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Thursday, July 29, 2004

Crazy Aussies Again 

Continuing on the theme of Australian shoot-from-the-hip diplomacy, Aussie FM Alex Downer says it out loud: the withdrawal of Spain and the Philippines from Iraq gave the Iraqi insurgents and other international terrorists a big adrenaline boost.

Meanwhile, Downer's ALP shadow cabinet counterpart says some stuff about cooperation and not upsetting people and blah blah blah... ...

Kevin Rudd, Labour's foreign affairs spokesman, accused Mr Downer of upsetting two important allies with "megaphone diplomacy".

He said Australia needed the co-operation of the Philippines in the fight against regional terrorist groups such as Jemaah Islamiah and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

"We must be co-operative rather than part of an international blame game," he said.
Mr. Rudd: when a country give up its own southern portion to groups that the government's supposedly trying to put down, it's not going to do a whole lot more just because a foreign country would appreciate the help and asked really nicely.
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