More evidence!

They profess to be leading us into a glorious, utopian future, but the self-serving, corrupt fat cats of the Bainikhaiyum regime don’t give a toss about the ordinary men, women and children of our beloved nation. Instead, they are too intent on living high on the hog and stuffing their pockets with taxpayers’ cash. When the storms and floods hit and people died there was no sign of Bainimarama for days while he was getting himself drunk at Denarau Island Resort. Similarly, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, when not organising a bit on the side with a bimbo, was busy negotiating to buy a swank house in Suva. The idea that either of them should immediately interrupt their gluttonous lotus-eating to worry about anyone else just didn’t come into it. Folks, never has the profound disconnect between the arrogant dictatorship and the suffering people of Fiji been so painfully evident as it is today.

Coup Four And  Half 31 January 2012     More hanky panky from regime while Fiji faces new, deadly storm

The clock is ticking on Air Pacific

We at FDN have for some time been mightily impressed by the depth of knowledgeable reporting on Air Pacific by Fiji freedom blog, Raw Fiji News. Clearly, there are disenfranchised Air Pacific staff who are feeding RFN with the good oil. The blog’s latest expose of the ills plaguing Air Pacific sheet a lot of the blame home to Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum’s close mate, Air Pacific CEO, American David Pflieger. As he desperately attempts to assure everyone there is no problem, it seems more and more obvious that Pflieger is gasping for air as the Air Pacific ship rapidly sinks. When Air Pacific does finally go belly-up, or gets sold for a song to some equity financier, where will that leave the dictatorship? In particular, where will it leave the corrupt, scheming Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum? After all, he’s had a big, greedy finger in the Air Pacific pie for some time now.

Raw Fiji News 30 January 2012    Fiji’s Air Pacific showing signs of a badly clipped wing bird under Dave Pflieger

Beware the Russian bear!

The influential and authoritative Eurasianet, which, among other things, closely monitors the activities and proclivities of Russian and Chinese diplomacy, has broadcast a clear warning to Fiji: don’t be bribed by Russia! Ahead of the first official visit to Fiji by a Russian foreign minister, Eurasianet forecasts that the Russians will be seeking to obtain Fiji’s support for its policy of not recognizing the independence of the breakaway Georgian provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. All we can say is that the Russian policy towards its former satellite, Georgia, is little different to the repressive policy of the former Soviet Union towards countries like Hungary. In 2009 Russian troops and mercenaries killed thousands of Georgians over five days in a crude attempt to bring Georgia back into line. Does our beloved Fiji in the faraway and peaceful Pacific need to deal with, savage and ruthless regimes like that?

Eurasianet 31 January 2012    Russia in the South Pacific: The Ultimate Temptation of Fiji or Just “Happy Talk”?

Can Qorvis deny this truth?

The Bainikhaiyum regime is spending big dollars on retaining the slick Washington-based spin doctors, Qorvis, but what good will it do anyone as Fiji continues to slide into serious debt? For example, can Qorvis officially deny that we, the Republic of Fiji, have now notched up a series of defaults on major loans to India’s EXIM bank, to the Chinese and on the $22 million USD coupon in Euro bonds that Aiyaz got us into last March? And can Qorvis explain to a waiting world exactly why, in their most recent ratings released on 12 January, 2012, Standard and Poor rated our coup-riddled Fiji at a lowly 116 out of 128 countries listed? Or is the heavy investment by the dictatorship in Qorvis’s services just another example of the stupidity and incompetence of the Bainikhaiyum regime?

Raw Fiji News 31 January 2012     Frank and Aiyaz’s regime beginning to default on their loans

Fiji’s terminal illness

It’s not the first time the Bainimarama dictatorship has been likened to a deadly malaise, but we particularly liked this comment by a blogger called Hangman, posted on Fiji freedom blog, Coup Four And A Half: “When medical staff look for cancerous cells, they look for abnormality. Cells that have lost their shape. This analogy can be transfered to Fiji. The illegal regime has established a regime that looks like a cancerous cell. The structure is abnormal, and the malignancy has spread outwards to other institutions of the country. As the rule of law has been compromised the entire country has become one big diseased organ with a terminal illness.”

The $10,000 question

It was supposed to be a stroke of public relations genius designed to make the thugs and goons of the RFMF look like regular guys. But the whole exercise is backfiring in their stupid faces. What happened was that a cheque for $10,000 was presented to the dictator by the land force commander, Colonel Mosese Tikoitoga. But there’s no specific mention as to where the money came from except that it’s a “donation” from the Fiji Military Forces. Even funds from the so-called Regimental Fund never make sense since there is no accountability regarding how this fund is managed. As far as the public relations value of the “donation” is concerned, it’s clear it poses more sinister questions about RFMF skulduggery, instead of making the goons look good.

Torture Watch 30 January 2012     REGIME SPIN: ANY IDEA WHERE THE MONEY CAME FROM?

Official: FNPF is dictator’s piggy bank

Any pretence that the FNPF is able to act independently to protect the interests of its members is just that – a pretence. This has been demonstrated very clearly by the way in which the dictator, Voreqe Bainimarama, has overruled the FNPF, which stated earlier in the week that they would not provide flood assistance like they did in 2009. But then the dictator stepped in, providing absolute proof that government coffers are bare and, worse, that the main lender to the Government is also under Government control. Folks, as we all know, FNPF is fighting to remain solvent and was never designed to replace Government assistance. But that doesn’t count for a dictator who is becoming increasingly desperate by the day as his regime’s coffers dry up.

FBCL 30 January 2012      PM reveals FNPF assistance is available

Last week denial, this week the truth

Last week Frank’s bureaucrats reported damage to agriculture of $3 million but now sugar alone has a damage bill of $18 million. What’s going on here? Was Frank on holidays and did not want to interrupt the fun to deal with the devastating floods? Everyone on the Western side knew the scale of the damage but Frank didn’t want to know.

Fiji Times 30 January 2012     $18m sugar bill

Oz-NZ at one on Fiji

If the leadership of our illegal regime thinks there’s a chink in the armour of either Australia or New Zealand’s policy on Fiji they should think again. Following their annual Australia-New Zealand Leaders’ meeting in Melbourne on 29 January, Prime Ministers Julia Gillard and John Key had this to say about Fiji: “Both countries remained concerned about the continuing deterioration in Fiji’s political and economic situation and its impact on Fiji’s people, and agreed to maintain close consultation on developments, including with other international partners. They reaffirmed the need for Fiji to return to democracy and the rule of law as soon as possible.”

Prime Minister Gillard’s official website 29 January 2012    Joint Statement with the Prime Minister of New Zealand

Qorvis takes on Tuilaepa

The US public relations firm hired by the Bainikhaiyum regime, Qorvis, has jumped into the fray over comments by Samoan PM Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi that Bainimarama won’t keep his word on elections in 2014. Qorvis has complained to Radio New Zealand International about its reporting of Tuilaepa’s comments, saying the story was false and slanderous. We wonder whether Qorvis is getting in touch with the scores of international outlets that reported what Tuilaepa had to say, or are they just concentrating on the regional media that they know the regime would listen to?

RNZI 30 January 2012    Samoa PM stands by his comments about the unlikelihood of Fiji elections in 2014