mikk

A defence force is what we are talking about, you ninny.

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Dear ttbn,

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Well, if the Chinese take us over by persuasion or by force, with their 1.4 billion population, they could easily capitalise on that by transferring 100 million or so of their people to us initially as permanent settlers and gradually build on that.

That extra 100 million or so would certainly dwarf our current population of 27 million.

Maybe we should invite Trump to Australia to see if he thinks it’s worth saving.

He has never been here, neither in his first term as president nor in his second term.

It’s obviously not one of his priorities.

A pity, really. Maybe we should send him a kangaroo or a koala bear (or both) as a present.

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If that doesn’t work, we could get my fellow Queenslander, Kevin Rudd, to apologize to Trump (he’s very good at that) and maybe kiss his ring or something.

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Hi Banjo,

Does it surprise you that there are many Australians ready and willing to sell the country out to Trump and his Trumpism. Not since the Vietnam War and the visit of Johnson, have we see crass Americanism, to the extent it is now. Back in the 1960's when the Tories sold out Australia to America with the bloody of young men, there were the old women from the 'blue rinse set' crying out; "All the way with LBJ" and "Please make us your 51st state"! It sickened me then, and it sickens me now. Good on the people of Canada, telling Trump to "piss off, we don't want you here" as did the Greenlanders.

ttbn

"We all know there has never been a nuclear war. What is the point you are trying to make?"

Well, you began your comment quoting Blainey:

"“Australia was ill-prepared for war in 1941. In 2025, we’re making the same grave mistake”. (historian Geoffrey Blainey)."

A nuclear ally changes Australia's sovereign risk. We didn't have one before 1945. We do now. Trump seems to be treating the US nuclear arsenal less as a means of protecting democracy and more as a protection racket. Throwing Ukraine under a bus (Is he being bribed/blackmailed by China and/or Russia?) is not a good look.

Fester,

Are you saying that the US's nuclear capability will protect us? How about China's nuclear capability that could wipe us out in a flash?

“Protection racket”? Well, nuclear weapons and the threat of their use is what is keeping opposing sides from using them, is it not? Pretty good protection.

As for our nuclear equipped US ally protecting Australia from our nuclear equipped China enemy, well, if that stuff is loosed, there won't be anything left to protect.

The reason for being well armed is to stop war, not start it. Nuclear weapons make the US and China scared enough of each other to keep them from conflict,

Australia has nothing to scare anyone.

Ukraine? Nothing to do with us; at least it wasn't until the idiot Albanese started yapping that “we” stand by it, and made sure that Russia, no threat to us previously, now is.

ASPI has responded to Albanese's hissy fit, saying the public deserves to know what politicians are not telling them. The dangerous geopolitical climate demands more spending on defence.

We face a “perilous strategic environment”, with multiple conflicts around the world, evolving terrorism, foreign interference, and cyberwarfare.

Australia is ill-prepared for threats coming in the next decade. “Given that most of the major acquisitions won’t arrive until well into the 2030s and 2040s, we must ask the unnerving question of whether the ADF is too hollow for military operations”.