Fast forward to 2050...

The year is now 2050. What do you think will have had a bigger impact on the world - climate change or population ageing and decrease in the developed world? The coming crisis is already dawning on Japan - in Europe, the signs are there to be read.

Regardless of weather the world decides to inflict draconian carbon reduction measures upon itself, the age 'shock' will still hit Europe and most of the developed world in the middle decades of this century.

Post - Christian society is by its own definition rapidly heading towards extinction. We are on the cusp on witnessing self - inflicted civilisation collapse - a phenomena not seen since perhaps the Mayans or Easter Islanders 'euthanized' their civilisation. This is an occurrence that is not observed in any other species - a self determined slide into extinction. Post - Christian Europe is declining at a rate that means that recovery is not possible in most European nations without huge injections of immigrants (and that those immigrants do not adopt the characteristics of their host nation).

Peter Costello released his second Inter generational Report today. The Coalition government has made significant inroads from the state of the nation inherited from the Keating government. Building on superannuation, Costello has engineered a future fund to provide funds for Government superannuation liabilities, paid off Labor Government debt and delivered policies that have seen the birth rate rise from 1.7 to 1.8 per woman. This is still below the necessary 2.1 rate that would enable Australia's current standard of living to be maintained with a stable working population. The challenge for federal government is to devise policy to encourage an increase in birth rate that will truly see 'Advance Australia Fair'.

Campbell quites cabinet...

Those three words guarantee Rudd the toughest week yet of his fledgling leadership. In a move almost certainly engineered to throw momentum back behind the Government in the pursuit of Rudd, Campbell has resigned from cabinet. I'm sure we'll see a return to cabinet in the future, or favour granted to Campbell for 'taking it for the team', just as we'll see a growing storm of media intensity come Monday. The Government has set the bar for dealing with Brian Burke - a bar too high for Rudd. Instead of dulling the relentless attacks in parliament we saw Rudd endure on Friday, the Government now has the ability to shift the attack up a gear.

This next week will be all about Rudd being on the back foot - desperately trying to regain the friendly media environment of his honeymoon, vainly trying to set the focus on his agenda, whilst remaining embroiled in the Brian Burke saga.

The honeymoon is over... time for the real 'action' to begin...

An amazing thing happened today - Kevin Rudd was held accountable, criticised even. It made me remember what normal political commentary is all about - holding both sides of politics accountable. I breathed a sigh of release at the inevitable crash to reality occurring for our fearless new Labor leader - and my didn't he handle it well. Sunrise was priceless - almost as funny as watching an unprepared Kochie take on Andrew Bolt in a global warming debate earlier in the week.

What amuses me about the whole situation is how the media itself declared the honeymoon over - like they officially grant a 3 month waiver or something. 'The honeymoon is over'... now we will actually ask questions that don't pander to the press release. You have to love the 5th estate!

I am thankful for one thing. Finally we are treated to a realistic bout between Howard and Rudd - no longer will we be forced to endure 'both side of the road' Rudd facing up against 'every thing's bad' Howard. Rudd facing up to realistic commentary will be interesting - something tells me that he will not handle it all that well. After all, he is no Howard - Rudd has had a easy road to power when compared to Howard...

Meanwhile Peter Costello continues to build his momentum - both Rudd and Howard will be haunted by the influence and power that he will exert over the next decade!

Bring it you Vichy French little bitches...

"ACCORDING to my dictionary, the word "ally" comes from the Old French. Very Old French, I'd say. For the New French, the word has a largely postmodern definition of "duplicitous charmer who undermines you at every opportunity".
For the less enthusiastically obstructive NATO members, "ally" means "wealthy country with no military capability that requires years of diplomatic wooing and black-tie banquets in order to agree to a token contribution of 23.08 troops." Incidentally, that 23.08 isn't artistic licence on my part. The 2004 NATO summit in Turkey was presented as a triumph of multilateral co-operation because the 26 members agreed to contribute between them an additional 600 troops and three helicopters to the Afghan mission. That's 23.08 troops and a ninth of a helicopter per ally. In fairness, Turkey chipped in the three helicopters single-handed, though the deal required them to return to Ankara after three months.
And these days troops is something of an elastic term, too. In Norwegian, it means "fighting men who are prepared to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Americans, as long as they don't have to do any fighting and there are at least two provinces between their shoulders and the American ones". That's to say, Norway is "participating" in Afghanistan, but, because its troops are "not sufficiently trained to take part in combat", they've been mainly back at the barracks manning the photocopier or staging amateur performances of Peer Gynt for the amusement of US special forces who like nothing better than to unwind with five acts of Ibsen after a hard day hunting the Taliban. "

Conservative and unapologetic about it - I'm sold, America Alone is my first purchase of the weekend as soon as I get into Angus and Roberston (t-ville has no borders, let alone a Myer).
Quit whingeing about Hicks and get a life.....

Hey and why don't you demand your right to disrupt the traffic of hundreds of thousands to parade your bigoted anti-American opinions down main street Sydney with your all of two hundred turn out... leftist wankers...

Was the age opinion editor on holidays?

How did a story like this get printed over yet another David Hicks / Climate Change / John Howard is the devil op-ed piece? One of the most interesting, yet unrealised attribute of the liberal left in recent times has been the alliance with extremist Muslim interest groups. A short glance at the 2006 Israel - Hezbollah conflict, Iraq and even Iran - all situations where the Left has chosen the side of extremists with ideologies diametrically opposed in every way except for a common hatred of the USA.

What does it say about the liberal left when they would rather side with dictators, terrorists and those that do not abide by the laws of armed conflict in any way, shape or form than the democratic USA?

When 'bringing home the troops' means leaving 900 indefinitely in Iraq...

Australian has 1400 troops deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Kevin Rudd has promised to bring them home - in consultation with our allies. In doing so Rudd has won the kudos of the anti-Bush, anti-war in Iraq pundits, while claiming to also protect our relations with our allies in the US and UK.

What the press has failed to seize on, and it is indicative that the honeymoon is still in bloom, is the fact that Rudd is really bringing just 500 troops home. This leaves almost two thirds of the current commitment in Iraq. While professing an ideological belief that we should withdraw our troops, his actions speak much louder than his words - 900 troops remain without a time line for withdrawal. Rudd heavily criticised Howard's lack of stated timeline (although stating a time for withdrawal worked so well for the US in Vietnam and Somalia!!) for withdrawal, while glossing over the fact that he has only announced a plan for Overwatch Battle Group West.

The Overwatch Battlegroup is supporting two provinces already under Iraqi control - being As Samawah and Dhi Qar. Australians provide training, civil-military liaison, engineering and medical support as well as a back up for Iraqi forces in the worst case scenario.

Rudd and Labor claim that a withdrawal would trigger more action by the Iraqi Government to look after its own problem. His policy however, withdraws the only Australian element that is providing invaluable support to provinces only recently handed over to full Iraqi control.

The most glaringly obvious fault in this plan has been shown in Rudd's avoidance of answering questions on what he believes will happen to Iraq should a full withdrawal occur. This is because he knows very well that whatever the level of human suffering Iraq currently has, what will follow a withdrawal will be one of the bloodiest civil wars the world has seen. The civil war would surely drag Iraq's neighbours into a destabilising catastrophe that has the potential to dramatically affect the Middle East, and the world. Terrorist extremists will emerge greatly strengthened, and the US will withdraw to an increasingly isolationist stance that will greatly increase instability in the international environment.

Rudd knows this - that why he can never answer the question when put to him - it clearly shows that he is willing to make poor security decisions to gain popular support. The hard decisions are better left to Howard, someone who doesn't shirk from an unpopular, but necessary decision.

Costello shows Turnbull who really commands the floor...

There has been some talk of Turnbull's flair and colourful style in the press this week, but the true performer was Costello. In a week where Howard took more punishment than he inflicted, Costello rattled Rudd with some cutting question time performance.

"Labor is drawing inspiration for its economic analysis from a Donald Duck magazine. This is the evolutionary cycle of the Labor Party. We have moved from Mark Latham's roosters to Kevin Rudd's ducks...Managing the Australian economy, which is a $1 trillion economy, takes experience and commitment and you do not get your analysis from Donald Duck comics. It is much more serious than that. That is why only a Coalition government can manage the Australian economy."

Rudd paused - winced perhaps - from his normal routine of studying correspondence in an uninterested manner while the Coalition responded to questions. What is interesting is to think about the future - when Costello shapes up against Rudd as leader of the Coalition. Rudd may think he has the measure of Howard as 'yesterday's man', but in Costello he faces a seasoned veteran who is still quite young in the political world. Costello possesses the trust of many Australians for presiding over a strong economy for over a decade, but would also deliver a fresh purpose and agenda to the Coalition government.

My tip is for this match up to occur shortly after the Howard government is returned with a reduced majority. Howard will bow out, bruised but not beaten, and Costello will finally take the job he has been heir apparent for since the beginnings of the Howard government.