The Australian Defence Minister, Stephen Smith, is getting a rough time from some former Generals who have come out in defence of the military against Smith's handling of an incident that occurred last year at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) and has come to be known as the 'Skype affair'.
Ex-Generals, Cosgrove, Leahy, Molan and Cantwell, have been most damning in articles written to newspapers and interviews on TV about Smith's handling of the Defence Ministry Portfolio he inherited after being displaced as Foreign Minister by ex-Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, when Rudd was diposed by Julia Gillard, now our current Prime Minister - and that is a story in itself which would require a far too long deviation from this topic.
Smith's role as Defence Minister has been to expedite affirmative action for female combat roles and ethnic enlistee's into the Australian Defence Force (ADF) as he believes there is not enough representation within the ADF of females or those from ethnic cultures from within our multicultural society. A question here, and one which I truly believe to be most relevant; On what military facts does Smith base his belief that females are needed as combat troops? And does Smith truly believe that a nation which practises multiculturalism, a practise which divides the population into cultural tribes that basically live as they did in their old countries, can produce Australian patriots from those cultures that have learned no Australian values nor can relate to what it is to be a patriotic Australian? I believe Smith's ideals of affirmative action and cultural equality are being promoted above the interests and welfare of the ADF which has been surprisingly resistant to political change that has been nipping at the edges of the 'warrior mentality' that inhabits the ADF, which radical leftwing idealists like Smith, have so much trouble in understanding.
Maybe if Smith spent some time with military personnel out on exercise or better still, in a combat zone, and learned to understand why it is so very important to maintain a strong military/warrior class that is prepared to defend the nation that gave them birth, he could gain a better understanding that what he is proposing with affirmative action and cultural equality will destroy the warrior mentality that is so vital in maintaining a strong defence force. Then again, maybe that is Smith's intention?
Smith's championing of the female officer cadet at the centre of the 'Skype Affair' speaks volumes to this author of where his sentimentalities lay. Without a proper briefing or evidence to support what he was saying, Smith launched into a tirade at the time, against the commandant of ADFA and cast personal slurs and accusations against his good name. A subsequent report, which Smith is refusing to release publicly, has cleared the commandant of any wrongdoing, but Smith has refused to apologize to the commandant for words uttered by him in his 'heat of the moment' address to the media. I believe this also shows Smith up as a person who cannot admit to his mistakes while his lack of apology for the wrong words uttered against a man who deserved far better, is a further indication of the estrangement now being felt between the ADF and Smith's position as Defence Minister. I also believe that this is partly due to Smith's ideological push into the Defence Forces of affirmative action and cultural equality which the military has been resisting, and Smith's own personal disconnect with the reality that is the Australian military and how it is meant to operate, not how Smith wishes it to.
If Smith had any shame at all he would immediately resign his ministry.
It's hard not to notice that you've gone silent here again. I imagine you're off on other blogs of which I'm unaware, commenting.
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You may like a crack at the gun grabber in this comment string. He came into the thread from out of nowhere, apparently lured via Google by what he actually knows, but eventually got around spouting about what he imagines he knows: private gun ownership.
Naturally I thought of you and another retired LEO as well as a proficient gun blogger. The other two are hot at him and he has begun to spew nonsense. Even if you say nothing you may enjoy the show.
Well enjoy it I did and left a comment to show my appreciation! My apologies for not visiting more often and I will endeavor to address that shortcoming. I am a little like the temperamental artist, you know the person who requires that special thing to jump up and grab him by the throat to make him put fingertips to keyboard? I also find that when I have dreams, some would term them nightmares, about the 'job' I tend to slacken off from posting. A touch of PTSD perhaps?
ReplyDeleteHey, I'm glad you enjoyed your visit. But I'm inclined now to think of Jansen as nothing more than an immature troll.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it is awfully nice having you join in with the others on talking sense. Jansen has begun to write total nonsense.
Jansen relies on name dropping rather than the underlying issue, a ploy that has much in common with what set Blaise Pascal on his crusade to fight the lax leaders of his time. Given this guy's PhD studies on the subject, he has to know that.
So is it irony or is he merely toying with us? I don't give a rip at this point. We will see if he ever answers my questions. There are at least 3 open questions that he is evading, two on an esoteric philosophical tool called extrinsic probabilism -- and he has to understand it if he's the scholar he claims to be. I'll have a body of work to write about after the number of unanswered questions gets a bit larger (assuming I can stand interchange with him much longer.)
Thanks again for adding your words of wisdom. Maybe some other person will gain from them as you become more comfortable writing them in responses such as this one. Just keep writing.
P
"I also find that when I have dreams, some would term them nightmares, about the 'job' I tend to slacken off from posting. A touch of PTSD perhaps?"
ReplyDeleteWhen I wrote in my profile about my blog providing me a form of penance, I really meant it. And I have to force myself to write most of the time. It's painful. But it becomes less so with time. I used to find it easier to write comments than I to write posts. But writing posts allows me to frame the subject. A few minutes ago I posted a rant that points the finger at all the !@#$%& lying media. Took their words against an individual and replaces their name with his. It felt good.
I have found that when I keep the posts down to short ones I can write more often. Try that. Write about anything that is irritating, like when you rant at the lunatics they put on TV (so that I do not watch it any longer.)
Thankyou for your kind words of encouragement. I actually wrote a book, a work of fiction that will never be published, which contains many real incidents as I perceived them. Great therapeutic value book writing, especially when it allows one to excorcise some demons in the process! Yes, I certainly understand the penance aspect of forcing oneself to do those tasks which may be chore based, but your style of writing suggests to me that it is not done out of sheer unwillingness and that there is a certain patriotic flavor in the subjects you pick to write about. You write well, and what you write about is easily understood and should leave no doubt in the readers mind of the message you bring.
ReplyDeleteThank you more. If I am displaying a patriotic sense nowadays, that's good. But am I too late? A voice in my head is alternating between "better late than never" and "too bad you were so passive as you witnessed the whittling down process employed by the incrementalists."
ReplyDeletePascal, I too entered the fight late in life, but thinking people learn from their mistakes! That learning process is what has given us the impetus and the urgency to warn others. As the saying goes, better late than never!
ReplyDeleteI hope you like the way I handled our troll today as a way of defending you and the others.
ReplyDeleteHe challenged me on my knowledge of Blaise Pascal, saying that he 'would rarely resort to showing up his adversaries.'
So with a mere Put-up-or-shut-up challenge I gave him enough rope to hang himself, and he did.
Who says a troll can't provide one good inspiration?
I sent you an email this morning re that troll. No doubt about it, some people just cannot tolerate others opinions. And that intolerance is exactly the underlying cause of what has brought us all to this point in time. Sad really, that some people have a natural yearning to control others without thinking about the consequences of such actions, actions which are plainly listed throughout history as a lesson for those who are prepared to learn.
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