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A Generation Of Australians Have Grown Up Weak believing in US might

Baby Boomers have grown up under the misapprehension that the United States of America was there for us. A generation of Australians have grown up weak on this basis. When exactly has the US come to our aid since WW2? The answer is never. On the other hand, how many times has Australia answered the call from America? Korea, Vietnam, The Gulf War, Afghanistan, Iraq and Pine Gap of course. Australians have learned to see our subsidiary role to the US as payment in advance for any serious threat upon our shores. ANZUS was invoked after 9/11 and for the invasion of Afghanistan.Continue Reading

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Trump

Simplistic, trite and flag waving rubbish, as per usual, from the Aussie media. Anthony Albanese meets with Donald Trump in Washington and cheering from the little people angle erupts downunder. Australian media headlines hail rare minerals deal with Trump. In all likelihood, this will be another deal with American multinationals who won’t pay tax and will screw us on the royalty arrangements. Few jobs will come out of it in this highly mechanised mining sector in the 21C. It may increase our GDP numbers but this will mean diddly squat in actual terms to the vast percentage of our population. Wealthy investors might pop a few bottles of French Champagne over it.Continue Reading

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Does Australia Want To Be A Vassal State?

Does Australia want to be a vassal state of the United States of America? The AUKUS submarine deal puts us in that invidious position. The Trump regime is rapidly taking the US down paths that modern Australia does not agree with. Donald Trump is a racist and white supremacist. Trump is a convicted felon and has spent decades doing dodgy deals with nefarious groups and individuals. The administration of Donald Trump is behaving in ways that are anathema to what we in Australia expect of our governments and leaders. The depicting of China as the bogeyman of the geopolitical world is an American invention. The US is frightened of a level playing field, economically and militarily. We, in Australia, need to ask ourselves who and what is the real evil in today’s world.Continue Reading

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Australia Remember What 10 Years of The Coalition Brought Us

Have you ever asked yourself, as an Australian, why our leaders make such bad deals on our behalf? Why don’t the gas companies mining our gas pay taxes and royalties equivalent to the billions they make from selling our national resource? Is it corruption or the result of their inadequacy? The little men leading Australia: Astray. The contract details around AUKUS only reinforce this woeful deal making by our politicians and bureaucrats when dealing with international representatives. Is it the result of long standing national low self-esteem, gullibility, corrupt practices or a combination of all of these elements? Whatever it is, they are seriously underselling Australia and letting us all down at the big table where these things are negotiated.Continue Reading

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President Trump Calls Astronauts During First All-Woman Spacewalk (NHQ201910180018)

James Paterson reckons associating Peter Dutton with Donald Trump is a desperate smear. Well, there are differences, decidedly, Donald Trump has more hair for instance. It is true, however, that both men have cosied up to Benjamin Netanyahu on junket tours to Israel. Both right wing leaders do not appreciate the plight of Palestinians if their behaviours and statements are anything to go by. Bashing any protest against the genocide of women, children and men in Gaza, with the ‘antisemitism’ accusation.  The divisive Dutton has repeatedly called for the power for politicians like himself to deport dual citizens. In America, Trump is having masked, plain clothed police grabbing academics from campuses and disappearing them. These professors and Fulbright scholars who are legally working in the US and have broken no laws have been taken and locked up. The only thing they did was write a pro-Palestinian essay in an academic journal. This is the behaviour of a fascist dictatorship.Continue Reading

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boy in black and white sweater covering his face with his tow hand

It is important to note that economic and political cycles do not usually coincide. Australia remember what 10 years of the Coalition brought us. There is a considerable lag between policy and outcomes. A decade of the LNP Coalition federal governments saw the acceleration of housing unaffordability in Australia. Now, you might think that inflation driving up the prices of residential property is a good thing and your chance to get rich, but home owners, I have spoken with, see it differently. They invariably say, that sure having your house worth a lot of money can appear to be wealth but if you sell it you just have to go out and buy another one which is equally as expensive. Housing affordability has jumped from 5 times annual income up to 13 times in Australian cities, according to respected economic journalist Alan Kohler.Continue Reading

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President Trump Congratulates Record Breaking Astronaut (NHQ201704240005)

Today, we heard that  Donald Trump has given his approval for the AUKUS deal. Why wouldn’t he? In this deal, Australia pays billions of dollars to the US to boost their nuclear submarine building capacity. There are, however, no iron clad guarantees that we will receive any submarines. Donald Trump would love such a deal with billions going to the US military industrial complex and delays are always par for the course with these kinds of arrangements. Australia is kissing the ring of Trump by relinquishing our sovereignty by allowing a greater US military presence within our territory and becoming further subservient to American interests.Continue Reading

men standing over an open hatch of a submarine

Australia has a lousy record when it comes to submarines. It seems submarines bring out the worst in our defence force and our national security aspirations. Hugh White hoists up AUKUS white flag in recent essay. Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies at ANU, Hugh White knows a thing or two about this topic and Australian national security capabilities. Younger Aussies may not remember our ongoing challenges with the Collins class submarines. They may not be au fait with our dalliance with the French in regard to supplying us with submarines pre-AUKUS. The Japanese were in the running there for a while too. Basically, submarines and Australia have a perpetually sinking relationship, it seems.Continue Reading

Paul Keating

It was refreshing and darn right funny to watch Paul Keating give a good old dressing down to the press gallery over China fears. It showed clearly how journalism in Australia is in a parlous state. Paul Keating reminds us we are Australians. Youngsters brought up in the halls of Murdoch’s News Corp with no breadth of knowledge or experience to draw upon. All of them singing from the same song sheet about the dangers of China. Keating pointed out how much American interests drive this fear mongering. The Americans don’t like the fact that another powerhouse has risen to challenge their hegemony. You cannot escape from the ingrained racism underpinning the China debate in this country and in all western nations.Continue Reading