Comments

We must give credit where credit is due and thank Tony for his belated opinion on rampant immigration and its affect on the Australian economy and way of life. Now that Tony has come "clean" on immigration, it will be interesting to see how and when the remainder of political spectrum sees the lay of the land. Government ministers have, naturally, slated Tony for his comments, but where do the Labs, Greens and the rest of our members of parliament stand on this topic and will the mainstream media have the intestinal fortitude to ask them? My bet is that the first part of the question will in the negative (they'll skulk around hiding and not want to answer) the question and a most definite no!

Interesting to see that Barry Jones, who chaired the 1994 Inquiry into Australia's Population Carrying Capacity, turned up to this event. No-one, however, seems to have mentioned how Melbourne's constant invitation to more and more commercial immigrants is driving this dystopia. (). What a clear sign this de-treeing of a major avenue is of the government's complete contempt for Australian national symbols and their signalling to the public that it is powerless against their despotism. St Kilda Road Avenue and the War Memorial and Botanical Gardens complex are national symbols equivalent to the Champs Elysees in Paris and other victory and memorial avenues around the world. Destroying them signals to Australians that they have no rights at all in their environment. It goes together with the outsourcing of Melbourne's Planning and many other once-was-a-government services, including water, power and telecommunications. Dave Davis's comments on Heritage Victoria's giving permission for this outrage, were interesting. This destruction is also indicative of contempt for Melbourne's once famous town planning, which provided wide streets and many parks. Now these excellent provisions have been overexploited, despite the many warnings and the obvious signs along the way. Why? Because Australia is ruled, at federal and state level, by corporations invested in urban, rural infrastructure and property development and the financing of this. That is our only industry and it is eating us alive. Unfortunately, for all Dave Davis's words, his own party is into the same trough.

Speakers included Michael Buxton, Senator Derryn Hinch, Barry Jones and the former Governor of Victoria Alex Chernov. Later Mary Drost will be sending out all the speeches by email thanks to Tony Michael and Jill Quirk. Mary will probably also send them to MPs so that they can see for themselves these well known people very angry with what is going to happen in St KIlda Road. A disaster. Facebook photos here: .

Thanks Sheila I agree with your sentiments and those of the interviewees that the Koreans are talking to each other which is a big step away from what our western governments and mainstream media would have us believe. The belligerence and the United States of America and sycophantic nations like Australia are being mocked on the international stage like never before. Not since February 13 has The Age mentioned Kim Yo-jong after Max Boot correctly paraphrased "North Korea has emerged as the early favourite to grab one of the Winter Olympics'most important medals: the diplomatic gold." With this achievement in the bag, the Koreans don't have to do anything and anything the Americans and their lackeys may say, in deference, will be egg on the face. Many people are starting to realise that the western belligerent model is not working. The George Bush II model "my way or the highway" doesn't wash! The lies, the subterfuge, the assassinations, the regime and attempted regime change, the subversive wars and blood letting, the genocide - people are slowly starting wise-up. Syrians want to be Syrians in their own land, similarly Koreans want to be Koreans in Korea. Peace can only achieved by understanding that we are not all the same and that we must make allowances for for different beliefs by religions and for religions. We must show tolerance and compassion for different races and political beliefs. We in the west must realise that American hegemony doesn't equal democracy. That neoliberalism doesn't equate to the Australian value of a "fair go", it promotes greed and fear in it's place. We, the ones with the egg on our face, are the ones that must extend our hands in friendship and good will!

Like most Koreans, the farmers and fishing families protested the senseless division of their nation between north and south in 1945 - a line drawn along the 38th Parallel by an American official, Dean Rusk, who had "consulted a map around midnight on the day after we obliterated Nagasaki with an atomic bomb," wrote Cumings. The myth of a "good" Korea (the south) and a "bad" Korea (the north) was invented.

I suspect we are up to around stage or 4 or 5: "The Kubler-Ross 5 stages of grief are 1. denial 2 anger 3. bargaining 4.depresion 5. acceptance" But the trouble is, the stages only apply in situations where there is no more options. There are more options after acceptance in society - i.e acceptance that something is seriously wrong - and that is definitely the stage we do not want to reach, as that is the stage when things get decided ugly as people with nothing more lose not only disengage, but then turn against the system that they see as causing their pain. I suspect the USA is entering into this 6th stage, and that that is also the path we are on, and policy makers are digging the grave of Australian society as we knew it up until the mid-1980's, and even the remnants of that society which still exist today, will all be swept away - first by the systemic onslaught against living standards and families, then by the publics' (mainly young people's) reaction to that. It is very dangerous ground we are entering into. Young people have massive debts, are under enormous stress, and many I suspect wonder if they have a future. What keeps the system going despite all this is the bubbles of mining and housing (which although indebting young people, also keeps them in work building and renovating each others' houses - all on borrowed coin). Take this bubble employment away, and there is not much left but anger or despair. I am sure the policy makers know this, that is why they dare not do anything that will deflate the bubble, yet inevitably it will deflate, and the longer it goes, it worse it seems to be getting. Matt

Do we really have to re-iterate that migrants have made a great contribution to Australian society when discussing immigration numbers? "We" have made both good and bad contributions over the last century plus. The level of planned immigration is a policy issue that should be in the interests of the people already living in Australia and not in the interests of economic measures such as GDP or even GDP per capita if the latter more useful measure does not translate into a better quality of life for population already in the country. This serious matter that drastically affects liveability and the environment needs to be kept separate in discussion from the personal realm.

Carla says that people in Australia must eventually accept the changes that population growth necessitates. She needs to accept that if high population growth driven by high migration cannot be changed then Australians especially in the cities will take some time to get to this. The Kubler-Ross 5 stages of grief are 1. denial 2 anger 3. bargaining 4.depresion 5. acceptance. I am not sure what are up to at present.

I received this message yesterday- it seems all that the community can do now for the St. Kilda Road trees - a continuous vigil When ? ongoing from now Where? -St. Kilda Road near the Albert Reserve , near Domain Road and the Shrine.Please read on. Hi Trees are being taken down in St Kilda Road today and over the next days or week. We have the extraordinary situation of this destruction of a Victoria Heritage listed, National Heritage listed, grand, continuous multiway boulevard and its continuous lines of trees and canopy, world famed as an example of this lauded form, historically and in modern urban environments, and formally and officially now a permanent ‘National Treasure’ for Australia. 1. A vigil in St Kilda Road: this is being organised from grass roots level, so it is asked that each and all of you attend and contact others to attend and grow this. Please contact friends, family and associates and go to St Kilda Road, near the Albert Reserve, near Domain Road intersection and the Shrine and begin a vigil. It is intended to grow this as a continuous vigil to show that we care. It is important to show this care… and attend, even briefly and seek to grow this. Someone could bring a tent for shelter from the rain. Bring any posters or banners you have, e.g. the Melbourne South Yarra Residents Group ‘Don’t Destroy the St Kilda Road Trees’ one, or the Save St Kilda Road ones, write your own message on cardboard, or just attend. 2. See attached: Maps of what has been permitted by Heritage Victoria (9/2/2018) 3. Following is copy just published by Heritage Victoria, and we absolutely disagree with it. (1) the tree removal/trees are visible. Some are in direct sight of the Shrine and Shrine Reserve. The National Heritage listed place will be “…visibly (and) physically impacted by the permitted works” – as will the works planned to follow these site ‘preparatory’ works, as is and will be the Victorian Heritage listed place St Kilda Road and other Victorian Heritage listed places. And (2) the entirety of St Kilda Road from Princes Bridge to Henry Street at the entrance to St Kilda Junction is on the National Heritage Register. And (3) the multiway boulevard form, for which St Kilda Road is a famed world example, is long and continuous. “Q & A Permits Issued by Heritage Victoria Domain (ANZAC) Station Metro Tunnel Project Works Permits 13 February 2018 What heritage permits have been issued? On 9 February 2018 Heritage Victoria provided permit approval for Metro Tunnel Project (MRP) works for the Domain (ANZAC) Station construction site. …. What are the implications of the National Heritage Listing of St Kilda and its Environs? St Kilda Road and its environs, including the Shrine of Remembrance and the Domain Parklands, were given an emergency listing in the Commonwealth Government’s National Heritage List in February 2017. While all of the St Kilda Road, from the Yarra River to the Henry Street, is included, the heritage values for St Kilda Road focus on the vista from the Yarra River to the Shrine. This portion of the road will not be visually or physically impacted by the permitted works.” ____________________________________ 4. Attached is some information on the world significance and contemporary urban value of internationally acclaimed boulevard St Kilda Road, and the heritage values of its boulevard form and continuous length:NOT ATTACHED IN THIS COMMENT Ref. The Boulevard Book: History, Evolution, Design of Multiway Boulevards Authors Allan B. Jacobs, Elizabeth Macdonald, Yodan Rofé Edition illustrated Publisher MIT Press, 2002. This is an award-winning, academically acclaimed, researched book. 5. Photographs: Please send your photos showing the visual and physical impact of the permitted works and tree removals on the National Heritage listed place. Regards, B. McNicholas

Yes, my area Seaford is not-so-slowly changing before my eyes - good solid family homes with yards being pulled down (everything on the block completely flattened - all vegetation removed) then a massive box-like house built there - going from one fence to the other (no inset). Hardly any room for vegetation - maybe a few Yukkas here and there (a plant I have quickly gotten sick of in its ubiquity). Large trees are removed - either when the blosk is sold to developers - or in some cases, on recommendation of real-estate agents (I suspect) to make the block more attractive to developers (rather than families that might like some shady trees) and thus command a higher price. Such petty greed (for better prices and bigge, newer houses) is indeed slowly destroying our neighbourhoods, and I believe our souls. Having greenery around is really theraputic, without it we forced to artificial entertainments to provide variety and release from the mundanities of life.

After going house/unit hunting with my niece on Saturday in the northern suburbs of Melbourne I was not impressed at all. One set of town house/unit thingies that will sell for around $600 to $700k was in a word a "slum"! There is no other way to describe it despite it being brand new. While the thingies were cheap and nasty, the thing that struck me more than anything was the lack of vegetation. There were no trees, no grass and less than a dozen shrubs lining the driveway and the front of the thingies. The second set of units wasn't much better although it did have a small patio area with some shrubs and small trees. I believe that Melbourne as city is dying from within. Like a death from a thousand cuts, every time a tree is chopped down (and not replaced) is another cut and the death is slow and painful. However, nothing will be done to prevent this until the people of Melbourne rise up en mass and protest to stop this madness. And that is not likely to happen anytime soon.

SUSTAIN ABILITY IS AUSTRALIA FIRST The Programme:- 1] Australian cultural values including non materialism, and respect for our Sacred Native Soil. 2] Steady State economics for prosperity, environmentalism, and independence, ensuring community participation and enhanced fulfilling lifestyles. 3] National self-sufficiency - Australian owned production of all required consumerables; inherent with environmental and recycling outcomes. 4] Citizens self-sufficiency living through modern non polluting technologies. 5] End ALL immigration -. Repatriate unsustainable Third World aliens/welfare burdens, and return to path of stable population for our Aussie community and Native Soil. 6] Phase out foreign corporations primary production and food exports encouraging third world overpopulation chaos. End foreign ownership/control in economy. 7] Introduce Citizens Initiated Referenda and Parliamentary Recall, re-empowering Individuals of The Commonwealth with authority over the political process, lifestyle, and the purpose for a High Culture. AUSTRALIA FIRST:- RECLAIMING A SUSTAINABLE AUSTRALIA FOR AUSTRALIANS

The grand scale of this onslaught and destruction of trees is quite overwhelming. It is irresponsible to densify an area to the extent that it is necessary or in their terms, justifiable to remove trees. This action should signal that the suburban areas relating to each retarding basin are all FULL and should not be taking extra population.

The best way to "put money in people's pockets" is to ensure they are paid well or at least properly and to ensure that the necessities of life - housing, power and water are affordable. Decisions taken by governments in Australia in the last few decades have mitigated against this. e.g massive immigration, privatisation and loss of manufacturing due to government decisions favouring imports.They have made Australia more "competitive" but with no net benefit to its people.

Don't forget Foran and Poldi's Future Dilemmas: Options to 2050 for Australia's population, technology, resources and environment, 2002. Commissioned by the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigeneous Affairs(DIMA), it predicted all our problems, and the government ignored it.

Just with reference to Peter Cook's recommendation that "The Australian Government should fund the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) to publish projections of the likely impact of varying rates of population growth on the built and natural environment. This analysis could form part of the CSIRO’s National Outlook publication. The release of this analysis should be synchronised with the release of the Australian Government’s Intergenerational Report," I wanted to remind people that the CSIRO provided such a report just before it was largely privatised. Economists actually distorted the expression of the scientific conclusions in their editing, which was largely forced on the scientists. The report, by Barney Foran and Franzi Poldi, was called,

About the Report
What impact will the size of Australia's future population have on the environment, the physical economy, the national infrastructure and our quality of life?

To gain insights into what the future might hold for Australia, researchers at CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems have developed new tools and approaches to modelling Australia's dynamic physical economy.

Future Dilemmas is a technical report that encapsulates the results of this research, which was commissioned by the Commonwealth Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA).

It explores the future effect of three population/immigration scenarios on infrastructure, resources and the environment out to the year 2050.

The first scenario considers what would happen if the net immigration rate was zero persons a year (described as the low scenario in the report).
The second considers what happens if the rate was 70 000 a year (the current policy setting, and described as the medium scenario).
The third examines the consequences of an immigration rate set at two thirds of one percent (0.67%) of the current population per year (described here as the high scenario).
The low scenario (zero immigration) represents the policy position of some environment groups. Based on current population growth, it would see a domestic population of 20 million by 2050. The medium scenario gives a population of 25 million by 2050. The high scenario (0.67% growth pa) is a position advocated by many business interests. It gives us 32 million people by 2050.

Future Dilemmas explores the consequences of these three scenarios for people, urban infrastructure, the natural environment, energy, water and a broad range of other issues.

Future Dilemmas: options to 2050 for Australia's population, technology, resources and environment was officially launched on Thursday 7 November 2002 by the Hon Philip Ruddock, Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs.

Is this mainstream propaganda posing as political satire or is it just a lecture? I couldn't find any punch lines.

Hi Matt, found a body of work on the internet you might find of interest to you studies. YouTube 'Martha Creek speaker'. Wisdom with a light touch. Have only watched a little so far but looks very promising.

A powerful speech by the Hungarian PM. It is interesting that he attributes the pro- immigration push to the left of politics . Surely a lot of this must come from the right as well? What comes through strongly in his speech is "listen to the people.'

Stagnation means stink, sluggishness, dis-ease, pest species, and death to legitimate lifeforms. Everything slows down to lifelessness and glug. What we have now is strangling economic excellence with the wrong growth. It's malignant, and fake growth. Surely the killing of trees, wildlife, crime, pollution, homelessness, dis-order are all symptoms of stagnation.

Absolutely agree. In fact, I have thought of a way to get public attention: we should advertise a competition for the a videoed drive to get to or from work demonstrating the most congestion. I'll suggest that to a few relevant NGOs via email.

Instead of growth that stimulates activities and the economy, Melbourne - far from streamlining- is struggling with stagnation. Once traffic is congested, movements are slowed down with endless delays and gridlocks, it impinges on the economy, and human movements. We are meant to "grow" to prove that life still exists in the city, but on the contrary, life can be choking and dampening. A stagnant water pool is not actually lifeless, but full of unwanted and choking algae and bacteria. What about a streamlined and efficient city, one with an optimum population and an economy that is efficient, egalitarian and stimulated by innovation, ideas, knowledge and cutting edge designs? There's no limits to intangibles. BUT, relying on real estate, housing/population growth, and Ponzi madness is self-destructive, debt-laden and totally against any ideals of being STREAMLINED!

"A koala has been found crushed in a forest north-east of Melbourne, after the government went against its own advice to protect the land from logging."

http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/global-embarrassment-critics-deride-plan-to-stop-plant-and-animal-extinctions-20180119-h0ld7g.html

Australia First Party Whatever will benefit Australia -that we are for -Whatever will harm Australia -that we are against - William Lane END THE IMMIGRANT DRIVEN POPULATION PLAGUE :- *Destroying community identity & purpose *Aussies becoming strangers in the street *Clogging of roads beyond belief *House price increases over the edge *Welfare drained from our own needy *Aussie youth disinherited from Australia *Aussie homeless numbers exploding *Consumer waste overwhelming land fill *Oceans swilling with sewerage outpour *Cheap labour immigrants taking Aussie jobs *Native wildlife & habitat imploding *Alien allahpox and terrorism *Foreigners’ crime gangs amok In suburbs *Aussie culture swamped by multiculti pox Australia is 90% desert/non arable, TOTALLY unsuitable for a population swarm. More people less wealth! THE BIG BUSINESS IMMIGRATION PROGRAMME IS A CATASTROPHE - CLOSE IT DOWN - AUSSIES HAVE HAD ENOUGH!! AUSTRALIA FIRST WILL:- 1a] End ALL immigration. b] Dismantle the Federal Government Department of Immigration and all its ancillaries. c] Abolish any other Government, or public body that advances immigration. d] Refuse the demands of big business/ money changers for immigration to force exponential “growth” driven profits. e] Abolish migration agents, migration lawyers, and migration do gooder organisations. f] Advance non materialist values of Australian culture. Scrapheap multicultist pox and its promoters. g] Introduce population criteria into future directions. 2a] Direct for National self-sufficiency objectives in ALL commerce and industry. b] Develop free enterprise Steady State economic goals and outcomes. c] Advance citizens self-sufficiency through access to modern non polluting technologies, d] Ownership of Australia to be taken back by and for Australians. Foreign imperialists/ lackeys ejected! e] Introduce Citizens Initiated Referenda and Parliamentary Recall, re-empowering Individuals of The Commonwealth with authority over the political process, lifestyle, and the purpose for a High Culture. Australia First Party P O Box 223 Croydon 3136 Tele: 0408 554542 - 02 8587 0014 Join the fight to reclaim our Australia!

".......It's racist and does nothing to address consumption" [and] "I suggest your views may be better received with the Sustainable Australia Party." Charming! Defamatory?

So the Greens are not even prepared to enter into debate or discussion on this issue - they threaten you with expulsion for raising 'heretical' ideas? There would be no need to 'license' the having of children in Australia, as the birth rate is about replacement rate of deaths. And the reason for this is precisely because WE DO control women's bodies - via 'The Pill'. Matt

This was forwarded to me today from someone called, "Don". Don occasionally emails the Greens with information and you can see that the same sort of xenophobia to any non-tribal ideology continues to thrive among the Hawkesbury 'Greens'. There is so much money in population growth. "Don. Please stop emailing us. The Greens do not have a policy of sustainable population and nor should we. It's racist and does nothing to address consumption. It's white people in developed nations consuming too much that's the issue, not population. Sustainable population ideology includes women required to obtain reproductive licences to have children. We should never control women's bodies. Your emails are starting to be of a similar nature to someone who was expelled from the Greens NSW for similar views and incessant communications just like this one. I suggest your views may be better received with the Sustainable Australia Party. Stop emailing the Hawkesbury Greens. David Briggs Convenor, Hawkesbury Greens."

Thanks Maria, you said: "Such type of proposal is already being active in Italy" ... "it is inconclusive, full of unprepared and ignorant people" Yes, and dealing with ignorance is one of the main things that needs to be addressed. Anyone seeking to make decisions for the community needs to make sure they are informed. Thus I envision a revival of public lectures (or equivalent), where informed people discuss, and perhaps debate, important issues of the day. Decision makers, and all citizens can attend these and make better informed decisions. Without removing ignorance we are at the mercy of manipulative politicians etc. This is the situation we have had till now, where various 'sold out' experts advise us to sell public utilities, to accept never-ending growth etc. This will change I imagine once we relocalise communities and decision making, and make everyone responsible for their own communities fate. Certainly mistakes will be made, but those mistakes initially will be a wake-up call for change. In any case, it is unlikely those mistakes will be more damaging than what is happening now. Matt

The early settlers of Melbourne came in many cases from London. They were as greedy as people are today, but they were appalled at the squalid and cramped living conditions of London and were determined not to recreate this. Thus Melbourne was designed with wide streets, vast park lands, and good public transport. In these respects Melbourne was a Utopia. Now all that is being dismantled, and Melbourne is being replaced with the worst of 18th Century 'London'.

Yes, we are being eaten up by market capitalism. Chasing the dollar is survival for those who have to work to pay rent and buy food, but for the power elites who rule us, it has become a kind of addiction. So many very wealthy people are reduced to gambling their wealth for thrills, as if there is nothing else in their lives. The myth of King Midas is so true, yet it appears to have almost no grip in our society. This is a society where the rulers are blind addicts, responding in a kind of reflex arc to any stimulus that looks or sounds like more money. And mass immigration raises the price of everything, and, since they own the resources and assets, they want more and more people.

Not only on the ground, but in the skies, Australia is becoming more hostile to wildlife, and environments. Koalas are being killed by logging, land-clearing for agriculture and housing, road yet it's labelled as merely "habitat loss" or "deforestation" as if they were natural processes. How are these poor flying foxes meant to contend with increasing heat, exacerbated by the heat-island effect and climate change, plus the stress of towers, sky-hooks and cranes? It's an invasion, all driven by heavy population growth that drives demand for towers.

[Transcribed by Sheila Newman from an email] "During birthing season I would not think this is a viable option as pups left in trees while mums forage would be distressed. I would encourage construction work to not impact third trimester of pregnancy and birthing seasons, limiting activities that can be done in this period. Cranes swinging directly over the roost trees should be ceased for one as well as cement mixers operating during fly in times where mums return to the roost and reunite with pups, also pile driving activities were under tight restrictions on one site due to the flying foxes but for whatever reason unknown to me they weren’t under restrictions on the other site also across from the colony."

Wow, what guts! Who would have thought that an Australian state premier would dare to disobey the growth lobby? On his first day in power after a thumping election victory, Mr McGowan wrote to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to request WA be removed from the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS). Then in June, the WA Skilled Migration Occupation List was slashed from 178 to just 18 occupations, the least in Australia. Coupled with a Federal Government crackdown on 457 visas, they have made it much more difficult for foreigners to find work and apply for permanent residency in Perth. Read more here:

This article highlights how shockingly abusive our governments are in turning a blind eye the habitat disruption and destruction. The development it OBVIOUSLY causing havok as bats are noctural and need to sleep during the day. If the trees are deeply vibrating and loud noises are happening it would not surprise me if they are suffering. It's like sleep deprivation. Maybe the development needs to start when awaken at twilight? Pile-driving generally is known to cause MANY problems including damage to nearby properties. So if a big development is going up near you, you need to request that before and after photos be taken of your home, so in the event that the pile-driving causes damage that the developers are forced to pay you for the repair bill.

Such type of proposal is already being active in Italy, thanks to the 5 Stars Movement, ( Movimento Cinque Stelle ) and it is inconclusive, full of unprepared and ignorant people, who are unfit to govern. But, given the rest of the Italian Political class,it is not an exceptional case.

The following are excerpts from (9/1/18) by Dr. Binoy Kampmark | . As well as this terrible instance of neglect and cruelty to animals, this article is about the threat of ethnic strife and renewed war between Muslims, Serbs and other ethic groups in the Serbia Town of Bujanovac.

The man, gristle and all ... was spotting a particularly agitated dog, udders swollen and heavy, with disdain. The word was that he had hit that same animal the previous day. The memory stung; the dog, barking with helpless fury, wanted a revenge it could never have, a dish it could never savour.

As the barking continued with increasing agitation, a set of strangled yelps were released, followed by a sequence of piercing howls. The man had deployed his stick once more, having gotten off his perch and metamorphosed into a mobile being. No longer still statue, clothes animated and moving with the corporeal form, this mass was now directing his stick with committed viciousness. The dog, beaten, fled again, its cries weaving through the pot-filled streets of Bujanovac like lengthy stretches of pain.

The scene of casual cruelties in the town of Bujanovac alight along the potted road to the village church in neighbouring Rakovac, a village of Serbs in an area also replete with Albanians and the sound of mosques in prayer.

A puppy blackish and brown, its pygmy presence barely a few weeks old has been abandoned, its doomed cries as it vainly struggles in the damp grass defrosted from the night, bruising to the heart. Some pass by without a glance at this blur of colour, the animal struggling to find his bearings, legs giving way; others register a sorrowful regret at not being able to take the animal home. There are priorities, and the dog as pet is less valued as the dog as guard, soldier and functional protector. Animals shelters where these creatures can be saved are not thought of; the grim reaper shall have his feed tonight.

...

I would like to believe that, if I had been a resident of Bujanovic, amidst the cold, lacking food, firewood and fearing a further outbreak of ethnic strife and war that has been endemic to the region since ,that I would have still rescued that dog or at least given it some food and and water and taken the time to show it a little kindness.

Yesterday I heard someone talking on radio ABC Melbourne about an outbreak of Dyptheria in Jakarta along with the observation that the disease is more likely to spread due to the dense population in that city. There was not a hint of irony at all in the report or reference to Melbourne being in the process of emulating these levels of density!!

"We feel we are making every effort towards a better, more vibrant, more diverse, society. We are having some successes and some failures but all the while making progress as people speak out." Yes, thanks Barbarella. Such changes are allowed, anything that doesn't threaten the powers of the elite. By allowing these changes, and on such scant evidence, the narrative of 'progress' and 'life getting better' can be continued, as the world burns. Matt

"The ABS figures show a marked increase in net overseas migration arrivals, with the numbers increasing by 11.5 per cent or 56,900 people between July 2016 and July 2017 to reach 552,900 ­arrivals. Over the same period, migration departures rose 1.5 per cent to 307,500. The figures also showed Australia’s total population grew by 388,100 people, or 1.6 per cent, to reach 24.6 million by the end of June this year.

Yes, Olaf, you just need four other people to join you and you can have a meeting and form the parliament. You need to decide on a geographic area, and check that the adult permanent population is less than 1.5 million people. Determining the boundaries of the area might be tricky - but I guess some sort of polygon based around GPS co-ordinates, or alternatively (and better in case of lack of satellite access), land marks, would do. Or you could use existing boundaries for municipal or electoral zones. Just keep a copy of what they are. I guess posting a copy of your first meeting minutes to this site would serve as sufficient notice that the parliament has been formed.

Thanks for your encouragement Sheila, I will see if I can do something to promote it a bit more. Youtube seems one likely possibility.

Also James, consider what has become of the Trotskyist movement under any of its names - and of just about every communist or socialist organisation today. The elites learned their lesson from a near miss and they simply infiltrated the entire movement, with paid organisers who recruit youth and then teach them to go round in circles, until they grow up figuring that revolt is not possible. One thing I don't understand is how the 'cell' concept failed to prevent this. Any ideas?

The following was posted in response to the article (7/1/18) | The Saker by Ramin Mazaheri. It is currently awaiting moderation. Whilst the is clearly flawed and potentially harmful, just over one hundred years ago, after the criminal slaughter in which 18 million died, humanity's best hope of preventing a recurrence of that war lay with others who would have proudly worn the label 'Trotskyist' or 'communist'. Several times before August 1914, socialists prevented the outbreak of war by organising mass protests. In 1905, Swedish socialist Zeth Höglund prevented a war to stop Norway's secession from Sweden. Popular protests organised by socialists prevented the 1911 Agadir crisis triggering a war. Popular protests organised by socialists also prevented the Balkan wars of 1912-13 from becoming a wider European war. Whilst they were unable to prevent war starting in August 1914, they succeeded in November 1917 overthrowing one of the perpetrators of that war, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. On a number of occasions between November 1918 and November 1923 German communists attempted to emulate the example of the Russian Revolution. Had they succeeded, Hitler would have become a small footnote in history. Instead, humanity paid for their failure with the rise of Hitler, the Jewish Holocaust and the Second World War in which an estimated 60 million died, the theft of Palestine, all the wars started by Israel, the Korean war, the Vietnam War, the Iraq Wars, the invasion of Libya, the war against Syria, etc.

Ah, yes, the AIM network .. cough cough.. :-) (which, sadly, is full of defenders of Soros which presumably means they are financed by him). I'm glad you got some comments. So, there is obviously nothing wrong with your idea. People have to choose to dedicate themselves to it. When I think of the number of organisations I am mixed up with and how hard it is to get anyone to actually look after them. It needs publicity and something for people who don't read, such as a youtube rundown. I looked on youtube and there was nothing like it. Please try to continue to promote this. It is the best idea I have heard.

So, Matthew, have you started a local shadow parliament? Or do you know someone who has? I would join one. It sounds like I could just start one of my own too, by declaring my intention then waiting for applications. Am I right?

Of course, Matthew, we published that, and there were no comments. Did you publish it elsewhere and get comments? So, you are proposing a way for citizens/residents to begin to create their own government. It is an excellent proposal. I tried to encourage people to do this when I suggested complaining to various authorities, including armed forces, of the way massive population growth was overturning our laws. I might go and post your article to a few groups now.

I don't think change can come from the system that benefits from the status quo - the Catholic church is perhaps a good example here - change from outside - from a grass roots movement started by mainly one man who tapped in to popular sentiment and people felt strongly enough about the issue to risk being killed (often by burning).

Thus I feel a similar process will eventually happen now in relation to our current power system - only much worse, as we are now dependent on the system for all our food and other needs, whereas once this power was much more decentralised and democratically distributed.

As an intermediate approach I have proposed the following:

But I think it will be too late soon, if not already. Not too late for change, but too late to avoid massive suffering.

Soros may have done many of these things, but how does one fund the Occupy Wall Street movement? He may have promoted it for his own reasons, but no-one funded it.

Do you have any ideas on how to make change happen? Not being able to make change happen could be described as not knowing what is wrong or what to do about it, too. It all reminds me of the problems ordinary people have in trying to get our Flora and fauna guarantee act enforced; we do not have 'standing'. We do not have 'standing' in our own country to be represented. Citizens do not have standing here. They do not have standing even to say how many members the citizenry here should have. It's like being dictated to by the Catholic Church in the Middle ages.

"Soros And MasterCard Join Forces To Profit From Immigration Radical currency speculator George Soros is scheming to profit from the illegal immigration crises in the United States and the European Union that he was instrumental in creating. Soros traffics in revolution and human misery. His devious business deals have brought the financial systems of the United Kingdom and Malaysia to their knees. Soros helped finance the 1989 "Velvet Revolution" in then-Czechoslovakia. He acknowledged having orchestrated coups in Croatia, Georgia, Slovakia, and Yugoslavia. Soros hates America. “The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States,” he has said. Soros praises Communist China effusively and has said the totalitarian nation—which cuts babies in unauthorized pregnancies from the wombs of their mothers, tortures and kills religious dissenters, and runs over eminent domain resisters with steam-rollers—has “a better-functioning government than the United States.” In the U.S. he has financed the violent, politically destabilizing Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter movements. Now the preeminent funder of border-busting campaigns in the U.S. and overseas has entered into a partnership with credit card giant MasterCard Inc. to create something called Humanity Ventures." More here:

See:

There are links forward and back to causes and solutions. At least he is trying. But reality seems to be that no matter how many books are written on the causes, problems and possible solutions, not much seems to change. The sticking point seems not be knowing what is wrong, or what to do about it, but rather making any change happen.

I appreciate your comment and really would be interested to know what Monbiot suggests, since we can do with any advice. Did he mention the role of war in the international economy? I was once again shocked at the merciless economic immigration ideology coming from the EU President Junker when I received an email citing him in a Breitbart article from November last year. This is a man raised and politically groomed in the unreal environment of Tax-haven Luxembourg. See Junker presides over a body that has gone along with brutal wars in the Middle East and Africa and grotesque austerity measures. He was Luxembourg's representative on the board of Governors of the World Bank. Such people are unable to see past the accumulation of personal fortunes. They will literally push any ideology that keeps that money coming. I see them as as radical and psychopathic, as removed from ordinary people, as Nazi commanders. Excuse me using your comment as a bouncing board for my rave here. I imagine that Monbiot does talk about the problem of very wealthy capitalists, does he?

This is just the latest symptom of a system that is fundamentally unsustainable. And I would argue, almost unrecoverable. Our reliance on fossil fuels is the root of all this (and switching to batteries will not help). Fossil fuels underlie the sprawling separation of work and home, allowing services to be centralised and concentrating us around city centres. Fossil fuels allow our unsustainable food and transportation systems, which will persist even in the face of global warming, as more energy is bought to bear, until a horrible climax is reached. What is the solution? Not something that anyone, or any government is likely to do. That is to move back to localised systems, wean ourselves off fossil fuels. This would require a massive, carefully orchestrated effort by everyone. And much sacrifice by all. An effort akin to that put into preparing and winning a world war would be needed, and is needed. But a rallying of the troops for this war is a very unlikely event. Most people are either oblivious to the problem, or prefer to pretend it doesn't exist. But more and more people will become marginal participants in the system as their poverty increases.

Thanks Sally and I agree with your sentiments, we are being boiled alive as are those who are doing the boiling although they don't know that yet! We desperately need to find a better way, a better political framework, a better economic environment, a way in which we can live in harmony with the land. I'm currently reading George Monbiot's book "Out of the Wreckage", sub-titled "A New Politics for an Age of Crisis", which covers various aspects of the current diktat and explores what can be done by a true democracy in the future. While some of the ideology may seem a bit naive, the objective of the book is meritorious. WE do need to take control of the frying pan or we will literally be boiled alive!!

I am told by those in the field that there is very little money now for helping newcomers to Australia gain competency in English. Where teachers once had the resources to take students on excursions to enrich their experiences and to enable them to put to use practical English skills, now it is something teachers might volunteer in their own time or the students might pay for it as a extra. The government body in Victoria that overseas and employs teachers of English as a second language was denied the opportunity to increase its own funding by teaching self funded immigrants , business immigrants etc. who would have paid for the service. This task was given to private operators , as I understand.

Good to see you on the ball Olaf, but it only gets worse! The Victorian State Government was in the MSM today sprouting their 'achievement/s' "Housing boom fills Victoria's coffers" with the population expected to grow by 2.3% or some 147,000 people in the next 12 months. So far from any stabilisation in the population stakes, the Andrews government intends on ramping it up. Of course as if on cue, the COALition point the finger at the Labs accusing them of sponsoring a ponzi scheme. Don't you just love!!! During the week I read Jane O'Sullivan's paper "The Burden of Durable Asset Acquisition in Growing Populations" and am currently reading Richard Denniss' book "Curing Affluenza" subtitled "How to buy less stuff and save the world'. Unfortunately, Jane's paper will cost you your hard earned, maybe admin could come to the party here?? Both are must reads for anybody wanting to understand the foolhardy madness that surrounds us at the moment.

New South Wales and Victoria have recorded their highest ever levels of net overseas migration (NOM), according to the latest population figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). ABS Demography Director Beidar Cho said:

“Australia’s net overseas migration for the year ending 30 June 2017 was 245,400, an increase of 27 per cent from the previous 12 months (2015-16).

“Net overseas migration in New South Wales and Victoria increased by 31 per cent and 23 per cent respectively. This growth has seen both states surpass their previous recorded high in 2008-09.”

https://scorchinghotnews.com/australias-net-overseas-migration-year-245400-increase-27-per-cent/

Dear Hornsby Councilor,

Declare Hornsby Shire a zero population growth zone now - Geoff Dowsett, Hornsby resident since 1981.

The Turnbull Govternment's abuse of our traditionally humanitarian immigration system involves right wing social engineering of city electorates to achieve Lieberal victory in every seat and to satisfy big business "donors" greed for infinite profit growth. It is a cynical attack on our Aussie culture - the traditional working class, our quality of life, our living standards our public infrastructure, our fragile fauna and flora, our community trees, green belt, our urban heritage houses - the Aussie back yard leading to increasing traffic pollution, chaos and congestion - sky rocketting house prices as population increases – constant disruption of our communities by constant sub division demolition of our heritage houses and gardens – constant construction and building disturbance of our neighbourhoods - increasing population density- loss of heritage gardens wild life and bio diversity - infrastructue melt down, rising prices as demand sky rockets - the list goes on and on. In other words unprecedented corporate welfare - achieved by importing record high numbers of non humanitarian "immigrants" - right wing, upper caste, aspirational, materialistic, conformists, happy to live in Mirvac and Lendlease's ugly monotonous McMansions in the western suburbs and Harry Trigaboof`s high rise battery hen tower block chook pens and eager to vote Lieberal while our rich socially diverse Australians are escaping this invasion of Sydney or suffering the foreign invasion inflicted on them - our poor - traditional working class, our artists, bohemians, old hippies, ferals, true Greenies forced out to create a polluted mono cultural fascist Sydney.

Demand an end to Turnbull's destructive, corrupt immigration ponzi rort now - No more non-humanitarian so-called 'skilled immigration' and family reunions.

Australia's world record high, irresponsible, destructive population growth - now the highest in the OECD

Sustainable Population Australia Page shared [where Turnbull was asked the following question about the very high immigration].

"Could you explain why you are allowing approximately 200,000 people ( It`s actually more like 500,000 net pa ) to immigrate to this country every year & are there any plans to limit this intake or will it go on ad infinitem? What is the purpose of this massive intake which is well above other countries per capita?"

What do you think?

The population of Victoria is expected to hit 10 million people by the 2050s and Melbourne's population will double by 2031, new figures indicate.The Property Council of Victoria said the figures reveal the need to reduce red tape. The council's Asher Judah said property taxes need to be cut to accommodate growth. What they mean by cutting "red tape" is making planning Smarter, by allowing planning to be done by, and for, property developers - excluding the public. Having a headwind to the projected population growth, by residents outraged by the sprawling number of higher density housing, and towers, must somehow be quashed. Melbourne will fail to meet its projected population otherwise. There was never any community consultation regarding our demographics, or immigration rates. It's all assumed to be natural, inevitable, and that our living standards must be compromised and compacted to fit the model. Having the public involved of course will mean objections, if suburbs lose their character and the features that make them liveable and attractive. Or, the public are not able to understand the planning process? What's there to understand if heritage and traditional family houses are grabbed, demolished, and replaced by monotonous high density developments? Most planners and developers only think in terms of the hip pockets, but Prof Michael Buxton is a true planner, one who's actually interested in retaining the integrity of Melbourne.

Simon. please post your email. That is a very generous offer of yours to return to Croatia. If I could return to my ancestral origins and if I thought it would help i would too. Please consider though that as an apparent advocate for Australia's native fauna, it is probably better that you stay!

I hope that it is not too late but I have just sent an e-mail now. I am not sure if the text interests anybody but it is just a combination of modified parts from the above text and general comments that I make about the need to stop expansion of human activities and about myself returning to my country of origin, Croatia, in order to reduce my impact on the native animals of Australia.

If the 1955 commuters walked in a straight line from the top of Collins Street they would have found themselves at what was then Spencer Street Station, but if they came from the top of Collins Street and turned left at Swanston, they would have found themselves facing Flinders Street Station as they would now! Walking in Collins Street doesn't mean they weren't headed for Flinders Street Station! They could also have been headed for Spencer Street but it was more for country and interstate travel.

I do hope those people who were walking doggedly down Collins Street weren't hoping to find Flinders Street Station, they may find Spencer Street which would only add to their misery when they found out that it's now called Southern Cross. Thankyou Steve Cutts for an excellent clip of the Rat Race aka "Happiness". To take it one step further I read in The Age this morning that the Fairfax-Lateral Economics Wellbeing Index is up on last year. So all of you who feel downtrodden, disenchanted and feel that the world is against you - lighten (listen) up! The Wellbeing Index charade goes like this: National Income is up by 4.5% to $1406.8b, human capital is up, environmental depletion, inequality, health and worker satisfaction on the other hand are down. The upshot is that overall that well-being is up by some $1569b which is not what the peasants in the streets have been telling me. Why?? The simple facts are that national income includes business and bank profits (of course) who have been screwing workers, human capital which has been imported in the form of migrants, environmental depletion is estimated to be only $2.5b but is more likely to be $2.5t. Environmental "depletion" which is a nice way of saying degradation should be a hot topic of conversation in our media, but all too often is relegated to the back bench. I engaged in a conversation yesterday, in 'The Conversation' "Drought on the Murray....", on that very topic and most of the comments were on the same wave length. However, what did surprise me was the lack of comments and where were the so-called environmental groups. What I'm trying to get at is that we're confusing well-being with wealth. To my mind well-being is satisfactory welfare, peace of mind, happiness, health, comfort, security, &c. Well-being is immaterial, it's not being prosperous, it's not being the best at anything and everything, it's not being successful, it's not being rich, it's not consumerism, it's not having the best house, car or anything else. Well-being is ordinary people doing ordinary things achieving ordinary outcomes. Well-being is life!!

I posted this comment beneath the YouTube video which was embedded below. Those who read this and who have already read previous comments will find that much of what is in this commen has already been posted above.

The talk appears to have omitted the underlying cause of the conflict between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK aka 'North Korea') and the United States.

North Korea was devastated in the war of 1950-1953. US Air Force General Curtis Le May perversely boasted how 25% of the population of North Korea was killed by his B29 bombers and how no building more than one storey high was left standing. The DPRK suffered this bombardment because they refused to surrender to the United States and its local proxies who had been imposed upon the southern half of Korea in 1945.

In 1945, the new US President Harry S. Truman turned on the Soviet Union and many of the United States' other war-time allies including the , the communist partisans in Italy, the Viet Minh in Vietnam, the Chinese communists and the DPRK in Korea.

In the southern half of Korea the United States' occupation forces put into power a government largely composed of Koreans who had collaborated with the Japanese occupiers. This government was named the "Republic of Korea" (ROK aka 'South Korea'). The US Army and its local ROK puppets savagely repressed supporters of the DPRK in the south and DPRK supporters resisted this repression. This civil war became a conventional war on 25 June 1950. Had the United States and its allies not massively increased the size of their intervention, the army of the DPRK could have easily beaten the army of the hated ROK. The subsequent invasion of the North was stopped, but at a terrible cost to the DPRK and to its Chinese allies. Peace was never signed in 1953. Officially that war continues. The DPRK leaders know that any one of the annual joint military exercises of the US and ROK, which resemble practice invasions of the North, could easily turn into a real invasion should the US be able to manufacture a pretext. Accordngly, the DPRK has repeatedly asked at the United Nations that these exercises cease.

THe DPRK leadres saw that they had no choice but to create weapons which could deter the United States should it ever again attempt to do what it failed to do in 1953.

Kim Jong-Un shamed Trump (Ruslan Ostako)

This little animation reminds me of 5.00pm Collins Street by John Brack painted in 1955 but there is an essential difference. Brack's painting shows people walking doggedly down Collins Street all facing the same direction, presumably on their way to Flinders Street Station. The figures overlap one another so they are massed together The animation shows rats (people) in a much more daunting mass being swept along. The difference is the amount of control the rats (people) seem to have over their situation. Brack was in a way criticising the people in his picture for choosing this life. He even criticised himself decades later for his own arrogance. The author of the animation seems to show a situation of despair that has gone beyond choice and beyond rectifying.

I posted the comment below to a discussion beneath the article (5/12/2017) | South Front.

Starlight, whilst I continue to be appalled by the scale of the overt and covert crimes of Israel against the Arab peoples and the rest of humanity, it is wrong to imply that every jewish person is complicit. I beleive that this sort of language only helps Israel and the United States' government.

President Vladimir Putin made Russia a sovereign country again after almost nine years of misrule by his drunken predecessor Boris Yeltsin. In Syria, Russian military intervention almost certainly saved the government of the Presdident Bashar al-Assad which was facing an invasion by hordes of terrorst mercenaries from all corners of the world.

President Putin should rightly be viewed alogside the likes of United States' Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and John F Kennedy and President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt.

Nevertheless, I think President Putin has shown surprisingly poor judgement in a number of critical conflicts. Even the Syrian conflict has been dragged out needlessly because of Putin's wish to reach a compromise with some of the 'rebels', instead of acting in concert with Syria, Iran and Hezbollah to finish off the terrorists altogether. (How many of the estimated 400,000 dead Syrians, including 80,000 soldiers, would be still be alive today had President Putin acted more decisively?)

Whilst Vladimir Putin was off attending the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics from 7 to 23 Feb 2014, the CIA and their local neo-Nazi Svoboda footsoldiers overthrew the democratically elected government of President Viktor Yanukovych. Had Russian government acted more proactively, I beleive there is a good chance that the coup could have been prevented. Unless this coup is reversed, how is NATO to be prevented from eventually placing conventional weapons and even nuclear weapons right on Russia's border?

President Putin's bizarre reconcilatory tone towards the American hegemonists is reflected in much of the reporting and discussion on its RT news service, which is surprisingly tame, given the scale of the criminality of the American government in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Ukraine and elsewhere. At least tens of thousands have died in each of these conflicts and the total number of dead is several millions. Why should the tone of RT be any less strident in its presentation of the truth than that of the lying corporate newmedia?

Nowithstanding this critique of RT, RT's Crosstalk discussion "Distrusting the News" (6/12/2017, 27:13 minutes) at https://www.rt.com/shows/crosstalk/412064-media-journalistic-standards-deal/ is well worth a watch.

" From the discussion paper on “Reforming the Victoria Planning Provisions” residents have been excluded from the both the technical and advisory groups to the “Smart Planning” process." So it's "smart" to remove red-tape, such as community consultation, from any so-called planning processes? Those directly impacted on this decision will have their local residential areas crushed by the whims of property developers, who'll be able to use suburbs to promote their own profits, and opportunities! The destruction of consultation, communication and democratic processes is draconian and an attack on free speech, and self-determination. The removal of controls will mean that normal suburban, family-friendly liveable suburbs have the potential to become the extension of Southbank - crushed by human/housing overload! Citizen groups objecting to this overhaul need to be more overt and louder in their objections, and stop this rort.

Am a reader for a long time on The AIMN. Made several comments on various subjects. The clique in the AIMN is rather disapppointing to experience. they are left wing, so am I. They do practice a crude form of bullying and ignoring those who 'don' fit the AIMN experience' Most blogs be they be left or right wing focused do the same. A perimeter of watchers who tip off the AIMN about nefarious posts from right wing trolls. Next the regular contributors who do interact with posts and others. Almost finally, the regular posters sic who chat to one another openly via reply and ignore / exclude everyone else, by using first names. Equate that to the in-crowd at school and watching on from the sidelines. Some very good contributors who offer excellent summaries. Like all blogs wait until spoken to, do not assume being on the same side equals anything. until spoken to from on high. by then you might not necessarily like your fellow AIMN-ites. Some, see a lot do prefer posting in one sentence answers Seemingly to reflect an air of intellectual superiorty. Many political blogs are the same. The AIMN are no different. By all means, go to the AIMN, read and be informed, but refrain from posting.

To Richard Dinatale, Richard Can you please treat us like adults rather then children who need to be protected from hearing ‘bad' things. Trust people to recognise how ugly this guy’s views are when they have open access to ALL of the relevant information How about you instead make some noise on the LACK of comprehensive perspective, and thereby the blatant propaganda, being provided within vital mainstream narratives, including the ABC and Parliament, on such critical matters as the Middle East, Russia and the US’s violent global agenda of imperialism and hegemony. regards From Richard DiNatale: Greg W "Dear Gregory, On Tuesday, the far-right is hoping to give one of the world’s most notoriously abusive far-right campaigners a high-profile platform inside Parliament House. On invitation from David Leyonhjelm, Milo Yiannopoulos will bring his racist, sexist and abusive agenda to Canberra -- unless we stop him. Earlier this week, I wrote to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House, asking them to deny this audience and platform to a man who has been banned from Twitter for “engaging in the targeted abuse of others” and been accused of being an apologist for paedophilia. We need to apply all the pressure we can if we’re going to be successful. Please sign our petition calling on the government to deny access to this man’s disgusting, hateful views inside Parliament House during his visit. [...]" etc.

"The tribunal in September granted a permit for a seven-storey block of 112 apartments in Preston despite local law stating developments should not exceed six storeys, or 20 metres.

The tribunal ruled the developer had accrued rights from a previous permit issued for the site in 2012, and therefore the council’s mandatory height controls, introduced in June, did not apply.

From the PressTV article (1/12/17):

The US-led coalition, which has purportedly been fighting Daesh, says it is to pull more than 400 American Marines out of Syria, where they helped Kurdish militants capture the northern city of Raqqah from the Takfiri terror group.

"With the city liberated and ISIS (Daesh) on the run, the unit has been ordered home. Its replacements have been called off," the coalition said in a statement.

"We’re drawing down combat forces where it makes sense, but still continuing our efforts to help Syrian and Iraqi partners maintain security," Brigadier General Jonathan Braga, the director of operations for the coalition, said in the statement.

Last month, the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an anti-Damascus militant group backed by the United States, took control of Raqqah, which had served as Daesh’s main stronghold in Syria since 2014.

The Syrian government, however, rejected claims by the SDF and its foreign sponsors that Raqqah has been "liberated."

Information Minister Mohammad Ramez Tardjaman said in late October that no land is considered liberated in the country unless national army forces regain control of it and raise the Syrian flag atop its buildings.

The statement further said, "Our remaining forces will continue to work by, with, and through partner forces to defeat remaining ISIS, prevent a re-emergence of ISIS, and set conditions for international governments and NGOs to help local citizens recover from the horrors of ISIS' short-lived rule."

...

From the start, the brutal barbaric crimes of ISIS/Daesh as well as being part of the United States' proxy war against the Syrian people, also served as a cover story to allow US forces to enter Syria, ostensibly to fight ISIS/Daesh, but, in reality, to help overthrow the which, unlike most other countries in the region, refused to become subservient to the US.

The Kurdish YPG still control a staggering 25% of Syria according to one recent report on RT news (, or ) and in their midst are US 'advisers' and military bases. Even if the United States' ISIS/Daesh footsoldiers have been militarily defeated elsewhere in Syria, how can we seriously expect that those United States forces, still remaining illegally in Syria, and their SDF/YPG vassals, won't use every possible opportunity in coming years to again sow chaos once they judge it politically expedient? Given that, by one estimate - possibly dated by now - that 400,00 Syrians, including 80,000 soldiers have been killed in the Syrian conflict of the last six and a half years is far more a tragedy, for the Syrian people and the rest of humanity, than a triumph. Only when those in the West, who have fomented this and other bloody conflicts, are held to account for their crimes and removed from office and prosecuted, can we be able to say that Syria has truly won this conflict.

The mass exodus of refugees from Syria should be reversed, with mass repatriation. In fact, most refugees should only have temporary status in other countries, until peace is resolved. With global over-population, evacuating whole nations in time of conflict is unsustainable, and un-fair pressure on host countries. Syria needs people with skills to rebuild it and protect it.

--and that this is becoming the norm -- but the article fails to note that this is a major reason that business groups lobby the government so hard to keep importing immigrants.

The article concedes a number of points that ought to be arguments against high immigration, yet fails to connect the dots. These points include:

1. "At least two-thirds of migrant workers are exploited with regards to their pay and conditions," Ms Kearney said.

2. "If an employer can access a temporary worker, employ them for half the minimum wage, exploit them to the degree we are seeing, that has to have an impact on the local employment market."

3. It also impacts other workers, forced to compete against those willing to work for less than the minimum wage — which is $22.13 for a casual worker.

4. Such practices place downward pressure on wage growth.

5. "Low wages in Australia has been a big issue over the past five years," economist Callam Pickering said.

6. "It has actively undermined household spending, keeping it at record low levels.

7. "Bringing people into the country, paying them below minimum wage, is not a recipe for economic success."

The ABC article also fails to note that the practice of underpaying immigrant workers, once it becomes the norm, is part of the point of claims that businesses “can’t get Australians to work for them”— which is usually true only in the rather dishonest sense that there is no point in employing an Australian when you can get an immigrant to work for illegally low wages. (And indeed an employer that used Australian workers might go out of business because their wage bill would be far higher than their competitors.)

Instead, if anything, the ABC article implies that reducing visa restrictions would stop employers exploiting immigrant workers, and then everything would be lovely.

Biased reporting is not just reporting that distorts the facts. It is also reporting that fails to join the dots, or that joins them selectively in one direction, and not in others.

Below is the original article:

Blackmail — the business plan for cheaper wages

By business reporter David Chau 23 Nov 2017

Underpaying migrant workers has become a business practice for unscrupulous employers.

For some employers, it is an easy way to boost the bottom line with a low risk of getting caught — hence there is little incentive to comply with industrial laws.

It has even been described as a "business model" by worker advocates.

"There are employers out there structuring the cost of doing business through stealing wages," said Ged Kearney, president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU).

"They use very exploitable migrant workers, and use the sickle of [the workers'] temporary visa status to enforce that."

Out of the 900,000 temporary migrants in Australia with work rights, those in the 457 visa category are a particularly vulnerable group — as many are hoping to attain permanent residency.

Getting away with wage theft

The ABC was able to interview Ben, a Sydney-based technician who is on a 457 visa (and who wanted to use a pseudonym instead of his real name).

Unfortunately, he is working for an employer who commits wage theft by routinely blackmailing him.

However, Ben chose not to complain to the authorities because the employer also regularly threatens to "get him fired" and "deported".

"My boss deposits [my salary of] $1,500 into my account each fortnight, then I have to withdraw $500 from an ATM to give back to him," he said.

"I was never in a position to refuse — otherwise, he wouldn't offer me the 457 visa."
Ben is ultimately forced to survive on $500 per week in Sydney, the city with the most expensive real estate in Australia.

Explained: The 457 visa

What is a 457 visa and how many people have them?

But he is worried about the consequences of getting sacked before he attains permanent residency.

Under Australian immigration laws, 457 visa holders are allowed to remain in the country for only 60 days from the date their employment ends.

"If I get fired, I have two months to find a new job — otherwise I'll have to leave the country," Ben said.

"The immigration department told me I just have to find another employer." . . .

Exploitation affects the economy

"At least two-thirds of migrant workers are exploited with regards to their pay and conditions," Ms Kearney said.

"If an employer can access a temporary worker, employ them for half the minimum wage, exploit them to the degree we are seeing, that has to have an impact on the local employment market."

It also impacts other workers, forced to compete against those willing to work for less than the minimum wage — which is $22.13 for a casual worker.

Such practices place downward pressure on wage growth.

"Low wages in Australia has been a big issue over the past five years," economist Callam Pickering said.

"It has actively undermined household spending, keeping it at record low levels.

Why the 457 visa is going

After two decades and tens of thousands of visas, the 457 visa category has been abolished. But what was it and why does this matter?

"It has also kept inflation low [and] forced interest rates to their lowest levels in history."

The 7-Eleven scandal was just one recent example of a business, which systematically exploited migrant workers.
One in three migrant workers, who identified as backpackers and international students, are paid about half the minimum wage, according to research released this week by the University of New South Wales and UTS.
The study also showed most foreign workers are fully aware they are being exploited.

In addition, it found restaurants, cafes and farms — which employ fruit pickers — were workplaces which had some of the worst levels of underpayment.

"Visa workers represent 18 per cent of all the requests for assistance we receive," Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James said.

"Given they are only about 6 per cent of the labour market, that does tell you they're over-represented in the cohort of people who aren't being paid correctly in the workforce."

Tougher penalties for employers

Ms James said the visa status of migrant workers, who complain to the Fair Work Ombudsman's office, will not be jeopardised.

"We can work with the Department of Immigration to ensure your visa is not affected because you've taken action to enforce your rights under the law to be paid your minimum wages."

In September, the Federal Government introduced the Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Vulnerable Workers) Act which increases penalties for employers' serious breaches of industrial law.

7-Eleven investigation

· 7-Eleven playing 'statistical tricks' in worker compensation scheme

· 'He made me scared': 7-Eleven worker speaks of intimidation

· Exploitation integral to 7-Eleven business model: insider

· 7-Eleven staff work twice as long at half pay rate

· 7-Eleven business model rips off workers, former ACCC boss says

· Convenience store empire 'built on something not much different from slavery'

"Now if a corporation rips off a visa worker and we can prove it was deliberate and systematic, that corporation will be up for over $630,000 potentially per breach," Ms James said.

"If you don't want to proceed, you will have that choice. But if you do, we can work with the Department of Immigration to ensure your visa is not affected because you've taken action to enforce your rights under the law to be paid your minimum wages.
But that is provided the employer is caught, and successfully prosecuted.

"Ultimately, low wages and cutting those wages undermines the success of the Australian economy," Mr Pickering said.

"Bringing people into the country, paying them below minimum wage, is not a recipe for economic success."
Becoming a permanent resident in Australia is the key to Ben's future.

As for why it matters to him, Ben explained: "It would give me the freedom to choose... to go back home by choice, and not because I'm forced."

If all goes well, he may also win the freedom to choose an employer who is willing to pay a fair wage — for a fair day's work.

Our other news (not mainstream) has been quite clear about what/why/when the US decided Assad was a 'bad guy', and it was after he said NO to the US pipeline proposal crossing through his country! That would hurt Russia's economy badly, since they already sell to many countries, and Russia and Syria were allies. And so - we know what happened. Even Robert F Kennedy Jr. here in the US, and economist Fadhel Kaboub, and political comedian Jimmy Dore have shown the pipeline proposal and the timeline of when Assad suddenly was a 'bad guy' - and the US funded forces to destroy Assad and the country, funded people who KILLED and DESTROYED those simply trying to defend their country. Many atrocities. Sickening. The US is the BIGGEST bully and terrorist IN the world and causes suffering, destruction and death ALL OVER the world.

We have been told lies for DECADES by the greedy, and by 'we' I mean EVERY monetarily sovereign country that has been pressured by the US and where the tentacles of the pathological greed have spread. So this means Canada, the UK, AUSTRALIA, and other countries. All these ISSUE THEIR OWN CURRENCY with almost no constraints, but the 99% have been DUPED with lies so that they did not demand what they SHOULD have had, did not see behind the smokescreen of lies to realize that the pathologically greedy were TAKING THE COUNTRY'S MONEY to enrich themselves, and so on. One of the MAIN ways they take the country's money is through 'privatization', which actually allows the people running the privatized system to BILL THE GOVT ANY AMOUNT; THEY know the country can issue money with almost no constraints, but the PEOPLE do not know that - yet. However, people like Bill Mitchell (professor of economics, internationally known, from Australia) and other economics professors are helping to EDUCATE us so we can fight the lies. The 'debt' of the US, for instance, is NOT an actual debt, it is simply our 'national savings account'. We do NOT owe money, we have NOT borrowed from any other country - and neither has Australia. Look up Bill Mitchell and his blog, or Stephen Hail (both in Australia) for more info. Also, although it is US-based, there are clear presentation (some with Hail and Mitchell) on the youtube channel Deficit Owls. Learn the truth so we can fight EFFECTIVELY. The greedy just laugh and continue their thievery when they realize that we do NOT really know what they have been doing.

As of 12:54pm, I have learnt that my post which was 'under moderation' is no longer there. Presumably, it has been deleted!

This begs the question: "What have the editors of Russia Insider to fear from the above post? If I am wrong, then surely they or somebody else can show other readers where I am wrong? If they cannot show where I am wrong, then quite posssibly what I have written is correct. So, how does the stifling of dissenting opinions, which appear to be backed up by evidence and logic, help Russia Insider fight against Washington's plans for global hegemony agenda in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Ukraine, the Black Sea, Eastern Europe, the Baltic Sea, the Arctic Ocean, Afghanistan, Korea, the South China Sea and elsewhere?

Whilst, as I have said before, Russia Insider is informative on many critical issues - Ukraine, Syria, Crimea, Flight MH17, ... - being seen to be covering up up for one of the worst tyrants in history, whilst, bizarrely, condemning Lenin and the Russian Revolution that Stalin claimed to uphold - , , , , and - can only undermine the global movement against the lying corporate newsmwdia and war.

I attempted to post the following beneath the article (25/11/17) | Russia Insider by Jacob Heilbrunn. The comment appears to have vanished. I will attempt to post it again. - James

As of 10:41AM. it is now at http://russia-insider.com/en/massive-new-stalin-biography-outdoes-everything-written/ri21346#comment-3632906400. It's better to go to the , then scroll down to the comments. - James

As of 11:39AM, I am advised: "Hold on, this is waiting to be approved by Russia Insider."

Kjeli Hasthi wrote, "Maybe 8 mill was killed (one source stated that). Remaining died in other ways, like lack of hospitals."

ecald12 wrote, "That Soviet losses were extremely high was inevitable as Germany was more industrialized and its human capital and organizational resources significantly greater than the USSR's, at that time."

The Russians produced the T-34 tank, recognised as superior to anything that Germany produced at the time. The MIG-1, Yak-1 fighters, which were first produced in 1940, could hold their own against German fighters and the Katyusha rocket launchers were superior to anything the Germans had.

The 25 million who died between 1941 and 1945, whether through combat, starvation or disease, died as consequence of the Nazi German invasion and Stalin's criminal scheming and misjudgement. This facilitated the Wehrmacht's early success and the terrible cost to the Red Army of driving it back into Germany.

In comparison, the United States, which fought against both Nazi Germany and Japan, lost 407,300 lives, whilst all the countries of the British Commonwealth lost about 500,000 lives.

As terrible as those losses were, they totalled only a fraction of the Soviet Union's losses. They give a better idea what it should have cost the Soviet Union to defeat Hitler had it been led by a more capable leader.

ecald12 wrote "The feeling in the German General Staff was that a war with the USSR was unnecessary and would present a tremendous economic and military drain on German resources."

Had Nazi Germany defeated the Soviet Union, which, it seems to me, would have occurred had Franklin Roosevelt (FDR), one of the two 'peace' candidates of the 1940 Presidential elections, not persuaded America to join the war against Nazi Germany, it would have had access to the vast natural resources of all the republics of the Soviet Union and would have become the dominant global superpower. Eastern Europe and much of Russia would have been depopulated to make lebensraum for the German master race.

escal12 wrote. "Stalin's policy was to delay what he fully recognized would be an inevitable confrontation with Nazi Germany. He was hoping to forestall such a war until 1942. By that time he felt the USSR would be adequately industrialized and modernized. His rearmament and crash industrialization programs enabled the Soviet Union to survive the war with Germany."

Stalin 'prepared' for invasion, by ignoring warnings from the British, Americans and his own spies, that Nazi Germany was going to invade the Soviet Unin in the Summer of 1941. In the meantime, he continued to send to Nazi Germmany the vital raw materials it needed both to continue its war against Btitain and to prepare for its coming invasion eastwards.

One of the spies, who warned Stalin of the invasion was German communist Richard Sorge, who worked in Germany's Tokyo embassy. Sorge was subsequently discovered, arrested and eventually executed by the Japanese, after Stalin refused offers from Japan to have him returned. Clearly Stalin did not want others in the Soviet Union to learn of how he ignored Sorge's warnings. In 1961, Nikita Kruschev subsequently posthumously awarded Sorge the title of a "Hero of the Soviet Union".

"For instance, in order to attempt to breed, young male kangaroos need to leave their natal group because there is only room for one dominant male breeder and he monopolises all the females unless another mature male successfully challenges him. The dispersing young male may not find a group within his range of migration that has available females or he may fail to successfully compete for them..." There is a vile assumption that kangaroos are heavy breeders and continually over-populate and breed without brakes, or limits. They then become "pests" and have to be managed, lethally! We always thought that this over-breeding and limitless demographic expansion meant that governments had to "manage" their numbers, or the land would be plagued by their numbers. This new research and expose really opens questions on what they are really trying to achieve - actually deliberately promoting the market for skins and meat? So their smoke-screen, of lethal management, is blown open? Dr Ramp said the rhetoric that kangaroo populations are out of control is contradictory to the research he and his team have conducted, which suggests their numbers are in fact in decline. He sees no decline in numbers of other native species co-existing with kangaroos. It makes kangaroos seem like big ecological monsters, killers, who multiply and dominate landscapes until they destroy all in their vision! Just why wasn't Australia wrecked by the time Captain Cook and the First Fleet arrived - swarming with vandal marsupials, overgrazing and damaging ecosystems? So, you destroy their mob dynamics, their social and reproductive controls, by shooting ("harvesting") the biggest and best, and then younger males have taken the place of the Alpha male controlling the mob? You end up with mayhem, chaos, "rapes" and disorder! Young males no longer have to migrate to mate and reproduce. The system is wrecked, and the killing machine continues, propagating the same myths that kangaroos "overpopulate,", "over-graze" and can't justify their existence as being more of a danger, and a threat, to our country?

And I used to think the same thing. I worked at Wageline, in a time when unemployment was becoming the norm in Australia. It was just before Kennett stuffed up our award system and made it possible for employers to import cheap labour. Then they closed down Wageline. Does Nauru even own Nauru house these days?

On reading the description in this article on the tragedy of Nauru, I could not help seeing the population of Nauru being re-located in Nauru House in Melbourne and being told that not only was this compensation for what happened to their island but that they were now better off than they ever were (surrounded by all those shops). But what happens to their new "island home" (Australia) when all its resources have been mined, its forests raised and it has a population double or triple what it is now all along the Eastern seaboard? Is the largest Island on the globe immune to ecological collapse? Has the process already started?

The following two comments were posted beneath the article (23/11/17) by Michael Bateman | :

[Candobetter editor: To find the originals of the comments below, please load the page linked to above into your browser and then commnce to scoll down. This will eventually cause all comments, including these comments, to be loaded . Direct links to the original comments have not been provided, because we have found that clicking on a direct link to the comment, instead of just to the article itself, will usually cause problems. ]

First Comment

This and similar pieces, on the otherwise insightful and informative "Russia Insider" exceed the worst deceit that I can recall reading in recent years in the presstitute media about Syria, Russia, Crimea, Ukraine, Flight MH17, JFK, the US Presidential elections or whatever. What is the basis for such astonishing allegations against a man still loved by most Russians (see (19/4/17) by Damien Shakrov |Newswek?)

What are the original sources for all the claims in this article? None other than a speech in the Russian Duma by Vladimir Zhirinovsky. Nowhere else on the web can I find the sources for Zhiriniovsky's claims.

So, in all probability, Zirinovsky fabricated these quotes and the author Michael Bateman is, at best, a useful idiot for Zhirinovsky and whatever interests Zhirinovsky serves.

Had it occurred to the author and the editors that the Russian Revolution - which occurred near the end of one pointless war in which 18 million died - and its extension to Germany and elsewhere, just might have been humanity's best hope to prevent another, even more terrible war in which an estimated 60 miillion died, barely 20 years later?

Second Comment

Had Lenin lived a few years longer, Stalin could not have become Secretary-General of the Communist Party (CPSU) as shown in :

"Comrade Stalin, having become Secretary-General, has unlimited authority concentrated in his hands, and I am not sure whether he will always be capable of using that authority with sufficient caution."

"Stalin is too rude and this defect, although quite tolerable in our midst and in dealing among us Communists, becomes intolerable in a Secretary-General. That is why I suggest the comrades think about a way of removing Stalin from that post and appointing another man in his stead ..." (See also "Lenin's Last Struggle" (1969) by Moshe Lewin for more elaboration.)

Had Lenin remained sufficiently healthy, even for just a few more months, many of the terrible calamities that the Soviet peoples were to endure over the next 23 years, as a conequence of Stalin's scheming and misjudgement, could have been avoided. Even if the worst of those calamities, the war against Nazi Germany between 1941 and 1945, in which an estimated 25 million Soviet citizens died, could not have been prevented, then at at least its terrible consquences would have been greatly mitigated.

Third Comment (by another contributor)

"Michael, you intellectual piece of garbage. Provide sources and do not rip sentences from overall content. Also, mentioning Zhirik as popular one is akin mentioning very popular clown. The guy is smart but is complete disgrace. It was nice to see his backside ripped by old Prokhanov at Soloviev show. This sort of garbage cannot be posted in serious editions. Also, I hear people like Michael never mentioning the words of Gaidar followers about millions of Russians who disappeared due to their experimentation that those who died off did not adjust to market conditions. Why so intense intent to smear 100 years ago history that led to Russia becoming super it is clear who pays michael and the like to do this. power and no mentioning and investigation to events of 20-25 years ago that led to collapse and death of millions? It is clear who pays michael and the like to do this. Those who are afraid of the truth and who are behind everything that is being done to common people now."

Nearly three days ago the above comment was posted in response to the article linked to above, but it has apparently been deleted. I will contact the PressTV editor to see whether or not this apparent censorships was intentional. Given that PressTV is one of the news services which helps demolish the deceit of the corporate mainstream media, and given that so much of PressTV's video content is informative, stimulating and often humorous, it is hard to beleve that they would deliberately attempt to prevent discussion on the web page in which te video of one such debate is embedded.

Thanks Sheila for a well researched and well written article on the farming/culling of Kangaroos. I, too, am reviled by how one of nature's most unique animals has gone from being a National Icon to a so-called pest. Like most Australians I didn't know much about roos until I watched the ABC's Kangaroo Dundee earlier this year. It's about a bloke who owns a kangaroo sanctuary near Alice often raising orphaned joeys. Simultaneously, there are calls in the media, local and national, for roo culls. Some by farmers, but more from motorists and from people who had perceptions that we were about to be overrun by macropods. I earnt myself some offensive comments and strange looks when I told all and sundry that this was a nonsense, that kangaroos don't eat the grass off to the ground as sheep and rabbits do, their breeding habits are regulated by the weather conditions, that we've had 16 dry years in the past 21, that drivers should drive to the prevailing road conditions, that they are a tourist attraction and that roos are native animals that have a right to exist alongside us. It's we, us whitefellas, that have upset the balance in the land by trying to turn it into something it never was. Furthermore, the removal of the alpha predator from the environment has caused all manner of problems that we don't yet understand. The lesson to be learned here is that of the reintroduction of gray wolves into Yellowstone National Park where the results were nothing short of spectacular. Now if we can just let a couple of dingoes loose ...........!!

Whilst I appreciate some of the information given by Lionel about North Korea and that he truly doesn't want to see war break out, I still find some of this disappoining.

At 4:50 minutes into this video, Lionel claims that the north Koreans "have been girding their loins for war since 1945". Whilst it is true that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK, North Korea) are very well prepared to deal with any threatened aggression by the United States, it is not something they have ever sought. As shown elsewhere in this discussion, the Korean conflict originated in September 1945, when US occupation forces, paradoxically, installed Koreans who had collaborated with the Japanese as the government of 'South' Korea, whilst brutally repressing Koreans who had resisted the Japanese. The subsequent war against 'North' Korea in which between 25% and 30% of the population were killed exceeds what even the Nazis inflicted against any one nation.

I posted this in response to the Iranian PressTV video debate (18/11/17) I was still downloading the 400Mb MP4 video file to watch it faster off-line, so I still haven't watched it.

However critically we may judge recent actions by North Korean President Kim Jong-Un, they pale into insignificance in comparison to the vast crimes committed by the United States since September 1945 against all the people of Korea, both in the North and the South.

In a seeming paradox, in September 1945, after the surrender of Japan, the United States military forces, which occupied the south of the country, installed in power a government, largely made up of Koreans who had collaborated with the Japanese against their own people, that is, against the Korean resistance who had fought against the same common enemy against which the United States had also fought since 7 December 1941. President Roosevelt (FDR), who had led the US in that war had died in April 1945. His successor, Harry S. Human, was much more a glove puppet of those in the military-industrial complex not sympathetic to the war aims of FDR. So, after the end of the war, US military forces acted to suppress those popular resistance forces who had fought against Japan and Nazi Germany in Korea, China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Greece, Italy, France and elsewhere.

The repression in South Korea was particularly savage. The popular resistance to that repression extended into what is referred to as the Korean War which began on 25 June 1950. In that war Koreans faced gound forces from the Uited States, France, the UK, Australia and a number of other allies. The United States' Air Foce (USAF) bombarded North Korea so much that it began to run out of targets to find. As perversely attested to by USAF commander General Curtis Le May (aka Dr. Strangelove) not one building higher than one storey was left standing. 25% or possible eve 30% of North Koreans died in that war.

The US refused to sign a peace treaty with North Korea. Every year, the North Korean military commanders have to take careful precautions should the annual practise invasion (aka 'military execises'), conducted by the South Korean military forces and the US occupation forces, turn into a real attempt by them to achieve what they had previously failed to achieve by 27 July 1953.

A CSIRO report recently released in the ACT under FOI which many people had never heard of, made an evaluation of the research the ACT had done in an attempt to justify their kangaroo culls. It found the following based on the ACT’s own data: A positive relationship existed between kangaroo density and native species richness and Floristic Value Score at lower kangaroo densities. No relationship was evident at densities above 2 kangaroos per ha. This study could not identify any upper limit of kangaroo density beyond which vegetation richness, diversity and overall condition declines. This study could not identify an optimal kangaroo density that maximises richness, diversity and condition. Richness and diversity tended to be highest when at least some kangaroos were present. Final report for ACT Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate was: Relationships between vegetation condition and kangaroo density in lowland grassy ecosystem of the northern Australian capital territory: Analysis of data 2009, 2012 and 2013and can be found at: .

Lionel Nation did quite a good piece on this in August, still relevant. Basically he is telling people, in his entertaining and occasionally quite rivetting way, not to trust anything they hear from the 'authorities' on Korea. I hope I can embed it here. You will have to authorise full html.

I attempted to post the following comment to (17/11/17) | RT. My apologies, if it repeats some of what was posted by James Sinnamon above. I have made two attempts to post this comment so far and on each occasion, unlike wih an , the comment was deleted!, As , with all its shortcomings, is still a vital weapon against the lying global corporate media, I trust that the deletion of my comment was a bug with the administative software, or an honest mistake and not deliberate. I will contact RT about this.

I think the full history of the Korean War and the conflict since than should feature more prominently on RT. The terrible war between 1950 and 1953, in which 25-30% of North Koreans died, has never officially ended, because the United States refused to negotiate a peace treaty.

After the surrender of Japan in September 1945, five months after the death of the President who led America in its war against the Japanese and Nazi Germany - Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) - the United States Army began savagely repressing Koreans who had resisted the Japanese occupiers. They installed an extreme right wing government largely made up of Koreans who had collaborated with the Japanese against their fellow Koreans. The Korean resistance fought back. Whilst it is not clear whether the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK aka 'North' Korea) or 'South' Korea launched the first attack in 1950, the outbreak of conventional war, was a continuation of that civil war.

Every year the 'military exercises' which the United States' occupiers conduct with their South Korean puppets, are in fact, rehearsals for their planned future attempt to do what they failed to do in 1953 - conquer North Korea and destroy the DPRK. The commanders of the armed forces of the DPRK can never know if the United States won't fabricate a pretext that would allow then to turn their annual 'military exercises' into an all out invasion.

Thanks for reading it John and I'm glad you appreciated it. I feel the same way about 4Corners most of the time. Media Watch is worse than a joke; it seems hopelessly contrived and dishonest; a kind of tragi-comedy in its desperate search for tiny transgressions whilst steadfastly ignoring herds of elephants overrunning the 4th estate. Q&A is a source of constant wonder in its ability to find gullible audiences, although I must admit I enjoy some of the drama and often find the apparently sincere politicians hilarious. In the last one I watched Kevin Rudd performed like a circus elephant. I almost began to like him for his brash failure to ever stay down when knocked out. He is to blame, of course, along with recent successive prime ministers, for the continuous grotesque inflation of Australia's population ponzi which is making our wildlife miserable and threatens to destroy the rest of us. Oh, and I used to, decades ago, enjoy reading the Letters in the Age, but I think it was in the 1980s that they began to cut them down from nice long interesting ones to 300 words and now probably less. And when I realised that the Age and the Australian were the owners of massive property dot coms I began to see through them. Then they just got worse and worse with syndicated nonsense and always propping up wars. Really, I feel as if the Nazis have taken over and run the military industrial media complex. Sadly.

An extremely interesting and informative discussion that exposes the mainstream media for what they really are - mouthpieces for the oligarchs and their puppet governments. It's time for those of us who want the truth to seek out the truth and if that be from RT, The Conversation, Candobetter, The Point, BuzzFeed or wherever. This year I've personally given away watching 4Corners, Media Watch and Q&A and considering stopping my deliveries of The Age and even the local papers the Riv Herald and Ky Free Press which have become mouth pieces for the National Party which of course is a bastion of neo-conservatism.

The family that subdivided their large lot, given the rate of population growth and the probable increase of the next generation, would have done better to build a parking lot tower, maybe with some bathroom and cooking facilities, so that future generations could pay to sleep in their cars. There is such a lack of entrepreneurship in our society!

A woman rang in to Red Symoms' breakfast radio program today to say she and her husband had found the solution to the housing affordability problem for her family. It went like this -We have quite a large block and the house is old -1949- . We have 3 adult offspring needing houses. We demolished the house and built 3 x 2 storey townhouses on the block. We live in one of the town house with number 3 son. This is temporary until we get a townhouse for ourselves somewhere else.- The question that was not asked was "What happens with the grandchildren?" This solution is a once- only as it takes advantage of the larger blocks of past which ordinary people do not have now It only temporarily solves the housing affordability crisis for one family and they are still worse off than they were. A block of land cannot be divided up ad infinitum. It won't even be able to be divided a second time! The next generation will be let's say 6 plus the original 3 adult offspring and their partners. There could be equal generosity on the other sides of each family but they would most likely need to cater for more than one lot of childRen and grandchildren. The pressure on land forcing people to look for solutions which may not be to their advantage is the immense population growth of Australian cities like Melbourne.

Pages