Are Chinese interests adversely impacted by RioTinto and BHP ore and coal pricing? You betcha! Would the Chinese authorities be keen on commercial intelligence about RioTinto operations and data from any of their resources joint ventures? You betcha!

What happened to those computers from the RioTinto people who were arrested?

Would those computers provide potential access to highly confidential corporate information?

Would the Chinese government have had access to this confidential corporate information if the Chinalco deal had gone ahead? Of course.

The deal fell over (thankfully for Australia), and then the RioTinto marketing guys were nabbed. Sooo, what does that suggest…???

I doubt we are just talking about “noses out of joint” and “saving face” here. Perhaps there is a much bigger game in play, but a plausible cover story is needed?

The AWB sells wheat into all the hotspots of the world. I used to travel with colleagues I had never met before. But at least we had large brown paper bags which in truth probably saved us being arrested. I know that China has an aversion to former nationals returning under foreign passports. I am assuming that Stern was China bon, but I may be mistaken. I wonder if this assisted in their resolve.

It is interesting how China Daily has chosen to break ranks in the last 2 days when commenting about CISA’s role in the contract negotiation. According to China Daily, CISA’s tough position is responsible for most of the complications in the current round of price negotiation. It is quite unusual for China Daily to go against what seems to be the official version of events. It may well indicate that there is a split within Chinese leadership on how this scandal should be handled.

As much as I enjoy reading your discussions here about Hicks, I do think that many of you have missed the point. Comparing Hicks to Hu or Corby to Hu is not only inappropriate but counter-productive. The best the Australian government can do at this stage is to ensure that Stern Hu’s case will be dealt with expediently. The longer it drags on, the least likely it would be for Hu to have a fair trial. Decoupling Hu’s case from the on-going ore price negotiation while keep reminding China of possible damages to it international reputation are the ways to go. It’s amazing how China will respond to this kind of carrots and sticks tactic.

Many Australians have gotten it wrong about Kevin Rudd’s relations with China. I was told by a little bird that the Chinese leadership prefers to have the Liberal Party in government. China’s foreign affairs ministry is particularly unhappy about having a Mandarin speaking PM for Australia. I was told that China was not too keen on dealing with a foreigner who knows too much about China. So there is also a possibility that the Stern Hu case will somehow be used by China to discredit Kevin Rudd, just to show us that our PM really doesn’t know much about China. It’s called killing two birds with one stone. Kevin Rudd knows about it and therefore he has been cautious.

However letting lunatics loose, because the western legal system could not adequately cope with people picked up in a war zone, is equally a travesty for society.

My view is that since the risk of being killed by terrorists is similar to the risk of being hit by a meteor, there is no justification for abandoning our standards of justice.

The fact that he, and many other terrorists, are poorly trained is the weakest excuse I ever heard.

My point was not that he was poorly trained, but that his training was barely adequate for his role as a soldier with the Taliban (Afghanistan’s legitimate army at the time) and doesn’t represent persuasive evidence of terrorist intentions.

The way I see it, Hicks’s actions in fighting with the Taliban were not unreasonable. It’s far from uncommon for people of one nation to serve with the armed forces of another; e.g. Brits in the Israeli army. Hicks’s problem was that he suddenly found himself on the wrong side when the US attacked Afghanistan and Lashkar-e-Toiba was subsequently declared to be a terrorist organisation. Given his natural loyalty to his comrades I find it understandable that it took him a little while to extract himself from the mess. I accept that, prima facie, his letters to his father suggest possible terrorist tendencies, but its equally possible that he was just trying to portray himself as a ‘big man’.

It’s certainly difficult not to see this behaviour as being part of a tanty about Rio Tinto, but do we expect the Chinese Government to be so unsubtle?

The question was asked here about a ‘special friendship’ and that speech is where I think some justification can be made for Rudd claiming such a friendship. I personally don’t think there is anything in the least bit problematic about him saying it, I do think if something got lost in translation in his use of a chinese expression, then the fault lies with the PM rather than the media. I think anyone that has a problem with it is being overly sensitive on the PM’s behalf…kinda like taking a swipe about whether we call him ‘Mister’ or not.

Jenny @96, yep I have him pegged as a dim-witted fool also, but more than that. Easily led, and thus dangerous in the right hands.

We could probably excuse a lot of terrorists as easily-led fools, etc. Let them out with a slap on the wrist, perhaps, or just a stern warning to behave themselves?

Agree that Gitmo was a travesty; people should be charged and tried in a reasonable time frame. However letting lunatics loose, because the western legal system could not adequately cope with people picked up in a war zone, is equally a travesty for society.

We are not safe if we allow would-be terrorists loose, to gad about the world using terrorist funds, toting guns, with brainless ideological notions stuffed in there by followers of some despotic monster.

The fact that he, and many other terrorists, are poorly trained is the weakest excuse I ever heard.

And also, umm, training with Al Qaida?

It was actually a mob called Lashkar-e-Toiba, which at the time was not classified as a terrorist organisation. A US army chaplain noted that any American soldier who has been through basic training has had 50 times more training than Hicks.

And also, umm, running around with a big gun in a war zone?

The big gun photo comes from his days with the Kosovo army when he was fighting on the side that we sympathised with. His bad luck was to make some Muslim buddies at the time that eventually landed him on the wrong side after the US declared war on the Taliban. I’ll start to lose sympathy when presented with persuasive evidence that he was involved in terrorist activities. For now, I have him pegged as a fool and a braggart, but that’s all.