It’s all about Domestic Politicking not Foreign Policy
The report quotes Frances Adamson A.C., Governor of South Australia and former Australian Ambassador to China as saying that “deep knowledge of a country reduces the risk of strategic miscalculation – a real danger in an increasingly volatile world.” I think she’s right. I also think that kind of thinking needs a bit more priority in policy-making circles.
Israel is being pressed from within by
It is home to almost one million Russian-speaking citizens, one-third of whom arrived from Ukraine shortly before and immediately following the collapse of the Soviet Union. “The Russian attack on Ukraine is a serious violation of the international order,” said Lapid. “Israel condemns this attack.”
The future will reveal even more about Israel’s role in the Russia-Ukraine war. However, what is quite clear for now is that it is no longer a neutral party, even if the government in Tel Aviv continues to repeat such claims.
Mr Dutton, regular readers will know, has done more than anyone to ensure no other country has a relationship with China as bad as ours, starting with his echoing of Donald Trump on COVID and never letting up since as he has beaten the drums of war. His latest effort is to repeatedly suggest the Solomon Islands government had been bribed to sign the security deal with China.
It’s not for nothing that I call Peter Dutton the Offence Minister. In my opinion, he has done more than anyone to make Australia a target while presiding over an ill-equipped, bungle-prone and undermanned defence force that seems to delight in signing up for things it is sold, rather buying what Australia actually needs.
Source: Michael Pascoe: Australia’s spooks go dangerously rogue – or lie. Or both
SINCE DONALD TRUMP became President, the relationship between the U.S. and China has deteriorated to the point that some observers talk of war. Why is this? In simple terms, America feels threatened by China’s rapidly expanding wealth and influence. Dangerous confrontation has resulted and Australia has been sucked in. How far remains to be seen, but it is not in Australia’s interest to be used by Trump or Murdoch.
Australia does a thousands times more to Papua New Guinea and Nauru than what Turnbull et al are complaining China is trying to do to us through the likes of Dastyari. Barnarby Joyce is even threatening New Zealand as part of this process.
Of course, Chinese imperialism is a threat. U.S. imperialism is our day to day reality. But the main enemy is at home. Australian imperialism is the biggest enemy working people in Australia and the region have.
So eager is the Turnbull government to increase Bill Shorten’s pain over Sam Dastyari’s China connections, that it has dialled to 11 its anti-Beijing espionage/influence warnings, potentially alienating swathes of voters in Bennelong this Saturday. Coalition risks its majority in rush to skewer Bill Shorten over Sam Dastyari
olddogthoughts 