WE WERE NOT BEATING AROUND THE BUSH: Australian Bushmaster tanks, as revealed by Fijileaks in January, will be rolling into the country

10/2/2017

4 Comments

The Fiji Sun, 10 February 2017, except Ratu Inoke Kubuabola gives a different spin in Parliament to the purchase of the Bushmasters:

Read more: http://fijisun.com.fj/2017/02/10/bushmasters-for-our-troops/

4 Comments

Rajend Naidu

13/2/2017 12:57:00 am

Thank you Fijileaks for alerting us on this military hardware sale by Australia to the post coup Fiji regime. But it's a relatively minor deal . If one wants to get an insight into politically expedient big deals that happen read ' John Pilger : How Australia betrayed East Timor ' in the Green Left Weekly ( February 24, 2016 ).

Rajend Naidu

13/2/2017 08:57:51 pm

Editor,
Costa Rica : No Army Nation
And it has a population of 4.886,911 ( as at February 10, 2017 ).
We read in The Los Angeles Times ( 15/12/2013 ) article ' Costa Rica's peace dividend : How abolishing the military paid off ' that " The small Central American nation got rid of its armed force 65 years ago, and the Ticos are a happier people for it".
At the conclusion of his speech ending the existence of the military on December1,1948 Jose Figueres, then president of Costa Rica, said "...the nation's military budget would be redirected toward healthcare, education and environmental protection".
Figueres was painfully aware that Costa Rica's military, like that of other Central American states, had been used to suppress domestic uprisings and undertake coups.
But at the same time he was aware of the " opportunity costs" associated with military spending, the simple fact that resources expended on the military could not be used to support domestic needs.
Then as now his decision to demilitarise created opportunities for Costa Rica to invest in butter instead of guns.
That investment in social development has clearly created a better Costa Rica for its people.
Just look at how exceptionally well their soccer team did at the last World Cup!
Sincerely,
Rajend Naidu

Chiku

14/2/2017 07:40:18 pm

Having those Bushmasters on the streets of Fiji completes the picture of Fiji as an unbeatable " paradise island"!

Bahuki

15/2/2017 03:06:15 am

A bully to civillians and yet a coward to armed groups overseas, no wonder the military is always a pawn thats badly overused in a dictatorship disguised as a democracy. Those bushmasters are better off used overseas than to oppress opposition at home.

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