JUNE 2007
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Wednesday, 27th June,2007
THE MAN WHO TURNED
In the past month or so, the Indonesians have had a quite remarkable victory in their war on Islamic militants, arresting two leaders of the Jemaah Islamiah network. One of those now in custody is Abu Dujana, the head of JI's military wing. Amongst other crimes, Dujana's wanted for his role in the Marriott Hotel bombing in Jakarta in 2003 and the bomb attack on the Australian Embassy in 2004. The arrests follow years of intelligence gathering. Outside the square though, the Indonesian police were assisted by a senior JI militant who's turned against his former colleagues. Ginny Stein recently spent time in Jakarta with Nasir Abas, a man who previously trained the Bali bombers and was mentor to the notorious Abu Dujana who, as we said, was arrested last week.
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Wednesday, 27th June,2007
INTERVIEW WITH DR HANNAN ASHRAWI
Effectively, last week's street battles on the Gaza Strip have left the Palestinians with two governments - a new cabinet in the West Bank run by Fatah, and Gaza, now controlled by Hamas, virtually isolated from the outside world. The Fatah government in the West Bank - installed by Mahmoud Abbas - excludes Hamas and has already received support from Western powers. That said, it wasn't so long ago - early last year, in fact - that Hamas won a clear democratic victory in elections held throughout the Occupied Territories. Meanwhile, the long-held dream of a united Palestinian state has turned into a nightmare. Earlier, George Negus spoke with the respected Palestinian MP, Hanan Ashrawi.
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Wednesday, 27th June,2007
PURSUING POSADA
In the last day, the US Central Intelligence Agency has released some 700 pages of what it called "the family jewels" secret files detailing, among other things, years of attempts to assassinate the communist Cuban leader, Fidel Castro. And, Dateline can reveal the life and times of a man right at the centre of those attempts. Last month, in Texas, Luis Posada Carriles walked free from a court after US immigration charges against him were dismissed. On the face of it, a fairly unremarkable event, but below its surface is a tale of international intrigue and espionage stretching back for close on five decades. In Latin America, several governments have labelled Posada one of the world's worst terrorists, responsible, they claim, for death and destruction throughout the region. So why, you might ask, is he still free and living in the US? Dateline's David O'Shea has come up with some answers.
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Wednesday, 20th June,2007
COMBATANTS FOR PEACE
Well, everything looks pretty normal, doesn't it? And you'd have to say that if they can do it here, then sworn enemies should be able to stop killing each other just about anywhere in the world, even in the Middle East, where, of course, of late things have taken a turn for the worse. Here's Sophie McNeill.
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Wednesday, 20th June,2007
INTERVIEW WITH GERRY ADAMS
Locals call this street RPG Avenue, Rocket-Launcher Avenue - black Irish humour being what it is. And this mural is a stark reminder, like so many of these murals, of this city's past. But what about its future? Ian Paisley - whatever happened the old Protestant firebrand? These days he's a changed man if you can go by his current words and deeds, which makes you wonder if Gerry Adams is also going through his religio-politico conversion.
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Wednesday, 20th June,2007
IRISH PEACE TALKS
You can't really go to this part of the world and not go to a pub for a Guinness and a chat about politics and religion, so that is exactly what Paddy and George Negus did with Lawrence, a cabbie pal of his. But wait for it - Lawrence is a Protestant from the Shankill. A Protestant in a Sinn Fein pub in Andersonstown, bang in the Falls Road Catholic heartland.
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Wednesday, 20th June,2007
INTERVIEW WITH REV. IAN PAISLEY
George Negus has come back to Northern Ireland to speak with the Protestant leader Ian Paisley and the head of Sinn Fein Gerry Adams about the quite extraordinary transformation that has taken place in their lives and their politics. Looks like the lads are getting ready for their bonfires on Orange marching day. During the Troubles this was typical of the signage here in the Protestant Shankill Road area. In fact "no surrender" was pretty much the war cry of the Loyalist gunmen who lived around here. The last time George Negus was here he spoke with Ian Paisley who was absolutely adamant that there was no way he would ever deal with Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein. That is why they call him Dr No. But just a few weeks ago Ian Paisley became the new First Minister of Northern Ireland. Not only that, he is sharing power with Martin McGuinness - Gerry Adams's right-hand man and a former IRA military commander. How things can change.
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Wednesday, 13th June,2007
IRAN’S FEARLESS FEMINIST FILM MAKER
These days when you hear talk of Iran, almost invariably it's to do with the whole nuclear proliferation issue or the Islamic Republic's support for Hezbollah militants or their President's outlandish attacks on Jews. Few, if any, think of Iran and filmmaking. But, over the past decade or so, Iranian films have actually won critical acclaim at international film festivals. In Tehran recently, Colin Cosier got a rare opportunity to go on the set of a film being made by Iran's foremost filmmaker - a woman. In itself, this is surprising in Iran's male-dominated Islamic society. Already, she's done one stint in jail because of her uncompromising work.
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Wednesday, 13th June,2007
DALAI LAMA INTERVIEW
His real name is Tenzin Gyatso, he's a 71-year-old Tibetan living in exile in northern India, but you probably know him better as the 14th Dalai Lama, the Nobel Peace Prize winning leader of the world's Buddhists. He's wise, he laughs without a hat even being dropped, and the powerful Chinese Communists who over-ran his tiny Himalayan nation more than 50 years ago attack him as a dangerous troublemaker. Indeed, in a notable display of megaphone diplomacy overnight, the Dalai Lama's Communist detractors in Beijing condemned John Howard for even allowing into this country the man they describe as an exiled Tibetan independence campaigner - a charge you'll shortly hear him totally rebut. That said, he's already been here for a week and watching John Howard and Kevin Rudd desperately looking for excuses not to see him has bordered on the embarrassing. Yesterday, they finally caved in. George Negus had his second television audience in a decade with the chortling man in maroon and gold, in Canberra.
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Wednesday, 13th June,2007
THE CRUELLEST CUT - PAKISTAN'S KIDNEY MAFIA
More and more Westerners - including Australians, it appears - are travelling abroad to get transplants, particularly kidneys - currently the world's most sought-after organ. This boom in so-called transplant tourism has caused the World Health Organisation to recently express alarm at the sale of kidneys by poor donors to cater for this surging demand. Dateline's Elizabeth Tadic has been in Pakistan to investigate this pernicious trade.
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Wednesday, 6th June,2007
REPUBLIC OF DREAMS
In Australia, political satire has had an incredibly rich history. Then again, we have been a democracy for over 100 years. But apparently, to our north, our giant neighbour Indonesia - not even a decade since the fall of the Suharto dictatorship - finds itself glued to a television show that actually lampoons the nation's politicians. Up in Jakarta recently, Ginny Stein found local viewers are lapping it up. But, not all that surprisingly, those in power are finding the jokes just a little harder to take.
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Wednesday, 6th June,2007
THE MYSTERY OF MOHAMED ABBASS
Mohamed Abbass was a loving father of three from Sydney. Eight years ago, he took a holiday in Egypt, and never returned. Officially, no-one knows where Mr Abbass is or even if he is alive, despite the fact that two governments, the Australian Federal Police, his family and friends have all tried to find him. Two years ago here on Dateline, Bronwyn Adcock first reported on the Abbass story and now she has the latest in this extraordinary human saga.
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Wednesday, 6th June,2007
BENAZIR BHUTTO INTERVIEW
In the midst of the current turmoil in Pakistan, former Prime Minister Ms Benazir Bhutto announced from exile this week that she intends to return home, form an alliance with Narwaz Sharif, also an ex-prime minister, and try to pull off some sort of democratic deal with Pervez Musharraf, the country's incumbent President. General Musharraf, of course, is an unelected military dictator who's kept a solid grip on power now for eight years. Of late however, issues have emerged to loosen that hold, particularly his attempt to dismiss the nation's Chief Justice. Massive public support for the judge rocked Musharraf and earlier this week, he clamped down on the country's media. But apparently this won't stop his currently banned political adversaries. They plan to defy Musharraf by fronting, later this year, for the country's presidential elections. So it could be well and truly on for young and old. Earlier this evening, George Negus spoke with the charismatic Ms Bhutto from an undisclosed overseas location.
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