor, or any
man or woman in the street.
But while Abbott is doing what he has to do as the host Prime Minister,
it would be helpful if he dropped his own political grandstanding:
his repeated description of the tragic deaths of those on board MH17 as
"murder".
Either that or he should be consistent by calling out the murder
committed by several other G20 members.
If the states responsible for genuine murders and those that have
carried out killings equivalent to the MH17 deaths were excluded,
the Brisbane meeting would be a much smaller affair.
It's a fair bet very few people know who makes up the G20.
Among its least savoury members is a feudal state that regularly
murders people. Saudi Arabia beheads individuals for the crime of
sorcery, among other things. Don't try to hold a church service there
unless it's of the approved variety - the Saudis officially go in for
a medieval, hard-line interpretation of Islam. It's the country that
won't even let women drive cars. Adultery? Compared with Saudi Arabia,
Russia is a bastion of democracy, a beacon of equality, a paragon of
human rights.
In some ways, Russia also looks good compared with China, or at
least rather similar. There is an opposition in Russia. Beijing
doesn't allow such decadence. China officially kills (as in the death
sentence) more people than the rest of the world combined - and then
some. China is only slowly and partially repealing its appalling
(and economically damaging) one-child policy. You don't have to be
a Right-to-Lifer to consider cases of near-full-term abortion to be
murder. Best not mention the occupation of Tibet or the oppression
of the Uyghur minority. When it comes to encroaching on borders and
unilaterally taking liberties, ask Vietnam and the Philippines what
they think of China's South China Sea behaviour.
Turkey is another G20 member, a wonderful and interesting country,
a NATO member and, unlike the three already mentioned, a genuine
democracy. It's in a very tricky position with some extremely
difficult neighbours, but if you want to start fingering countries
being responsible for ghastly deaths, it's the one that has not been
permitting reinforcements for Kobane to cross its border as Daesh
attacks the city with murderous intent. Turkish tanks stand mute. And
Turkey is actively supporting some of the worse elements of the Libyan
anarchy as President Erdogan takes an increasingly interventionist
and apparently religion-based world view. Turkey also has never shown
the maturity required to face up to the Armenian genocide. But with
the 100th anniversary coming up of our failed attempt to invade the
country, absolutely none of that is to be mentioned.
Among the democracies (and fifth overall in the world), the greatest
perpetrator of official killing is the United States, but when it
comes to terrible deaths similar to the MH17 victims, the US is the
unchallenged leader this century with a figure well into six figures
and still rising. I haven't heard an Australian Prime Minister suggest
an American President was responsible for "murder".
This is where it's necessary to spell out why the MH17 victims weren't
"murdered", as Tony Abbott keeps claiming - or agree that the US,
UK, Australia and others are guilty of the same crime.
No-one has suggested the pro-Russian side of the Ukrainian war
intended to shoot down a neutral civilian airliner. They thought
they were targeting a Ukrainian plane. It was an accident. The MH17
victims were, to use the cold American euphemism that's now universal,
collateral damage.
It was a mistake - and an expensive mistake for Russia as it focussed
attention for a while on a war that most nations gave little attention
to. Sanctions were strengthened a touch, in the generally hypocritical
way such sanctions are imposed .
When American drones and planes accidentally kill civilians - totally
innocent children among them - our Prime Minister does not call that
murder. When Israel, with far greater knowledge of who was on the
ground, killed children in Gaza, our Prime Minister and did not call
it murder.
When the "Coalition of the Willing" rained artillery down on Iraqi
cities in 2003, the four nations that contributed personnel to the
invasion knew they were killing innocent civilians. Some would have
been citizens of other countries. Those four nations were the US,
UK, Poland and Australia.
The total civilian death toll in Iraq from the war and the subsequent
and now increasing mayhem it unleashed is greater than the total number
of Australians killed in all wars. It has been a most dreadful accident
based on intelligence as bad or worse than that which led someone to
fire a missile at a plane that turned out to be a Malaysian airliner.
So please drop the cheap "murder" rhetoric. It might play well in the
domestic polls and sound heroic - "we warn the Tsar" - but it's wrong.
The Russian leadership is dreadful, a paranoid, corrupt and brutal
kleptocracy that betrays and kills its own people, never mind the
neighbours. It unconscionably throws its weight around in its perceived
sphere of influence, the way major powers have always done.
If Australia enjoyed independent foreign policy based on principle
and we didn't rush to join wrong wars (Vietnam, Iraq 2), we would be
free to condemn all such behaviour without the taint of hypocrisy.
But the G20 meeting is not about the great and good, about justice
and the human rights.
It's about collective economic self-interest. And that, if it's
successful, will make life better for billions of people.
Thus the occasional thug and despot has to be accepted in the mix for
the greater good. Exclude them and the nations that have made fatal
mistakes, there would be no meeting.
Michael Pascoe is a BusinessDay contributing editor
http://www.smh.com.au/business/comment-and-analysis/vladimir-putin-is-no-saint-but-g20-is-a-club-full-of-sinners-20141013-1155yz.html
The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
October 13, 2014 Monday 11:11 AM GMT
by Michael Pascoe
The Brisbane G20 meeting is primarily an economic summit, not a
political or human rights convention. Australia's Prime Minister is
correct to welcome Vladimir Putin to attend - if he bothers to come.
The sundry politicians trying to score points over Putin being allowed
to visit Brisbane are merely highlighting their relevance deprivation.
On this, the federal opposition leader and the Queensland premier
are fish on bicycles, tits on a bull.
If Bill Shorten was somehow Prime Minister next month, he would be
admitting Putin. Presumably he knows that. As for Campbell Newman,
we may as well canvas the opinion of the Brisbane Lord Mayor, or any
man or woman in the street.
But while Abbott is doing what he has to do as the host Prime Minister,
it would be helpful if he dropped his own political grandstanding:
his repeated description of the tragic deaths of those on board MH17 as
"murder".
Either that or he should be consistent by calling out the murder
committed by several other G20 members.
If the states responsible for genuine murders and those that have
carried out killings equivalent to the MH17 deaths were excluded,
the Brisbane meeting would be a much smaller affair.
It's a fair bet very few people know who makes up the G20.
Among its least savoury members is a feudal state that regularly
murders people. Saudi Arabia beheads individuals for the crime of
sorcery, among other things. Don't try to hold a church service there
unless it's of the approved variety - the Saudis officially go in for
a medieval, hard-line interpretation of Islam. It's the country that
won't even let women drive cars. Adultery? Compared with Saudi Arabia,
Russia is a bastion of democracy, a beacon of equality, a paragon of
human rights.
In some ways, Russia also looks good compared with China, or at
least rather similar. There is an opposition in Russia. Beijing
doesn't allow such decadence. China officially kills (as in the death
sentence) more people than the rest of the world combined - and then
some. China is only slowly and partially repealing its appalling
(and economically damaging) one-child policy. You don't have to be
a Right-to-Lifer to consider cases of near-full-term abortion to be
murder. Best not mention the occupation of Tibet or the oppression
of the Uyghur minority. When it comes to encroaching on borders and
unilaterally taking liberties, ask Vietnam and the Philippines what
they think of China's South China Sea behaviour.
Turkey is another G20 member, a wonderful and interesting country,
a NATO member and, unlike the three already mentioned, a genuine
democracy. It's in a very tricky position with some extremely
difficult neighbours, but if you want to start fingering countries
being responsible for ghastly deaths, it's the one that has not been
permitting reinforcements for Kobane to cross its border as Daesh
attacks the city with murderous intent. Turkish tanks stand mute. And
Turkey is actively supporting some of the worse elements of the Libyan
anarchy as President Erdogan takes an increasingly interventionist
and apparently religion-based world view. Turkey also has never shown
the maturity required to face up to the Armenian genocide. But with
the 100th anniversary coming up of our failed attempt to invade the
country, absolutely none of that is to be mentioned.
Among the democracies (and fifth overall in the world), the greatest
perpetrator of official killing is the United States, but when it
comes to terrible deaths similar to the MH17 victims, the US is the
unchallenged leader this century with a figure well into six figures
and still rising. I haven't heard an Australian Prime Minister suggest
an American President was responsible for "murder".
This is where it's necessary to spell out why the MH17 victims weren't
"murdered", as Tony Abbott keeps claiming - or agree that the US,
UK, Australia and others are guilty of the same crime.
No-one has suggested the pro-Russian side of the Ukrainian war
intended to shoot down a neutral civilian airliner. They thought
they were targeting a Ukrainian plane. It was an accident. The MH17
victims were, to use the cold American euphemism that's now universal,
collateral damage.
It was a mistake - and an expensive mistake for Russia as it focussed
attention for a while on a war that most nations gave little attention
to. Sanctions were strengthened a touch, in the generally hypocritical
way such sanctions are imposed .
When American drones and planes accidentally kill civilians - totally
innocent children among them - our Prime Minister does not call that
murder. When Israel, with far greater knowledge of who was on the
ground, killed children in Gaza, our Prime Minister and did not call
it murder.
When the "Coalition of the Willing" rained artillery down on Iraqi
cities in 2003, the four nations that contributed personnel to the
invasion knew they were killing innocent civilians. Some would have
been citizens of other countries. Those four nations were the US,
UK, Poland and Australia.
The total civilian death toll in Iraq from the war and the subsequent
and now increasing mayhem it unleashed is greater than the total number
of Australians killed in all wars. It has been a most dreadful accident
based on intelligence as bad or worse than that which led someone to
fire a missile at a plane that turned out to be a Malaysian airliner.
So please drop the cheap "murder" rhetoric. It might play well in the
domestic polls and sound heroic - "we warn the Tsar" - but it's wrong.
The Russian leadership is dreadful, a paranoid, corrupt and brutal
kleptocracy that betrays and kills its own people, never mind the
neighbours. It unconscionably throws its weight around in its perceived
sphere of influence, the way major powers have always done.
If Australia enjoyed independent foreign policy based on principle
and we didn't rush to join wrong wars (Vietnam, Iraq 2), we would be
free to condemn all such behaviour without the taint of hypocrisy.
But the G20 meeting is not about the great and good, about justice
and the human rights.
It's about collective economic self-interest. And that, if it's
successful, will make life better for billions of people.
Thus the occasional thug and despot has to be accepted in the mix for
the greater good. Exclude them and the nations that have made fatal
mistakes, there would be no meeting.
Michael Pascoe is a BusinessDay contributing editor
http://www.smh.com.au/business/comment-and-analysis/vladimir-putin-is-no-saint-but-g20-is-a-club-full-of-sinners-20141013-1155yz.html