APRIL 2006
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Wednesday, 26th April,2006
DANCING WITH EVO MORALES
Utterly preoccupied with the Middle East as the US has been since 9/11, of late it would appear that they just might've taken their ideological eye off Latin America, that long-running political sore much closer to home. Prior to the war on terror they'd been working at improving relations in their own backyard, making a serious effort to win friends and negotiate trade deals south of the border. But the election of an unapologetically left-wing president in Bolivia is the strongest indication yet that the Americans are facing real difficulty keeping the region onside.
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President Evo Morales is an indigenous Bolivian who prides himself as "America's worst nightmare". He jokes that Fidel Castro, Venezuela's leftist leader - Hugo Chavez - and himself are Latin America's new "axis of good." Filmed during Bolivia's Carnival, David O'Shea spent an enviable fortnight partying with South America's new kid on the leftist block. Evo Morales -
Wednesday, 26th April,2006
MANESSEH SOGAVARE INTERVIEW
Across to the Solomons, where today the rioting and looting might have subsided, but the political turmoil in the troubled Pacific island nation took yet another dramatic turn. As you will have heard, minutes before the Prime Minister-elect, Snyder Rini, was about to face a no-confidence motion in the Parliament this morning, apparently without warning, four ministers from his government coalition defected to the opposition benches and Snyder Rini resigned. It was Rini's election as Prime Minister that last week sparked those two days of anti-Taiwanese violence in Honiara.
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Wednesday, 26th April,2006
AWB - WHAT THE MIDDLE MAN KNEW
John Howard and his ministers have been denying any prior knowledge of the $295 million in AWB kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. Earlier this month with that local political backdrop, Dateline's Thom Cookes travelled to Amman, the Jordanian capital. There, Thom successfully tracked down the head of the controversial "trucking company" Alia through which the kickbacks were paid. In his interview - the first ever for TV - with Othman al-Absi, Thom was told that, while the Australian Government maintains its mantra of ignorance about any nefarious activities by AWB, according to Mr Al-Absi, Alia has had a long-term relationship with Australia's trade representative in Jordan. Here's Thom with the latest twist in the ongoing AWB scandal.
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Wednesday, 19th April,2006
CHESTER WILMOT'S WAR
With Anzac Day just around the corner, imagine your country's at war and you're a journalist reporting from the front line. You love your country, respect the troops, but you're also convinced that they're being betrayed by incompetent military leadership. What do you do? Remain neutral or follow your conscience? Here's Bronwyn Adcock with the virtually untold story of one Australian media hero in just that predicament.
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Wednesday, 19th April,2006
SRI LANKA'S SHADOW WAR
Another beautiful but troubled island nation, Sri Lanka, devastated by the tsunami but already hugely damaged by the stop-go civil war between the government and the rebel Tamil Tigers, a brutal conflict that's left more than 60,000 dead. In recent years, a fragile cease-fire put a clamp on what had been open hostility. But now, in what was already a complex conflict, a new, third force has emerged. Dubbed the 'paramilitaries', they're accused of attacking the Tamil Tigers as a proxy force for the government. The government denies this, countering that the so-called paramilitaries are a fiction concocted by Tiger propagandists. So what's the real story? Here's Dateline's Aaron Lewis. And a warning that some sequences in Aaron's report could upset some out there.
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Wednesday, 19th April,2006
SIR PETER KENILOREA
Yesterday saw that violent protest against the new Prime Minister, the unpopular former deputy PM Snyder Rini. Today apparently, things have got worse, Rini's gone into hiding. The capital, Honiara, is in lockdown and most of the city's Chinese commercial district has been looted and burned. This afternoon, more than 100 Australian troops flew out of Townsville for the Solomons to help restore order. Earlier this evening, George Negus spoke with Sir Peter Kenilorea, the Speaker of the island nation's parliament.
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Wednesday, 12th April,2006
THE MANILA CONSPIRACY
Imagine, if you will, some of this country's more vocal Opposition MPs accused of treason and deciding to evade arrest by literally camping out in Parliament House. A highly unlikely occurrence, you'd have to say, but not in the Philippines. In fact that's precisely what's happening as we speak in the Filipino capital of Manila. Nick Lazaredes takes up the story of what can only be described as a quite extraordinary political stand-off.
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Wednesday, 12th April,2006
FRANCIS FUKUYAMA INTERVIEW
Remember the name Francis Fukuyama? Surely you do?! He was the American political economist who, back in '92, caused a real stir around the world with his controversial work, 'The End of History'. This huge tome. At that particular post-Cold War time, as Fukuyama saw it, ideology was dead, or at least Marxism, communism and socialism were. He became something of a guru for the so-called neo-cons - the ultra-right-wing activists in Washington, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle and co - who've had such a commanding influence on the policies of the Bush regime, including the decision to invade Iraq after 9/11.
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Well, recently, Fukuyama has been at it again, causing another stir, this time, though, by dramatically defecting from his former neo-con mates and coming out against George Bush, the invasion of Iraq and the war on terror. This is his latest political bestseller - not the end of history but 'The End of the Neo-Cons - America at the Crossroads'.
Earlier today George Negus talked with Professor Fukuyama via satellite from Washington. -
Wednesday, 12th April,2006
THE WOMEN OF HAMAS
Back in late January when the Palestinians voted for a new government, the world reeled when Hamas - the militant Islamists hell-bent on the destruction of the State of Israel - emerged as clear winners. In the wash-up, one powerful reason for their surprise victory turned out to be the support they received from female voters. Understandably, this confounded many Western observers who thought that Palestinian women would've been more attracted to Fatah, the largely secular ruling party, than the far more rigid Islamic ideology of Hamas. Dateline's Chris Hammer took off to the troubled Gaza Strip to find out why so many Palestinian women voted for the militants.
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Wednesday, 5th April,2006
DEEPA'S WATER
These days, making a film that criticises religion can be a dangerous profession. Remember the Dutch film-maker Theo Van Gogh, murdered after his film 'Submission' criticised Islam?
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Well, Indian director Deepa Metta has taken on Hinduism, her country's predmoninant religion. To say the least, her two previous films didn't exactly win her a mountain of friends, and now her latest production, 'Water', is also riding a veritable tsunami of criticism. Olivia Rousset caught up with Deepa in Sydney last week. -
Wednesday, 5th April,2006
BOB GELDOF INTERVIEW
Sir Bob Geldof started out as as Irish rock'n'roller who hated Mondays but these days he's a global figure - a so-called celebrity activist - who's convinced he can make world poverty history. Next week he's on his way here with his guitar and his band, to perform. But if he bumps into John Howard, you can be guaranteed the Australian PM will get an earful about our substandard commitment on aid to the world's 3 billion dirt poor.
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Wednesday, 5th April,2006
THE SPANISH INQUISITION
Note clarification to this story at the end of this transcript
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For years now, the Basque people of Spain have alleged that Spanish police have regularly tortured suspects, arrested for having connections with the Basque separatist group ETA. Recently, those allegations have been backed up by the UN Human Rights Commission. This disturbing story actually comes at an interesting time in the decades-long Basque conflict. Two weeks ago, ETA - responsible for hundreds of deaths over the years, announced a permanent cease-fire, the best chance yet for a resolution of the conflict. But could the torture allegations derail the peace negotiations? Here's David O'Shea.
