View From The Couch 19/Aug/2024

Labor Ratatouille

The premise of 'Ratatouille' is that it's about a rat in a hat who is actually a talented chef. It's a fun, family picture, and very charming if you could just overcome the abjection of a rat in a kitchen. 

And this is kind of how I feel about the story being put out by the Fatima Payman camp. It's all very charming but at the end of the day she's still just a rat in the ranks who bolted to the cross bench over a single issue. She's still Mal Colston with a Hijab and a colourful backstory. 

Payman's brief association with the ALP has ended and she will forever be known as a "Labor rat" but her experience has convinced her that change needs to occur.  

"I feel like the Labor Party really needs to review their rules because I don't think they're ready to have diversity with a voice," she says. 

"They want diversity but voiceless." 

Aly rejects this assessment. "It has been my experience that not only am I given a seat at the table, I am also given a voice," Aly says.

She just doesn't get it. The person who needs to "review" is Fatima Payman herself. 

Where is my spew emoji? Oh, here it is. 

🤮

No Ceasefire

To nobody's surprise, Hamas rejected the ceasefire proposal. This is not surprising because if there ever was a peace, Hamas would lose its raison d'être. You can't ask people to have cease-fire when the whole point of their existence is to continue a forever war until all demands are met and the Jews are eradicated "from the River to the Sea". They complained about Netanyahu "putting obstacles in the way of peace":

"He (Netanyahu) also set new conditions in the prisoner exchange file, and backed down from others, which all prevent the completion of the exchange deal," it said. 

"We hold Netanyahu fully responsible for the failure of the mediators' efforts, the obstruction of reaching an agreement, and full responsible for the lives of his prisoners, who are exposed to the same danger that our people are exposed to due to his continued aggression and systematic targeting of all aspects of life in the Gaza Strip." 

Mr Netanyahu had earlier told an Israeli cabinet meeting Hamas was blocking a deal.
"We are holding very complex negotiations in which the other side is a murderous terrorist organisation that is unbridled and obstinate," he said. 

"There are things we can be flexible on and there are things that we cannot be flexible on, which we will insist on. We know how to distinguish between the two very well."

Well of course they would say that - and of course  Netanyahu would say that. The whole laughable thing is that the people who want the ceasefire the most are not the combatants but the Mediators. Just picture that - all the mediator countries trying to bring both of these parties kicking and screaming to the negotiating table when both sides know there is no hankering for any kind of enduring peace. All that good faith being wasted on people acting in the worst faith. If that's not enough to make you spit out your coffee through your nostrils, I don't know what is. 

Okay, maybe not so laughable for everybody, but it's pretty hilarious if your sense of humour is black enough. 

Sarcasm In Politics

This one had me chuckling. Ukraine has been making headway in Kursk. After that summer offensive of 2022 failed to achieve much, the Ukrainians are finally back to sticking it to the man by going into Russian territory. They've made great progress, and the world has been asking what exactly the Ukrainians might be up to. 

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Ukraine’s military incursion into Russia’s Kursk region aims to create a buffer zone to prevent further attacks by Moscow across the border.

Isn't that sort of using Putin's logic against him? Talk about sticking it to the man. 

Ukraine’s commander in chief, Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, claimed last week that his forces had advanced across 1,000 sq km (386 sq miles) of the region, although it was not possible to independently verify how much territory Ukrainian forces effectively control. 

In his remarks on creating a buffer zone, Zelenskiy said Ukrainian forces “achieved good and much-needed results”. 

The Institute for the Study of War has “observed claims” that Ukraine’s operation in Kursk advanced through 800 sq km over its initial six days. The incursion “attacked largely unprepared, unequipped and unmanned Russian defensive positions along the border”, the US thinktank said in its daily report on the conflict. Ukraine had continued to make rapid advances in Kursk “following the deployment of Russian reinforcements to the area”, it added.

Nice. It's about time some real pressure was put on Putin (no pun intended). 30 months in, I'm even more sick of this war than the one in Gaza, and I have to say wee can all lay the blame at Putin's feet. It will be a good day when this ends and Putin loses power - and it may even happen the other way around where Putin goes first. 

View From The Couch 12/Aug/2024

 One For Wittgenstein, None For Raygun

Where does one start? Let's start with this: I pretty much avoided the Olympics again. I was low-key disinterested last time in Tokyo, but this time I was high-key disinterested with a double dose of I-don't-wanna-know. The medal tally, the breathless celebration of our representatives, and the overall cheese of the Olympic competition largely fell on actively-backed ears. 

So it is a surprise that there was one performance that cut through everything else that happened and it is Rachel Gunn and her three losses. For precision, we must point out the cumulative score against her was 54-0. She was completely blown out by the competition. She is in most part, notable for having been so off the pace to have been delusional. 

Gunn lost all three of her round-robin battles by a combined score of 54-0 and admitted post-event that she couldn't compete athletically with the tricks and spins of her younger opponents. 

'What I wanted to do was come out here and do something new and different and creative - that's my strength, my creativity,' she said. 

Gunn has published a doctoral thesis entitled 'Deterritorializing Gender in Sydney's Breakdancing Scene: A B-girl's Experience of B-boying'. 

The thesis questioned why so few female participants were part of the male-dominated scene but spoke of the sport as a 'space that embraces difference'.

Yeah right. Tell me that doesn't sound like she's full of shit.

I've had a difficult time unpacking this 'performance'. What the hell does this mean? How the hell does Deterritorialising Gender work in the context of being in the Olympics doing women's sport where gender is pretty much a matter of binary determinism, and putting in a lame-ass effort? How can anybody determine the social meaning to this? It's like a radical, context-free, artistic gesture to an unseen art audience more than a proper sporting effort. 

Clearly it isn't a first order serious attempt at trying to win a medal for Australia, or is it? It must be some kind of secondary order performative gesture about maybe how the Olympics are about participation, and not about the medal haul - although if you were to judge it from the media coverage, you'd be hard-pressed to think it was indeed about participation. The Prime Minister Anthony Albanese seems to subscribe to the participation-trophy school of thought where trying is the important bit. Which is emblematic because he's a fricken' Boomer and she's a fricken Millennial. 

Maybe Albo is right, and this should indeed be understood more as an Eddie The Eagle moment. If so, it has served its purpose. It has out done all the other medal-winning efforts as the singular Australian sports moment from 2024 Paris Olympics.  

But I tell you what, she looked awful doing it. 

The Man History Left Behind

Please STFU, Paul Keating

It saddens me greatly that Paul Keating comes out of his hide-hole to go on the ABC to blast Australia's defence policy. He's reduced himself to being a China Shill. 

Paul Keating would have it that Australia would be better off if it didn't join AUKUS and had its own independent defence stance in the South Pacific. When the matter of Taiwan is brought up, He's happy to sell the Taiwanese down the river and claims that Taiwan belongs to China and whatever difference they have about politics, it would get resolved by itself. He then brings up the spectre of "Australian kids shot to death on the beach in Taiwan" as a reason not to be part of AUKUS. It's really quite selfish and myopic. I'm amazed he wants to take this position. 

Australia's independence is no small stakes, and while it's true Australia would not like to be dragged into a war in Asia fighting China, China is clearly the aggressor wanting to take Taiwan by force. Their ambassador even told us that we should just accept they would use force to take Taiwan if it came to push or shove. Australia didn't join AUKUS because it wants to bully China. It joined AUKUS to present a deterrence. It's very disheartening to see Paul Keating of all people not stand by democracy on principle. Instead he's fear-mongering that our soldiers would die on the beaches of Taiwan and that is why Australia should not join alliances. I mean, really.    

As part of a highly globalised world economy, Australia does not have an isolationist advantage any more.  It also has a responsibility to be part of a global network to preserve the peace and protect the interest of as many people as possible. By dint of being a democracy, Taiwan is on this side, and Mainland China is not. 

Paul Keating's lamentable argument is that Australia can afford to be isolationist and should be isolationist, and make no sacrifices towards the global order. I guess if you don't want any friends, you would be willing to sell your neighbours down the river. I never thought I'd say this but his sense of Australia sovereignty is actually deeply selfish and ugly. We're better than that, we believe the democracies of our allies are worth fighting for and protecting, and that's why we're in AUKUS and the Quad. 

Paul Keating needs to read his briefings properly.