Monday, November 26

Ruddslide in Australia

The Bush-loving John Howard is out as Australia's Prime Minister. Kevin Rudd, the Chinese-speaking diplomat moderate is in. The Coalition of the Willing just took another hit, with Australia's 500 ground troops on the way out. And Rudd's going to sign the Kyoto protocol soon, leaving Bush more isolated on that one too. The Economist has a good summary. Simon Benson in the Sunday Times, wondering why Australians would replace Howard when the economy was doing so well, suggests they were just bored with him after so long in office. David Barnett in the Australian thinks it's because Kevin Rudd is a "modern metrosexual man" and that's what the kids these days like. And also because of the growing influence of the nutcase religious right in Howard's Liberal Party. Peter Conrad, in The Observer, writes about how much he dislikes John Howard.

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