September 09, 2004

• CNN coverage
• SMH coverage. I was on the phone to the travel agent this morning booking Bali for Christmas.
• Oh good grief. First Bali, now Jakarta.... And I have friends working and living there. It's quite strange though, many of my friends tell me Indonesians are by and large rather laissez faire about religion; they're definitely not as devout (nationally speaking, not talking about individuals of course) as say, Malaysia, or Saudi Arabia.
• The NZ embassy is 2km from the Australian, and people there heard the blast from inside. I swear, the news tonight was the most depressing hour I've watched in a long, long time.
• Indeed, and it might be nice to come to Monkeyfilter without having to read it here as well.
• Indeed, and it might be nice to come to Monkeyfilter without having to read it here as well You don't *have* to read anything here. Move along.
• I do hope your friends are safe, Alnedra. Wolof, have to wonder now what effect will this blast have on the Aussie election? Or is it too early to say?
• The scariest thing is that I just shrug my shoulders. Yet another terrorist attack. Desensitization at work.
• I've noticed that, too, mare. It's like the body rejects feeling bad about repeat events. For me, the Berg beheading was really a shock to me. But after ten more of them, I've short circuited my outrage. The Onion was once again prophetic, outrage fatigue is really starting to set in.
• beeswacky, if I may (apologies to Wolof)... At this point I doubt that it will play a large role in the Australian election. It's fairly common knowledge that certain elements of Indonesia are quite hostile to Australia in particular, in addition to those elements which might be agressive towards the West in general. Bottom line is that something like this is not going to come as a big surprise, unlike say a major incident within Australia itself. It might tend to polarise people a bit more, but not act as something that will change their voting intentions.
• I do hope your friends are safe, Alnedra. Thank you, bees. They're fine. Got some number of sms earlier assuring me of that. They know I tend to get rather hysterical if I don't get any news. Am definitely going to the temple to thank the gods (not for the attack, of course; for the fact that my pals are safe - I got a couple of them talismans from the temple before they left, cos they were girls and living alone there).
• What?? You mean we didn't kill all the terrorists when we conquered Iraq?
• Thank you, polychrome. Alnedra, glad they're okay. Must tell you before it slips my failing mind, you are SO the lotus paste in my moon cookies!
• What?? You mean we didn't kill all the terrorists when we conquered Iraq? Not that I don't share your sentiment, but why are you bringing the US into this? Are you of the opinion that everything that happens in the world can somehow be traced to US mistakes? Sorry for being so humourless.
• I think you'll find Australia was part of the coalition of infinite crusading justice (at least for a while). I assumed smallish was bashing Australia, as he clearly is a communist Kiwi gay marriaged DVD-pirating stem-cell researcher, the bastard.
• you are SO the lotus paste in my moon cookies! quidnunc is the soiled fencepost in my pants ferrets.
• Ah, I thought the Aussies had withdrawn support for this insane war already. Muh bad.
• 's all cool. ... and middleclasstool? You're the conformal isomorphism of my compact Riemann surface. *sigh*
• *tips hat, prepares jars of dijon mustard for later use*
• fuguare: Quite the contrary, and the present Aussie government has launched a (by local standards) massive millitary build up in the last year, with plans to spend serious cash on trying to assemble a much bigger army than they're ever likely to need for anything that doesn't involved invading other countries. Most of the hostility in Indonesia toward Australia is probably based around Australia deciding to change their mind and support East Timorese independance a few years back, though.
• Polychrome/Beeswacky, I think this may actually hurt Latham's chances and swing the pendulum back to the Liberal party. The general mood, I believe, has been very anti Howard/anti war in Iraq. People have supported Latham based on his oppoosition to the war. I believe that as attacks become aimed at Australia, people will be more inclined to step up the offensive, rather than backdown. Australians will see it as a personal attack that can't be ignored. I know that the war in Iraq and the embassy bombings are seperate incidents but don't be suprised if people see the two as intertwined and use it as an excuse to increase support in "The fight against Terror." This would obviously cause a shift away from Labor and back to the Liberals.
• It's a boost for Howard, no doubt about it, incumbency, etc. Thanks a bootload, you murdering bastards!
• Did seem to me a possibility there might be a backlash of sorts, but I am not nearly as conversant with Aussie politics as I'd like to be. Thanks for your comments, Bondurant.
• the bombing appears to have been a suicide attack conducted or sponsored by Jemaah Islamiah - a vocal critic of Australia's intervention in East Timor (our finest moment, i believe. Now we're screwing the poor East Timorese for all their resources.) We've copped a lot of flak from the Islamist element of South East Asia for our involvement in Iraq, but we're not at greater risk. But apparently, the Indonesians are. I make no claims as to the making-sense of that. I think, in the election campaign, we'll see the Liberal Party (think of them as the Tories or secular and relatively moderate Republicans) position become that it is foolish to withdraw our troops from Iraq. As the withdrawal was a major policy platform for the Labor Party (left of UK Labor, possibly equivalent to the Democrats in the US) prior to the election announcement, this may well pull the rug out from under Mark Latham (leader of the Labor Party) Personally, I think the Howard government has neglected our relationships with SE Asian nations to an almost criminal extent. The worst-case scenario is a very pissed off, conservative Islamist government in power in Indonesia which would lead to tensions on an unprecedented scale - the Indos have nuclear power capabilities, for example, and a history of covert operations. I'll admit that's pretty paranoid, though.
• our finest moment, i believe The end of one of our foremost disgraces, anyway. We owed those guys in a big way. Now we're screwing the poor East Timorese for all their resources I think there's some movement on that front.
• prismatic7 - thanks for the expanation of the Australian parties. (Though I should say that UK Labour, Blairites included, is still left of the US Democrats :)