Islamists know that they can rely on the enemy within.

In an interview in June 2024, Mohammed Raad, leader of the Hezbollah segment of the Lebanese government, said: “We are currently  investing in protests and demonstrations in Western countries, especially among college students. We already have Muslim students agitating,  but it is the WESTERN STUDENTS THEMSELVES WHO WILL DESTABILISE THEIR OWN COUNTRIES”.

Plus the well-past student age trio of nut jobs on OLO .

Hi Foxy,

Discounting some smaller countries spending on militarism as a percentage of GDP and in actual dollar terms USA (3.4% $916Bn) China (1.7% $296Bn) in global terms USA 37% and China 12%, along way back to Russia in 3rd place with 4.5% globally. The surprise in military spending is Saudi Arabia spending around $76bn. Australia is about average for the developed nations which are presently under a low level of threat. Surprisingly Australia ranks alongside of South Korea which is under a substantially higher threat level than we are. NZ under a conservative government spends less than 1% of GDP on militarism about $5Bn. I think Australia could do well to model our defence on that of NZ. The best dollars spent on defence are those spent on diplomacy and strategic aid in our region, a compact force to protect our territorial sovereignty comes in second, with spending on "battle ships" a clear last.

Hi Paul,

I agree that there is the urgency of finding a
negotiated non-military solution ASAP. We do need a
return to negotiations. Negotiations are more desirable than
the alternative, the risk of nuclear weapons is
frightening. China and Putin's threats are not the only ones
to worry about.

On the plus side:

The good news is that the Australian Strategic Policy Inst.
is the highest ranked defence and national security think
tank in the country. It was established by the Australian
government in 2001 and is partially funded by the Dept.
of Defence and other sources of revenue.

It was established to provide policy relevant research and
analysis to better inform government decisions and public
understanding of strategic and defence issues and have a
better understanding of what's required.

So far so good.

There's only one thing to say to all this dangerous nonsense, thank you Academia & Labor !

Indyvidual

There are some sensible people in academia and in the Labor Party. A couple of naive/ignorant ratbags on OLO represent only themselves.

sensible people in academia and in the Labor Party.
ttbn,
I don't have the numbers to contradict you but as yet I'll be on the side of caution just from personal experience ! If there are indeed some sensible ones then the evidence suggests that they're not in authority !