G20 turns out positive.
In the run up to the G20 the australian news was strongly negative about the summit. We had the embarrassing fracas about whether Putin should come, then the whole 'shirt fronting', followed by a spectre-like russian fleet sailing along our coast.
The focus on Vlad Putin was understandable - the recent winter olympics thrust an eerie spotlight on the country. The enormous resources available to the country were highlighted by the scale and speed of construction of a winter wonderland in a temperate region. This resource and talent pool with the grand construction effort contrasted starkly against the live of the ordinary citizens in the area. One of the most memorable images from the olympics was not from any sporting event, but the brutal public beating of a group of female protesters by a significantly larger group of cossack police. For all the change that has occurred in Russia since the fall of the Berlin wall, the mighty Russian Bear's roar still seems odd. The tragedy of MH-17 magnified the focus on Russia. This may or may not have been Russias fault, but their handing of the investigation seems to have pushed public opinion of the blame squarely on the shoulders of Russia. Even if they were innocent bystanders, the lack of transparency, and support for the investigation, has painted Vladimir with his new found global prominence as the shadiest of characters.
Since this time there has been a call for refusing the entry of Putin into Australia. The first calls came from Bill Shorten. This was a knee jerk response, that should have been put down at source, in favor of showing our positive and considered democratic face. Instead something grotesque happened, the call to ban him was raised by our prime minister, and a kind of comical playground posturing began with promises of shirt-fronting, and embarrassing pictures coming from the APEC summit. The conflict between putin and abbot being played mostly in the media, having been resolved by a steely eyed Bishops move previously.
Cue the main event and a fleet of Russian ships appears ominously outside queensland waters, rapidly accompanied by a fleet of Australian Ships. The Russian president arrives, and is met by a couple of minor dignitaries, the scene is set for a massive strop off by the Russian President. That didn't happen, he took the slight with barely a murmur. There was no shirtfronting confrontation, no bare chested brawl being televised between the two leaders duking it out in a Brisbane bar. In fact a big fat nice pleasant meeting.
In fact despite the media's rapid crescendo to a fisty-fest the actual event has turned out to be a positive love-in. First David Cameron was schmoozed, and spoke to a joint sitting of Parliament. Abbott was accused of a foot in mouth moment, when his words were pretty straightforward fact. After this failed attempt to embarrass ourselves we have been graced by warm and positive visits from the Chinese president - like many other Chinese tourists enjoying a quick visit to Tasmania, and signing a free trade agreement. We have had historic visits from leaders of India, Germany, France and the USA all making positive noises and we have celebrated their presence.
Despite the heavy presence of security, and the ominous rumblings that led us up to these events. We have cemented a number of key relations. Whilst there have been some minor rumblings around foreign ownership of Australian assets. This story seems to be a stirring of Australias inherent xenophobia. Despite this we seem to have entered a weird kind of national Zen state where we are basking in the love of others for what we are doing right. This certainly appears to be in stark contrast to similar meetings when I was in the UK.
The focus on Vlad Putin was understandable - the recent winter olympics thrust an eerie spotlight on the country. The enormous resources available to the country were highlighted by the scale and speed of construction of a winter wonderland in a temperate region. This resource and talent pool with the grand construction effort contrasted starkly against the live of the ordinary citizens in the area. One of the most memorable images from the olympics was not from any sporting event, but the brutal public beating of a group of female protesters by a significantly larger group of cossack police. For all the change that has occurred in Russia since the fall of the Berlin wall, the mighty Russian Bear's roar still seems odd. The tragedy of MH-17 magnified the focus on Russia. This may or may not have been Russias fault, but their handing of the investigation seems to have pushed public opinion of the blame squarely on the shoulders of Russia. Even if they were innocent bystanders, the lack of transparency, and support for the investigation, has painted Vladimir with his new found global prominence as the shadiest of characters.
Since this time there has been a call for refusing the entry of Putin into Australia. The first calls came from Bill Shorten. This was a knee jerk response, that should have been put down at source, in favor of showing our positive and considered democratic face. Instead something grotesque happened, the call to ban him was raised by our prime minister, and a kind of comical playground posturing began with promises of shirt-fronting, and embarrassing pictures coming from the APEC summit. The conflict between putin and abbot being played mostly in the media, having been resolved by a steely eyed Bishops move previously.
Cue the main event and a fleet of Russian ships appears ominously outside queensland waters, rapidly accompanied by a fleet of Australian Ships. The Russian president arrives, and is met by a couple of minor dignitaries, the scene is set for a massive strop off by the Russian President. That didn't happen, he took the slight with barely a murmur. There was no shirtfronting confrontation, no bare chested brawl being televised between the two leaders duking it out in a Brisbane bar. In fact a big fat nice pleasant meeting.
In fact despite the media's rapid crescendo to a fisty-fest the actual event has turned out to be a positive love-in. First David Cameron was schmoozed, and spoke to a joint sitting of Parliament. Abbott was accused of a foot in mouth moment, when his words were pretty straightforward fact. After this failed attempt to embarrass ourselves we have been graced by warm and positive visits from the Chinese president - like many other Chinese tourists enjoying a quick visit to Tasmania, and signing a free trade agreement. We have had historic visits from leaders of India, Germany, France and the USA all making positive noises and we have celebrated their presence.
Despite the heavy presence of security, and the ominous rumblings that led us up to these events. We have cemented a number of key relations. Whilst there have been some minor rumblings around foreign ownership of Australian assets. This story seems to be a stirring of Australias inherent xenophobia. Despite this we seem to have entered a weird kind of national Zen state where we are basking in the love of others for what we are doing right. This certainly appears to be in stark contrast to similar meetings when I was in the UK.
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