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The Fijian leader, Frank Bainimarama, has strongly denied claims made by two prominent former local journalists - writing in the New Zealand media - that he tried to mount three coups before his successful takeover in December 2006. In two articles in the New Zealand Herald, the Oxford-based academic Victor Lal and Russell Hunter, the former … [Read more...] about # 57 BAINIMARAMA DENIES COUP ATTEMPTS

Frank Bainimarama – Fiji’s prime minister and the current chair of the four-nation Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) – has joined the chorus of criticism of Kevin Rudd in advance of Monday's leadership vote in Australia, accusing him of having neglected the Pacific as foreign minister. He said Canberra’s lack of attention to the region – and … [Read more...] about #56 KEVIN RUDD’S PACIFIC NEGLECT

The presence of a French military aircraft over western Fiji surveying the damage from the recent widespread flooding has again highlighted the close ties between France and the government of the Fijian dictator, Frank Bainimarama. In stark contrast with Australia and New Zealand - which have shunned Fiji since Bainimarama's coup in 2006 -  France … [Read more...] about # 55 PACIFIQUE FRANCAISE

Most countries have laws that prevent religious and racial vilification. Most responsible media outlets - including those on the internet - excise comments designed to inflame religious and racial hatred. But sadly not the most prominent of the websites set up to oppose the government of Fiji's prime minister, Frank Bainimarama. That site calls … [Read more...] about #54 THE POLITICS OF HATE

I knew Diana Bliss. Not well, though I'd been to the home she shared with Alan Bond at Cottesloe Beach in Perth and had basked in the same dazzling charm that those who knew her better have recalled in the wake of her tragic death. I will never forget the day we met because even though I was there to see her celebrated husband, we both knew who we … [Read more...] about #53 REMEMBERING MISS BLISS

The passing of Kim Jong-il followed the script of all tyrants who aren't defeated by war or revolution - a black-clad news reader weeping as she made the announcement that the self-styled "Dear Leader" was dead. There would have been onions at the ready throughout North Korea -if only onions could be had. But in a blighted country whose inhabitants … [Read more...] about # 52 DEATH OF A TYRANT