Mission Ultra Complex: The War in Afghanistan

Australia's involvement in Afghanistan is crystalised in Chris Master's carefully constructed two part documentary 'A Careful War' for the 4 Corners program of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Speaking at the Lowy Institute for International Policy on 30 July 2010, Masters commented that no single media account of this conflict is accurate - the reality of the situation in Afghanistan is rather that there are hundreds of many individual different conflicts being fought throughout cities, towns and villages of that country. Masters also highlighted a weakness of understanding by the Australian public of the 'battle space' being occupied by Australian soldiers serving in that theatre of operations. More than any previous military commitment, Australian soldiers are required to be part fighter, diplomat, anthropologist and social worker - a complex set of skills to utilise simultaneously while still within a combat environment. The ability to continue such an intense and difficult military commitment for several more years and outlast the Taliban will test the resolve of the western powers as well as the Afghan National Army to fill the void once troop withdrawals occur.

Geoengineering to avoid climate change - science fiction or fantasy?

With ongoing debate on the ramifications of climate change on the planet or, in some quarters, continuing doubt as to the validity of the science itself, one aspect which has escaped wider consideration are some of the proposed solutions. While many focus on alternative energy production methods or ways to avoid carbon emissions, a few actually propose further intervention in the earth's climate. One of these is geoengineering or in simple terms using engineering solutions to affect climate change. In science fiction, this is often referred to as terra forming but whether it is science or science fiction, such a direction is fraught with high level risk particularly considering the basis for such proposals are untested and often commercial or 'market-based' approaches seeking a quick fix. The most unusual is injecting sulphur dioxide into the stratosphere to counteract carbon emissions. How sensible is such a proposal? Would this approach only add one more problem to the already existing ones?