The Carr Doctrine So Far 3

"Ended a long day with a private fundraising dinner at the home of a businessman, Paul Binstead of Pymble. Carr was the star turn, laying into the Americans over Iraq, a scarifying 15-minute critique of their faulty strategy and how it will foster Islamic fundamentalism worldwide. It's a measure of how bad the Americans are going that someone loke Bob, an old Cold War warrior, is up them for the rent. I need him to come out publicly and say these things. The thug Armitage and his underlings are in the Murdoch papers all the time: the born-to-rule mentality of American imperialism, trying to interfere in our sovereign system, trying to help Howard. They see us as a colony, not an ally. Carr is the senior Labor head of government in this country - he could play a vital role, put them back in their box. But he won't. When push comes to shove, he's like the rest of the Labor conservatives: scared of Murdoch, scared of Packer, scared of the Americans, our great and powerful friends. Bob is going to the Australian-American Leadership Dialogue in June, the foreign policy club funded by the US. He won't repeat his comments from tonight publicly, they would throw him out of the club." (Tuesday, 20 April 2004: The Latham Diaries, Mark Latham, 2005, p 281)

So far, Murdoch court reporters love Bob Carr:

"In keeping with the early battles against what he calls the 'comms' in the Labor Party, Carr's position remains hard Right. He will not only be as pro-US as Alexander Downer, he will also be able to match his Washington hosts in Civil War history, as well as the history of the Kennedy administration. On a personal note, I spent a week in Israel with Carr and his wife Helena in 2010: his hawkishness was everywhere on display, including when he told our hosts that were terrorists threatening the citizens of NSW, he would have built a dividing wall here too." (The hard Right man cometh, Imre Salusinszky, The Australian, 3/3/12)

And yet, despite his place in Mark Latham's famous conga line of suckholes and his total ignorance of the history of Palestine/Israel, Carr is described in Salusinszky's report as having a "passion for history" (quoting Michael Egan) and a "knowledge of the issues above anybody else in Australia and far in excess of anybody in public office" (quoting Morris Iemma), and is alleged (by Salusinszky) to have "doubled the IQ of Gillard's caucus."

"Carr was always serious about foreign affairs. He founded Labour Friends of Israel. He was a passionate social democrat, which made him a serious anti-communist all through the Cold War. He gave the NSW Right whatever class and elan it had." (Carr right choice for foreign job, Greg Sheridan, The Australian, 3/3/12)

However, there's a fly in Sheridan's ointment: "Going back through Carr's blog in detail yesterday, I was struck, generally, by its erudition and range, but there were one or two things to disagree with. I think he is a bit too sanguine about the threat posed by a nuclear-armed Iran, and a bit Pollyanna-ish in his interpretation of the Chinese government."

And what's this?:

"Bob Carr has removed an attack on the Dalai Lama from his personal blog where he decribed the spiritual leader as a 'cunning monk'. Australia's next foreign minister, Mr Carr said his views on the Thoughtlines blog were personal ones, but he did not want them to distract from his plum job." (Foreign Minister deletes Dalai Lama attack from blog, Samantha Maiden & Linda Silmalis, Sunday Telegraph, 4/3/12)

And the Carr Doctrine So Far? Well, it's still on Thoughtlines as I type, but will that too be removed or subjected to a judicious nip and tuck, I wonder?