from Crikey …..

Coonan's policy lacks byte (and other nerd jokes)

Crikey’s resident nerd and lapsed tech journalist Marcus Westbury writes…

Cuba's 'first lady' dies

Vilma Espin, one of the most powerful women in the Cuban revolution that brought her brother-in-law Fidel Castro to power, has died aged 77.

A key figure in advancing women's equality in communist Cuba, Espin was married to Fidel Castro's younger brother Raul, who took over as acting president in July 2006 after the Fidel underwent surgery.

Espin became Cuba's unofficial first lady because Fidel Castro's wife, Dalia Soto del Valle, never played an official role.

A trained chemical engineer, she became a senior figure in the communist regime, where she championed women's rights as president of the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC).

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My mind's spinning around The Eureka Rebellion, Mahatma Ghandi, Easter 1916, Garry Kasparov, and Parkin (brutally thrown out of our country for no crime) floats around the edges.

In the eyes of those who believe themselves as defending against an imposed injustice, observance of the laws of a perceived oppressor may not be foremost amongst priorities.

There are many who share Bryan Law's concern of the use of U.S. military technology on our soil. I for one am dismayed at the successful U.S. sponsored scramjet launch at Woomera last Friday. Of course everyone's talking up the two-hour flight to London, but peaceful uses for such technologies never preceed the need to find newer and more efficient ways to kill each other.

The world became much smaller on Friday. How quickly do you think a scramjet-fitted Aegis will arrive from Australia to anywhere when it comes screaming down at Mach 10?

The media is finally being trickled "news" that the AWD's might be fitted with Aegis SM-3's ( like the ones the Japs bought so we can have a "national" missile shield. The public are being smokescreened from the knowledge that they're participating in an international Bush/Cheney program, first mooted in a defence paper spearheaded by the head of Halliburton Australia.

SM-3s,unlike SM-2s, don't need atmosphere in which to steer. They could still get to 500km above the surface and from there hurtle down on scramjets.

They reckon that a plane would make is from Australia to London in 2 hours... I bet you that a missile would do it faster.

We're going to be part of a U.S. led Coalition Of Missiles. Mark these words.

‘Richard Perle, the former head of the Defense Policy Board, known in the Beltway as the "Prince of Darkness," has been on TV a lot lately in a much-publicized public spat with former CIA director George Tenet, who recently accused Perle of targeting Iraq days after 9/11.

The US department of justice is preparing to open a corruption investigation into the arms company BAE, the Guardian has learned. It would cover the alleged £1bn arms deal payments to Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia.

[Media Release] Four Christian pacifists are celebrating after being spared prison sentences in the Northern Territory Supreme Court today.

The Pine Gap Four, found guilty of breaching the Defence (Special Undertakings) Act 1952, have been handed minor fines.

The public gallery erupted into song, applause, cheers and hugs and the feeling of victory and vindication was in the air.

Justice Sally Thomas noted their good behaviour and co-operation in the sentencing decision.

When PM Howard announces the constructors of the Air War Destroyers next week remember this: In 2005 The Federal Government chose Gibbs & Cox as the preferred designer for Navy's Air Warfare Destroyers (AWDs) - one of Australia's largest and most complex Defence projects worth up to $6 billion. This decision was given to the US State Department as a foregone conclusion.

According to the Defence Minister of the day, Robert Hill "The selection of Gibbs and Cox as platform designer now completes the team whose responsibility it is to deliver the project."

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute, just in time for the announcement, has released a report recommending the US design over the Spanish one. It made particular mention of the Gibbs and Cox' Arleigh Burke's capabilities with medium and long range cruise missiles.

‘Liberal and Labor senators on the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade have combined to reject a private member's bill by Democrats leader Senator Lyn Allison that would prohibit the acquisition of cluster bombs by the Australian military.

‘The US war crimes tribunals at Guantanamo have betrayed the principles of fairness that made the Nazi war crimes trials at Nuremberg a judicial landmark, one of the US Nuremberg prosecutors said on Monday.

"I think Robert Jackson, who's the architect of Nuremberg, would turn over in his grave if he knew what was going on at Guantanamo," Nuremberg prosecutor Henry King Jr. told Reuters in a telephone interview.

 

Kirribilli function ethically kosher, says PM

The Prime Minister has denied breaching his own Ministerial Code of Conduct by hosting a Liberal Party function at Kirribilli House.

The function was held at John Howard's official Sydney residence earlier this month.