Mark Day in The Australian says: the media image of APEC is:

Cut to APEC, and in the days leading up to the event when not much was happening the news stories and images were largely negative: 3m concrete and steel barriers turning downtown Sydney into a no-go area, riot police, sniffer dogs, inflatable boats, helicopters, frogmen, snipers on tall buildings and all the paraphernalia you need when you have to protect those who protect our freedoms.

This sure undercuts the PM's plan to bask in the glory of hobnobbing with George W. and co, then catapult to a glorious fifth term victory.

Nan,
It looks as if APEC is about cutting deals on uranium (Russia) iron ore and gas (China)

The Bush security charade is just for Bush --none of the other leaders have it--President Hu Jinao is spending a a week a travelling with a large business entourage.

Gary,
I see that the much-vaunted protection for the APEC summit was peeled away with ease yesterday by satirists from the Chaser armed with hire cars flying Canadian flags.

The Chaser's bogus motorcade of two black vans, a hire car, two very unofficial looking motorcycles and jogging security heavies remained undetected until Morrow and Licciardello got out of their car outside Mr Bush's hotel, where police grabbed them.

What a laugh. The terrorists are comedians. No doubt the tough guy secury forces will be less than pleased.

But then its all showbiz anyway.

Nan,
I saw the footage on TV last night without any sound--so I was unsure what it meant.

From what I can gather the police only detained the Chaser motorcade when it was turning around and after Chas Licciardello emerged from a car dressed as Osama bin Laden.

Gary
your comment 'APEC is about cutting deals on uranium (Russia) iron ore and gas (China).'

Isn't that bilateralism when APEC is meant to be about multilateralism?

Nan,
and there will be trilateral security talks between Australia the US and Japan--the axis of democracy-- that are aimed at a totalitarian China. The "values axis" will hold joint military exercises in the Baay of Bengal with India

That shadow of the Cold War would undercut the Sino-Australia geostrategic dialogue, that everyone is now going on about.

So Australia places itself in an awkward position because of its identification with the Bush administration.