The good news is the US can’t sell Australia the three to five used Virginia class nuclear subs that the Albanese government has announced it will buy. Nor will it sell us any new ones. The chief of US Naval operations Admiral Michael Gilday was recently reported from Washington as saying the US shipyards are Continue reading »
Defence and Security
The Wagner coup equation doesn’t compute. It just doesn’t add up. Herbert Wulf gave us a concise summary of the surreal 24 hours that gripped the world. But there are missing pieces of the puzzle that we haven’t been given. And now we learn that the Wagner boss is back in St Petersburg, Russia. In his classic The Art of Continue reading »
The U.S. public has been conned, once again, into pouring billions into another endless war. The playbook the pimps of war use to lure us into one military fiasco after another, including Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and now Ukraine, does not change. Freedom and democracy are threatened. Evil must be vanquished. Human rights must Continue reading »
When it comes to propaganda the Chinese could learn a thing or two from the Western media. A dictionary definition of propaganda states that it is “information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or point of view.” In the West, our mainstream media warns us of the dangers Continue reading »
Missing records, billions in over-runs, conflicts of interest, and flawed ships. How the Australian Defence Department’s new frigates project is a boondoggle for a British weapons-maker. In a two-part investigation, Declassified Australia examines the flawed contracting process that led to a $46 billion naval ship-building deal that has been found to be suffering what an investigative audit described Continue reading »
Does it really matter that Australia’s defence policy has no moorings, and is created unaware of past pain, lessons and policy responses? By agents with unknown interests. And that American influence has been ushered into this void, most recently by Minister Marles? ‘De-risking’ is the latest term in geopolitics. It mostly concerns China. European leaders Continue reading »
AUKUS submarines will be highly detectable and therefore strategically useless. The loss of the tourist submersible intending to view the wreck of the Titanic captured the attention of many. Ignoring the highly questionable elements of that situation, lessons have escaped the notice of some people who should have been looking with horror at the unfolding Continue reading »
Some thoughts on the insurrection attempt in Russia. I wonder who or what lured Yevgeny Prigozhin into staging this farce. In twelve or so hours things are likely to have calmed down. ‘Western’ anal-cysts will spend weeks fantasising about their wished for outcome which, of course, was never to happen. The whole story reminds me of Continue reading »
Beijing, Tehran, and Islamabad know that their mutual goal of ‘peaceful development’ and expanded Asian trade routes will be unattainable without solving the terrorism dilemma in neighbouring Afghanistan. First published in The Cradle June 13, 2023 This month, Beijing hosted the first-ever tripartite security dialogue between Iran, Pakistan, and China. The gathering took place against Continue reading »
Over the past eighteen months, I’ve often found myself under scrutiny for not outrightly condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Any acknowledgment of Russia’s stance—that the hasty expansion of NATO played a role in the current conflict—earns labels: indifferent to Ukraine’s plight, a “Putin” apologist, a victim of Kremlin misinformation. After much contemplation, I’ve traced the Continue reading »