ABSTRACT
The Australian Labor Party government recently signed an asylum deals with the government of Malaysia, a country that is not a signatory to the United Nations refugee convention, which would have seen 800 asylum seekers in Australia sent to Malaysia for processing in return for Australia's acceptance of 4,000 already processed and legitimate refugees from Malaysia. Jacques Derrida observes, though, a rogue state is not a transcendental category, but rather a term used to designate an enemy of US economic, political or military interests. The democratic internationalism of the United Nations, in other words, is haunted by the autoimmunity of the superpowers, China and the US, together with the other permanent Security Council members, Britain, France and Russia. The autoimmune effects of internationalism put every nation at the risk of suicide. By opening themselves to global media networks and the Internet, nations welcome even dangerous ideas and possible links of affinity that threaten the very foundation of a national identity.
