"the incomprehensible fatuousness and ultimately, the incompetence, of the world's leader - the United States."

No punches pulled there! But entirely true. The collapse of the U.S. under the Democrats and Biden is stunning. Trump made "America great" again, for a short while, with China and Russia sitting up and paying attention; now it is all gone, and the West is in peril. And the drones in Australia are scrapping about where to put submarine bases when they haven't got the submarines yet! Nor the personnel interested in crewing them.

The question "would the current generation, in our country, go into battle for democracy and freedom" was recently asked. The answer is pretty obvious.

The reference to the snake in the grass that is the media; "abandonment of acknowledgment of the significance of a moral culture, and the importance of it being handed down over generations"; "democracies of the West …. lacking in ethics and justice". All as plain as the nose on your face, and all encouraging to the 'evil regimes' of China and Russia.

Morrison got it right (for once) when he said, in the last couple of days, that we live in the most dangerous times seen for 80 years. And it's useless pricks like him and the rest of the West's so-called leaders who are responsible for the situation.

Agree with most of this. We here in Australia are little more than spectators and would be well advised to ramp up our own defense readiness with a huge and record spend on equipment and personal. We should even consider conscription if it includes all able bodied personal between 20 and 45.

And we need to rearm the civilian population, so any idea we could be attacked? We could make the price paid way too high to contenance!

We also need to invest in nuclear power and nuclear weaponary. And wherever possible, the electrification of all transport. Otherwise, we could be crippled economically by yet another oil shock! If the free world would follow suit, Putin would have to pull his head in and call off the oil funded war dogs currently attacking peaceful neigbour and war time ally, the Ukraine.

And we need to make everything we need right here. Our trade with China has created the monster that threatens us today! And we need to get the useless table thumping motor mouths out of our parliaments and replace them with true patriots.

And we need to give the paper shuffling middlemen the old heave ho! We need the oil and water barons like a hole in the head! We need new policies that make these useless appendages, completely redundant! It's not just Russian and Chinese monsters that threaten us, but the homemade models as well!

All created by our own stupidity and misplaced trust. As like frogs in slowly heated water, we remain warm and comfortable until the water boils and our goose is cooked!
Alan B.

ttbn, you called it mate! and right on the money!
Alan B.

In a recent interview, The Australian's Greg Sheridan rightly said that neither side of politics has "a skerrick of credibility in the defence of Australia".

$75 million for missiles for Ukraine. How about a couple of million for ground based missiles for Australia. Arm Taiwan (Dutton). How about arming Australia?

Talk is cheap (Morrison) but Australia is doing nothing. Defence is based on weapons we don’t have. Submarines on the never-never; patrol boats with no weapons; seriously delayed frigates, the first of which won't be available before the mid 2030s. "Absolutely nothing is being done" to cover the next 5 to 10 years.

ttbn. Why aren't you running the country mate, or at least becoming minister fore defense? Young Timmy was asked by the teacher to construct a sentence that included, defeat, detail and defense. He thought for a while and came up with, de cow jumped over de fence, de feet came before de tail. And about sums up Mr Dutton's suitablity for high office, let alone something as critical as Minister for de fence?
Alan B.

Alan

I'm too old, too undiplomatic and too lots of things. We are very poorly served by our politicians, and I'm glad I'm approaching the end of life and not just starting out.