When one declares that his robes are the most beautiful, made of the finest silk, so glorious that they compete with the sun - sometimes a little blond-haired boy with a most serious look about him declares that it seems to him that the Emperor has no clothes! And we see, slowly at first, then an unstoppable surge of laughter and finger-pointing by the common people who, for all their ignorance and all their flaws, know enough to put on clothes before going out in public.

Red faces in Washington? Well yes, almost certainly, and probably in a significant number of other capitals too, not least in the Middle East where a series of leaders and senior figures in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi are quoted as urging Washington to bomb Iran's nuclear programme.

This avalanche of cables from the internal, supposedly secure e-mail switching system linking US embassies abroad with the state department and Pentagon in Washington is a nightmare for US diplomacy.

from Crikey .....

Electricity privatisation: Keneally piloting death star that is Labor

Candace Sutton, a former NSW government media adviser, writes:

The doors to a previously hidden world of diplomatic intrigue and insults were dramatically thrown open last night as the whistle-blowing website Wikileaks published its vast tranche of secret American diplomatic communiqués. The release of hundreds of thousands of secret messages from staff at US embassies revealed how Washington has struggled to confront the geopolitical realities of a post-9/11 world.

It also exposed the often less than diplomatic language used by State Department insiders to describe some of the planet's most powerful leaders.

Even for the humble among us who try to avoid jingoistic outbursts, some national achievements are so grand that they merit a moment of pride & celebration.

The Soviet Union couldn't win in Afghanistan & now the US is about to have something in common with that futile campaign: nine years, 50 days.

On Friday, the US-led coalition will have been fighting in this South Asian country for as long as the Soviets did in their humbling attempt to build up a socialist state.

Gay prostitutes the world over have been thrilled by the Pope's decision to allow them to use condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS.

''It's a dream come true,'' said Trent, 21, a strapping blond guardsman and part-time rent boy in London's St James's Park. ''It's the last thing I expected from the Vatican.''

Jai, 24, who works for a male escort agency in Sydney's Kings Cross, agreed. ''As a devout practising Catholic, I've worried both about AIDS and the sin of wearing a rubber. This OK from the Pope means I can see my Catholic clients without fear of either disease or damnation.''

A poll shows Labor's core support base is evaporating just five days out from the Victorian election, with Ted Baillieu gaining ground.

The Herald Sun says the private Galaxy poll shows Premier John Brumby will cling onto power, but only with Greens preferences.

The poll shows a collapse in Labor's primary vote, putting at least 18 government-held seats in jeopardy.

On a two-party preferred basis Labor is leading 51-49 but the poll shows the opposition leader has not only secured his own supporter base but is eating into Labor's support in key outer suburbs and regional centres.

When Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America recently, he was relaxed, charming and at his deluded best. For Jewish audiences which don't want to know the truth of history, there's nobody who can deliver Zionism's propaganda lines and lies more effectively than him. (Though he didn't say so, he was obviously delighted that President Obama had taken a hammering in the mid-term elections).

I could take issue with Netanyahu on many of his mad assertions but on this occasion I will settle for challenging just one of them.

From Annabel Crabb/the drum...

Let's get something straight; politicians of both sexes get ribbed about their looks.

Most of them are martyrs to the cartoonists, who never waste the opportunity provided by a pointy nose or big ears, whatever the gender of the affected person.

from Crikey .....

Herald Sun caught trying to entrap Victorian MPs

Crikey senior journalist Andrew Crook writes:

In almost every recent Victorian election, we have seen the Labor dirt unit roll out several old chestnuts about the Greens' ''extreme'' policies. And boy, do they love to tell voters that the Greens-backed position on medically supervised injecting rooms is an extreme policy.

What Labor doesn't tell say is the policy was once its own. It went to the 1999 election promising to set up a heroin injecting facility. The idea was shelved once the Bracks government came to power.

Like the morning after a big party, government can be quite sobering.

The Government's lynchpin election promise of a National Broadband Network (NBN) has inched closer to fruition today, after a deal was struck with independent Senator Nick Xenophon.

Senator Xenophon had been refusing to back NBN legislation which would enable the separation of Telstra's wholesale and retail arms.

He wanted the NBN business case released before promising his vote in the Upper House on the bill to separate Telstra.

The Government has now confirmed it has agreed to release a summary of the business plan ahead of a vote in the Senate.

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI clearly acknowledged on Tuesday that the need to prevent diseases like AIDS could outweigh the church’s long opposition to the use of condoms.

Wayne Swan: Well, I can't speculate about Senator Xenophon. There's an important debate going on. The debate at the moment, Fran, is actually about structural separation. Which is absolutely fundamental to microeconomic reform in this country, in getting not only super fast broadband, but a much more efficient and prosperous economy into the future. I know Senator Xenophon shares that objective.