New Pressure On The Fiji Junta
- July 3rd, 2008
- Posted by Lee Duffield
COMMENTARY: Things may be beginning to move quickly in the international campaign to get Fiji back to democratic government, though the military leader, Frank Bainimarama (picture), has continued to resist change.
He has been able to negotiate the appointment of an Acting High Commissioner in Canberra, announced this week, but continues to face increasingly strong demands from outside partners, especially Australia and the European Union. … Read More »
COMMENTARY: NATO’s Bucharest summit (2-4.4.08) approved the entry of two more former communist countries – Albania and Croatia – into the Western alliance, and agreed to put more resources and effort into Afghanistan. 
The Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, has proposed a new “partnership with Europe”, and a two-third cuts in farm protection — in a speech at Brussels. 
COMMENTARY: Events in March saw new foreign policy initiatives as Prime Minister Rudd set out for America, China and the EU; a colourful cross-Channel trip by the family Sarkozy; more heat on the stock markets; heat on the dairy industry in Italy, and on a Dutchman who affronts Islamic fundamentalists. 
The Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, (picture) says he is going to the NATO summit next month to promote improvements in the allied deployment in Afghanistan.
The Australian Defence Minister, Joel Fitzgibbon, says NATO will give him information previously withheld on strategic planning, before the alliance holds top level talks on Afghanistan this April. 
Australia has demanded a change in relations with the NATO alliance so that it gets full consultations on the use of is troops in Afghanistan.