Their empty, cynical campaigns leave Australia in a mess, facing its first hung parliament since 1940, politics that is poisonous even by Australian standards, and a dangerous policyvacuum.
The Observer's lead is that a series of leaked emails between key figures in UKIP reveals growing chaos at the heart of the party as it struggles to fill a policyvacuum just days before the local elections.
Too often we view our foreign policy as existing within a time vacuum, as if what happens over in Iran and elsewhere is happening due to fanaticism alone.
The attached article makes clear that a new "foreign policy tool" is emerging -- one that might fill the growing vacuum that would arise if the House vote approving PNTR has the effect of eviscerating the use of U.S. trade sanctions for such purposes.
In recent days, senior Bush Administration spokesmen notably National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft and some non-governmental foreign policy experts have served notice on the American people: A new "world order" is emerging to fill a vacuum created by the reputed demise of the Cold War.