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September 2, 2007
So President Bush flies into an APEC spectacle this week. Sydney is locked down with what sounds like a Berlin Wall erected around the APEC centre in and around the CBD of the global city including the Sydney Opera House, the Sydney Exhibition & Convention Centre and Government House. So much for leveraging the "feel good" factor.
I could not resist this Peter Brookes cartoon about a haunted Present Bush:
 In the meantime Brendan Nelson, the Defence Minister, is doing media interviews saying that Iraq's future depends on Australia keeping its few troops in Iraq until they get the job done.
It's unclear what "getting the job done" actually means these days.
Or how Iraq is a part of the "war on terror" that is now being fought on more than one front. What we are offered is a warning against any defeatism whilst continuing to proclaim impending victory in Iraq.
APEC, however, is not about the "war on terror." It is being sold by the Government ministers as doing business, sorting out the financial architecture for the region, and offering a viable way with climate change thanks to the stirling efforts of the Howard Government. So what will happen?
A bit of a chat amongst the leaders of the various nation-states and a few aspirational targets being set. This is to be expected as APEC understands itself to be an inter-governmental forum facilitating economic growth and prosperity, cooperation, trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region, and operates on the basis of non-binding commitments, open dialogue and equal respect for the views of all participants regardless of the size of their economy.
Australia will contribute $50 million to the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (bringing its total contribution to $150 million) with the funding being used in various projects to develop and deploy cleaner, more efficient technologies. Presumably, that refers to the coal fired power stations.
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Gary,
I see that Bush and Rudd will get together to have a bit of a chat about Iraq. No doubt Bush will spin big time for Howard whilst he's here. Is that why APEC is so important? Well, the polls show a lot of hostility to the Bush administration in Australia, as well as a warmth to the US.
I also heard on the mornings news that two German tourists were grabbed by police for taking photos of the big security fence, and that they were required to delete the images from their camera. Sydney must be brooding and resentful under the security crackdown.