Age readers converge on Swan Island

UPDATE: Have a look at the photo below, which captures the scene at Swan Island this morning. Notice the sign in the background? Get the message about Australian blood being spilled in someone else's wars (no need to guess which Great Satan the protesters have in mind).

Now look at the photo credit. In case your eyes are to old too make out the fine print, here is what it is says:

"Supplied: Swan island peace".

If only the ABC had struck a similar arrangement with al-Shabaab it could have obtained some absolutely wonderful pictures of that protest in Nairobi's Westgate Mall. al-Shabaab, by the way, is said to be one of the targets the decent people on Swan Island, not the scum at the front gate, put a lot of thought and effort into monitoring.  

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A GROUP of the usual ferals descended on Swan Island this morning, protesting the presence and activities of the Australian intelligence members and SAS troops who train and plan there. It was a variation on the usual urban affair, the Occupy crowd this time enjoying a country excursion, and the protest resulted in a number of arrests and much free publicity for their cause on the ABC. Sadly, the arrests were made by members of Victoria Police, who are a pretty mild lot these days, so there was no bruising scenes nor blur of crashing truncheons. Isn't it a tragedy that the wallopers weren't all overcome by the sudden urge to go and buy pies and lemonade at that particular moment, leaving the defence of the base to the resident commandoes, who must get thoroughly sick of restricting their bayonet training to dummies of the straw-filled variety.

What sort of evil the hippies imagine is hatched on the other side of the security fence, not one of their member has so far specified. But then they probably didn't feel the need to list their suspicions, as The Age and ABC have mounted such a long and comprehensive campaign of innuendo against the facility that its nefarious purposes are taken by some as needing no elucidation. Rafael Epstein, one of those connected souls who jump from Fairfax to the ABC according to which mate happens to be hiring at the time, can certainly take some credit for today's (disappointingly bloodless) confrontation.

Epstein is now back at the ABC and gabbling away late on weekday afternoons, no doubt pleased as punch that he secured a new job before Fairfax went down for the count. Good work if you can get it, and even better when old ABC cobbers overlook that little bit of trouble the last time you worked there. As he controls the microphone and his producer vets callers, there is no hope of him being asked to explain if the name Ross Langdon incites a little guilt. In case you haven't been following the news, Langdon is the Tasmania architect murdered with his pregnant Dutch wife by Muslims in a Nairobi shopping centre.

According to Epstein and his former Fairfax colleague, Dylan Welch, one of the great causes for concern about Swan Island is that rough men sally forth to places like Kenya, where they gather intelligence on terrorists and their schemes. Why, several of the stories even mention that a particular interest of those working out of Swan Island is al-Shabaab.

Australia's security service, ASIO, is increasingly concerned by the domestic threat posed by the Somali Islamist terrorist group al-Shabaab. ASIO has concerns a group within Australia's growing Somali community is sending money to al-Shabaab.

All very wrong and worrying to any Age writer and his Occupist readership.

Ross Langdon, however, might have disagreed.

UPDATE: Diggers sound off on journalism Age-style