Viv Forbes reminds us of how quickly peace can turn to war and how important energy and industrial strength suddenly was.
At this point Australia has lost half the refining capacity it once had and has only about one month of diesel and petrol. In the event of something hostile stopping the supply of foreign oil, Australian planes would be grounded in a couple of weeks. After Singapore fell, fuel was in such short supply, that cars and trucks were run on charcoal burners. When copper was needed for the war effort, one smelter was repurposed with parts cobbled together in a rush from many other smelters. But Australia has closed 6 smelters in the last 20 years. Where are the spare parts and spare expertise to reindustrialize if and when we need it?
Instead we ship off ore and hope the nice people at the other end send up back the things we need, while we build unreliable generators like talismans to weather Gods in the hope the world, apparently, won’t see as a climate pariah. The patsies quake at the thought of being “left behind” in a race to nowhere, while another nation burns half the coal in the world, will soon have the largest fleet of nuclear power plants and builds the largest navy.
By Steve Hunter
As net zero strangles Australian industry, Australia is becoming green, powerless and defenceless
By Viv Forbes
History holds lessons which we ignore at our peril.
Japan was opened to trade with the US in the 1850’s. They were daunted by the naval power of Britain and the US but were determined to catch up.
In the 1930’s Japan attacked China, Mussolini attacked Ethiopia and Hitler planned how to avenge WW1 in Europe. Britain’s PM Chamberlain negotiated with Hitler and proclaimed he had achieved “Peace in our Time”.
But Churchill warned:
“Britain must arm. America must arm. We will surely do it in the end but how much greater the cost for each day’s delay.”
In November 1938, just after the signing of the Munich Pact, John Curtin (Leader of the Labor Party in the Australian Parliament), made this statement:
“. . I say that any increase in defence expenditure appears to be an entirely unjustifiable and hysterical piece of panic propaganda.”
Source: Hansard, p1095, Nov 2, 1938.
Just ten months later, in September 1939, Germany attacked Poland.
On this side of the world, the Japanese built a large navy and air force. However the Americans, British and Dutch controlled Asian oil supplies needed for trucks, tanks, ships and planes. With Britain pre-occupied with Germany and Italy in Europe, Japan decided on a huge grab for land and resources.
In 1931 Japan occupied Manchuria and by 1937 Japanese troops were attacking Chinese soldiers outside Beijing. Japan invaded French Indochina in 1940 and a large Japanese force threatened the Philippines where US General Douglas MacArthur was based.
On Monday 8 December 1941, Australian PM Curtin was told that Japanese aircraft had attacked the large US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbour and US bases in the Philippines.
Three days later, two “invincible” British warships, “Repulse” and “Prince of Wales” were sunk by Japanese planes off Malaya. Soon Japanese armies were rampaging through Asia towards Australia. In December 1941 Hong Kong fell. By Feb 1942, the British fortress of Singapore surrendered and Japanese bombs were falling on Darwin. By Sept 1942 the Japanese army had slashed their way down the Kokoda Track across Papua New Guinea. They could see the lights of Port Moresby and were looking across Torres Strait to Australia.
Further south, five Japanese submarines were snooping in the seas off Sydney harbour. Two midget submarines entered the harbour and one sub sank HMAS Kuttabul. The Japanese navy later bombarded Sydney and Newcastle.
By that time, most of Australia’s trained soldiers were fighting Rommel at Tobruk in North Africa or were in Japanese prison camps. Australian politicians discussed the infamous “Brisbane Line” – surrender of Australia north of Brisbane.
Suddenly Australia was on its own and needed to defend itself with what we had here
Armies need manpower, weapons, ammunition, vehicles, tanks, planes, ships, fuel and lubricants.
Soldiers volunteered and others were conscripted. Australian conscripts formed part of the force that met the Japanese on the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea.
Britain lost so many weapons at Dunkirk that Australian factories and American sportsmen were sending guns to them.
Enfield Rifles, Bren Guns and Vickers Machine Guns were produced in large numbers at the Small Arms Factory at Lithgow in NSW supported by feeder factories in the area. Australians even designed and built the fabulous Owen Machine Gun, so loved by our young Nasho’s in the 1960’s.
Owen Submachine gun. Photo by C. Bottomley
Australian coking coal was used to produce steel and thermal coal provided reliable electricity and powered locomotives. However, coal production was often interrupted by bitter strikes in the early war years. But after Hitler invaded Soviet Russia in June 1941, the communists among the coal miners suddenly became more supportive of the war effort.
Motor oil was produced in limited quantities from oil shale at Glen Davis in central NSW, but petrol was in serious short supply, and had been rationed since 1940.
With the fall of Singapore, this fuel shortage became severe, and charcoal burners suddenly appeared to keep cars and trucks moving. The demand for charcoal was so great that firewood became scarce so it was also rationed. Kerosene was also scarce so carbide lights were recovered from junk sheds and widely used.
To conserve supplies for soldiers, rationing was also introduced for tea, clothing, butter, sugar, meat and cigarettes. Australian farmers were forbidden to kill their own animals for meat (but many of them did anyhow).
Australian school kids got cards to be used to identify enemy planes overhead and fathers with picks and shovels were told to dig air raid pits in school grounds (even then I thought that our one-room Wheatvale school with 13 pupils was probably not a top priority target for Japanese bombers.)
We saw no enemy planes at Wheatvale but a bomber from our side was forced to land in our neighbour’s wheat paddock and a big convoy of American Jeeps and trucks stopped at our farm to make their morning coffee (it was the first time we ever tasted coffee).
A critical war time shortage was copper for cartridge cases and communications – Australia had mines producing lead, zinc, silver, gold and iron, but there was a critical shortage of copper. Fortuitously, just before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, an exploration drill hole at Mount Isa had struck rich copper ore.
Mount Isa was then called on to avert a calamitous shortage of copper in Australia. With government encouragement, Mount Isa Mines made the brave decision to suspend their profitable silver/lead/zinc operations and convert all mining and treatment facilities to extracting copper.
The lead concentrator could be converted to treat copper ore, but the biggest problem was how to smelt the copper concentrates. Luckily the company had skilled engineers and metallurgists in the lead smelter. In a miracle of improvisation, scrap steel and spare parts were purchased and scavenged from old mines and smelters from Cloncurry, Mt Elliott, Mt Cuthbert and Kuridala and cobbled into a workable copper smelter. In 1943 the first Mount Isa blister copper was produced. Production continued after the war when Mount Isa returned to extracting the then more profitable silver/lead/zinc. Later, new plant was built enabling both lead and copper to be produced from this fabulous mine.
This story of the importance of self-reliance has lessons for today especially at a time when the final closure of the great Mt Isa copper mines has just been announced.
The war on carbon energy, net zero propaganda, the renewable energy targets, escalating electricity costs and the voices in Parliament calling for Emissions Trading Schemes have all unnerved our big users of carbon fuels and electricity.
Smelting and refining have become threatened industries in Australia. Already six major metal smelting/refining operations have closed in Australia this century and more are likely. The closures have affected copper, lead, zinc, steel and aluminium – the sinews of modern industry. And car manufacturing, with all its skills and tools, has gone.
Local production and refining of oil is also declining, while “lock-the-gate” picketers are trying to prevent domestic exploration and production of gas. More and more land and offshore waters are closed to exploration and mining, and heavy industry is scorned.
Australia has lost over half of its oil refining capacity and most of our liquid fuel comes from foreign refineries. At normal rates of usage, national reserves of diesel would last about three weeks and ULP about four weeks. But in the event of a panic for fuel, city food shelves and fuel supplies would be cleaned out in days, maybe hours. Commercial aircraft would be grounded in a fortnight and our Air Force soon after.
We are losing the resources, skills and machinery needed for our own security. And we fritter our declining resources on green energy white elephants like Snowy 2, green hydrogen, dream-time extension cables to transmit “green” electricity from Darwin to Singapore, hydrogen electrolyser magic in Gladstone, a Pioneer Valley pumped hydro scheme (Snowy 3?), massive new power lines to collect piddling energy everywhere and many other green dreams with net consumption of energy and metals.
Green Admirals hope to run our destroyers on recycled cooking oil and Green Generals are wasting energy designing electric bushmasters (with long extension cords?). These foolish green energy policies and the suicidal war on carbon fuels are killing real industry leaving us unskilled and defenceless – like a fat toothless walrus basking on a warm sunny beach.
And imagine the mental and physical capacity of the flabby WOKE recruits that an urgent conscription would produce today. And which toilet would they use? Hopefully a few bikie gangs would sign up? At least they know how to fight and could bring their own guns.
Australia plans to spend heaps of money and decades of time on AUKUS nuclear submarine dreams – another Snowy 2? Imagine the chance of getting our no-nukes mobs to build a nuclear-powered submarine in Australia that works and is launched before the barbarians are again knocking at our gate. Alexander Downer describes it “A political fantasy.”
Another Asian tiger in Beijing is currently gazing south at the resources locked up in Red-Black-Green Australia. Its advance guards are already installed in academia and the media.
The next war may be very short with simultaneous attacks on US military installations from South Korea and Guam to Pine Gap. And imagine when our power, radar, internet, social media and electric engines are suddenly disabled with an EMP from a well-placed neutron bomb. And the tankers carrying our fuel supplies from Asian refineries meet a guided torpedo or an armed drone.
Our rainbow warriors with ill-chosen air and naval equipment, insufficient ammunition, rationed fuel and lubricants and half-built nuclear submarines will surrender quickly.
Wake up Australia.
Viv Forbes,
Washpool Qld Australia 4360.
Viv Forbes is old enough to remember the end of WW2, was called up for National Service training in 1958 and also spent several years as a part-time soldier in Australia’s Citizen Military Forces. He was the founding Secretary of the Australia Defence Association in 1980.
For those who would like to read more:
- “Mines in the Spinifex – the Story of Mount Isa Mines” by Geoffrey Blainey, Angus and Robertson, 1960
- “The Challenge of Standing on the Shoulders of Giants” by Collin Myers, Congress of the International Mining History Association, Charters Towers, 2014.
- Living in the Latter Days (Saltbush Club)
- Playing Green War Games (Reneweconomy)
- Electric Bushmaster could secure the combat vehicle’s future in Bendigo and lock in local jobs
- “Hidden Hand” – how the Communist Party is reshaping the World by Clive Hamilton and Mareike Ohlberg
- “Danger on our Doorstep” by Ex Major General and Senator Jim Molan.
Warning: Some of the above sites may contain war-related material, including images which some of today’s wimps may find confronting and disturbing.
Viv Forbes is also a former director of Stanmore Coal, which exports very large quantities of metallurgical coal.
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And….?
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David,
It’s Simple Simon.
Oooooops. Forgot the comma.
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It is called an ‘ad hominem’ fallacy
Quite common for those who are unable to argue the actual point.
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Usual dopey comment from Simon.
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What are we supposed to do with this information…? Clutch our collective pearls and gasp in horror?
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Quick, where’s the smelling salts.
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Hey Guns were mentioned as well
Enfield Rifles, Bren Guns and Vickers Machine Guns were produced in large numbers at the Small Arms Factory at Lithgow in NSW supported by feeder factories in the area. Australians even designed and built the fabulous Owen Machine Gun, so loved by our young Nasho’s in the 1960’s.
Having won the 1st Ballot for Vietnam, and having just watched yesterday, Danger Close Movie followed by Battle of Long Tan Documentary – Vietnam War – Danger Close – well worth the 1 hr 41 Mins 14 Secs
Fond memories of Owen Sub Machine Gun – tendency to climb up to the right on firing – Bren Gun only brief use before moving onto M60 Machine Gun, but nice gentle pull away from shoulder – had my own Enfield .303 Rifle for Roo Shooting, and obviously in Army used SLR 7.62mm – Could strip & reassmble blindfolded
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The Owen Gun, manufactured at the John Lysaght rolling mills in Port Kembla from good Australian steel. The plant is still operational and capable of being reconfigured to produce firearms if needed. Dunno if it will run on solar though. The Owen is a ton of fun to shoot having had the pleasure of running a few mags through.Also was way ahead of any other sub-machine gun of the time as it was capable of semi and full auto.Extremely reliable and Owen submerged a bunch of them in Lake Illawarra for a couple of weeks before demonstrating them to the Brass. He plucked the weapons out of the mud, loaded in mags and let loose, no misfires or stoppages unlike the failed competitors, making it perfect for New Guinea. Every Australian should remember Evelyn Owen, too bad most have no clue who he is and what his weapon achieved. It saved the lives of many Australians and Papuans.
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Thanks Simon .. I was wondering why Viv made so much sense.
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And many of those pushing renewables (especially multi-millionaires) have vested interests in the wind turbine and solar panel industries.
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Two of
The Three AmigosCNN Trio (Chuckles (GA) and Simon) are back for another year, but where’s the third?130
Simon, Viv is just reminding us of the old adage about people who ignore history are bound to repeat it, and all the signs of the lead up to WW2 are with us again, including a Labor PM who thinks all this talk is “hysterical panic”.
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Thank you for showing you agree with everything Viv Forbes wrote, by attacking him instead of what he wrote.
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“. ..attacking him .”
And I thought it was a complement.
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BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
This is an act of sheer desperation because he KNOWS he has no credible counterpoint to the article thus try the worn out irrelevant smear as his gambit to distract from the article he likely didn’t read.
Fact: NO Hot Spot exist.
Fact: NO Positive Feedback Loop exist.
Fact: NO evidence of CO2 driving this warming trend that is nearly over as the AMO is about to descend that will favor a cooling trend and rebuild the Polar ice extent.
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I’m sure Australia would be able to use the coal right here instead of exporting … except most of our industries have been shut down.
That’s kind of the whole point.
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Metallurgical Coal?
Oh, you mean the stuff that heats the iron ore to make steel so you can have a Tesla and environmentally friendly toasters, barbecues, refrigerators, washer, dryers, stoves and virtually everything else?
Or do you walk, live in a tent and eat bugs? If you do, forget sex with a real woman. Then again
there are sheep, goats and female kangaroos so go for it, you putz.
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I love it when at a function or visiting for dinner and some climate sock puppet starts with the “We should shut down the mines and the steelworks, especially the ugly carbon spewing blast furnace, its killing the planet”. I like to suggest they put down their knife and fork tip their dinner on their lap and eat with their fingers. The look of horror on peoples faces is priceless. It gets better when you tell them the plates, cutlery pots and pans the screws and nails holding the table together, the car they arrived in the bed and house they sleep in was made possible only because of coking coal and melting iron ore in the blast furnace down the road that they want shut down, “what are you willing to give up to make that happen”. The usual response is “Oh we can recycle everything”. Yea dream on.
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I think China has a very effective non-military strategy for exerting its influence. They are making much of the world dependent upon their factories for manufactured goods. The greening of energy in the west is an essential part of this strategy as it undermines western industrial capability. It’s also clear China has no intention of sacrificing its industrial prowess on the alter of the green gods.
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Sun Tzu and The Art of War
“The supreme Art of War is to win without fighting”.
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Or as Napolean said:
Otherwise paraphrased as:
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The anti-gun and anti-coal views, held by a large percentage of the population, is a national security risk. Of course, for many of these people, it’s better to lose a war than to “pollute” the atmosphere. Only a peaceful and prosperous society could produce such effete and indulgent thinking.
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Our huge dependence on china for many of the essentials of life is obvious to everyone it seems, except for our rulers.
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They know, they are just not on our side.
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yeah, or are taking money from our enemies like Joe Biden.
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No diesel,
No coal,
No beef,
No guns,
-No hope.
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I disagree, if it was obvious to everyone they would be barking like hell to cut China off and rebuild our manufacturing capacity which the politicians in this country managed to decimate in the seventies and eighties under Hawke and Keating. Many of us watched in horror as all our manufacturing shut down and moved offshore. Westinghouse, Panasonic, car makers, steel production, food production. Clothing factories, King Gee, Bonds, Golden Breed, Crystal. Many of us lost our gigs at the time. We used to make almost 98% of everything Australians needed and used, whitegoods, TV’s,cars the lot, all cheap. Best part was they lasted more than a year in some cases a lot longer. my vintage amp still runs my home hifi. All the stuff we import from China is just garbage with manufactured redundancy and end of life. I have lost count how many things have failed within days of warranty running out. But Australians and the rest of the world are ignorant of what is being done to them.
Jeremy Lee was warning about all this back in the eighties and nineties.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpIN2eGdIIw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MoI0O2_4ag
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China could very easily launch a volley of brown paper bags and Australia would be taken.
We already saw what happened when China purchased the World Health Organization and then issued orders which Australians readily obeyed. After that success, they might as well repeat the procedure every time they want something more.
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Did Bill sell it to them? I hadn’t heard.
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You had better not tell this to our snowflake generation or their masters at the Universities, as they might accuse our forbears of racism for wanting to oppose the Japanese who were about to overwhelm Australia. The late Jim Molan warned us but our do nothing pollies are too worried about causing offence.
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Australia’s destiny is to be Hong Kong Mk2.
We should get used to the idea.
The British empire came to an end after WW2.
Now it is time for the Chinese Empire and Australia is Lebenraum in the eyes of the Chinese.
Our PM was mocked by the Chinese as a “very handsome boy”. That confirms their longer term plans for Australia.
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She’ll be right mate.
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No, we should NOT ‘get used to the idea’. That is setting us up for defeat before any other solution is discussed!
China is running out of time to complete Xi’s mission of world dominance in his lifetime. Declining population, economic issues, a military that looks good on PR tapes, but has yet to test itself against a determined foe.
Our current government is also running out of time to accept China as an overlord. Every day Australians won’t accept it. And when I say ‘every day Australians’ I mean the non-inner-city-soy-latte-Tesla-driving-snowflakes; those who live outside of the cities who understand the country better than any Leftist government would wish.
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After the Vietnam war in 1979 China invaded Vietnam but they were kicked out with Russian help. Russian still go to Vietnam for holidays. Also, India has fought Chinese incursiond successfully. India has nuclear weapons and missiles. Australia needs to do swap more trade from China to India.
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The Chinese think handsome Albo would make an excellent puppet prime minister. His inaction on all things important confirms their assessment.
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Many might think he already is.
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“Our PM was mocked by the Chinese as a “very handsome boy”. That confirms their longer term plans for Australia.”
The muppets might want to visit Specsavers, anyway I’m struck by the resemblance to a tv comedy favourite of decades ago, Captain Binghampton AKA, Ol’ Leadbottom.
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Referring to Albo as “handsome boy” is akin to referring to Bowen as “Einstein” or Wong as “demure young lady.”
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Our Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau was referred to as “little potato” by the Chinese. Which is the most derogatory and dismissive description?
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A lot of the above relates to history and lessons learned.
There is a very good reason real history is no longer taught in the indoctrination centres euphemistically called “schools” nowadays.
Rather, it has been substituted by the teaching of hatred of Western Civilisation and racism against the world’s smallest racial minority, white people.
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Albanese and State Goverments are still committed to “Truth Telling” as stage 2 of “The Voice” even after the Referendum.
This is the Orwellian name for fabricating Aboriginal history both before and after European settlement.
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Since before the Voice+Treaty+Truth referendum was lost Albanese Labor established;
* Ambassador to United Nations on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (reparations).
* The Makarratta Commission – truth telling, handing over sovereignty, compensation, etc.
* Supporting State Governments with treaty negotiations etc.
And cancelled Federal funding for defence of public lands claimed by Aboriginal Land Councils now controlling over 55 per cent of Australia, and want more.
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“Aboriginal Land Councils” in most places are full of “White” people who claim to have some Abo ancestry but are not required to provide any proof.
A complete rort.
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“White” people are all descended from “black” people. Coloured South African singer Tyla has copped a lot of flak in the USA for calling herself coloured not black, the argument being that anyone with any black ancestry should call themselves black. To my mind, that’s nonsense, everyone is a mixture of their ancestors and we’re all just people.
My granddaughter copped flak at school for being white, from girls who are equally white but identify as black or Asian or something ( probably because it helps them get to university). I armed her with the mixture from her family tree, which seems to have done the trick.
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Hmmm… there’s very few Atherton Pygmys left, the Barrineans, the Mbabaram.
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Electric BushMasters?
How much taxpayer’s money has been spent on this scam?
How do you recharge a BushMaster on the battlefield – solar panels? How long will it take to recharge?
Bet they will be towing around a diesel generator!!!
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“How do you recharge a BushMaster on the battlefield – solar panels? How long will it take to recharge?”
Dump it, get another one. LOL
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Electric vehicles are crucial for Australia’s military. China has developed very sensitive CO2 detectors, and if Chinese forces are confronted by an Australian force emitting too much CO2, they can simply apply to the UN for an order to force Australian troops to withdraw. As Sun Tzu said – The supreme Art of War is to win without fighting.
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Because China would never emit too much CO2! [s]
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The prospect of military confrontation with the PLA creates spontaneous H2S emissions from our military and political establishments.
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No no no,just put your hand up for recess while you recharge and take a nap.The Gangreens will write the rules of engaugement,no problem.
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I really hate that our Defence Forces are guided by ignorant ideologues who think a kinder, gentler, more socially and environmentally aware military will be able to defend our shores. Here’s the info:
http://www.defence.gov.au/news-events/news/2022-08-19/charging-ahead-quietly-and-cleanly
And here is the counter-argument:
http://newlifenarrabri.wordpress.com/2022/09/11/army-bushmaster-e-tanks-work-great-if-you-can-find-a-charging-station
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Such pathetic liars!
“It’s the first Australian electrification of a military vehicle and is about 2 tonne lighter than a regular Bushmaster.”
Its lighter because it it only goes 100km. When they add a 400Km battery it will be more of a a comparison, but still useless for its role. Their 1000km battery is just a wet dream.
A complete waste of money, converting any heavy vehicle to electric is quick & easy compared to developing batteries for it, so they shouldn’t have done anything until they had batteries.
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Why not skip one step and simply have the diesel generator power the Bushmaster and remove the electric battery and motors. Hang on. Isn’t that what we already have? Such progress.
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Diesel generators and electric motors are a very useful combination and used in things like railway locomotives and tug boats. You can run the diesel engine at high revs to make its maximum power while the electric engine at 0 rpm and generating its maximum torque.
Not really your point, but still…
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The Pentagon is the World’s Biggest Single Greenhouse Gas Emitter
The US military consumes more fossil fuels than most countries.
The US Airforce consumes twice the fuel than the Navy and 5 times as much as the Army.
Battery powered planes? Made using Chinese supplied batteries?
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I disagree CO2 Lover, depending upon your definition.
China is by far the world’s largest CO2 emitter, more than twice that of the United States as a whole.
I would like to see CO2 emissions figures for China’s military but they are probably a closely guarded secret.
Source: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:World_fossil_carbon_dioxide_emissions_six_top_countries_and_confederations.png
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I think the original study about CO2 emissions from the US military comes from a 2019 fundamentally anti-American propaganda piece disguised as a research paper as follows:
I have no problems with them being a large or the largest CO2 emitter, assuming that is true (which it probably is). Unfortunately Obama/Biden have and are systematically destroying that military and American power in general.
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Co2 Lover, China emits about the same tonnage of co2 emissions today as all of the OECD countries combined and they’re the 38 wealthiest countries in the world.
Think about that fact and I’ve also added the NON OECD soaring emissions to think about, plus the USA, plus the EU. This is from OWI Data site and yet today very few people seem to understand the data.
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/annual-co2-emissions-per-country?country=OWID_WRL~CHN~OECD+%28GCP%29~Non-OECD+%28GCP%29~USA~Europe+%28excl.+EU-28%29
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Co2 Lover in 2022 China emitted 1.6 times the co2 emissions of the USA + EU 28 combined. Check it out from OWI Data graph I linked to above.
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That’s to be expected, the manufacturing for the USA + EU 28 combined all takes place in China! What does America make to export?? Printed $US and arms…. Are there any dirty big industries left in the West? Smelters, refineries, steel plants, cement factories? We just pass money around the banking/political system and make coffee for each other.
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Does it make sense to replace cars and truck (and BushMasters) powered by petrol and diesel with ones powered by Coal in most places (Norway and Tasmania being one of the few exceptions)?
Has there been any proper assessment of the mandated shift to EVs? Communism 101 is where the ruling elite decides what will be produced and not market demand.
Here is a starting list.
From a Whatsupwiththat article
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Swedish snow chaos leaves 1,000 vehicles trapped on main Euro route as temperatures fall as low as -43°C
Extreme cold weather has hit parts of Sweden, Finland and Norway, and snow storms in Denmark have left drivers trapped on a motorway near Aarhus since Wednesday. Rescuers worked through the night to free people stuck on the main E22 road in the Skane area of southern Sweden, reports BBC News. Many of those trapped were evacuated by rescue teams and told to return to their cars later. https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2024/01/04/swedish-snow-chaos-leaves-1000-vehicles-trapped-on-main-euro-route-as-temperatures-fall-as-low-as-43c/
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I wonder how their stupid battery cars are coping with that.
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“Does it make sense to replace cars and truck (and BushMasters) powered by petrol and diesel with ones powered by Coal in most places (Norway and Tasmania being one of the few exceptions)?”
Even Tasmania at this moment is importing 36% of their power via Basslink, meaning it’s mostly brown coal sourced.
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EVs produce so much EMF that an AM radio is useless on the move.
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Even the Australian military is on the way to making itself fully woke and useless.
Of course, there are personnel issues such as hiring people to fulfil a quota, rather than merit-based placements (and physical standards have been reduced so everybody passes not just the strong men required for being a combat soldier, for example).
Our military vehicles are also in the process of being emasculated.
For example, there is the electric version of the Bushmaster protected mobility vehicle to carry soldiers.
What could possibly go wrong with an electric combat vehicle?
https://www.australiandefence.com.au/defence/land/army-unveils-electric-bushmaster
I’m sure the Chicomms are terrified….LoL.
Whilst the Australian soldier is an honourable, loyal and sensible Aussie, the entire “leadership” has been replaced with fully dumbed-down and woke people who have no clue and frequently no combat experience.
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“Whilst the Australian soldier is an honourable, loyal and sensible Aussie, the entire “leadership” has been replaced with fully dumbed-down and woke people who have no clue and frequently no combat experience.”
It has ever been so, just look at WW1, WW2 etc.
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General Sir John Monash in WW1 broke the tradition of incompetent leadership but it has certainly been dumbed-down now.
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He was definitely a standout, not a product of military colleges, he saw battle from a civil engineers view, a battle of logistics, also read history.
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Long forgotten by many unfortunately that the Howard Government (Liberal-National Coalition) from 1996 to 2007 prepared for future threats to our security and their 2005/06 Budget delivered defence funding of $19.6 billion – an increase in real terms of 37 per cent since 1995/96 and last Keating Labor Budget. A commitment to a real funding increase of 3 per cent every year for the following decade to deliver a more combat focused, better equipped, more mobile and operationally ready Australian Defence Force.
The Budget included specific funding for new heavy lift aircraft, a hardened and networked Army and measures to improve recruitment of personnel. And a National Security – Preventing Terrorism package of $1.5 billion.
ADF specific funding included;
* Three new Air Warfare Destroyers.
* Two large amphibious ships – with aircraft flight decks and launch equipment to carry F35 stealth fighters STOL version and helicopters*.
* Joint Strike Fighters – F35 stealth jets now flying with the RAAF, F-18 Super Hornets were ordered to replace the existing F/A-18 classic Hornet in between times.
* Helicopters.
(* After November 2007 Rudd Labor changed the amphibious ship design and eliminated the hardened flight deck and launching system).
Labor also cut back defence spending considerably, ignored the 3 per cent increase scheduled for the decade including 2006/07, and failed to start a replacement programme for the then ageing six Collins Class diesel-electric submarines.
There can be no doubt that nowhere near enough has been spent and planned/ordereed to strengthen the ADF as much as required. However the Coalition governments since September 2013 have not ignored the ADF and for examples Boeing Australia and the RAAF jointly developed the Joint Strike Fighter drone jet programme and they are built near Toowoomba Queensland, now called the Ghost Bat, a force multiplier that can be guided from other aircraft or ground control. A drone submarine project is underway in Sydney for RAN purposes like Ghost Bat for the RAAF. Various others including nine new Frigates, twelve large Patrol Ships and more.
The negotiating for AUKUS partnership from 2019 to 2021 when signed by the leaders in the UK is a huge sometimes described as a forever partnership and of many projects, the best known is delivery of second-hand Virginia Class nuclear submarines for the RAN while a brand new generation design for all three navies is developed for construction by all three partner countries.
AUKUS includes new missiles and systems for the ADF and manufactured in Australia however there is much more planned.
As most here would know, the decline of manufacturing industry here followed Whitlam Labor signing the United Nations Lima Agreement to transfer manufacturing to developing nations like China, later Keating Labor signing United Nations Agenda 21 – Sustainability and the long list of restrictions from mining to fishing to timber felling and much more UN demands, interference in the affairs of member nations.
261
Yup! History repeats itself.
“Those who fail to study history are doomed to repeat it.”
(While I’m certain there is an original source for it, I do not know it; would appreciate anyone who can provide the proper reference) — NJ
“The Capitalists are so greedy, they will sell us the rope we will use to hang them.”
— attributed to Vladimir Lenin
141
source
Those Who Do Not Learn History Are Doomed To Repeat It.” Really?
110
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” George Santayana, “The Life of Reason – The Phases of Human Progress”, 1905-1906. From series “Great Ideas of Western Man”, p. 284 of the volume “Reason in Common Sense”.
20
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” George Santayana, “The Life of Reason – The Phases of Human Progress”, 1905-1906, p. 284 of the volume “Reason in Common Sense”.
80
The author originally credited with any such phrase is Edmund Burke. He died before either Winston Churchill or George Santayana came along.
GS’s words – from a poet — are better sounding.
So says the scribes of the internet, so it must be true. I suspect when all the words ever written are digitized and searched there will be a 3,000 year old text found with similar wording.
110
I prefer:
100
Yes, just look at WW1, I don’t think British generals were aware the Krauts had machine guns.
50
The British Generals were slow learners. The war started in 1914.
The British Mark I was the first ever tank to see combat.
Mark I tanks went into action for the first time on 15 September 1916 on the Somme.
How many British and Commonwealth troops were sacrificed to the machine guns from 1914 to late 1916?
50
“How many British and Commonwealth troops were sacrificed to the machine guns from 1914 to late 1916?”
Yep, they just kept throwing troops at the guns hoping they would wear out before they ran out of troops.
30
Christians killing Christians over an inbred, so-called royal, family feud… egged on and sponsored by Banksters Inc.
Anthropogenic Crazy Death Cult (AC/DC) yet some great inventions came out of the folly and madness. RIP
30
(even then I thought that our one-room Wheatvale school with 13 pupils was probably not a top priority target for Japanese bombers.)
Look out! The school is now 4X bigger.
This page needs an update!
Wheatvale State School is a government primary school . . . In 2016, the school had an enrolment of 53 students {Wiki}
70
Simon
So what? At least Viv is doing his bit for Australia. What have you ever done?
172
Simon will proudly tell you he drives an EV to save Australia and the planet.
I’m not sure how he’s going to charge it when we shut down the last coal power station.
130
Listening to a story on the radio this am, ‘range anxiety’ has been replaced by ‘charger rage’, it just gets better.
160
There’s some interesting psychology there Ronin.
They are de-emphasising a fundamental deficiency of the EV, range, and emphasising something that “other people” can do something about – build more charging stations…
100
‘What have you ever done?’
There is no value in attacking the man because he has a different viewpoint.
Having gone through all the comments here its obvious that nobody has a clue what is going on. History does not repeat, its a totally different world order thanks to the communications revolution.
Our nuclear sub acquisitions are a waste of money, revolution is coming to China, followed by democracy based on the Taiwan model and they will gradually return to economic normalcy
77
Ad Hominem fallacy again.
No matter how tempting, it’s just a useless self-indulgence which reveals more about the one using the fallacy than it does about the target.
Exactly. No value. Play the ball, not the man.
20
Submarines have a role to play but with the development of drones it seems reasonable to imagine a remotely controlled submarine which could loiter on station for very prolonged periods much like a smart mine. From what I know of China and its demography you could well be right and that is what worries the current leadership. The fear is that someone like Chi might throw the dice and attack Taiwan before China returns to a number of provinces under autonomous control.
10
Xi cannot win a war against the Alliance, he knows it and won’t attack Taiwan.
01
The CCP has invented the electromagnetic catapult for their new carrier.
https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202401/05/WS659792eea3105f21a507ac6c.html
00
A couple of other interesting WW2 fiasco “high”?-lights.
Because of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between “fellow socialists” USSR and Nazi Germany, the Moscow-controlled trade unions in Australia played havoc with Oz industry and the docks; stealing, sabotaging or blocking shipments of vital supplies to Australian troops operating in Northern Africa and elsewhere. This was somewhat scaled back at the commencement of “Barbarossa”. This is where the deranged “Doc” Evatt started consolidating his power. The Oz government had a rolling roster of “politically reliable’ representatives popping in and out of Moscow for YEARS. I met one back in the mid-1970s, right here in Brisbane.
The midget sub attack on Sydney gets a lot of coverage. However the torpedoing of the fully-marked and brightly-lit hospital ship, “Centaur’ off the top of Moreton Island seems to be quietly ignored, most of the time, as do the sundry Japanese air-raids on Townsville and the landing parties in the NT and on Cape York.Japan did not need to “invade” Oz, just choke seaways and ports. However, they totally miscalculated the ferocity of the US Navy submarine campaign, with Brisbane and Fremantle hosting fleets of US submarines. The US boats merrily torpedoed anything flying the rising sun, including unmarked convoys carrying allied prisoners of war, from places like Singapore to either other ports like Saigon or to the Japanese homeland. “Ripping yarns” from the survivors abounded for decades, but almost all of the original voices are silent, now.
As expected, the RAN had ZERO submarines in this fiasco. There was a Dutch sub operating after the fall of the NEI, but that did not last long. Their air-force units fared a bit better, using B-25 medium bombers as shipping raiders, operating out of northern Australia. Their unit “nickname” was “The Dutch Cleansers”, after a popular household cleaning product of the time. The nose art was cute. The NEI air force Dornier 204K flying boats that made it to places like Broome. did not last very long as most were destroyed when those that survived the flight copped a visit from the Japanese Air Force, with considerable loss of life. At least ONE was actually put on the RAAF register as Type “A-49” and used until it became unserviceable. Spare parts from Germany were a little hard to obtain at the time.
How are today’s pollie-muppets, pubic serpents and Tik-Tok “influencers” going, by comparison?
110
Read the Hal Colebatch account of Unions War On Australia during WW2.
110
https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2014/01-02/treachery-unions-second-world-war/
Not Hal’s book, but a very good analysis of the Communist/Labor 5th column that operated against the National interest.
Never forgive never forget.
30
And,,,,
Prosecute.
20
I wonder where the ‘Brisbane Line’ would be today, south of Newcastle maybe.
80
About 200km south of Hobart. Although Antacrtica could eventually be attractive to China for its methane So maybe South Pole. Those who want to retain traditional Aussie values could take up residence on Macquarie island. Sunlight actually getting through the mist today:
https://www.antarctica.gov.au/antarctic-operations/webcams/macquarie-island/
40
China has long operated a large “research station” in Antarcica. Their supply ships and aircraft hub out of the Shaky Islands.
Given the number of ACTIVE volcanoes on the continent, there would have to be some “interest” in the sort of exotic minerals that these occasionally cough up
It has not just been Scott, Amundsen, Wegener, Shackleton et al. Nazi Germany took a LOT of interest in the place; some of that was “military”, some of it was tied to their whole mystic religious pretensions; Piri Reis chart, etc.
10
You mean Philip Island ?????
10
Rick, 6C at 4:30pm, t-t-t-t-t-tropical!
(added to my growing list of webcams)
As Peter Sellers in Being There said:
“I like to watch.”
10
Macquarie Island webcam provides great insight into what a saturated atmosphere looks like. It is rare to have clear sky at any time of the year. It is always a cooling zone for the South Pacific circulation. The opposite of what happens off South America where it is always a warming zone. The southeastern Pacific off South America absorbs a lot of heat that evaporates a lot of water.
20
“Australian planes would be grounded in a couple of weeks. ”
Australia’s planes would all be shot down in couple of weeks anyway. The age of the air power is over. They’re obsolete. It’s all missiles now.
70
I would say it is 20% missiles and 80% drones
20
except that many of those drones and missiles are launched from aircraft
I doubt its that black and white
30
See also:
https://media.townhall.com/cdn/hodl/cartoons/afb120424dAPR-800×0.jpg
60
Put simply – if you desire peace, prepare for war.
100
Great article.Why couldn’t we use compressed natural gas or liquified natural gas to use in our motor vehicles in an emergency situation.We have oceans of natural gas.I understand we would need to convert car fuel tanks to cast iron to handle the pressures involved.
40
Sad to say but if the SHTF, battery vehicles will at least still have some ‘fuel’.
10
Brisbanes’ Council Buses used to use CNG , it was stored in cylinders made of wrapped fibre either fibreglass or carbon fibre, they have been taken out of service now because of some storage problems.
40
Been running lpg factory fitted falcon since 2007, no problems , no wuckin furries. LPG that comes out the exhaust pipe is water.
20
What’s wrong with the existing steel gas tanks in our LPG vehicles?
40
Time to get rid of the Greens-Labour parasite class and their ‘dog in the manger’ jihad on Australia’s abundant energy resources.
150
“At this point Australia has lost half the refining capacity it once had and has only about one month of diesel and petrol.”
The latter part of that sentence is true but Australia has gone from 8 oil refineries in 1980 to presently 2, one in Brisbane and one in Geelong.
How are the ADF expected to fight an enemy under these circumstances, all we have going for us is our remoteness and our size.
100
Herr Hilter lost WW2 because of a lack of fuel supplies. Their advanced tanks and fighter planes were unable to be properly deployed once the supply from the Causasus was cut off by the advancing Russians
The Caucasus was a vital oil producing region, supplying 80 per cent of the Soviet Union’s oil at the time, thus making it a key target for Germany, whose oil supply was tight and heavily reliant on Romania.
40
The ADF are offering $50,000 bribes to retain personnel who are nearing end of service.
70
Australia and China are merging. That appears to be the path to eventual control. Canberra is becoming a satellite of Beijing
China already runs Australian universities. Chinese have rapidly increasing investment across mining, farming and industry in Australia. Australia provides the natural resources for Chinese manufacturing but those resources are increasingly controlled by Chinese money. Chinese already own a lot of residential property in Australia. It is a progressive takeover that is mostly unnoticed. Three years ago, the streets of Melbourne could have been the streets of Beijing so human rights are already similar.
It makes sense for China to shift some of its manufacturing to Australia so those firms can take advantage of proximity to natural resources..
By contrast, China is losing its love affair for direct investment in the UK. I expect they recognise UK is now a basket case and has nothing they need. That will make it harder for UK to transition electricity because they only have debt to offer China in payment for NutZero stuff if China no longer want to buy the “farm”. I think HSBC London desk can arrange Chinese denominated loans. Maybe UK can get in on the Chinese belt and road. They could be powered directly from China based coal fired power stations.
Australia has to be a desirable strategic asset for China. I wonder what will become the dominant language. There are already city suburbs in Australia that have predominantly Mandarin signage in the shopping area.
It appears Trump is firming as the next US president. His advisors have already indicated they are cold on the AUKUS sub deal. Maybe the subs have technology the Chinese still do not have. Australia will ultimately aligned with China rather than USA. Australia is thoroughly dependent on China. And China thoroughly dependent on Australia. The latter matters to China.
51
is China’s “lifeboat”.
Their own country has poisoned soil and water. The population is increasingly urbanized. Combine all that: What could grow wrong?
Their demographics are a disaster. They have about 30 MILLION “spare” military-aged young men who can NEVER find a bride in China.; Thanks to the now demised, “one child” policy.
The other twist is that this policy produced a generation or two of obnoxious blokes known as the “little emperors”. No sane young Chinese woman would touch one with a barge-pole.. Thus, there is a steady stream of well-educated / technically-qualifies Chinese women “fleeing the village” for foreign fields and different sorts of blokes.
Hello, “interesting times”.
40
Well, we have the multi-year testing ground up and running in Ukraine at the moment, and if you want to know about any Western weapon there are plenty of Ukie soldiers laying out the faults. The rapid development of drones and missiles will re-write military equipment needs for the next decade or two.
Surface ships struggle, aircraft, helicopters… Somewhere in this website is a pink blurry missile going vertically downwards. Its a Kinzhal that was fortuitously caught on camera heading in at mach10, the whole casing is heated from atmospheric friction. While the Pro-Western propaganda fanboys were all saying Ukraine shoots down 10/10, that one certainly got through.
https://warnews247-gr.translate.goog/?_x_tr_sl=el&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-GB
Now one incoming missile will turn on its radar to confirm a target, then transmit that information to other missiles that remain dark. Any anti-missile system using radar is taken out immediately.
Don’t rush to spend money on systems that will be obsolete before you build them. The coming year will be decisive.
60
Battleships were made obsolete in WW2.
Manned submarines are now already obsolete – the last ship sunk by a torpedo was sunk in the Falklands War.
So what do the Australian defences geniuses do?
Spend $260 Billion on manned subs!!!
The Australia Navy had to use British submariners to man the Collins class subs since few Aussies wanted to spend weeks out of the sun!!!
60
The traitors in Canberra are blowing our money on crap that they know will be obsolete and useless in a few years.
Why not blow the money on Australian made solid fuel rockets.
40
No wurries , all too late, War is inevitable, just store food…..for at least 2 years. Follow America and die. Is Zelensky in Moscow ? well ain’t that another lost Australian dream. Australia run by idiots.
70
He is on his way, he has just reached Bakhmut, which is located just over the border in Russia. He will be asking for donations from the Bakhmutians as he passes through.
20
I don’t remember if this came up from a link here, or the algorithm popped it up, but it is quite relevant. Australia handing China advanced steam catapults, and arresting wire technology, when we sold them the Melbourne. Along with how to construct the internal structures of an aircraft carrier. Excellent work, forward thinking Aussi bureaucracy
12 minutes, but the first half is pretty much filler.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VycKprvx7KA
80
Too bad China is trying to imitate the electro magnetic system the US is currently using on the Gerald Ford.
20
Equipment like an aircraft carrier should be broken up here as a matter of course, our govt ok’d this treason.
20
Selling the Chicomms the HMAS Melbourne was an appalling decision and definitely treasonous. The breakup of the ship was delayed while the PLAN, People’s Liberation Army Navy studied it and obtained a reference design for an aircraft carrier.
Something that stupid has to go beyond mere incompetence and is deliberate treachery. It was sold under the Hawke Regime with Kim Beazley as Defence Minister.
80
The Australian BushMaster (even if battery powered) is obsolete and a rolling death trap. Australia no longer has car production facilities so why not just buy the much better and safer Joint Light Tactical Vehicle from the USA? The BushMaster design dates back to the 1990s.
In the US Army the Humvee is being replaced with the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle. Not only is the JLTV intimidating to see rolling into battle, it is equipped with the most advanced technology in the world.
No batteries here!
The Oshkosh JLTV’s powertrain represents decades of automotive advancement. In an effort to keep costs in check and hit performance targets, Oshkosh chose GM’s new L5P Duramax 6.6-liter turbodiesel V-8 engine to power the new JLTV. A familiar sight under the hoods of 2017 Chevrolet Silverado HD and 2017 GMC Sierra HD models.
https://www.motortrend.com/features/humvee-compares-to-new-oshkosh-jltv/
41
I hope GM are not fiddling with the pollution control like Cummins has for the Dodge RAM. Imagine being transported into war in a vehicle that was causing NOx pollution. It is bad enough that they are spewing CO2.
You have to wonder when the US army is going to get serious about pollution reduction!
51
So for half a million $US you get a 6 and half ton two-door or 4-door ute.. I hope they’re watching the videos coming out of Ukraine and which vehicles are doing well in speed, manouverability, soldiers carried, drone protection and mine resistance… not to mention axle-deep mud!
At least they’re using a mass-produced drivetrain and regular diesel. The sooner they get a couple of dozen over there the sooner they will learn the faults… although I suppose that’s exactly why the manufacturers don’t want them being tried out on a live battlefield. It destroyed both Leopard and Challenger reputations, and Abrams are not allowed in range of Russian firepower.
10
Tomago and Portland smelters use about 10% of the electricity used in Victoria and NSW. It’s clear that with lack of reliability in the grid that these smelters will be used as thermostats to try to make sure that there is enough electricity.
It’s inevitable that as the grid becomes even more unreliable these smelters will shut down or will need to be compensated for closures. Either way there is a cost to Australia. Ironically because of this shutting down the smelters will be lauded as a success by the greenies.
90
China is now the world’s largest producer of Aluminium {over 37 million metric tonnes compared to Australia’s 1.6 million) – with a cost of electricity produced from coal fired power station around 30% of that in Australia before government subsidies.
Shutting down Australian smelters will just transfer production to China!
40
The latest woke nonsense from our Government.
Aiming to encourage more females to train in trades for a larger skilled workforce for our “Green Energy Future” (ie installing Chinese made solar panels!)
No mention of encouraging more Aboriginals males (or females) to complete their education and get trade qualifications – but they will be living on the “rent” paid by us colonialists!
70
Anduril UUV – Unmanned Underwater Vehicle or drone submarine being developed in Sydney for RAN and other allied navies … Note Morrison Coalition Government.
https://breakingdefense.com/2022/08/upstart-anduril-australia-hopes-to-make-100s-of-large-drone-subs-itar-free-ceo-says/
41
If the Government of AU is acting to diminish the integrity of AU autonomy, isn’t that treason?
Just asking. Because it appears the AU Govt is destroying the AU power grid, manufacturing, energy supply, jobs, etc.
On balance, AU appears to be committing cultural, financial, technical, and factual suicide.
Correct me where I’m mistaken. But do so with proofs of errors.
140
MQ-28 Ghost Bat drone jet aircraft designed and built in Australia, near Toowoomba Queensland, Stage 2 of the Joint Strike Fighter programme … now flying;
https://www.boeing.com.au/products-services/Defense-Space-Security/ghost-bat.page
50
October 19, 2022
Australian defence company Droneshield has passed a series of tests at the Yuma Proving Ground – a United States army facility that tests military equipment.
It means the US Department of Defence has now recommended Droneshield to form part of its solution to counter unmanned aircraft systems.
“Drones have been a rising issue for the military for a number of years now,” Droneshield CEO Oleg Vornik told Sky News Business Reporter Edward Boyd.
“Our equipment is designed to detect and defeat those small drones with GPS guidance or remote control back to the pilot.”
40
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles from Australia, Ukraine Army using them now …
https://www.defendtex.com/uav/
30
Late 2021 an RAN Air Warfare Destroyer and a RAN Frigate were involved in a training exercise with allied navies and demonstrated various weapons systems including Phalanx anti-missile, drone, aircraft and small ship defence system now fitted to all RAN large ships and the latest version being installed as replacement. The testing included Sparrow missiles used against drones and aircraft. Our Navy is not as poorly equipped as some critics claim. But lots of room for improvement. That includes;
Australia to build hypersonic missiles & other new weapons under AUKUS agreement
Wednesday, 06 April 2022
Today, the leaders of the Australia-UK-US (AUKUS) partnership – Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia, Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom, and President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. of the United States – assessed progress under AUKUS.
We reaffirmed our commitment to AUKUS and to a free and open Indo-Pacific. In light of Russia’s unprovoked, unjustified, and unlawful invasion of Ukraine, we reiterated our unwavering commitment to an international system that respects human rights, the rule of law, and the peaceful resolution of disputes free from coercion.
We are pleased with the progress in our trilateral program for Australia to establish a conventionally armed, nuclear‑powered submarine capability. We are fully committed to establishing a robust approach to sharing naval propulsion technology with Australia that strengthens the global non-proliferation regime.
We also committed today to commence new trilateral cooperation on hypersonics and counter-hypersonics, and electronic warfare capabilities, as well as to expand information sharing and to deepen cooperation on defense innovation. These initiatives will add to our existing efforts to deepen cooperation on cyber capabilities, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, and additional undersea capabilities. As our work progresses on these and other critical defense and security capabilities, we will seek opportunities to engage allies and close partners.
32
Dennis, Do you know why Australia declined to send navy boats to protect ships in the Middle East. Was it lack of personnel to crew them around the clock, or was it fear that simple drones could cause serious damage. There had to be a good reason.
20
I don’t know John but I suspect it was about politics and for some strange reason Albanese Labor supports the Palestine Flag wavers and therefore the large Middle Eastern population here in Australia, despite past Labor support for Israel and the Jews.
RAN warships are well equipped and capable of the deployment, and have been sent to support our allies for decades past on similar sea route patrols.
I found an article recently describing an Air Warfare Destroyer (RAN has three not so old ships) and a Frigate (RAN has eight older ships and nine replacements being built) participating in an exercise offshore and demonstrating anti-missile/drone/aircraft systems on board.
And these patrols working with allied navies are excellent for crew training and using technology in real time.
61
A drone with a Claymore attached would be useful.
20
What Peter Zeihan thinks of us. A lot bad and, hopefully, a little good to save our collective derriere.
10
Cant really get excited about what Peter Zeihan thinks. Talks earnestly a lot, like most people some of it is OK and some is drivel, especially if you look at past prognostications like the Russian oil industry will collapse.
40
The two biggest RAN ships, Amphibious Assault Ships, please note the “ski jump” flight deck ordered originally by the Howard Government for Joint Strike Fighter F35 Lightning STOL aircraft to be carried on board in addition to helicopters, until Rudd Labor cancelled the hardened flight deck and catapult launch system;
https://www.navy.gov.au/fleet/ships-boats-craft/lhd
30
Maybe it has already been posted, but why recruit Australians for the military when you can outsource?
I know it has long been possible to be a foreigner in the ADF, within reason.
https://indaily.com.au/news/2024/01/05/foreign-soldier-option-to-boost-australian-defence-force-ranks/
20
The word is mercenaries, isn’t it? They don’t have the same motivation when it comes to the crunch.
10
Now entering in substantial numbers, Australia has a new migrant class, many with experience in warfare of a kind.
For the right incentives (not just money but booty), and especially the right enemy (civilians) , they will make good fighters at least when they are winning. Yes, they are available on Fridays.
20
The basic problem is that Australia is broke.
We workers used to make goods for export.
Now we make coffees for each other and go to footie.
We do not have the national income to arm our nation.
We must stop paying people for telling others what they cannot do.
We have to return to invention, innovation, free markets, small businesses.
We must get back to ch ap reliable electricity first.
The dreamers at AEMO have to be fired and replaced by experienced engineers.
Geoff S
200
I like it.
Return to the Australia of the mid nineteen sixties.
50
Post Covid, so many shops in retail centres closed down…
what remains? Coffee shops, finger-nail and tattoo services,
a culchure of aim-less-ness ‘n power-less-ness.
80
Gyms, nail shops, tattoo shops, real estate and coffee, that’s us in 2024.
60
Seems that learning Chinese might be a useful back-up plan.
10
After Hitler invaded part of Czechoslovakia (the Sudetenland), the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain called it a “quarrel in a faraway country between people of whom we know nothing” and visited Hitler, flying to Munich and saying that the resulting accord represented “peace with honour; I believe it is peace for our time.” Winston Churchill responded with these words in Parliament:
we have sustained a total and unmitigated defeat, and… France has suffered even more… the German dictator, instead of snatching his victuals from the table, has been content to have them served to him course by course…We are in the presence of a disaster of the first magnitude which has befallen Great Britain and France… It must now be accepted that all the countries of Central and Eastern Europe will make the best terms they can with the triumphant Nazi Power. The system of alliances in Central Europe upon which France has relied for her safety has been swept away… You must have diplomatic and correct relations, but there can never be friendship between the British democracy and the Nazi Power… What I find unendurable is the sense of our country falling into the power, into the orbit and influence of Nazi Germany, and of our existence becoming dependent upon their good will or pleasure. It is to prevent that that I have tried my best to urge the maintenance of every bulwark of defence… It has all been in vain. Every position has been successively undermined and abandoned on specious and plausible excuses… In a very few years, perhaps in a very few months, we shall be confronted with demands with which we shall no doubt be invited to comply. Those demands may affect the surrender of territory or the surrender of liberty. I foresee and foretell that the policy of submission will carry with it restrictions upon the freedom of speech and debate in Parliament, on public platforms, and discussions in the press, for it will be said – indeed, I hear it said sometimes now – that we cannot allow the Nazi system of dictatorship to be criticised by ordinary, common English politicians… our loyal, brave people… should know the truth. They should know that there has been gross neglect and deficiency in our defences; they should know that we have sustained a defeat without a war, the consequences of which will travel far with us along our road; they should know that we have passed an awful milestone in our history, when the whole equilibrium of Europe has been deranged, and that the terrible words have for the time being been pronounced against the Western democracies: “Thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting.” (Hansard, October 5th, 1938; the quote is from Belshazzar’s feast in the Book of the prophet Daniel in the Old Testament).
70
Australia can go green.
https://www.blitzortung.org/en/historical_maps.php?map=20
00
This is just a symptom of how ‘we’ in the West operate. Australia is just following the destructive path taken by the UK that has been gutted by successive governments since Margeret Thatcher’s days in the 1980s. The approach is based upon buying the cheapest you can, from wherever, rather than invest in your own economy. First Thatcher destroyed the Coal Industry by supporting cheaper open-cast German coal, then Blair enthusiastically embraced out-sourcing of IT and Banking, first to India then China and the far Eastern nations. Defence was an early casualty, where under the guise of the cold war and NATO, ‘interoperability’ was pushed which in reality just means ‘buy American’. Thatcher started the destruction of the NHS which has been accelerated in the last 13 years under the Tories – we don’t train Doctors, Nurses or Dentists anymore, we import Indians, Africans, Poles, Malaysians and others to populate our health services – they’re cheaper and they come fully trained.
Is there a solution to this destruction ? No, not with the current bunch of clowns running the country (into the ground). We need a government that supports our country and our people. Instead we have corrupt, fifth columnists running things.
40
That’s unfair to Maggie. In the 1980s the National Union of Mineworkers had a communist leadership who were itching to bring a democratically elected Tory government down, as it had a decade earlier. She destroyed that dangerous anti-democratic force and we still have the coal in the ground if ever we need it.
40
Agreed.
00
Having lived in ex mining communities for over a decade I can report that that view is not widely held and that the wounds from the 1980s are still raw and open.
When you close down an entire sector of the economy you would expect major suport to be made available to the communities affected. It wasn’t. The German economy did great out of the deal, the UK economies in the North, Wales and Scotland tanked.
Thatcher had two choices: Help communities or destroy them.
Australia is going down the same route.
10
Even if we can get fuel (which I doubt), can Australian youth today fight? Do they have the resilience of those who fought in PNG? Some do, but not many, kids are very soft and men highly feminised. The ADF is now planning on using the Rugby League model and getting soldiers from Pacific Islands. I mean, things must be pretty bad.
30
sigh…..
00
Funny old world. Our old enemies are now our new friends and our old friends are now our new enemies. Whilst loyalties flip/flop hypocrisy and corruption is a constant.
10
Look up John Toland’s account of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident
Look up the Xi’an Incident
Also Look up General Zhang Zhizhong as alluded to in Mao the Untold Story by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday (2003)
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[…] Source: https://joannenova.com.au/2024/01/australia-is-becoming-green-powerless-and-defenceless/ […]
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I am surprised Viv and nobody else has mentioned that German armed and disguised merchant raiders were rampaging ANZAC coasts sinking whatever they came across and laying mines where they chose, infesting our sea lanes from June 1940. Our Navies had little luck against them ditto RAAF. Dozens of merchant ships were sunk and hundreds crew killed.
The two main culprits were Orion and Komet. At many public remembrances and anniversaries and Gov www pages these events are ignored down the memory hole. This phase of WWII around Oz could be said to have ended with the sinking of HMAS Sydney on 19Nov1941. I have a blog commenting –
79 years ago HMAS Sydney lost with 645 lives 18Nov2020
http://www.warwickhughes.com/blog/?p=6552
I also have a link to an incomplete timeline of German raider activity around ANZAC sealanes & coasts.
http://www.warwickhughes.com/agri16/raidertimeline4.jpg
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I pretty much agree with everything Mr Forbes has to say but perhaps we should start divesting ourselves from a clearly warmongering and corrupt hegemonic state in thrall to the only industry it has left, the failing and obsolete military industrial complex. China can gain more than it needs from plentiful supplies from Russia and Eurasia. If we continue in our obsequious vassalage to the US it would be clear that Australia would need to be blockaded or sanctioned for the resources we would provide to our warmongering overlords.
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Nothing new in all that. We all know it. The trouble is, the majority of Australians are disinterested in important matters having been brought up over 40+ years on a diet of being threatened by the outcome of ‘Global Warming due to ‘carbon’. It seems all that matters to most city people – they control the numbers – is the threatened final outcome of AGW. THE RELEVANCE OF AUSTRALIA’s impotence as a result of actions taken against AGW simply doesn’t figure. The fact there are numerous possibilities of almost immediate dire outcomes resulting from the destruction being brought by BOWEN and Co over something the government considers might happen in 100 years simply doesn’t cross their minds. We are a nation run and largely populated by unthinking people – i was going to use stronger terms. Even when the EU nations, the source of the climate crap, move away from such extreme actions over climate, our fools of people and politicians
carry on regardless. I’m sorry, but I don’t see any way out so long as Australia is run by the authoritarian combination of Bigs – big government, big business, big media, big money and generally naive/ rapacious big CEOs. Why can’t we have more Gina’s ; people ready to speak their minds and others listen to?
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