I see trump has been telling the European lovies a few home truths. He has the hide to suggest they should pick up the bill for a bit more of their own defence.

Shock horror from the lovies in the lefty media in the states Europe & here. That dreadful Trump being nasty to those lovely Europeans, & expecting them to pay their own way. Everyone knows they can't afford to pay for defence, how the hell would they pay for all those lovely windmills solar cells, Russian gas, & hundreds of thousands of VIP bureaucrats if they had to pay for defence.

It is obvious the people in the media these days are pretty thick. They are ranting like mad about Trump giving it to the miserable Europeans, thinking they are scoring points against him.

What idiots. Trump is saying just what the majority of US voters have been saying for years. They are sick to death of Europe bludging on them, the US tax payer, to not only look after them, but actually have to pay for the privilege.

If the media keep up this stupidity, Trump will win the next election in a land slide.

Dear Hassie,

Trump may win the next election unless of course
unless he's impeached first.

I notice Clinton still spewing out her bitterness. Really can't accept democracy the left.

Dear Hasbeen,

You really are good fun.

Listen mate, I can understand you wanting to lash out at the moment.

To have your tangerine pinup boy deeply bowing down in front of a Saudi King and then loudly proclaiming that Islam was “a great religion” and that the Saudis were on the side of good rather than evil must have given you conniptions. Of course we shouldn't forget him arming to the teeth, with some of the world's most sophisticated weaponry, the single greatest exporter of radical Islam.

Did you turn the picture of him you keep on you bedside table towards Mecca as a sign of respect that night?

Well you should be happy because all he is doing is looking at the balance sheet. NATO costs while the Saudis spend. That is his criteria as it is yours. The rest of us just happen to care about the principle more.

Dear Foxy,

Unlikely to last his full term.

Thought you might like this little piece from Seth Meyers;

http://youtu.be/hASBpt_THYA?t=6m36s

I see that Trump has also told Europe that they need to get rid of NATO as totally outdated and ineffective organisation.

Trump is probably also aware that the European Union is anti-American. The whole mess was set up as an alternative to America, but they still expect America to protect them. Fat chance with Trump.

Somebody tell that idiot Steelreduxe that King Salman is a midget, and tall Trump had to bend down so the poor little mite could get the medal over his head.

Trump can still win the election with what is on ground now.

Europe can still work on this i believe.

Dear Steele,

I certainly hope that Trump won't last his full term.
As do my American friends.

Thanks for the link.

Great stuff.

Trump is making a mockery of everything it seems he doesn't mind shoving people out of the way. Making cozy deals with the Russians does not sound good at all. Best get rid of him before he does something more stupid than normal.
Trump would get along with Abbott just fine they certainly have similarities, trump makes deals with Russia and Abbott makes deals with Japan and all before they are elected

We have all, except for the Left perhaps, heard the expression 'rubbish in, rubbish out'. Most of the online references thrown about with abandon by the likes of AJ Philips, SR and, sadly, Foxy, as 'proof' of their personal opinions are predictably Leftist stuff that they eagerly take in, then put out to us as if they have found the Holy Grail.

We are, of course, expected to confess our sins of ignorance, and do away with our non-Left 'heresies'. Aware of their belief that no world but their own actually exists, I never look at their references; but this morning I decided to open the SR's latest baby, the one Foxy so gaspingly thanked him for to find a dim-witted, sneering 'comedian' presenting a compendium of every boo boo that Donald Trump has ever made to an equally dim-witted and sneering audience. You know the sort of thing – link together all the negatives at once so that the victim looks likes something out of a Marx Brothers film.

They could do the same thing with any president who ever lived, but they won't. It's all about trying to humiliate a person who has wrecked their self-indulgent fairy tale.

The posters on OLO who are constantly handing out references to back up their own ideas are only putting out the rubbish that they took in; they are never going to cite anything that doesn't agree with them, are they?

Hilary Rodham Clinton has delivered her first address to graduates at her alma mater.

Predictably and with head spinning wildly, she devoted her time to ranting about Trump. Their graduation, but all about HER.

Totally self-absorbed, no introspection and blame-shifting, the recipe for living the privileged, elitist, faux left 'Progressive' life.

There are some here who ape her. But one just knows that even if she knew of them, the forever-privileged, elitist Hilary wouldn't even pause to cock her leg on them if they were on fire.

There are the very same political types in Oz and the Useful Idiots that support them.

ttbn,

Most of the sources I cite are peer-reviewed, so your attempts to justify ignoring them look pathetic, because if you can't trust the sources I cite, then you have nothing reliable to go on at all.

<<... they are never going to cite anything that doesn't agree with them, are they?>>

If you can ever find anything, and I mean ANYTHING, of equal credibility to contradict any of my claims or any of my sources, then by all means, please post it.

We both know you can't, however. So, instead, you pretend that it's all just opinion, backed with carefully cherry-picked links. Of course, to suggest that I cherry-pick with links to entire Google Scholar searches is really pushing it.

Good luck with that one.

Well you would know all about that wouldn't you. Take Abbott for example. After what he done not one of his devoted supporters will ever condemn him for his actions.
Abbott’s agenda with his impossible budget was all in an attempt to force an election to see if he could get a better senate. That was bad luck as he was rightly pushed aside for a better man. Saying he could have won the next election was fanciful at the very least. Turnbull was lucky to win. At least now they have seen the light and mended their ways even though they have some accounting errors.

AJ Philips,

What would I do without you to continually scold me! You are my gauge for the validity of my opinions – proof that I'm getting it right. The day you stop nagging me, I might start thinking that I'm losing touch.

“Peer reviewed”! What weasel words they are. A bunch of people getting together to agree with each other. You must be joking. You might be able to get away with that in scientific matters, but not with politics and opinion. How “pathetic”. Have you ever demanded that they provide the sources and background for their 'findings'? No, of course you haven't.

“Equal credibility” to your rubbish; I should think not, thank you very much.

Doog,

I would “know all about” what, exactly? Oh,sorry. You are never able to provide answers when questioned about your ravings, are you? Pardon me for asking. Just say 'Abbott, Abbott, Abbott' non-stop for no apparent reason. You probably have wet dreams about him.

Leoj,

Dear oh dear! You haven't provided AJ the Precious with the source of your information on the Clinton woman's speech.

If The Donald thinks NATO is obsolete, what does he think of ANZUS? Not worth the paper it's written on. How would a phone call from Money Nags Malcolm wanting help be received at The Donald HQ.. "Tell the SOB I'm busy, ass licking the Saudi King." Yet the conservatives, including the OLO 'Usual Suspects, think the Americans would come running if we wanted them, considering we have paid in blood for ANZUS in Vietnam and elsewhere. FAT CHANCE!'

The yanks will come running if it is in their interest to come, & only then.

That is why we should encourage as many as possible, & as much support function in their garrison in Darwin. Get that base up to a hundred thousand people, & not only will it give a huge boost to our earnings, the Yanks could not aford to lose it.

Lets hope Trump & his people don't read OLO. If they are seeing the opinions of many noisy socialists on here, they could easily decide there is nothing here worth saving, & you sure couldn't blame them.

Hardly, ttbn.

<<You are my gauge for the validity of my opinions – proof that I'm getting it right.>>

If that were the case, then you'd be able to back your opinions with evidence. Instead, you are left to resort to personal attacks.

<<The day you stop nagging me ...>>

I am not harassing you to do anything. There is no nagging.

<<“Peer reviewed”! What weasel words they are.>>

Not at all. Weasel words are an appeal to a vague and anonymous authority. The authorities I cite are not anonymous. You're just shirty because there are no authorities available to back your ignorant and uneducated beliefs.

<<A bunch of people getting together to agree with each other.>>

No, that's not what peer review is at all. Peer review is done anonymously, for starters. There's no way we could have achieved that all we have achieved with such a useless process as the one you believe peer review is.

<<You might be able to get away with that in scientific matters, but not with politics and opinion.

Pfft! Yeah, because politics and opinions are so-o-o-o much more reliable than science, aren't they? (He claims on his computer.)

<<Have you ever demanded that they provide the sources and background for their 'findings'?>>

I don't need to. They provide references to them.

We're not a very educated fellow, are we ttbn? A real salt-of-the-earth kinda bloke, I bet.

I like that.

Dear Hasbeen,

Studiously avoiding anything to do with Saudi Arabia I see.

Well here is a direct question. Obama had excluded precision weaponry in any arms deal with the Saudis fearing it would be used against civilians in Yemen. The Donald canceled those restrictions in his quest for Saudi patronage and money.

Do you think he did the right thing, especially given the accepted fact that Wahabbi money is funding radicalisation in many places in the world including our northern neighbour?

Or does your obvious infatuation with this man make you happy to see further arming of the world's biggest funder of terrorism just because it is Trump doing the arming?

How about you stop being a pretend Yank and think about Australian lives for once?

AJ Philips,

Grow up you silly bugger. You are full of BS.

I'd be more than happy to grow up, ttbn, if you could tell me how I am being immature.

<<Grow up you silly bugger. You are full of BS.>>

I note, too, that you are unable to state why exactly I'm full of BS. Sounds more to me like you're engaging in a bit of wishful thinking there.

I must say, though, that it is fascinating to observe all the psychological techniques you employ to justify ignoring any supporting evidence I link to, or avoid acknowledging the problem that is your total inability to do the same.

@Hasbeen no one can tell, some one closer may be reading.

AJ Philips,

I will leave it to GK Chesterton, who had something to say about trying to argue with mad people like you. Google it.

So now you’re questioning my sanity and judgement, ttbn?

Again, without being able to point to anything specific which should raise such questions, too, I note.

You are utterly incapable of appreciating the fallaciousness of the ad hominem attack, aren’t you ttbn?

And all this after poor old Hasbeen tried claiming recently that it is people like me who need resort to personal attacks.

Dear o' dear.

As usual, I'm with Steele on this one:

"Of course we shouldn't forget him arming to the teeth, with some of the world's most sophisticated weaponry, the single greatest exporter of radical Islam."

Yet it could be that Trump is playing a very sophisticated, very long game: perhaps he can see that, sooner or later, the Sunni world will get stuck into the Shia world and they'll slug it out with tens of millions of casualties, with input from Pakistan (with its nuclear weapons)on the Sunni side, and India (as an ally, and with nuclear weapons) on the side of Iran and the other millions of Shi'ite Muslims in the Middle East, in every Sunni-dominated country, as well as the majority population in Iraq and Iran.

Or, of course, the armed-to-the-teeth Saudis might turn on Israel.

Yes, maybe Trump is carefully drawing out who are his true friends are, and who could betray him. Clearly, he perceives the Russians, including KGB men like Ivanov and Kuslyak, to be possibly friends, and the FBI, the CIA and various other agencies, as well as almost all foreign leaders, to be his enemies.

People don't realise but Trump, I'm told, was a State Chess champion for many years (I don't know which State, perhaps Wyoming, and maybe I dreamt it), and has possibly studied the East-Asian game of 'go' for decades. He may be far smarter than he seems. Yes, it 'seems' as if the US has elected a sub-intelligent bully, a wealthy and spoilt brat of a 70-year-old, a braggart, a sook and a liar as its President. But wait and see, appearances are not everything: there are many surprises left yet.

Joe

' Yes, it 'seems' as if the US has elected a sub-intelligent bully, a wealthy and spoilt brat of a 70-year-old, a braggart, a sook and a liar as its President' Yep Joe they chose him above Clinton. Hilarous!

AJ Philips,

Yes. GKC was right.

ttbn,

Oh, I have no doubt that he was.

<<Yes. GKC was right.>>

The problem you face, however, is your apparent inability to explain how what he said applies to me.

Feel free to break out of this loop you appear to have got yourself caught in by giving it a go.

--

Joe,

I seriously doubt that.

<<Yet it could be that Trump is playing a very sophisticated, very long game …>>

The sheer level of Trump’s stupidity and impulsivity has had many commentators asking if there is actually some grand strategy behind each one of Trump’s actions which we’re all just not aware of. Unfortunately though, looking back at his track record, it appears that there is never a grand plan. Trump’s not just playing dumb, he really is dumb.

As for having once been a state chess champion? I seriously doubt that. I could find nothing to verify such a claim, despite utilising some pretty sophisticated Google-search syntax, and it would have been a card that was played for all it was worth had it actually been true. Particularly given how stupid he comes across as.

Being a pathological narcissist, the driving force behind everything Trump does is a desire to let the world know what a “tremendous success” he is (while blaming everyone else imaginable for his failures), and the string of failed business ventures which lay in the wake of his apparent inability to do even that, suggest that he is certainly no chess player.

Didn't Trump have outside help to get elected.

"Didn't Trump have outside help to get elected.[?]"

Yes...from about 60 million US citizens.

Hi MHaze,

Gosh, almost as many as Clinton's voters. I wonder what might have happened if the Russians had switched ?

AJ, I can't find any supporting evidenced for Trump's chess prowess, so I've come to the realisation that I must have dreamt it: we all have weird nightmares :) No more oysters before bed-time :>(

Joe

Bloody hell you right-whingers take the cake.

I cooled on Obama pretty quickly once it was evident the rhetoric wasn't matching the actions. Not going after the banks post the financial crisis was a real disappointment but there were many others like drone strikes on American citizens.

You guys on the other hand think the sun shines out of Trump's arse and seem determined to forgive any transgression this bloke makes.

Hey it is okay if you criticise him every once in a while. In fact it will make you a little more credible.

Not admitting any mistakes by him leaves you as sycophantic dopes.

Dear Loudmouth,

A chess playing Trump was a meme for a little while on social media. It was a form of humour that seems to have percolated down to you as fact, probably with the same kind of mechanism which left you calling the Rabbit Proof Fence a myth.

Our lefties, here & in the US & Europe have gone rabid in their denunciation of Trump.

They have to invent problems, as they have not a single thing to hold up to the light.

Ultimately they will learn that like the nursery rime of the boy who called wolf, all this caterwauling is totally counter productive. Their over the top screaming is becoming merely background noise, that no real people will even notice in the near future.

All they are doing is proving us right in believing they are ratbags, with not a useful thought in their bodies. Rather like their beloved climate scientists actually.

Hi Steele,

I'm glad you've raised the Rabbit-Proof Fence story again: I got hold of the actual book, 135 pages, and almost ten pages of it are definitely associated with the actual Fence, both the outer and the inner fences, although I'm puzzled why both.

Contrary to the front cover, which shows three poor little girls staggering across a vast salt lake, those ten pages (well, okay, eight, if you leave out the story of the Aboriginal bloke accosting Molly) seem to depict the children skipping and gambolling along the road, in a land of bounty, and sometimes even along the Fence, finishing the bulk of their journey from Moore River of about forty pages in just ten. Perhaps nothing much happened and they finished what was the hardest part of the journey in the shortest time. Did they get lifts up along the road ? I couldn't possibly comment.

I recommend anybody to get hold of a copy and make their own minds up. Sorry, Steele, I'm still wedded to facts and evidence, whatever they may be. There's no reality without them.

Joe

Dear Joe,

We've covered this ground before.

The subject of the "Stolen Generations" exemplifies
the arguments of those who insist that there is no
such thing as "objective history."

In discussing this issue the historian can establish
that an act took place on a certain day, but this, by
historical standards, constitutes only chronology or,
as East Europeans call it, "faktologija" (factology).

The moment the historian begins to look critically at
motivation, circumstances, context, or any other such
considerations, the product becomes unacceptable for
one or another camp of readers.

Some people (survivors and victims' relatives) are usually
more interested in condemnation and punishment than in
explanation. Explanations seem tantamount to sympathizing and excusing.

This all too easily leads onto the questionable practice of
stereotyping. If people are reluctant to modify their
judgements continued stereotyping can encourage "counter-
stereotyping" and the result is usually a complete breakdown
in communication.

Which is unfortunate. The aim of education is the knowledge,
not of facts, but of values.

You make it hard to decide whether that is meaningless generalisation or preposterous generalisation.

The latter wins with synonyms being: absurd, ridiculous, foolish, stupid, ludicrous, farcical, laughable, comical, risible, hare-brained, asinine, inane, nonsensical, pointless, senseless, insane, unreasonable, irrational, illogical; outrageous, shocking, astonishing, monstrous, unbelievable, incredible, unthinkable; or crazy.

Dearest Foxy,

No offence but sometimes you really do write rubbish: if there is no such thing as 'facts' or 'objective history', then why believe anything you read ? Or why not believe anything, any rubbish ? We really would be in the horrible realm of Trump's 'alternative facts' or 'fake news', where you just select what you want to be 'fact'.

Of course, there are facts, happenings, events, even if we don't have the full, or even an accurate, picture of them, even if nobody written anything a bout them, even if they are effectively unknown. Stalin was a monster (fact), but probably any totalitarian leader, including socialist leaders, moves inevitably in his direction (probable fact). Napoleon died on St Helena (fact). I'm actually a handsome and charming but misunderstood genius (disputed 'fact').

In the case of children taken into care, there would be huge files on many of them, police reports, social worker reports, school and hospital reports, on all of the children of dysfunctional families taken into care, probably going back a hundred years. And there are such things as dysfunctional families, Foxy dear :) Christ, are there what ?!

I urge anybody who knows of a child taken into care, now adult, to seek out their file and take it to court. That way, the number of 'Stolen Generation' children may increase from its current number. i.e., one. Now, THAT's a fact.

Love always,

Joe

I recall the actual writer of the Rabbit Proof Fence saying that the film had nothing to do with the book she wrote.

Stolen generation is very much up for debate. The many thousands of kids who are being removed for severe/abuse neglect today is indisputable. Seems like only the ' stolen' children from the past have found themselves in plumb jobs. Inconvenient truth.

Joe,

Go back and re-read what I wrote.

Perhaps the message may get through to you - eventually.

While we are off thread, I will drag us part way back.
The last two Nth Korean missile launches I have seem give an indication
that they might be submarine intended missiles.
You will have noticed that they did not fire until they were well clear
of the launch pad.
That is the technique I have seen in video of submarine launches.
The intention is to get the missile up through the water and then
clear of the water before igniting the missile fuel.
They would then not need an intercontinental missile to attack the US.

If my assumptions are correct then we have entered a very dodgy time.
Any expert opinion here ?

leoj,

Amongst your vast list of synonyms you listed - "stupid."

Which reminds me of the old adage:

"Even duct tape can't fix stupid.
But it can muffle the sound."

Thought you'd enjoy that.

Foxy,

After another meaningless quote, perhaps some may find this edifying though,

"Scientists find link between people impressed by wise-sounding, 'profound' quotes and low intelligence
A new study has shown that people who believe in psuedo-profound, intellectual-sounding quotes are less intelligent

Ever get annoyed by people on social media who share 'profound' quotes, or use meaningless, intelligent-sounding soundbites in arguments?

A new study has shown that there is a link between these people and low intelligence.

It found that those who are receptive to pseudo-profound, intellectual-sounding 'BS are less intelligent, less reflective, and more likely to be believe in conspiracy theories, the paranormal and alternative medicine.
PhD candidate Gordon Pennycook and a team of researchers from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, published a study entitled 'On the reception and detection of pseudo-profound BS."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/12031212/Scientists-find-link-between-people-impressed-by-wise-sounding-profound-quotes-and-low-intelligence.html

leoj,

If you're interested in the correlation of intelligence
and people's behaviour there are quite a few studies
published in scientific and psychological journals on
these issues. For example studies published in
Psychological Science showed that people who scored low on
IQ tests in childhood are more likely to develop prejudiced
beliefs and socially conservative politics in adulthood.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2095549/Right-wingers-intelligent-left-wingers-says-controversial-study--conservative-politics-lead-people-racist.html

cont'd ...

Do some people have personality patterns that make
them more prone to prejudice than others? A classic
study by Theodore Adorno and his associates tried to
answer this question. Adorno's studies concluded that
some people have a psychological make-up that he referred
to as the "authoritarian personality" - a distinctive
set of traits, including conformity, intolerance, and
insecurity, that seem typical of many prejudiced people.

Those who have this personality pattern are submissive
to superiors and bullying to inferiors. They tend to have
anti-intellectual and antiscientific attitudes, they are
disturbed by any ambiguity in sexual or religious matters;
and they see the world in very rigid and stereotyped terms.

The authoritarian personality, Adorno claimed, is primarily
a product of a family environment in which the parents
were cold, aloof, disciplinarian, and themselves bigoted.

As a result of Adorno's studies it is now generally accepted
that some people are psychologically more prone to
prejudiced thinking than others.

I hope this helps with your interest in this topic.

There's more on the web that you can Google.

Cheers.

AJ Phillips, apologies for these “non peer reviewed” articles below…me bad.

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/01/why-the-us-is-stuck-with-saudi-arabia/384805/

http://www.ft.com/content/4b705cfa-8ae8-11e6-8aa5-f79f5696c731

http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/22/investing/saudi-arabia-us-oil-ties-trump/

http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/10/07/will-the-united-states-help-if-saudi-arabia-starts-to-fall-apart/

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2017/05/saudi-relations-timeline-170518112421011.html

http://www.quora.com/Who-are-the-allies-and-enemies-of-Saudi-Arabia

The US needs Arab oil…plain and simple. A former US Marine had this to say:

(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.

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.

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.

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.

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. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested."

http://fas.org/man/smedley.htm

Dear Hasbeen,

You have a deep and abiding measure of willful ignorance that is almost pathological in its application.

Even mainstream media in the US is calling trump out on Saudi Arabia.

http://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2017/05/28/fareeds-take-saudi-arabia-terrorism.cnn

Watch it mate you might learn something.

Saudi money is vigorously stirring the pot in Indonesia and has been for years. This is from a 2003 article;

“The Saudi money has come in two forms, Indonesian and Western officials said: above-board funds for religious and educational purposes, and quietly disbursed funds for militant Islamic groups. The Saudi money has had a profound effect on extremist groups, allowing some to keep going and inspiring others to start recruiting, the officials said.”

“A Saudi charity, Al Haramain, provides a good example of this dual role. Three years ago it signed a formal memorandum of understanding with the Indonesian Ministry of Religion that allowed it to finance educational institutions.”
“But Al Haramain also appears to have served as a conduit for money to Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian terrorist organization that aims to build Islamic states in the region. A senior member of Jemaah Islamiyah, Umar Faruq, who was arrested last year and is now in American custody, told the Central Intelligence Agency that Al Haramain provided money to his group.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/05/world/saudis-quietly-promote-strict-islam-in-indonesia.html

And we all know what Jemaah Islamiyah was responsible for; the snuffing out of over 200 lives in a Bali club including 88 Australians.
Well while you bend over to lick Trump's boots perhaps you might manage to spare a thought for them, though I doubt it somehow.

Albie Manton,

At no point have I suggested that linking to non-peer-review material is a bad thing, so your mockery is misdirected and only comes across as petulant.

AJ Phillips, thanks... I resemble that remark !

Steele, let's not mention that elephant in the room, nor even point at it and call it a giraffe. The recent series of Defence White Papers, written by academics, "experts" - if you want to call them that, reflect the same sentiments. As you've seen me relate the thoughts of those crusty old CPO's from years ago, we have been blinkered and fed a steady diet of BS.

http://www.regionalsecurity.org.au/resources/Documents/SC%2012-1%20Laksmana.pdf

I note with great concern the comment at p169, "Aside from being cautious in proposing defence engagement activities, and
being prepared to recalibrate policies to account for the rapidly changing bureaucratic and domestic politics, Canberra might want to consider expanding its strategic engagement beyond the government-to-government (and military-to-military) exchanges."

Yes, and let's invite Kopassus back in with a good old smoking ceremony and welcome to country out at Mt Bundey, share a few Bungarra's on the barbie, 'tactics' and hell why not, show them through our armouries and Q Stores just for good measure !

Well thankyou Steely. Anything you disagree with so profoundly is probably very close to the right course of action.

Perhaps you have heard the old one about keeping your allies close, & your enemies even closer.

I am not strong enough to want to keep my enemies all that close, so keep your distance, but perhaps Trump is strong enough. To have survived & made billion in New York, he must be pretty damn good at handling enemies, & he has the guts to tell the decedent Europeans a few home truths. Any one who could foist the EU bureaucracy on their population deserve it in spades.

Thank god there is a leader in the western world who does not mind being disliked, even hated, we need someone with the guts.

Tony Abbott could have been a good PM, but he did not have the necessary guts to tell it to the clowns as it really is. He wanted to be liked. Bloody idiot, wanting to be liked by a green/lefty is just stupid, a recipe for failure.

Dear Hasbeen,

You wrote;

“I am not strong enough to want to keep my enemies all that close, so keep your distance“

Oh come on mate, don't be such a snowflake. You started this thread with over-opinionated and bombastic diatribe lashing out at all those European lefties. All I have done is adopt a similar tone toward your adoration of the Trump.

Ultimately sir we are both anonymous entities to the other, hardly deserving of the title enemy. But if that really is your slant then it is a free world.

Anyway back to the inane cage rattling.

You wrote;

“Thank god there is a leader in the western world who does not mind being disliked, even hated, we need someone with the guts.”

What tosh. The Europeans were never going to bite back but the Saudis either economically or through their proxies certainly have the will and capacity if they so desire.

Like most bullies Trump wimped it.

You sir and your ideas are a danger to my country. If, god forbid there is another attack on our soil or on Australians abroad and the perpetrator's radicalisation can be linked to Saudi money then you will be held accountable.

In the end mate you have to decide where your loyalties lie, to a oranged topped wimp of a President in thrall to Saudi money, or us Australians. I know this will be a struggle for you but please try and do the right thing.

Oh my god, what utter twaddle.

The only ones on here who need an injection of patriotism is you lefties.

It is your attitudes, if allowed to control our future, that will make my grandkids future country, not only much more dangerous, but hardly worth living in.

You & those like you, are the most dangerous people in Australia.

Dear Hasbeen,

Dream on my friend.

It is you who thinks Trump coddling up to the Saudis is good for Australia.

"Wahhabist money going into Indonesia is one of the things that has started to undercut the traditional accommodating and syncretist view of Islam in Indonesia," says Allan Gyngell, former head of Australia's peak intelligence body, the Office of National Assessments, and former head of the Lowy Institute.
"In fact, it's been a far more dangerous trend, I think, than some of the things that have received more publicity, like some of the extremist groups such as al-Qaeda."
How? "These groups are very important in their own right, but the money going into the madrassas has been undercutting the foundation of Indonesian Islam, helping to reshape the conventional approaches to Islam in Indonesia. Young people won't turn out extremist, but they will have a more puritanical, less accommodating view of Islam. It is undermining pancasila, the thing that, from the beginning, has kept Indonesia together and been profoundly beneficial to Australia."
King Salman announced $US1 billion in social aid for Indonesia, including money for schools, and a $US6 billion injection into Indonesia's state-owned oil firm. He announced unlimited flights between the two countries. His most popular gift, however, was an extra 50,000 places a year for Indonesian pilgrims making the hajj to Mecca and Medina.
The Saudis have been pressing for the tripling of the size of their Wahhabist university in Indonesia, which offers free tuition, and it is expected that Jakarta, reluctantly, will agree.
In the face of the Saudis' relentless, pernicious proselytising, what has Australia done? Cut its aid funding for Indonesian schools and more than halved the number of scholarships it offers to Indonesians to study in Australia.”
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/saudi-arabian-king-salmans-nineday-trip-to-indonesia-is-a-worry-for-australia-20170313-gux95l.html

But you in your adulation of Trump refuses to even go there. You want cuts to foreign aid and are quite happy to see Saudi money take its place to great risk to Australian lives.

Anyone who truly cares for this country would disavow Trump's actions in Saudi Arabia. But not you.

Traitorous is probably too kind a label.

Hasbeen,
Good news this morning ole fella!

Trump has said the US is pulling out of the Paris deal.

Looks like he has upset the luvvies again. They are bad sports and can't see that the wheels have fallen off the red climate wagon. This will make them really spit the dummy.

Serve the luvvies right for their dishonesty in faking the data and making up false predictions. Humans have no influence on climate and mother nature will do as she wants and when she wants.

SteeleRuddex

, Hasbeen and a couple of others on here are not alone in their thinking,
that's why millions voted for Trump, because we see the terrorist attacks
killing our kids in England and Europe and we know it was bought about
by the silly hippie,multiculturalism,ideas of mainly leftist, global warming,tree hungers.

Hilary Clinton and the leftists who just lost government in America are way behind
the changing dynamics of the modern world.
They live back in the world of 50 and 60years ago. Even Putin has the brains to
say out loud in several press interviews, that he is willing to try and mend
the hostility between Russia and America to fight against the main enemy
in today's world which is radical Islamic terrorists, not Russia.

America's lack of insight and vision, has got the world nowhere.
They even sided with the mujahadeen who had in their midst a young Islamic fighter
at the time called, Osama Bin Laden against Russia in the 1970's. Now what was
a Sunni Arab doing in Afghanistan heading up a group of armed militants.

I say much of their thinking is still back in that era, either that, or they are cynically trying to oust Trump by playing the Russian card. Which is likely more probable.
Politicians will use whatever they can to hold on to power.
But they are mistaken if they think any person who can think for themselves, isn't aware
of the game they are playing and how jeprodising the extended hand that Putin is offering at this point in history to help Europe and the West fight the Muslim extremists is putting the safety and the wellbeing of the American, European and British people
more at risk, while they play their political games.
All it does is make me very angry.

(Spell checker),again, it should read, tree huggers, not tree hunger in the above post.

Donnie won't see out his first term but I forecast assassination over impeachment. Any impeachment proceeding would become a "fake news" circus that Donnie would stretch out for the rest of his first term anyway.

Dear Hasbeen,

Another case of Trump keeping us safer.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-sells-qatar-12-billion-arms-days-after-accusing-it-of-funding-terrorism/