Ahead of the two-day leaders' APEC Summit in Sydney, Australia on Sept 8 and 9 the commonwealth have devoted $170M towards National Security. In the
process, Sydney will begin to resemble somewhat of a locked-down police state.
In the weeks leading up to APEC, more than 6000 delegates will converge on the Immigration and Customs facilities at Sydney Airport, Australia.
Hundreds of business leaders from all around the world will join them. An estimated minimum of 1500 media representatives will tag along. Then there
are the 21 world leaders, each with dozens of advisers and security personnel, all on ‘official’ passports, and the ‘hanger-ons’: Events like
this always attract thousands of side-line players and lobbyists, hoping to share in the limelight.
On a scale of low to extremely high, the Commonwealth's terror threat assessment for APEC remains stationary, at "medium". It’s just one level
above "low", one below "highly likely" and two below "extreme" - a warning that is given only when an attack has happened and we are expecting
another. The "medium" assessment, determined by NTAC (National Threat Assessment Centre), is issued with an understood acknowledgement that an
attack is "possible".
However, it's going to become even more terrifying - and perplexing - in the political kindergarten preceding this year's federal election, as the
major parties showcase their national security recommendations, and debate whether our pledge to secure Iraq and Afghanistan have made Australia a
bigger target. But while local, British and North Asian intelligence and security services continue to investigate possible links between an
Indian-born Brisbane doctor, whom has since been released, and the recent attempted bombings at Glasgow airport in the UK, the federal government has
fast-tracked modern border-control technologies ahead of the APEC Summit.
The obvious targets here are the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Opera House, and the venue itself, the Sydney Convention Centre in Darling Harbour; will
be under constant observation by various security agencies, considerably "toughened", That means that the utmost effort will be made to secure them
from penetration by terrorists and, in the event of an attack, ensure that they'll be as blast-proof as modern-engineering can make them.
So as world leaders descend on Sydney, Australia in the coming weeks, Will there be a terrorist attack and has our involvement in the Iraq War
contributed to our impending death sentence?
How many of you out there feel like a major terrorist attack is bound to happen at an event like this?
How many of you believe that an attack like this may be the final straw leading to the beginning of WWIII?
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