Author Archives: andrew

The burqa, dress codes and democracy

Posted on July 15, 2011 by andrew

By Andrew L. Urban   Inflamed by the notorious case of a Muslim woman falsely accusing a Sydney policeman of forcibly removing her face covering (June 7, 2011), the public bushfire over the banning or not of the burqa continues to … Continue reading →

Posted in Should Know Better | Leave a comment

China – compassion, its final frontier

Posted on July 3, 2011 by andrew

By Andrew L. Urban The Chinese Communist Party celebrates its 90th year this month – July 2011. It can celebrate another milestone as it overtakes Japan as the world’s second largest economy. But the candles are blown out by the … Continue reading →

Posted in Regimes | Leave a comment

Can democracy calm jihadists?

Posted on July 2, 2011 by andrew

By Andrew L. Urban “We can’t build a global set of moral values while each religion is in its own moral ghetto, eg the Taliban, whose moral code is anathema to everyone else.” Richard Dawkins I used to think it’s only … Continue reading →

Posted in Democracy And Terrorism | Leave a comment

Democracies and authoritarian regimes

Posted on July 1, 2011 by andrew

By Andrew L. Urban   Democracies are failing to meet the authoritarian challenge. Watching international news bulletins, trawling the internet for instant updates on protests around the Arab world, reading eye witness reports of torture, rape and other abuse by the … Continue reading →

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The dysfUNctional nations

Posted on July 1, 2011 by andrew

By Andrew L. Urban  The United Nations is dysfunctional and ineffective, many of its member states being oppressive, undemocratic regimes which have forfeited their sovereignty and should be declared illegitimate; they should have their voting rights revoked or suspended. There … Continue reading →

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Managing refugees onshore

Posted on July 1, 2011 by andrew

By Andrew L. Urban Another contentious refugee policy (they are all contentious) is the bi-partisan policy of isolating refugees in Australian detention centres during processing. It is contentious not between the two major parties but in the community, where humanitarian … Continue reading →

Posted in Democracy And Refugees | Leave a comment

Ignore refugee boat arrivals?

Posted on July 1, 2011 by andrew

By Andrew L. Urban During the many public debates about asylum seekers in Australia during 2010-11, when there was a significant increase in refugee boat arrivals from Indonesia, several commentators took the view that it was somehow ridiculous for public … Continue reading →

Posted in Democracy And Refugees | Leave a comment

The Indonesian elephant in the room

Posted on July 1, 2011 by andrew

By Andrew L. Urban Democracies have a non-negotiable obligation to formulate public policies that safeguard the population, including those who seek asylum within its borders. The asylum seeker elephant in the ‘Australia’ room is Indonesia. It’s the elephant in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Democracy And Refugees | Leave a comment

Sovereign rights and wrongs

Posted on July 1, 2011 by andrew

14/5/2011: Robert Fisk in The Independent (UK): “Christopher Hill, a former US secretary of state for east Asia who was ambassador to Iraq – and usually a very obedient and un-eloquent American diplomat – wrote the other day that “the … Continue reading →

Posted in By The Way | Leave a comment

Funny and serious

Posted on July 1, 2011 by andrew

As British writer, wit and actor Stephen Fry once said, ‘It is easy to forget that the most important aspect of comedy, after all, its great saving grace, is its ambiguity. You can simultaneously laugh at a situation and take … Continue reading →

Posted in Humour and Democracy | Leave a comment