Australia’s AUKUS submarines could be “wildly out of date” by the time they arrive, according to David Sanger, the White House and National Security Correspondent for The New York Times. He says the Pentagon is focused on transitioning the US to unmanned submarines “for either surveillance or for attack”, and that the subs Australia negotiated Continue reading »
AUKUS
Resolution of the tension between President Biden’s policy of strengthening America’s position through allies and partners, and the US Navy’s (USN) mission requirements, will come to a head in the next president’s term. The AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines will be at the centre. Biden has stressed American leadership in mobilising allies and partners to address global Continue reading »
John Menadue AO eminent former public servant, ambassador and businessman – now independent founder, publisher and Editor in Chief of the online public policy journal ‘Pearls and Irritations‘ – offers an in depth conversation about how Australian public policy is making us more vulnerable in dangerous geopolitical times, by compromising pursuit of our sovereign interests, Continue reading »
Andrew Fowler's new book documents in meticulous detail the way in which Scott Morrison’s government campaigned to win US support for the project.
The post New details on how Australia pushed the US for nuclear subs first appeared on Solidarity Online.
The Albanese government with their policy is likely to turn Australia into the 51st state of the United States, writes former Prime Minister of Australia, Paul Keating. Introduction: Defence Minister Richard Marles and Foreign Minister Penny Wong have been in the US for talks with the Secretaries of Defense and State this week. Australia has Continue reading »
Nuclear-powered Virginia Class and AUKUS submarines are a useful deterrent only if they carry cruise missiles with nuclear warheads that can be launched from their unique vertical firing shaft. Then if a distant enemy nuked Australia, we could launch an instant nuclear retaliation from such submarines lurking off their coast for months without needing refuelling. Continue reading »
The Roman emperor Nero was a horrible, horrible man, as Donald Trump might put it. His murderous reign of terror has certainly earned him a place in the history books, but the only thing most people believe about him is certainly false: that he played the fiddle while Rome burned. He may have strummed his Continue reading »
Richard Marles has the Navy out in force firing torpedoes at AUKUS critics. On Friday last, Vice Admiral Jonathan Mead claimed the critics need to produce evidence of any challenges to AUKUS being realised, then on Saturday, Vice Admiral Hammond, Chief of Navy, raised his periscope claiming the AUKUS debate was being ‘hijacked’ by people Continue reading »
The black and white banners unfurled from the battlements of Parliament House on 4 July made us remember 2003 when ‘No War’ appeared in red paint on the top sail of the Opera House. They lifted the spirits of all who then opposed Australia joining the war in Iraq and all who now want action Continue reading »
Even some of the more thoughtful justifications of AUKUS are ultimately implausible as they ignore real and immediate threats while inflating the significance of improbable dangers Australia can do little to address. Continue reading »