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| Preemptive Tantrum | |
Malaysian Prime Minister Mohammad (I-hate-westerners) Mahathir was a
bit slow off the mark reacting to John (to-hell-with-tact) Howard's 'preemptive
defense' statement, but he's making up for his slow reflexes in both volume and
shrillness. According to your (fanning-the-flames) ABC, he's now said that Howard's
comments put the 'cooperation on terrorism' between the two countries 'at
risk'. Of course Malaysia is at far greater risk of terrorism than Australia (just count the
Muslim fundamentalists here and there). Refusing Australian help in fighting
terrorism will hurt Malaysia far more than Australia. This goes for Thailand,
The Philippines and Indonesia too (without Australian mobile-phone tracking
equipment, most of the Bali bombers would not have been caught). Manila has
said they are 'considering a rethink' of signing an anti terrorism agreement
with Australia. This was actually a meaningless agreement - about on par with
John Smith and Adam Jones signing a declaration that they don't like crime -
why bother? These countries are actually facing the same dilemma as Australia - whether
to appease their Islamic
fundamentalists or to stand up to them. The difference is that Islamic
fundamentalists comprise a much larger percentage of their populations, and
hence a greater threat. And while these countries have been squealing to their
pet-media (and the lap-dog leftist Australian media has dutifully howled
along), none of them have actually called in their Australian diplomats for a
'please explain'. Not surprisingly - Howard's comments were well thought out
and quite clear to anyone who listened: 'preemptive self defense is
justified when there is no other way'. Like most of Mahathir's tantrums, this one will go away. And sooner or later
Mahathir will as well.
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