Greens Senator Bob Brown moved the following motion to the Australian Senate on May 12: "That the Senate, in regard to the massacre of civilians, including hundreds of children, in the Tamil homelands of northern Sri Lanka, calls on the government to take decisive action commensurate with the need to immediately halt this unnecessary bloodshed."
On May 13, the Greens motion was passed with votes from the Coalition despite opposition from the Labor Party
Trying to justify the ALP's refusal to vote for a motion calling for an end the killing of Tamil civilians, Labor Senator Joe Ludwig quibbled about the value of "formal motions".
He said such motions "force parties into black-and-white choices that support or oppose. They do not lend themselves to the nuances which are so necessary in this area of policy".
It seems that it is important to understand the nuances of genocidal mass murder. Such actions, according to Ludwig, have fine subtleties that prevent the Australian government from taking a clear-cut position of opposition.
Making his statement even worse, Ludwig tried to throw doubt on the cause of the killing of many hundreds of Tamil civilians in the preceding days. He said: "It is not clear which side was responsible."
This is giving credence to the ridiculous claim by the Sri Lankan government that the Tamil civilians were not killed by its military, but by the pro-independence Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Labor Senator Steve Hutchins went even further, interjecting over Brown: "It was the Tamils!"
Such positions are not academic. Sri Lanka is committing its terrible crimes as a result of the open or tacit support from more powerful governments.
These crimes are adding up daily. Warwithoutwitness.com reported that a hospital in Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal in northern Sri Lanka was attacked by the Sri Lankan Army on May 13, killing at least 15 people and wounding a further 40. This was the third time the hospital had been shelled in a week.
The Rudd government has options to force an end to Sri Lanka's carnage. Australian foreign aid to Sri Lanka of millions of dollars a year, could be suspended. Trade sanctions and an embargo on sporting contests could be imposed. A government-led boycott of Sri Lanka could place serious pressure on the regime. It would also pressure other nations to follow suit.
Sri Lanka is not the only example. The ongoing participation of Australian troops in the US-led occupation of Afghanistan, with more soldiers sent by Rudd, is making Australia complicit in the terrible carnage in one of the world's poorest nations — already torn apart by decades of war.
There are constant revelations about the brutality of the occupying forces. Some say the foreign troops are needed to stop the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban. However, the forces placed in power by the occupying forces are just as bad. The ongoing occupation, with its terrible crimes, only increases support for the Taliban.
There is no solution to Afghanistan's problems that will come from the barrel of a gun held by foreign powers seeking to extend Western domination over the region. Foreign troops cannot help ordinary Afghanis because that is not why the soldiers are there. They are there to further the imperial aims of the US and other Western nations.
Why? Conservative US commentator Thomas Friedman once said the "hidden fist" keeping "the world safe" for US corporate interests "is called the US Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps".
Australia goes along with this design. In return, it is expected Australian corporations to receive the advantages.
In Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, Rudd is placing profit over human life. It is up to ordinary people to force a change of policy.