I was loading CSS and thought I'd better get some breakfast in me (at 12:50 :P) so I went downstairs, when I saw todays paper lying on the table. It had in massive letters "BALI BOMBED AGAIN". I began to freak out because my good mate and fellow band member was in Bali for the holidays, so I swore all the way back up the stairs... only to find a message waiting for me. He has bought me an album from "The Used".

That was one of the biggest heart-stopping moments ever for me... Why can't they just leave Bali alone? Shit, I'm trembling.

EDIT: This was his exact text message:

I love how he finishes "But yea ive got u the used cd"

The most I heard of this before seeing the news this morning was a small marquee which scrolled along the bottom of the late-night movie. I thought that if it was big they would have cut to a news bulletin, but it never came. What is everyone's view on this? Do you think they are targeting Australian's or is it in attempt to disrupt Bali's economy by reducing tourism numbers?

3 Australians dead at 5 pm (AEST).

This one was not so much aimed at Australias, but was aimed to kill as amny poeple as possible. The more internationals the better.

Still, how hard will it hit Bali?

Well I won't be going there this summer! (Wasn't planning to go there anyway though). On a different note the Christians from down the road have been leafleting the area offering to bring round meals for uni students who have exams.

My uncle was going there this christmas but they have now cancelled their trip, it's going to hurt the Bali economy even worse than the first time, because it will take longer for people to feel confident enough to go back, especially after significantly close attacks, the thing is if people live in fear, then the attacks are a success.

What's the ultimate goal of the attacks though? I can't imagine it could be simply that we live in fear and I don't think that us living in fear definitely leads to the success of whatever it is they want, which is probably less invasions in places like Iraq. Ironically the government use terrorism to justify their invasions and our fear is what lets them do it.

It's a downward spiral.

I don't know what their ultimate goal is, and of course no one really knows for sure, but your certainly right in saying it's a downward spiral, further invasions from the US forces is only going to result in further attacks on civilians.

What's even more suprising, is the fact that Indonesia is a predominantly muslim nation, and it had no hand in anything related to the 'war on terror', so why the hell is it getting attacked?

Correct me if i'm wrong though, but I can't make sense of it.

a) Because it has the largest Muslim Population in the world.
b) The country has a history of polical upheaval (which Australia has had a hand in, in the past).
c) A large part of the countries pop is poor. Etc

There are more reasons, but thats just a few of them.

But those reasons are the complete opposite of the US and the UK!

I'm with manny, it doesn't make sence...if they are all muslims, and the terrorists are also muslims, then why would they attack their own?
If they are mostly a poor country, then why are the terrorists scaring away their main source of income; tourists.

NO SENCE!

I assumed that they were targeting tourists more than locals?

Not this time apparently...

Any act of terror makes no sense in the grand scheme of things.

I don't see any of them as a reason for this, assuming it's linked to the previous JI bombings.

Just how large is this JI group, if indeed they are behind these latest bombings? (I haven't heard any news lately, so if they are guilty or not, I have no idea)

Perhaps, and this is only a suggestion, they're targeting the place/s they are to destroy (for lack of a better term) the economy and whatever so the group/s can then take over the country and 'rule' the thing?

I dunno, I'm just as bloody confused as everyone. All I know is that if I had tickets to go to Bali, I wouldn't cancel the trip just because of these bombings.

Those are the general reasons put forward as to why. All from the big book of reasons why you balme what they did.

Man how did that title get past the editors?

I don't know if I've posted this before, but I read an interesting article about how people stop doing things because they're afraid of a terrorist attack. The article focused on how many people in London started riding bikes to work after the tube attacks.

The thing is that the amount of media coverage that terroism gets affects our probability calculations unconciously. Without realising it, we percieve the risk of dying from a terrorist attack on the tube to be much greater than being hit by a car on our bike, even though it's clearly the other way around. I found that pretty interesting. My mum is very nervous about me being in London since the attacks, even though I was probably more likely to die in Sydney when I travelled by car instead of tube. Humans are pretty strange.

Very true Loach, when you look at the situation logically and rationally you could say that people who cancel their trips to Bali are silly, since it's unlikely for an attack to occur again so soon, but it's all about perception, especially with the large amount of media coverage that terrorism gets creating fear which defies logic.

The point of terrorist attacks is not in the physical damage it causes but in the political message it sends. When the next election in Australia comes up we'll have to ask ourselves this question: "do we want terrorist attacks in our region to continue and at what cost" - we may well vote in a government prepared to withdraw troops from Iraq. We may "not give in to terrorism" and vote to elect somebody to be even more hardline on terrorism. Either way - something we'll definitely be considering is the foreign policy regarding muslims and the middle east. At the moment nobody cares that we support the US who supports violent dictators in Suadi Arabia or that we are allied to the UK who sell weapons used specifically to torture people in Saudi Arabia. Perhaps things will change - perhaps they wont. I think the Iraq situation clearly shows us though that if we try to use force against the terrorists we will create more people willing to fight for their cause - if we look at the issue in the black and white of two options - giving into the terrorists or fighting them with force - it is clear that the terrorists will win both options. Of course there are other choices that aren't considered so much. Turn the war on terror into a war on poverty and intolerance - build schools and hospitals in the areas instead of droping bombs - create a strong society - make the people respect and rely on us instead of being killed by us - take away the support for the terrorists and don't give the people reasons to support the terrorists (ie. don't kill people).

It's a hard subject but clearly our choice to react to their violence with more violence is not working and is just creating more violence.

Too right Loach. My little brother is afraid of the train, even though you are more likely to be killed on a bus. He is kind of nervous about planes too, even though you are more likely to be killed by a cow, or even a HIPPO, than dying in a plane crash.