E D I T O R I A L

War On The Collective
While Saddam Hussein is the primary target of George W Bush�s ham-fisted crusade to destroy a noun, the United Nations is also under its heaviest attack in its 57 years.

F E A T U R E S

Interview: Still Flying
Flight Attendant�s Association international secretary Johanna Brem looks at life in the air since last September�s terrorist attacks.

International: President Gas
NSW Firefighter�s president Darryl Snow sent this missive to his members on the anniversary of a day when 343 of their colleagues died in the line of duty.

Politics: Australia: A Rogue State?
ARM director Greg Barnes argues that September 11 has summoned a new era of isolationism and international lawlessness.

Unions: Welfare Max
Maximus Inc is big, American and controversial. Right now its knocking on the door of Australian welfare delivery and there is every chance the Howard Government will usher it inside, reports Jim Marr.

Bad Boss: Welcome to Telstra!
A Telstra call centre has joined the race for Bad Boss after sacking a pregant woman who had the audacity to need to use the toilet.

Health: Fat Albert: The Grim Reaper
Workers Online's cultural dietician Mark Morey chews the fat over this week's conference on child obesity

Satire: Iraq Pre-empts Pre-emptive Strike
Saddam Hussein has launched a pre-emptive strike on the United States to prevent it from pre-emptively striking Iraq first.

Poetry: A Man From the East And A Man From The West
Resident Bard David Peetz has penned this ode to the sacked Hilton hotel workers

Review: The Sum Of All Fears
Tara de Boehmler checks in to see that America�s cultural cringe is alive, well and sponsored by Marlboro cigarettes

N E W S

Unions Join Anti-War Chorus

ACM Fails Port Hedland Report

Abbott Adds Fuel to Bias Case

Murray�s Millions Dwarfs Workers Wages

Rogue MP Faces Grassroots Backlash

Harry Bridges Speaks from the Grave

Councils Deny Multi-Lingual Workers

US Rabbi Fights Lowy Malls

Ansett Ticket Levy Not Reaching Workers

Something Stinks at the Zoo

Virgin in Delegate Situation

Pampas Workers Baste Boss

International Shame for Aussie IR

Sydney Trade Talks Face Backlash

Activists Notebook

C O L U M N S

Legends
Gough's Plaza
Labor's living legend challenged NSW Labor to lift its game as he attended a renaming of 2KY House to Gough Whitlam Plaza.

The Locker Room
Support The System That Supports You
This system is a certainty, a moral, a good thing and a knocktaker; well, at least according to Phil Doyle

Bosswatch
RIP Chainsaw Al
One of the heroes of corporate downsizing has been cut down but his memory lives on with golden handshakes for leaders of failed businesses still thick on the ground.

Awards
The Importance of Being Ernie
It was the tenth annual �Ernie� Awards for sexist behaviour and Labor Council�s Alison Peters was amongst the noisy punters

Week in review
Lest We Forget
You can�t help a sneaking suspicion, Jim Marr writes, that George Bush is conscripting the dead of September 11, 2001, to lead his push for another war in the Gulf�

Activists
Workers Out!
Gay and Lesbian trade unionists are organising an international conference to develop a global response to homophobia in the workplace, writes Ryan Heath

L E T T E R S

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The Prime Miniature

*****************

John Howard has long championed the Small Picture and when you see him trying to strut the world stage you'll see why. This is a man whose idea of statesmanship is to follow the polls, finding the cracks in the social fabric and then driving a wedge right through them for maximum political gain. This may be proving effective in winning domestic elections, but George Duybya is also discovering, international diplomacy takes a little more finesse.

Howard's last contribution to international diplomacy was his attempt to throw Zimbabwe out of the Commonwealth in his capacity as chair of the committee of review. While we are no fans of Robert Mugabe, we do find it a little ironic that the one issue that moves our leader to act is repression of white people. This is the man who called Nelson Mandela a 'terrorist' and more recently has used desperate Afghan refugees as electoral cannon fodder. But when white colonials get thrown off their land, our man bursts into action.

The only problem was that Howard lacked the stature to carry off his agenda. First Mugabe pulled out of the meeting, citing the 'inappropriate' nature of the Howard invitation. Then the other two members of his panel, the South African and Nigerian leaders, left Howard out on his own when they too rejected his hard-line proposition. Now Howard can complain that he was stitched up by a display of African solidarity, but the fact remains that he couldn't finesse an issue that should be addressed.

Meanwhile he continues to beat the war drum, keeping pace with Bush and his increasingly maniacal determination to see bombs dropping before the mid-term Congressional elections. For Howard the response seems to be more Pavlovian - George the Dumb does it so I must follow. Even with public support heading South, Howard seems poised to support the US going it alone, possible offering a few of our own boys as fodder. Who knows, if we are really lucky we could become a terrorist target and have a new crisis to divert us from the good administration of public policy.

Reading Don Watson's recent memoir of Paul Keating's leadership it was impossible not to be struck by Keating's stellar performances abroad. Here was a man who could match intellect and passion with the best of them. John Howard campaigned on being everything Paul Keating wasn't - and when it comes to diplomacy he's kept this promise and then some. This man is living proof that just because you power walk in a tracksuit doesn't make you a world leader.

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Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005