The wave of optimism that's accompanied the Fiji Government's announcement of its constitutional timetable is likely to be short lived, judging from the public comments of Laisenia Qarase, the man deposed by Frank Bainimarama in his 2006 coup. Qarase has given an astonishing interview to Radio Australia in which he says his SDL Party (Soqosoqo … [Read more...] about # 61 ANOTHER LOOMING SHOWDOWN
#60 ROLLING BACK THE ROLLBACK
"What a difference a day makes", goes the old song, and never more so than when politics gets in the way of diplomacy. The incoming Australian foreign minister, Bob Carr, arrived in New Zealand yesterday for talks with his Kiwi counterpart evidently signalling an imminent change in Canberra's hardline stance against Fiji. News Limited papers in … [Read more...] about #60 ROLLING BACK THE ROLLBACK
#59 THE ROLLBACK ON FIJI BEGINS
Australia is set make a dramatic about face in its policy towards Fiji, re-engaging with Frank Bainimarama's regime and assisting it with its plans to return the country to democracy in 2014. After the Grubsheet/Sky News interview with Bainimarama at the weekend - which revealed the extent of Australia's isolation from its ANZUS partners, Australia … [Read more...] about #59 THE ROLLBACK ON FIJI BEGINS
# 58 THE BAINIMARAMA INTERVIEW
( REVISED ON MARCH 7th WITH NEW MATERIAL) Grubsheet's interview with the Fijian leader, Frank Bainimarama, was shown at the weekend in Australia and New Zealand on Sky News and in Fiji in a news special on FBCTV. In it, Bainimarama says Australia is now alone among its ANZUS partners in refusing to engage with Fiji. And he reveals fresh details … [Read more...] about # 58 THE BAINIMARAMA INTERVIEW
# 57 BAINIMARAMA DENIES COUP ATTEMPTS
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
#56 KEVIN RUDD’S PACIFIC NEGLECT
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