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Listed below are comments made by Journoren between Saturday, 2nd May 2009 and Tuesday, 16th June 2009.

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The best prime minister Australia never had? 1:52pm on 16 Jun 2009 Turbull can bear hide his jubilation ..and his son Alex's facebook signature reveals all...
A tale of two Gordons 2:58pm on 15 Jun 2009 Chasers should keep their focus on public figures: Rudd, Brown, Grimshaw...anyone but those who are actually suffering
The right qualifications 2:49pm on 05 May 2009 This blogpost reminds me of Yes Minister, episode one, scene one...
Costing the Earth? 3:40pm on 04 May 2009 Rudd has always been labeled as a 'pragmatic' politician.The word 'pragmatic' seems to have different connotations in different cultural settings. From where i come from, a 'pragmatist' is sometimes understood as an 'opportunist'. So could anyone explain to me, does the word 'pragmatic' actually has any negative connotations in English language ?
Fortress Australia 4:16pm on 03 May 2009 One last post before i go to bed. Studentofmel, i found your closing summary really amusing and it's spot on.
Interestingly enough, Australia's first war as a nation is not Gallipoli, but the invasion of China. Chinese history book usually starts China's 'period of humiliation' in modern history with the so called 'eight nation invasion of CHina'. This is an inaccurate account, for Australia as a newly formed nationstate actually sent troops to China alongside the British forces.
A real war between Australia and China is something most of us don't want to see (I reckon you as a CHinese-Australian don't want to see this worst eventuality too).As you said, what we should do is to 'mitigate this eventuality'.
One question come to my mind now is, how will this new defense white paper affect Australia's public diplomacy to China ? The offical Xinhua news agency has reported it as it is, without mentioning anything related to China. But some 'patriotic'papers such as the Global Times in China has already labled Australia as disseminating the 'China threat'. The image of Australia among general population is at its all time high in China with the help of mandarinspeaking, cartooncharacterlike Kevin Rudd. Will this white paper adversely affect public perception in China towards Australia ?
Fortress Australia 1:17pm on 03 May 2009 hi studentofmelbourne, are you from mel uni? glad to see an alumnus here!

I think China's previous war with its neighours has little to do with its political system. It's simply consequences of geopolitics, which will be themes of conflicts in the future. I do agree with Beijing_2008 in stating China's not 'imperalistic' or 'expansionist'in nature but i found Smauel Huntington's asessment compelling. China WILL seek an East Asia hegemony once it's back on its full strenght due to its historical position in hierarchical command structures of East Asia Confucian Sinic civilizations. As Mark Twin once famously commented, history might not repeat itself but it certainly rhyme a lot. A China hegemony in East Asia is certainly not in the interests of the US and Australia so my prediction is similar as yours, that future conflicts are inevitable. Whether it will play out in terms of military confrontation is hard to say but i reckon Australia's stepping in the right direction. Military builtup is to a large extent a deterrence to war, as has proven by the Cold War.

I reckon language is a crucial part in bridging understandings between different races and cultures. For instance some Chinese political discourse such as Taoguangyanghui needs to be understood in a Chinese way. The straighforward translation is highly ambiguous and leaves too much to the imagnination. But i agree with you that language should not be used as a ulimate weapon in countering criticisms.
Fortress Australia 09:41am on 03 May 2009 I reckon this discussion has gone offtrack a bit. My understanding to this issues is that Australia is not simply responding to a 'China threat' but an 'Asian threat'. Virtually all Asian countries are upgrading and modernizing their military, and Australia has to react according. China is one part of the whole story.

Not sure if any of you guys know a comment made by former Singapore PM Lee Kuan Yew during a television interview a couple years ago. He stressed the need for further economic links between Asia and Australia but he stated Asian nations will 'never regard Australia as family'. Australia's trying to enmesh with Asia (at least under the Labor government), but Asia in general is suspicious of Australia for it stands for 'the West'. As long as this understanding and trust rift still exists, an arm race is inevitable.

And for Australia, the biggest problem is not military hardware. The real problem for Australia is to find enough people to MAN these equippments. Recent revelation is that the Aussie Navy simply couldn't sufficient staff the current fleet of six Collin Class sub. Young Aussies are continually drawn to the highpaying mining industry. So if China really has an intention to weak Australia's defence, all it needs to do is to keep investing in Australia's mining industry......
Fortress Australia 3:59pm on 02 May 2009 To Airspace 86:
'ethical principals' of the US ? you must be joking.....try to read a bit history about what happened in Iran...

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