Senator Bob Carr

Foreign Minister                                                         October 20th, 2012

Dear Senator Carr

Re:     UN Security Council

Thank you for your self-congratulatory email on Australia’s successful election to the UN Security Council.

When I first saw the heading of your email – ‘We won & it matters …’ – I thought it must have been from NSW Lotteries, informing me that I’d won a jackpot on Lotto. Alas, that was not the case, so you’ll have to forgive me for not cracking a bottle tres buedy to celebrate this event, but I just can’t afford it right now.

Your note made the point that we, as Australians, ‘too often underestimate our role on the international stage’. Well, I can’t agree with you at all. I think our role is all too well understood on the international stage & that most would not see Australia as ‘a middle power’ but as a reliable, hypocritical servant of US interests; no-matter what they are.

I for one don’t really understand why we need a department for foreign affairs, when we could have a grade one clerk simply ‘ticking the box’ on everything that comes out of Washington, like a kind of ‘diplomatic carbon copy service’ or something? We could save millions.

Your letter went on to say that, for the next two years, Australia ‘will have a direct hand in shaping solutions to the world’s most pressing security challenges’. Well, does that mean that we can now expect to hear the Australian government … 

- speaking-out against the actions of NATO & other US allies for their criminal actions in funding & arming the insurrection in Syria, in an attempt to bring down that country’s legitimate sovereign government?

- voicing its grave concerns about the failure of the Saudi Arabian government to address the wicked oppression that it visits on its women, in the same fashion that we demonise the Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan & Pakistan for their attacks on women?

- expressing its disagreement with the savage sanctions imposed on Iran by the US & its allies; an act of aggression & tantamount to a declaration of war, which is an international crime: a crime against peace, with these sanctions designed to illegally force Iran to abandon its entirely legal uranium enrichment activities? These criminal sanctions that directly impact the daily lives of millions of Iranians, in particular denying millions of Iranian citizens access to critical cancer treating drugs – something we can be truly proud of?

- taking issue with the Indonesian government’s criminal behaviour in attempting to crush legitimate opposition to its occupation of West Papua, by arbitrarily arresting & executing Papuan citizens who are bold enough to call for independence?

- condemning Israel for its ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people?

- suggesting that Australia’s best interests would be served by our immediately withdrawing our troops from Afghanistan & ending our ‘peace-keeping’ activities which, at the end of the day, see us interfering in another country purely as a catspaw for US energy interests?

- educating the world on the meaning of the term ‘sovereignty’ & explaining how more & more countries, including our own, are willing to enter into extradition treaties with the US government which will allow our citizens to be scooped-up anywhere in the world, taken to the US & charged with breaking US laws, when they are not US citizens & were not on US soil when they allegedly committed the ‘offence’?

And, whilst we’re at it, perhaps we can help educate the world to better understand that one of the conditions that a country must be able to meet in order to be recognised as having ‘sovereignty’, is that it must be able & prepared to protect the human & legal rights of its citizens against the illegal or unjust actions of other governments … like our government is doing for Julian Assange, right?

- and, of course, a position on the UN Security Council will provide your government with a great platform from which we can preach to the world about the importance of human rights & will allow to showcase how Australia - a proud, wealthy, educated, first-world democratic ‘middle power’ - has succeeded in developing & deploying world’s best practice management systems for the handling of refugees & asylum-seekers?

So Senator, when your government is willing to use its position on the UN Security Council to genuinely pursue constructive diplomacy to end conflict in the world & abandon its slavish support for every action of the US, no-matter how criminal or obscene, then I’ll believe our appointment will stand for something we can be proud of. 

In the meantime, please refrain from sending me any more of your self-congratulatory, self-promoting emails, claiming some heroic success which will not make a jot of difference to lives of any of the people of any of the countries that I’ve mentioned, & certainly won’t contribute anything towards solving the growing problems of poverty & discrimination abroad in our own fair land.

Sincerely,

John Richardson

PS      If you, your government or the Australian Labor Party would like to learn more about our opinions on your government & its shortcomings, you can contact me via my email address.