*…Our problem is China; not Russia or Ukraine….*

Not at all, Ukraine is highly significant. Everybody is waiting and watching for a Chinese reaction.

If there is any significance to the Solomons it is this: who are our friends. In reality we have very few that can be relied upon.
Hanging onto the coat tails of our old Uncle is bad for our health!

Wherever he goes, there goes trouble. It’s entirely why we have a Ukraine war: Just another one with the drunken old Uncle in the middle of it.
Do we want that for Australia?

Dan.

Bit of a late response, but I decided that since I named my great-grandfather on the ANZAC thread that I wouldn't post anything else regarding war or politics on ANZAC day.

I know I have opinions on these matters that others may not agree with, or find concerning and I didn't want to in any way tarnish my great-grandfathers achievements in war for our country.

Now, regarding Solomon Islands and Ukraine.
Look how many of you are acting with regards to China just because they made an agreement with the Solomon Islands.

Compare that with Putin's situation.
He's got the Ukraine contemplating becoming a NATO member
- Which will certainly include military bases in Ukraine and nukes stationed 600 klms from Moscow.

All of you who are distressed about China / Solomon Islands...
Imagine how incensed you would be if Russia or China took over Flinders Island and stationed nukes and military bases there instead?
I don't any think you can complain about the Solomon Islands / China issue, without also displaying complete ignorance on the Ukraine / Russia issue.
Your complain about a probable Chinese base 2000 klms away from our northern shores.
Russia is complaining about a guaranteed future US presence with nukes 600 klms away from it's capital.

To follow on, I'd like to add this comment in regards to wars.

Smedley Butler on Interventionism
-- Excerpt from a speech delivered in 1933, by Major General Smedley Butler, USMC. --

War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses.

I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. If a nation comes over here to fight, then we'll fight. The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag.

I wouldn't go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.

There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its "finger men" to point out enemies, its "muscle men" to destroy enemies, its "brain men" to plan war preparations, and a "Big Boss" Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism.

It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty- three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle- man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.

[Cont.]

[Cont.]

I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service.

I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912 (where have I heard that name before?). I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.

During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.

Ukraine is not ‘just like us’ (the West).

In the democracy area, Ukraine has a score of only 61/100 from Freedom House: it is partly free, in the same league as countries like Colombia, Serbia, Liberia, El Salvador and the Philippines.

President Zelensky has seized the opportunity of war to suspend 11 opposition parties, the largest of which has 44 seats in the 450 seat parliament. The president as also nationalised several media outlets to “implement a unified information policy”!

In the corruption stakes, Ukraine’s score is 32/100, making it “Europe’s most corrupt country” (‘Transparency International’).

Ukraine is not the ‘sweet potato that know-nothing Western leaders and hysterics think it is. Nor is the country’s president.

The conflict with Russia will not reshape the global order, and it has very little relevance to the Indo-Pacific; China is the problem there

Think some salient points need to be included to explain the background; Anglosphere white nativist libertarian ideology, masquerading as US born white Christian nationalism, and claims of common sense.

Since the time of Howard Australians have been nudged way from Asia and the Pacific, often with quite a bit of dog whistling, towards arrogant Anglosphere.

It became worse under Abbott with DFAT cuts and like others e.g. Downer, Hockey et al. they neglected both Asia and the Pacific to serve the interests of the UK Tories and/or US GOP, especially including Brexit, Trump & Pompeo on China, as 'foreign agents', like Murdoch too.

What's that all about?