Hi Paul,

"If you want peace, you must be peaceful."

Poland, Czechoslovakia and Ukraine come to mind. My observation is that peace is maintained when a solidarity is maintained against bully nations. Trump seems to be treating international security as a protection racket, which is a worry.

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Dear ttbn,

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Australia had been occupied for about 65,000 years by Aboriginal tribes before the British took it over it as a penal colony. 113 years later, the 6 separate colonies that had been established came together and federated as a nation in the form of a constitutional monarchy.

That is history. What comes next is pure conjecture :

Allow me, in my congenitally optimistic fashion, to suggest that our most important trading partner, the People’s Republic of China, may decide to take advantage of our protectors’ reticence to honour their pledges and absorb us by the sheer force of its persuasion.

This may seem extravagant, but it is consistent with the military strategy outlined by the Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu in his treatise entitled “The Art of War” (5th century BC) :

« Sun Tzu said: In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy’s country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good. So, too, it is better to recapture an army entire than to destroy it, to capture a regiment, a detachment or a company than to destroy them. »

In view of the way things are shaping up at present, future generations of Australians may well be Chinese.

Zhù hao yùn ! (good luck!)

Here is “The Art of War” :

http://ia903407.us.archive.org/35/items/TheArtOfWarBySunTzu/ArtOfWar.pdf

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Hi Fester,

I'm not aware of any situation that has seen war prevented and "peace is maintained when a solidarity is maintained against bully nations". No nation going to war believes they are not justified and not right in their actions. The god fearing ones, even claim "God is on their side", you can't be wrong if god is on your side.

Hi Banjo,

Not since the Han Dynasty around 220 BC has China been successful in annexing vast territories from other nations. The forces of Emperor Wu Han were successful in expanding China's borders into northern Korea and northern Vietnam. They had a go at invading Japan in 1281 AD, but unfortunately for the Chinese, the Devine Wind ("kamikaze") came to Japans rescue, actually it was a typhoon, and destroyed the Chinese invasion fleet. Tibet is another john dory, the Chinese claim they haven't invaded a sovereign country, but view Tibet as an inseparable part of the People's Republic of China, citing historical control dating back to the Yuan dynasty (about 1300 AD). However it certainly looks like an invasion to me.

Lets hope the Chinese don't discover a long lost dynasty from about 67,000 BC that had Australia as part of China. Then we would become another Tibet.

Fester

You've gone a bit weird on us. “... if China paid a big enough bribe to Trump”! The US is at war with China NOW. A cold war, yes; but a war nonetheless. I have to say I find your comment bizarre. I don't think the US will “abandon” Australia. Not just because of ally and buddy-buddy reasons, but because Australia is a strategic asset for US troops and aircraft if armed conflict does occur. Marines are already here, and we are getting ready for US nuclear submarines rotation on the West and East coasts. There is much more in our connection to the US than lump-in-the-throat emotionalism.

I'm not sure what your comment on the lack of nuclear weapons before 1945 means.

The ASPI reports on our lack of defence seem to be hitting the mark because Albanese this morning is whingeing about it. I'll get around to seeing what the most useless PM ever has to say later.

BP

Given that Australia is now a definite Left wing country - a Marxist government has been returned with 94 seats in Parliament, with Liberals only managing 20 something, and the Nationals what they already had - I don't find your hypothesis at all exaggerated.

Given Albanese's appalling pawing of and sucking up to the Communists dictator and thug, Xi Jinping; not to mention his supine attitude to all the bullying and menacing from Communist China, Australia could very well end up closer to China and the US. There is also the mass importation of the Third World which is going to eventually make us part of that world. Xi Jinping must be salivating.

If that happened , we would certainly lose the US alliance, and their next batch of troops in the north wouldn't be friendly, but they would still use us as a strategic launching pad against China.

Albanese is hinting at closing down ASPI, a once bipartisan think tank to provide alternative, independent advice: to create debate.

ASPI should ‘look at itself’, he whined. He probably doesn't like the way it tells the truth about Communist China and his pal Xi, apart from the criticism of the government's lack of defence arrangements. All this government and the one before it have done is hollow out the defence budget to pay for ‘someday’ in the future submarines. A decade of very poor policy over at least a decade, worsening under Albanese.

ASPI's agenda for 2025 is to focus on the NEED to:

. defend Australia
. navigate our place in a new world (dis)order
. reform our security architecture and policies
. secure our critical infrastructure
. protect and use our natural resources.

A non-partisan think tank, ASPI was created by the government in 2001 to provide the government with fresh ideas. Albanese has decided that he doesn't like its ideas on defence.

Periodic investigations are carried out, and advice given. In 2025 concerns and events affecting Australia have been/are:

. The Russia-China partnership
. China and the “ratcheting up” of of military intimidation
. China's increased aggression against the Philippines and Taiwan
. The possibility of a terror attack
. October 7 2023
. Artificial Intelligence
. Donald Trump's re-election (added tension re US-led international order)