It has been reported recently that Australia's long awaited defence white paper will have provisions in it for more stringent entry procedures for 10 yet-to-be-named countries.

Does seeing a person primarily as a nation rather than a person seem like the actions of a tolerant people?

And then to cap it off, this growing threat from johnny foreigner seems completely at odds to Rudd's claim that it is in fact home grown terrorists which are the biggest threat to our security.

So which is it?

Should be we be huddled together in fear of the outsider, or should we be constantly looking over each other's shoulders for a sign of external sabotage?

And finally, to finish off this frenzy of finger pointing, in no particular order here is a little prediction of the countries that are making the intelligence community quiver:

1: Somalia

2: Sudan 

3: Pakistan

4: Yemen

5: Eritrea

6: Indonesia (for obvious reasons probably wont be on the list)

7: Waziristan

8: Nigeria

9: Afghanistan

10: Iran

Reading one of the reports in the Sydney Morning Herald, I couldn’t help but smile.

The article read ‘Al-Qaeda to attempt US attack soon’.

You know, like any other thing that we’re all anxious to see – ‘Roger Federer back in action in 2 months’ and ‘Lleyton Hewitt has vowed to shut his mouth in 3 weeks’.

Are you serious?

This isn’t news!

At best it is spreading fear of something that has absolutely no foundation whatsoever; at worst it’s a waste of space.

What’s this meant to warn us about?

Everybody knows about terrorists attack, and there’s nothing provided that we don’t already know.

Does it help us cope with anything?

Nope.

Does it prepare us?

No, all they say is Al-Qaeda’s “going to try”.

So what’s the purpose?

Start reporting some real news and stop spreading the fear. Because not all of us are so anxious to keep track of our favourite terrorist band.

While the USA is busy designing super high powered scanning equipment to detract attention from the fact that they missed Nigerian suicide bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, last month, the Taliban is going back to basics- developing wooden bombs that are virtually undetectable as they contain no metal or electronic parts.

Records show that 3 out of 5 coalition troops killed last year in Afghanistan were as a result of these IEDs (Improvised Explosive Device).  

For a country that demonstrates such gratuitous spending, you would think that by now America would be constructing invisible mind bombs that can erase any thoughts that aren't conservative, capitalist and imperialistic. 

If the Taliban is making wooden bombs, does that mean that they too are suffering from the global financial crisis?

Are they cutting back on their warfare expenditure?

Perhaps we should take a leaf out of their book on saving.

Yet, in an article written by Gordon Brown on last week’s failed plane bombing there are already signs that the worst may yet be to come. Brown stated that:

“The new decade is starting as the last began- with al-Qaeda creating a climate of fear… [revealing] an evolving terrorist threat”

Now I’m still trying to work out the similarities between the highly co-ordinated 9/11 attacks and a guy with a bomb stuffed down his underpants, but there are similarities in Brown’s response- one of fear and over-reaction.

Yes, a terrorist attack was very nearly carried out which would have resulted in mass murder and untold sadness and devastation- but terrorist attacks are happening every day in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq, and they’ve also been occurring for decades (if not centuries).

What we have to focus on is that the weakness of this attack must suggest that al-Qaeda hasn’t got the resources or expertise it once had.

And similarly, we must- if this decade is to become one of greater understanding and problem solving- learn that thinking as we have has only made us more unsafe, more amoral and more hated in the eye's of the world, and we must change.