SYDNEY -- A weeklong diplomatic flourish through East Asia behind him, Australian Prime Minister John Howard has no time to pause for breath before the next push into Australia's newfound activism in regional security, the South Pacific's most chaotic young nation, the Solomon Islands.
As advance troops in an Australia-led peacekeeping force landed in the capital, Honiara, to clean up what was threatening to become the spark igniting a fire across the South Pacific, a surprisingly reinvigorated Howard resumed command in Canberra. He intends that the Solomons cleanup remain free of recriminations from within ranks, including New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, but also from without, notably the do-nothing United Nations members.
Howard's North Asian tour -- one of 10 overseas visits he is taking this year -- started off in embarrassment in the Philippines. In Manila's swank Makata Shangri La Hotel, he was preparing notes on a meeting with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Suddenly the TV screen lit up. CNN was breaking the news that Jemaah Islamiah explosives expert Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi had broken out of a Manila jail, courtesy of corrupt jailers.