From the Murdoch fish-and-wrapper that has no idea when to shut up:
http://www.dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,20281,17558480-5001030,00.html

There can be no doubt that racial hatred is a major element in this week's riots in and around Cronulla. Is Australia an inherently racist society? No - we've come a long long way since the massacre of Aborigines and the proliferation of the White Australia Policy. But there's still a hard core of rednecks in this country who believe that their brand of Australian nationalism - an unwritten White Australia Policy if you will - is the right one. Pauline Hanson, curiously enough, lives at Sylvania Waters, a few kilometres up the George's River from Cronulla.

There's a concept that has been much discussed this week that I'm having a bit of trouble with. "Middle Eastern appearance."

What does a Middle Eastern gentleman look like?

Is he Pakistani? Is he Afghani? Is he Iranian? Is he Iraqi? Is he Kurdish? Is he Yemeni? Is he Omani? Is he Qatari? Is he Kuwaiti? Is he Turkish? Is he Syrian? Is he Lebanese? Is he Jordanian? Is he Palestinian? Is he Israeli? Is he Saudi Arabian? Is he Egyptian? Is he Libyan? Maybe he looks like a Brazilian walking to catch his train.

It's 11pm Tuesday night and all seems quiet in southern Sydney so far this evening. NSW parliament is going to be recalled on Thursday to pass legislation to give police greater emergency powers. Tonight they have roadblocked the Cronulla area, and apparently only residents are being let in. I have vivid memories of the Newcastle CBD being similarly sealed off in the opening days of 1990 following the earthquake, but when (if ever) was the last time a locality of this magnitude in this country was shut down by police for reasons other than natural disaster or Olympiad?

ELLEN FANNING: Prime Minister, part of what was chilling yesterday was seeing a lot of people in between the violence doing things that you'd see at the cricket, singing "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi", wrapping themselves in the Australian flag. What do you say to people who use the Australian flag in that way?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, I would never condemn people for being proud of the Australian flag. I don't care – I would never condemn people for being proud…

Two playlist files here of ABC coverage of the riots of the last few days.

Firstly, click here for a stream of five clips from the ABC television news from Monday and Tuesday. (I have selected the Windows Media Video broadband option for these - other options will be accessible for the next few days at least at the ABC News website.)

MALCOLM KERR, STATE MP FOR CRONULLA: Well, you go back to the core problem and ensure that people can go to the beach and to parks without being subjected to any antisocial behaviour.
JONATHAN HARLEY [7.30 Report, ABC-TV]: And what does that mean? For the people of Cronulla, what does 'antisocial' mean?

The following eyewitness account of Sunday's events appeared in Monday's subscriber email edition of Crikey. As at Tuesday morning it has not appeared on their website, and I have not seen it posted anywhere else. I take the statement in its opening paragraph as implicit permission to republish here. The author is Cronulla resident Benjamin Amy:

I've just returned home after spending six hours watching the disgusting afternoon unfold at Cronulla beach. I'm sending this to anyone that'll read it.

There's a lot of statements of the bleeding obvious I could make about the quite stomach-turning race riots in Cronulla (and in Maroubra, Brighton le-Sands, Woolooware, Tempe and Lakemba) over the past few days. While race-based rioting in indigenous ghettos is, sadly, nothing new, this gang versus gang warfare is nothing like anything seen in modern Australia. Just twenty kilometres from where I live. I'll say my bit on the issue further on. Race is an issue here, but not the central one. Nor is it just, as conservative political leaders have been saying, a law-and-order issue.

This in over the weekend from Human Rights Watch about the House of Bush's old chinas at the House of Saud:

Saudi Arabia: Court Orders Eye to Be Gouged Out
Torture Sentence for Indian Migrant Worker Follows Clash With Saudi Citizen