'Acceptable Opinion': The China Lobby

I love word association games, don't you? Imagine you're engaged in one with an Australian journalist and you said, 'lobby'. What's he/she going to say?

Why, 'China' of course:

"In a 2015 interview with the China Economic Net website... Senator Dastyari is quoted as extending his 'warm congratulations' to the Chinese people on the anniversary of the 'Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War'. Swinburne University China expert John Fitzgerald said the phrase... was a 'loaded term'. Dr Fitzgerald claimed Senator Dastyari... must be speaking from dot points drafted by someone with close links to the Chinese communist party or government - a minder or go-between'... " (Dastyari under pressure as Chinese interview surfaces, James Massola & Nick McKenzie, Sydney Morning Herald, 5/12/17)

Apparently, the hordes of Labor and Liberal politicians who flock to Israel lobby-organised 'Independence Day' gigs and there declare their undying love for all things Israel simply aren't on our journalists' radar. Presumably, that's because, when it comes to Israel, no Israel lobby-generated PR dot points are required as our politicians always speak straight from the heart!

Now, surprise, surprise here's another piece on China - same paper, same edition:

"As New Zealand sinologist Anne-Marie Brady of Canterbury University has written: 'The Chinese government's foreign influence activities have accelerated under Xi. The focus of media attention has been on Australia, but the People's Republic of China's attempts to guide, buy, or coerce political influence abroad are widespread.' But why?... 'At its core,' says an American expert on China's influence operations, Peter Mattis, 'to survive, the party has to manipulate the ideas around it. What questions are asked, what's on the spectrum of acceptable opinion, there's a consistent effort to shape that." (Hexing Beijing's 'magic weapon', Peter Hartcher, Sydney Morning Herald, 5/12/17)

Of course, the Israel lobby doesn't have to put quite the same effort into manipulating the ideas around it - what questions are asked, what's on the acceptable spectrum of opinion etc, etc. And that's because it's got journalists like Hartcher (rambammed 2010) parroting their lines and/or avoiding altogether the kind of in-depth discussion he devotes here to Chinese influence. (And this despite the fact that he once quoted an "Australian official" who told him that it wouldn't matter who Australia's prime minister was because the Israelis had us "by the balls... partly because of the strength of the Israel lobby.")*

Silly me - I would have thought that if a foreign power could be described by a government insider as having us by the balls the matter would be deserving of some journalistic scrutiny, but then that's why I'm not the Herald's international editor, right?

[*See my 22/6/10 post The Best Israel Policy Money Can Buy.]

Meet the ALP's 3 Alt-Amigos

Tired of Labor's 3 Amigos (Hawke, Rudd & Evans), as that prince of pundits Greg Sheridan refers to them? How about Labor's 3 Alt-Amigos then?

Read on:

There's Kimmie, a Middle East specialist who could have pulled off a peace deal between Palestine and Israel long ago if only Bill Clinton hadn't hogged the stage:

"Former Labor leader Kim Beazley has waded into the growing rift within Labor over formal recognition of Palestine, saying Palestinian leaders have become 'very comfortable' applying moral pressure on Israel but have not undertaken the hard yards necessary to reach a lasting peace... Mr Beazley said the focus on Israel and Mr Netanyahu, who he described as a 'difficult messenger' for social democrats to bear, had effectively given the Palestinians a free pass on hard questions such as the issue of Palestinian returns [?] and the status of East Jerusalem." (Palestinians must do the hard yards: Beazley, Paul Maley, The Australian, 24/2/17)

And Kimmie knows all about the hard yards. That slog in Washington as Australia's ambassador was hell. Hell! So bad, in fact, it drove the poor man to drink: "Former Labor leader Kim Beazley charged taxpayers $3, 420 for 12 bottles of Penfolds Grange during his time as ambassador to the US in 2014, an expenditure list shows." (Kim Beazley charged taxpayers thousands of dollars for bottles of Penfolds Grange while US ambassador, Uma Patel, ABC News, 29/9/16)

There's Mr Bean. For sheer depth of knowledge of the Palestine problem, he's in a class of his own, as these perceptive comments show:

"A Right faction powerbroker, Senator Dastyari, who does not support immediate recognition of a Palestinian state as advocated by Bob Hawke, Mr Evans and Mr Carr, said the party should not ignore other humanitarian challenges abroad. In recent years, there have been atrocities in Syria, Libya, Iraq and throughout the Middle East... I have always been a strong supporter of a two-state solution and of Australia playing a role to help facilitate that (but) the Labor Party can't afford to focus on the Palestinian question at the expense of the other humanitarian challenges.' The Iranian-born senator said he supported the party reviewing its policy but made it clear recent interventions in support of Palestine by Mr Hawke, Mr Evans and Mr Carr were unhelpful prior to Mr Netanyahu's visit." (Sam Dastyari berates Labor Party push to endorse Palestinian state, Troy Bramston, The Australian, 20/2/17)

Finally, there's the legendary Richo, who, as an ALP factional warrior, brings his unique experience of Ultimate Cage Fighting (UCF), ALP-style, to say nothing of his wealth of expertise and profound insight on the subject of Palestine/Israel, to bear on that fraught matter:

"An emboldened Netanyahu has since expanded his plans to settle more Israelis in the West Bank. The new settlements are at the heart of why those Labor elders like Bob Hawke and Bob Carr, Gareth Evans and Kevin Rudd are walking away from Israel and seek succour and comfort in the tender arms of the PLO and Hamas. Frankly I don't see much comfort there and I can't go along with recognising the Palestinian state unless and until Hamas resiles from its commitment to boot every Jew out of Israel... Ever since I was born there have been troubles in Israel and that will continue till I am gone and beyond." (Netanyahu not a man given to compromise, Graham Richardson, The Australian, 24/2/17)

No doubt about it, Labor's got talent.

The Australian's Dreaded Senior Labor Source

Beware The Australian's dreaded Senior Labor Source (SLS):

"Bob Carr's think tank at the University of Technology, Sydney, is operating as a 'propaganda arm' of the Chinese communist government, critics say, as they raise concerns that the university sector is compromising academic freedoms and has become a target for Chinese 'soft power'. A senior Labor source said the former foreign minister was responsible for pushing an aggressive pro-China position with Labor MPs in NSW. The Australia China Relations Institute at UTS was established in 2014 with a $1.8 million donation from property developer Huang Xiangmo, whose Yuhu Group also settled a $40,000 legal claim for Labor senator Sam Dastyari... Following Senator Dastyari's resignation, one senior Labor source told The Australian Labor's former foreign minister was responsible for pushing an aggressive pro-China position with Labor MPs in NSW, particularly within the party's Right faction. 'Sam Dastyari was just the monkey - the organ-grinder is Bob Carr'." (Carr 'operating propaganda arm', Sarah Martin, The Australian, 9/9/16)

Ever since Carr blew the whistle (in his 2014 Diary of a Foreign Minister) on the "subcontracting" of our foreign policy to Zionist "party donors" in Melbourne, The Australian's SLS has been biding his time, waiting for an opportunity to smote him. This, alas, was provided by the hapless Sam Dastyari - hence the above guilt-by-association attack.

Sarah Martin reported that Carr "did not respond to a request for comment." Wise man. Had he not, after all, described the Murdoch press in his book as "relentless, manic, cruel." He chose to hit back instead with an opinion piece in today's Sydney Morning Herald, Think tank that sees hope in China needed.