When I lived in Singapore around 1998, I remember how Australia and Malaysia used to go at it. Shouting insults across the straits, then-Prime Minister Mohammad Mahathir and whoever it was running Australia - usually the estimable Prime Minister John Howard if not one of his cabinet officials - would blast each other on topics such as trade, culture, anti-Semitism, free speech, or the death penalty until Mahathir would eventually calm down, and sometimes actually apologize. Then the Malaysian leader would go pick a new fight over water or railroads or passports or something with Singapore. Here's one episode where Howard went after Mahathir on anti-Semitism in 2003. ELIZABETH JACKSON: The Prime Minister, John Howard, is involved in a war of words with his Malaysian counterpart, Doctor Mahathir Mohamad, as the two men prepare to travel to the APEC leaders' meeting in Bangkok, on the weekend. Dr Mahathir said yesterday, "Jews rule this world by proxy",...(Read Full Post)