This International Dateline episode includes four segments: The War on the Border, a Nadim Houry Interview, a Mikhail Gorbachev Interview, and Java's Gods Must Be Crazy.
The War on the Border
The war in Lebanon and northern Israel rages while many around the globe gape, unable to do anything to curb the carnage. What can only be described as mutual madness has been going on now for two weeks, tearing apart innocents on both sides with the blame-game being played out behind the shelling. We have seen plenty of images of the demolition of Beirut and of the Hezbollah bombing of Haifa, but little has been seen of what is happening in the far south of Lebanon on the Israeli border.
As it turns out, one of Dateline's Arabic translators here at SBS has a brother-in-law living close to the border. Loutfullah Daher also happens to be a professional cameraman, and since the conflict began, he has been travelling throughout that part of Lebanon, regularly coming under fire. Dateline got in touch with Loutfullah and asked him to send us some of his footage. A warning is probably apt: some of what you are about to see and hear is not exactly pleasant.
Nadim Houry Interview
Recently, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed shock at Israel's "apparent deliberate targeting" of a UN post in Lebanon in which four UN observers were killed. The Israelis have denied deliberately targeting the UN, but what does this latest outrage say about the conflict? Human Rights Watch has a group of dedicated individuals in both Lebanon and northern Israel documenting the alarming human rights toll. Do they believe civilians are being targeted? Nadim Houry is the Human Rights Watch representative in Lebanon and George Negus spoke to Nadim from Beirut.
Mikhail Gorbachev Interview
These days, the man who has also been described as the worlds first "anti-communist communist," who 16 years ago ended the Cold War and changed the destiny of not just Russia but also Europe, and arguably the world, is still sought-after on the international lecture circuit. He is in Australia at the moment and George Negus caught up with him in Brisbane where, as an environmental activist these days, he was co-chair of the Earth Dialogues Forum at the 2006 Brisbane Festival.
Java's Gods Must Be Crazy
Indonesia has been suffering more than its fair share of natural disasters. Last week's tsunami in Java was the latest, but before that there was the dreadful Boxing Day 2004 tsunami, the earthquake in Jogjakarta, and other floods and landslides around the archipelago. And for some in Indonesia, these events are interpreted as having mystical rather than scientific origins. On a visit to Jogjakarta after the May earthquake, Bronwyn Adcock found that, in fact, mysticism runs deep in the predominantly Islamic nation.
About International Dateline
SBS Dateline, which began in 1984, is Australia's longest-running international current affairs program. It has a well-earned reputation for authoritative and incisive reporting. Dateline has taken the traditional way of producing TV current affairs and turned it on its head. Reporters who used to travel with a cameraperson and sound recordist now travel alone and have the responsibility of both filming and reporting their stories. The reporters became video-journalists, gaining access to people and places that the conventional camera crews cannot.
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