The Rudd Doctrine

As for the rest of Heavy Kevvie's speech, here are some of the bits that stuck... in my throat:

Hello world, here I come:

"First, Australia's national interests are no longer simply shaped by our regional strategic geography; second, while our region remains critical, we are now also profoundly shaped by political, economic and social developments around the globe; and third, our analysis and our diplomacy must, as a result, be directed both to our neighbourhood and to the world."

Keating was wrong! Far from being 'the arse end of the world', Australia is:

"... by definition a middle power with regional and global interests."

Ah, it seemed like only yesterday I was schmoozing with Pharaoh Mubarak*, but, hey, that was then, this is NOW!:

"We are now seeing protest movements and, in some cases, revolutionary movements in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Iran. From the Straits of Gibralter to the Straits of Hormuz. A profound reminder of the universality of the cry for democratic freedoms. A profound reminder that it is impossible to permanently suppress the voice of the people."

[* Indeed! See my 1/2/11 post Gypos Ratfuck Rudd's Policy Settings]

Not that we weren't Friends of Autocratic Egypt, mind you, but:

"The question arises, therefore, as to what Australia in partnership with the international community can do to support a peaceful and stable democratic transformation in Egypt and beyond. Australia is currently in active negotiation with major economies around the world to form a flexible framework for responding positively to Egypt's transitional needs... It is time for major democracies around the world which have both the economic capacity and the necessary political will to become International Partners of Democratic Egypt, Friends of Democratic Egypt at this most crucial time in modern Egyptian history."

Oh yes, Libya:

"It is time for the UNSC to condemn the actions of the Libyan [but not the Israeli] government against its [in the case of Israel, non-] citizens. The UN's Human Rights Council should also condemn these [but not Israel's] gross human rights violations. The international community needs to take action where civilians [but not Palestinian civilians] need protection. It is also time for the international community to remind the Libyan [but not the Israeli] regime and its leaders that crimes against humanity are offences under the Rome Statute and the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court."

OK, we may be totally USrael's bitch, but:

"Our interests also reflect the values of good international citizenship - that is, quite apart from the prosecution of our national interests, we also exert our efforts to build a peaceful, stable and just international order."

Welcome to my nonpolar world:

"Richard Haass argued recently in Foreign Affairs, we are entering an 'age of nonpolarity': a world dominated not by one or two or even several states, but rather by dozens of actors exercising various kinds of power."

"As Secretary Clinton herself has said the United States does not and should not 'go it alone'; rather, the US seeks itself to exercise leadership in new ways - to convene, to connect, to create partnerships aimed at solving shared global problems."

Yes, pack rape is much more fun, and that is why the CIA, Mossad & faithful little ASIS are meeting, even as I speak, to head the Arab Revolt (or revolting Arabs as we like to joke) off at the pass.

Despite the fact that we always vote in the UN with Usrael and those Pacific taddies whenever another of Israel's conniptions comes to its notice:

"Middle powers are nimble in working the 'in-between' of international diplomacy - most particularly if they have no vested interests that are not held in common with the international community."

OK, already, so I represent the Australian Labor Party, of which one of my ministerial colleagues was heard to make moan recently when he said, "There is no social democratic or labour party in the world that confers less influence on its members,"* but I can still bullshit with the best that:

"We are one of the world's oldest, continuous democracies."

[* See Give members more say or the ALP will wither, warns minister, Phillip Coorey, Sydney Morning Herald, 16/2/11)