JULY 2006
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Wednesday, 26th July,2006
JAVA'S GODS MUST BE CRAZY
While the Middle East burns, to our north Indonesia has been suffering more than its fair share of natural disasters, as distinct from the man-made kind. Last week's tsunami in Java was the latest, but before that there was the dreadful Boxing Day 2004 tsunami, the earthquake in Jogjakarta and other floods and landslides around the archipelago. And for some in Indonesia, these events are interpreted as having mystical rather than scientific origins. On a visit to Jogjakarta after the May earthquake, Bronwyn Adcock found that, in fact, mysticism runs deep in the predominantly Islamic nation.
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Wednesday, 26th July,2006
MIKHAIL GORBACHEV INTERVIEW
There are very few individuals around who deserve an over-the-top description like this one - "the person who has changed the world more than anybody else alive". Big call, but that is precisely what it says here about the former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. These days, the man who has also been described as the worlds first "anti-communist communist" who 16 years ago ended the Cold War and changed the destiny of not just Russia, but also Europe and arguably the world, is still sought-after on the international lecture circuit. He is in Australia at the moment and George Negus caught up with him in Brisbane where, as an environmental activist these days, he was co-chair of the Earth Dialogues Forum at the 2006 Brisbane Festival.
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Wednesday, 26th July,2006
NADIM HOURY INTERVIEW
Earlier today, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed shock at Israel's "apparently deliberate targeting" of a UN post in Lebanon in which four UN observers were killed. The Israelis have denied deliberately targeting the UN, but what does this latest outrage say about the conflict? Human Rights Watch has a group of dedicated individuals in both Lebanon and northern Israel documenting the alarming human rights toll. Do they believe civilians are being targeted? Nadim Houry is the Human Rights Watch representative in Lebanon and George Negus spoke to Nadim earlier this evening from Beirut.
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Wednesday, 26th July,2006
THE WAR ON THE BORDER
To the consternation of many around the globe, the war in Lebanon and northern Israel rages while the rest of us gape, unable to do anything to curb the carnage. What can only be described as mutual madness has been going on now for two weeks, tearing apart innocents on both sides with the blame game being played out behind the shelling. We have seen plenty of images like these of the demolition of Beirut and something of the Hezbollah bombing of Haifa. But precious little has been seen of what is happening in the far south of Lebanon on the Israeli border.
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As it turns out, one of Datelines Arabic translators here at SBS has a brother-in-law living close to the border. Loutfullah Daher also happens to be a professional cameraman, and since the conflict began, he has been travelling throughout that part of Lebanon, regularly coming under fire.
Dateline got in touch with Loutfullah and asked him to send us some of his footage. A warning is probably apt - some of what you are about to see and hear is not exactly pleasant. -
Wednesday, 19th July,2006
DUTCH DETENTION
Now the contentious issue of asylum seekers. Early in the 19th century, an old hulk moored in Sydney Harbour was used to house the new colony's prisoners. The floating prison was a British invention meant to save money and serve as a harsh lesson to those who broke the law. Now, would you believe, prison hulks are making a 21st century comeback in the heart of Europe as a way of holding unwanted immigrants. Here's Nick Lazaredes in the Netherlands.
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Wednesday, 19th July,2006
PRINCE HASSAN INTERVIEW
Is that what it's ultimately all about - the annihilation, whatever it takes, of both Hamas and Hezbollah by the Israelis? For his perspective on this and any possibility of a cessation in the violence and fighting, earlier this evening George Negus talked from the Jordanian capital, Amman, with an old contact on these matters, Crown Prince Hassan, King Abdullah's uncle.
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Wednesday, 19th July,2006
AN EYE FOR AN EYE
Thom Cookes has been in the Middle East, and this report comes from the city of Haifa, with his on-the-spot assessment of how things have gone so bad.
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Wednesday, 19th July,2006
CORPOREL SHALIT'S FATHER
As you would have seen from his report last week, Dateline reporter Thom Cookes has been in the Middle East, and in a moment his report from the city of Haifa. Before that, though, at the height of the fighting, Thom travelled to the village of Hila in northern Israel. Hila's the home of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier held by Hamas fighters in Gaza. This banner reads, "Gilad, we're waiting for you." Corporal Shalit's father, Naom, agreed to talk with Thom about the Israeli efforts to release his son, as war swirls around him.
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Wednesday, 19th July,2006
DR AMAAL SAAD -GHORAYEB
As if Iraq and Afghanistan weren't enough, now more death and destruction in the Middle East itself with innocent civilians on both sides, including kids, bearing the brunt. In this eye-for-an-eye contest, Israel has sent in the troops and says it will keep up its bombardment of Lebanon, destroying much of the country in the process, while Hezbollah is showing no sign of letting up on their rocket attacks into northern Israel. A short time ago, George Negus spoke with Dr Amaal Saad-Ghorayeb. A professor at the Lebanese American University, she is regarded as an expert on Hezbollah. We were to interview her in a Beirut studio but because of an escalation in the Israeli attacks on the city, we found ourselves talking by phone as the professor was watching local television news.
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Wednesday, 12th July,2006
TROUBLE IN EXILE
For years now, the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of almost 6 million Tibetans, has enjoyed a love affair with the West. Indeed by his own people - and also by Hollywood celebrities like Richard Gere and Steven Segal - he is regarded as a Buddha incarnate. But some younger Tibetans, it seems, are becoming increasingly frustrated by their leader's message of peace and love. They fear his non-confrontational approach ultimately brings them no closer to their own homeland. Dateline's Sophie McNeill spent time recently with some young, exiled and angry Tibetans.
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Wednesday, 12th July,2006
EFRAIM HALEVY INTERVIEW
For an Israeli point-of-view earlier this afternoon I spoke with Efriam Halevy, for 30 years an operative with Israel's intelligence agency, Mossad, and for five years, up until 2002, he was head of the agency. Mr Halevy is certainly no dove - he unapologetically defends Israel's hardline approach to the Palestinian leadership, and under his Mossad reign Hamas leaders were selectively assassinated and Yasser Arafat, the former Palestinian leader, was kept under siege in his Ramallah compound. These days Mr Halevy is head of the influential Center of Strategic and Policy Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
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Wednesday, 12th July,2006
FIVE DAYS IN GAZA
The veritable cauldron that is currently Palestine and Israel, and now Lebanon, with Israeli Prime Minister Olmert warning today that a heavy price would be paid for the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah. Earlier today, for the first time since "Operation Summer Rains" began in Gaza two weeks ago, the Israeli Army entered the central part of the strip. At the same time, Israeli jets bombed the home of the leader of Hamas' military wing, provoking Hamas to warn that their reaction to the air strike would be "strong and painful". And earlier this morning, four Palestinians, including two children, were killed and around 30 others injured in yet another Israeli air raid on Gaza. While the situation in Lebanon is hotting up by the hour, Gaza is already a war zone. In the past few days Thom Cookes has been on the ground with the Palestinians in Gaza.
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Wednesday, 5th July,2006
GERMANY - TOAD IN THE HOLE
As Australia considers starting a nuclear power industry, in Germany they have decided to phase theirs out by 2021 - at least that's the current official position. One of the ongoing issues for Germany is the nuclear waste that has accumulated over more than four decades of nuclear power. There is still no political agreement on what to do with thousands of tonnes of waste. There are allegations that the stalemate has led to illegal dumping, and Dateline's Chris Hammer reports on one such case.
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Wednesday, 5th July,2006
DR JOSE RAMOS-HORTA INTERVIEW
The troubles in East Timor continue, since the resignation of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, the country has been in turmoil and effectively without any form of government. In the past few days cabinet has begun to meet again under the leadership of Alkatiri's political enemy Jose Ramos Horta. His formal appointment as interim Prime Minister is expected soon, a surprising power play given that Horta is not a member of the ruling Fretilin Party, Alkatiri's party, which totally dominates the parliament. Mark Davis spoke with Jose Ramos Horta from Dili as he begins to exert his new authority.
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Wednesday, 5th July,2006
BELARUS - MERCHANTS OF WAR
The transcript and video for this story is not available.
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For more than a decade President Aleksandr Lukasheno has ruthlessly suppressed political dissent in Belarus - imprisoning and even murdering opponents of his regime.
Next week, Nick Lazaredes explains how Europe's last dictator maintains his hold on power through the global arms trade. It's a murky story that involves a mysterious airbase, a murdered arms dealer, and a bank with dangeous secrets.
Although it produces relatively few weapons itself, Belarus dominates the world market in second-hand armaments - buying, modernising and then selling everything from MIG fighter jets to armoured tanks.
Earlier this year the White House produced a report which claims Belarus provides weapons to areas of ongoing conflict like Sudan - flouting UN embargos.
But Washington's biggest fear is that Belarus could supply Iran with the latest Russian anti-aircraft missile system. It's about the only weapon on the market capable of fending off US or NATO aircraft.
"The United States is not going to stand idly by while the Lukashenka regime engages in reckless and dangerous arms sales.... The arms sales contribute to corruption, the corruption contributes to the regime’s efforts to secure its hold over the country, and I think it’s fair to say that without that money that would come from these arms sales the regime would have a much more difficult time securing the support and backing that it needs from certain individuals in order to maintain power.”
- Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Kramer
