Rudd wanted SBY to tell him Australia was defenceless against the will of Indonesia and its people smugglers. He wanted to be told our defence forces should not attempt to defend our borders. He got what he wanted and at the cost of a simple rebuff to Abbott.
Involving other countries in Australia’s domestic politics is a very dangerous ploy, but this is Kevin Rudd and Kevin is preoccupied with Kevin, not the interests of Australia.
Rudd (the Asian expert) should understand that the overarching political concern of Asians is the potential loss of face. To lose face is the epitome of cowardice and loss of respect. "Kevin Rudd has just given Australia that reputation and he has given it to those who know exactly what it means." That is the measure of this man. He has confirmed Indonesia’s claim that Australia is an international coward and will accept being told it should be unwilling to defend its borders... all for a cheap point-score in domestic electioneering.
But SBY is also in election mode and although the average Indonesian voter couldn’t give a damn about our boat invasion, that voter will be in awe of a strongman President who can so easily dictate another foreign power’s defence policy.
Let’s get this straight (and I’m no hawk) but these are Indonesian boats, under Indonesian flags, with Indonesian captains that continue to leave from Indonesian ports with tens of thousands of illegal immigrants who have flown into Indonesian airports and Rudd asks Indonesia’s President to, “Please confirm you don’t want us to turn these boats back!” Crumbs!
At the same time we gift billions to this corrupt Islamic nation that has wealth beyond ours, the world’s fastest growth of billionaires and a military and bureaucracy that amass huge profits by virtue of breaching our borders. WTF am I missing here?
Rudd will of course confirm that all parties are now to embark on a “regional solution”. What a load of frog droppings! This is not a “regional problem”, it never was, it is an “Indonesian problem” and it should be dealt with from a position of strength!
“Regional” is a politic word meaning, “to dissipate responsibility”. “To involve others who are not really involved because it then appears it’s not our lack of resolve alone.”
Until Australia has a leader who will not cravenly cower to another foreign power's interests, until we have a leader who will cultivate respect for Australia’s sovereignty, then we remain dangerously exposed.
No nation has ever respected another nation's weakness... least of all an Asian nation.
If you didn’t like Rudd initially, you now have it confirmed in spades exactly why you didn’t."
quoted from Pickering Post
