The Tora Bora Blues

Liberal Democracy didn't die in the hills of Tora Bora (primarily because it never lived there), but the events in Great Game II certainly didn't help. This was, after all, the new home of the eponymous Al Queda after this arm of the US backed Mujahadeen went all native and started going after western interests after they sent the Ruskies packing. AQ became a household world in one of the more stunning examples of Blowback, when the jihadis landed a 747 on the observation deck of the World Trade Centre.

The CEO of AQ is the infamous boogie man of neoconservatism, Osama Bin Laden. And he was the subject of an off-the-record briefing from a 'Bush administration source' this week in what was a telling indictment of who the White House is backing in Central Asia.

The gist of the statement was 'Osama's alive and well in Pakistan, but we reckon the Paki military are the mob who can keep a lid on the situation.'

The Pakistan regime, of course, denies it - in the oblique way that tinpot dictatorships invariably fail to spot a subtle friendly gesture when they see one.

For what the Bush Toadie was offering Islamabad was a nod-and-a-wink green light for the military to run the show in Pakistan, especially if the Islamacists win elections scheduled in a week or so.

There was a very strong hint about who exactly they are backing - and here's a name for the little black book - General Ashfaq Kayani. As the Reuters' report says:

The Bush administration also has been very impressed with Pakistani army chief Gen. Ashfaq Kayani and considers him a 'promising partner,' the official said.

So there you have it. If the incumbent dictator Musharef is unpalatable to the Pentagon and the White House, they have a ready made replacement just in case the jihadis win control of the Pakistani parliament.

Ah, the land of the free, defender of democracy, hopelessly compromised dumb asses.

Pakistan will be an open civil war by the end of the year. they can cancel Australia's cricket tour now.

Meanwhile Osama, himself a creation of the Pakistani secret service, the ISI, can continue to hobnob around Waziristan at will if he likes.

What NATO makes of this - considering they are fighting a war against a Taliban that is tacitly supported by section s of the Pakistan military and ISI - is anyone's guess. But London to a brick the Europeans are probably less than impressed at the thumbs up the bumbling dodos over the border.

It also makes clear that the choices for Central Asia are a) Islamic fuindamentalism or b) military dictatorship. What a stunningly successful outcome this is after two centuries of meddling in the lands of the Pashtun.

Back playing hide and seek in the Library of Alexandria

The Blog That Never Sleeps is returning from a cogitating hiatus. This blog has been pondering the meaning of the sub-prime lending crisis, the US Presidential primaries, rain, Electricity Privatisation, Kevin Rudd, the Job Network and how and why Liberal Democracy died. That Liberal Democracy is dead is certain. It's just that nobody has told it yet. Those eponymous images of planes flying into the twin-towers will be as much an exclamation mark in history as Archduke Ferdinand getting his face blown off in Sarajevo or William the Bastard taking to the field at Hastings in 1066. Of this we can be certain. But even at those times I doubt most people understood the significance until the dust had fully settled, usually decades, or a generation, after. But Liberal Democracy is as dead as my grandfathers dog, leaving us swimming in a septic tank full of hubris that borrows the words and clichés of the democratic process, and liberalism, but leaves us a reality more akin to soviet Russia, medieval Europe or Pinochet's Chile. Luckily The Blog That Never Sleeps can make sense of all this, and maybe even name this new world order that looks like Hollywood, smells like a dead man and sounds like fingernails down a blackboard. Here's luck!

Warm Nights On A Non Moving Train

Further signs that the Third World lifestyle we all crave is coming our way...

RailCorp must revisit procedures for managing stranded trains after scores of CityRail passengers were trapped on an interurban service between Hazelbrook and Lawson on Wednesday afternoon for over two and a half hours, despite being metres from Hazelbrook station.

The delay, initially caused by a loss of power to the privately operated Indian Pacific, was exacerbated by train controllers needing authorisation paperwork before the stranded interurban service could proceed.

In these situations the health, safety and comfort of the travelling public must be paramount. Every effort must be made to get the passengers off the train as soon as possible. Two and a half hours is a pathetic and unacceptable response, but par for the course for a management whose response to the Glenbrook Disaster is to cover their own backsides while denying resources and authority to frontline operational staff.

Justice McInerney’s inquiry into the Glenbrook disaster and the tragic loss of life made recommendations, especially regarding train operator communications, which are still yet to be acted upon. Blustering arguments from RailCorp management about safety are just hogwash as it was perfectly safe on Wednesday night to transport passengers two hundred metres to the next station (as was acknowledged by operational staff on the spot) from where people could have made alternative arrangements.

Alex Tibbits from SMH Online reported at 6.51pm that delays were due to “a truck that had rolled on to the tracks at Blackheath at about 4.50pm today.” And that “commuters are being transferred to buses at Penrith [to continue their journey]” This wasn’t happening at Lawson nearly an hour after Tibbits’ report appeared online.

Tibbits relied on a CityRail spokesman, who made no mention of the failure of the privately owned Indian Pacific - which managed to travel on to Lithgow on the “closed” line, as did the service I was stranded on after the RailCorp paperwork was completed nearly four hours later.

This is shoddy journalism as not only was his report plain wrong - and I speak as an eyewitness - but would have added to the confusion for not only the travelling public, but caused anxiety for friends and relatives of those on the train trying to find out what was happening.

When newspapers meant something they employed people on the ground called stringers to inform news editors and journalists of stories, and act as a confirmation of official versions of events. This journalism-by-press-release has undermined the credibility of the Herald in the eyes of its many readers from the Blue Mountains.

It couldn’t undermine their view of RailCorp as that simply isn’t possible.