Australia’s new defence strategy fights last war    By Daryl Guppy

 

The Ukrainians changed the face of modern warfare with inexpensive Chinese-made drones equipped with cheap Chinese-made cameras. These provide both battlefield intelligence and a platform for delivering destructive weapons.

Interestingly, the Chinese did not interfere with these Ukrainian drone operations against China’s friend, Russia, despite the claims by Senator Patterson and others that Chinese kit puts us all at risk because the Chinese somehow have ultimate control.

The paradigm of warfare has changed, although the Colonel Blimps and their spokesman, Australian Defence Minister Marles, are still committed the fighting the last war, but this time with China identified as the adversary. The recently released National Defence Strategy focuses on preparing the military to help Australia withstand Chinese coercion. The updated equipment priorities are no more than advanced iterations of old weapons, all designed for denial of battlefield space.

The idea that China would block its own trade-critical sea lanes is a policy oxymoron embraced by Australia .

Former Home Affairs Department chief Michael Pezzullo said the government should prepare a ‘‘war book’’ because of the ‘‘credible’’ risk of conflict by 2030. In shades of the Blitz, he spoke of the need for plans covering evacuating and sheltering population centres. The concept may be beneficial, but the execution is already mired in obsolescence because it fails to appreciate the non-lethal nature of modern conflict as it applies, in particular, to Australia.

Let’s for a moment take the prognostications of the warmongers as a starting point. What would China need to do to bring Australia to its knees in a modern conflict? Australia’s unique vulnerability lies not in its geography, nor its trade routes.
The Australian economy relies heavily on three main export earners to give Australia the balance of payments security and prosperity Australia desires.

It takes no weapons or cyber warfare attack, to simply halt Chinese orders for Australia iron ore and coal. Australian resources are a major component of China’s import needs but the accelerated development of the Simandou iron ore deposit in Africa and the ramping up of Brazilian production, makes this order suspension strategy possible. Complete, or partial suspension of orders for 3, or even 6 months, would not cause the Chinese economy to collapse, but it would rapidly drive Australia’s economy toward the fiscal wall.

No need to disrupt shipping in the South China sea as suggested in the latest Defence Strategy update.

A similar outcome is achieved by prohibiting Chinese tourists from coming to Australia, and stopping Chinese students from attending Australian Universities. In two simple administrative and regulatory decisions, the second and third largest components of Australia’s export earnings would suffer grievous blows.

Not a single submarine is deployed, not a shot is fired and no naval exercises close to Australia are required. No Australian systems need to be hacked, no cyber security breaches or covert operations are required.

This is not warfare as the Colonel Blimps know it. Nor is it warfare as Senator Patterson envisages where every Chinese product is a potential military asset from WeChat to household security cameras and from a Great Wall SUV to a Haier washing machine.

The cumulative damage to the Australian economy would be rapid and devastating. Expensive AUKUS submarines, naval assets, grey nurse drones and rocket artillery do not stand in the way of simple regulatory obstructions to trade. 30 billion dollars for submarines, and counting, is rendered impotent although it remains a Viagra to the Colonel Blimps and the foreign arms industry intent on selling hardware to Australia.

If China does not need to physically block trade routes, or attack Australia, then how can Australia prevent this economic damage?

The currently poorly funded dogsbody of foreign affairs is the answer. For a fraction of the cost of AUKUS submarines, Australia’s diplomatic engagement with China could be increased tenfold. For a fraction of the cost, Australia could boost University studies of China and develop a serious depth of understanding of China to replace the simplistic cartoon characterisations that drive Australia’s public and policy discourse.

The second step is to recognise the legitimacy of China’s desire to play a more active role in formulating the structures of the global rules based order. Like President Biden, Australia thinks that compliance with U.S. demands is the same as co-operation. President Xi wants co-operation based on the U.S. acknowledging the legitimacy of China’s perspective. Global regulatory structures that do not recognise China are no longer fit for purpose.

Currently Australian foreign policy brings an adversarial approach to China where almost everything China does is wrong or seen as a threat to Australia. This lack of respect is deeply woven into the fabric of current Australian diplomatic and military policy. True to its mission, the military views the world through a gunsight.

Diplomacy can and should take a different perspective. Foreign Minister Penny Wong has smoothed the rhetoric, but Australia’s position is virtually indistinguishable from the aggressive position adopted by the previous Government. Marles wants to ensure Australia is able to resist coercion but submarines don’t sit at the negotiating table. Economic warfare by regulation is resolved with diplomacy, not guns.

 

A more internationalised version of this appeared in South China Morning Post, April 25, 2024

https://johnmenadue.com/australias-new-defence-strategy-fights-last-war/

 

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The US is behind the Ukraine conflict and is deliberately trying to prolong the fighting, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Friday. He was speaking during a meeting with his counterparts from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a nine-strong political, economic and defense organization. 

Shoigu identified Washington as a major source of global instability, citing its record of military interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria. The US also uses financial and diplomatic tools to damage its adversaries and fuel chaos in different parts of the world, he claimed.

“The US had first created, and now is deliberately prolonging the Ukraine conflict,” the minister stated. “As it signals purported intention to de-escalate, the West keeps pumping Kiev with weapons.”

Ukraine cannot properly manage the donations, however, which increases the risk that the funds could go to terrorist groups, Shoigu warned. He also pointed to direct NATO involvement in the ongoing Ukraine conflict.

“They provide real-time intelligence, train Ukrainian troops, deploy Western military specialists and mercenaries on the battlefield,” Shoigu noted.

The US and its allies claim that Russia launched an “unprovoked” attack on Ukraine in February 2022, and they have since sent tens of billions of dollars’ worth of weapons to Kiev.

Shoigu accused the US of double standards regarding a nation’s right to self-defense. He cited Washington’s blocking of a UN Security Council resolution which would have condemned Israel for attacking an Iranian consulate in Damascus in early April. Tehran’s eventual retaliatory attack was the result of US obstructionism, the Russian minister said, in reference to SCO's newest member.

Iran joined the SCO last year bringing the total membership of the group, which also includes India and China and accounts for some 20% of global GDP, to nine countries. 

https://www.rt.com/russia/596621-shoigu-us-ukraine-conflict/

 

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A large part of Western aid to Kiev is being embezzled by Ukrainian officials, despite President Vladimir Zelensky’s assurances that it is being used in the fight against Russia, a top French politician has said. 

In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday, Florian Philippot, leader of the Patriots (Les Patriotes) party and a long-time vocal critic of Western assistance to Ukraine, alleged that Zelensky was lying when he claimed that all US aid to his country “goes to the battlefield.” 

“In reality a large part is diverted and goes into corruption!” Philippot wrote. He noted Kiev’s admission last month that it had not received €16 billion ($17.1 billion) in aid collected by Poland and the European Commission. Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmigal claimed he had “no idea” what happened to the funds.

Philippot also pointed to a recent corruption scandal involving Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Nikolay Solsky, who is accused of illegally appropriating state land worth nearly €6.9 million ($7.4 million). “Yet another case of corruption in this country, which is one of the most corrupt on the planet!” the French politician remarked. 

https://www.rt.com/news/596679-ukraine-aid-corruption/

 

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Ukraine is having a hard time fighting Russia, the commander-in-chief of the nation’s armed forces, General Aleksandr Syrsky, has admitted this week. The situation on the front lines is “difficult,” he told Kiev’s Western backers during a virtual Ramstein group meeting on Friday.

His words came amid the continued Russian offensive in Donbass, which saw the Ukrainian military lose more than 8,000 soldiers in just one week, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

“I … informed the coalition members about the difficult operational and strategic situation, which has a tendency to get worse,” Syrsky said in a Telegram post on Saturday, where he spoke about the talks with the Western nations providing military aid to Ukraine. Kiev “urgently needs” missiles, ammunition, weapons and military equipment, the general said.

His words came as the US approved another military aid package to Ukraine worth some $61 billion. The emergency spending legislation had been stuck in Congress for months as it was blocked by Republican lawmakers seeking concessions from the White House on US border control policies.

The bill’s approval was welcomed by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, who told NBC that his nation had a “chance at victory,” with more Western weapons coming its way. Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmitry Kuleba, was more skeptical on the issue, saying that “no single package can stop the Russians.”

Moscow also brushed off the news by saying that no Western weapons could change the dynamics on the front lines. The Russian troops have been on the offensive since early 2024, and captured the strategic Donbass town of Avdeevka in February. Since then, Moscow’s forces have continued to advance further to the west and have seized several smaller settlements in the area as well. Over the past week, they took over two villages from the Ukrainian forces, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

Earlier in April, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said that Ukraine had lost almost 500,000 soldiers since the start of the conflict in February 2022. The Ukrainian officials and the military have also repeatedly pointed out the need to replenish the losses. Zelensky has recently signed into law a radical reform of the mobilization system, meant to boost conscription numbers by introducing harsh punishments for draft avoidance.

https://www.rt.com/russia/596700-situation-difficult-ukraine-top-commander/

 

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Kiev’s losses of military personnel have surpassed 8,000 over the past week amid Moscow’s continued offensive in Donbass, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a series of Telegram posts on Saturday. The nation’s military seized two settlements from Ukrainian forces and has gained ground across the region, it stated.

Moscow’s forces had taken control over the villages of Novomikhailovka in the central part of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and of Bogdanovka, near the key strategic town of Chasov Yar in the DPR’s north, the statements read. The troops also repelled some two dozen Ukrainian attacks in the region.

Intense fighting also broke out in the Avdeevka area of the DPR, where Russian forces were advancing towards the villages of Ocheretino and Netailovo, located further to the west of the strategic Donbass town taken by Moscow’s forces in February. The nation’s forces also pushed back 63 Ukrainian assaults in the area, according to the ministry.

Ukraine lost a total of 8,280 soldiers over the past seven days, mostly in the Donbass fighting, the data provided by the ministry suggests. Kiev’s troops also lost about a dozen tanks and several dozen armored fighting vehicles, along with hundreds of other pieces of military equipment. The list includes at least one US-made Paladin self-propelled 155mm howitzer, as well as almost 30 Western-supplied artillery systems, according to Moscow.

Russian forces also destroyed eight Ukrainian multiple rocket launchers, including the US-made HIMARS and the Czech-supplied RM-70 Vampire systems. The nation’s Air Force and Air Defense systems shot down Ukraine’s MiG-29 fighter jet and Su-25 close air support aircraft, along with more than 1,600 drones, the ministry said.

Earlier this week, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said that Moscow’s forces had seized the initiative in the Ukraine conflict and had “dispelled the myth of the superiority of Western weapons.”

Ukraine’s top military commander General Aleksandr Syrsky described the situation on the frontlines as “difficult” as he talked with some of Kiev’s Western backers via a video link on Friday. Things “have a tendency to get worse,” he admitted in a Telegram post reporting on the virtual meeting.

The developments come as the US adopted a $61-billion defense package bill on new aid for Kiev. Several media outlets reported that the first batches of aid could be dispatched to Kiev within days. The legislation had been stuck in Congress for months as Republican lawmakers blocked it in a drawn-out bid to squeeze concessions out of the Biden administration on US border-control policies.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky then told NBC that his nation had a “chance at victory” now as more Western weapons were coming its way. The Kremlin dismissed the news by saying that no new batches of weapons could change the dynamics on the frontlines.

https://www.rt.com/russia/596697-ukraine-lost-soldiers-week-russian/

 

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MAKE A DEAL PRONTO BEFORE THE SHIT HITS THE FAN:

 

 

NO NATO IN "UKRAINE" (WHAT'S LEFT OF IT)

THE DONBASS REPUBLICS ARE NOW BACK IN THE RUSSIAN FOLD — AS THEY USED TO BE PRIOR 1922. THE RUSSIANS WON'T ABANDON THESE AGAIN.

THESE WILL ALSO INCLUDE ODESSA, KHERSON AND KHARKIV.....

CRIMEA IS RUSSIAN — AS IT USED TO BE PRIOR 1954

TRANSNISTRIA WILL BE PART OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION.

A MEMORANDUM OF NON-AGGRESSION BETWEEN RUSSIA AND THE USA.

 

EASY.

 

THE WEST KNOWS IT.

 

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it's time for being earnest..... 

 

 

AFTER WATCHING THE FOLLOWING VIDEO, YOU MIGHT THINK THAT ALL RUSSIA HAS TO DO IS PACK UP, GIVE CRIMEA AND THE DONBASS BACK TO YUCKRAINE AND NATO CAN COME IN KIEV, FLYING VICTORY FLAGS....

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYFbOLIAY2I

Ukraine Counterattacks With Modern Guerilla War Tactics

 

BUT WHAT IS RUSSIA GOING TO DO ABOUT IT ALL?... MY GUESS:

 

MAKE A DEAL PRONTO BEFORE THE SHIT HITS THE FAN:

  

NO NATO IN "UKRAINE" (WHAT'S LEFT OF IT)

THE DONBASS REPUBLICS ARE NOW BACK IN THE RUSSIAN FOLD — AS THEY USED TO BE PRIOR 1922. THE RUSSIANS WON'T ABANDON THESE AGAIN.

THESE WILL ALSO INCLUDE ODESSA, KHERSON AND KHARKIV.....

CRIMEA IS RUSSIAN — AS IT USED TO BE PRIOR 1954

TRANSNISTRIA WILL BE PART OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION.

A MEMORANDUM OF NON-AGGRESSION BETWEEN RUSSIA AND THE USA.

 

EASY.

 

THE WEST KNOWS IT.

 

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FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW....

 

 

An exhibition featuring assorted Western-supplied military hardware captured during the Ukraine conflict opened in Moscow on Wednesday. 

The heavy armor has been put on display outside of the city’s Victory Museum and will remain in place for the whole month of May. The opening of the exhibition attracted large crowds, with drone footage showing the location packed with people. 

The exhibition features a total of 32 vehicles seized from Ukrainian forces, primarily armor supplied by Kiev’s Western backers, as well as a handful of Ukrainian home-grown designs. The display also includes assorted small arms, grenade launchers, and other military equipment captured amid the hostilities. 

The exhibits of Western-supplied weaponry include some of the most advanced armor received by Ukraine during the conflict, such as a German-made Leopard 2A6 and US-made M1A1 SA Abrams main battle tanks. The former was captured largely intact, while the latter was reduced to a burnt-out husk. 

Lighter vehicles include an advanced Swedish-made CV90, German-made Marder infantry fighting vehicles, as well as other pieces, including assorted mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles.

The Ukrainian-made pieces include various armored personnel carriers and armored cars, as well as several rare pieces, including a local upgrade of a Soviet-era T-72 tank, the AMT model. The exhibition also features a unique piece of hardware –  the infamous Azovets armored vehicle.

The contraption, a heavily uparmored T-64 tank lacking its gun turret with two smaller modules with autocannons and anti-tank missiles installed instead, was created by engineers linked to the neo-Nazi Azov regiment back in 2015 and advertised as the ultimate vehicle for urban warfare. However, the Azovets promptly triggered a scandal given the ballooning costs of the conversion, which reached $5 million, and questionable design. For instance, the vehicle ended up lacking any stock observation devices and instead relied on a system of door phone cameras instead. 

The controversial vehicle vanished without a trace in 2016, presumed to have been stolen by Azov members. This was likely the case, given that it was recently unearthed by the Russian military at a defunct base of the neo-Nazi unit near the city of Mariupol.

https://www.rt.com/russia/596848-moscow-trophy-armor-display/

 

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Secret Treasury advice. Neither frank nor fearless but dishonest and fearful

 

by Rex Patrick

 

Senior officials regularly give advice to Ministers and are paid very well to do so. But how frank and fearless is that advice when kept secret from the people it ultimately affects? Rex Patrick reports on cowardice within the public service executive ranks.

I remember my days as a young, adventurous, technically competent and sea-proven sailor travelling beneath the waves in an Oberon-class submarine. But looking back, I also remember how naïve I was to politics. If the defence minister said something, it was taken seriously and treated with respect – the demigod had decreed.

It wasn’t until decades later, when I had the great pleasure of serving South Australia in the Senate that I realised the extent of my naivety.

As a cross-bench senator with the balance of power, I spent a lot of time talking to ministers in their offices and in the chamber. Some of them were smart, some less so. In many cases, their only qualification for being placed in the job was loyalty to the leader or membership of a particular faction.

None of them were even close to a demigod.

Ministerial briefs and submissions

Most ministers, even the smart ones, know very little about their portfolios.

When first sworn in, they are handed their ‘Incoming Government Brief’, and their department spends day after day briefing them, getting them up to speed. As they progress through their time, they’re kept connected to the departmental teat, suckling on briefs that arrive in their office by way of the ministerial submissions, briefs and talking points.

Ministers, sometimes at the direction of Cabinet, propose policies, but it’s the department that constructs the policy and presents answers to the Minister to consider signing off on or taking to Cabinet. In some cases, the department can even veto an unworkable policy.

And it’s the department that guides them on a day-to-day basis through their journey.

Some departments completely capture their Ministers. The current Defence Minister, Richard Marles, is a good example. He’s moved in with the Department and is drunk on their Kool-aid.

https://michaelwest.com.au/secret-treasury-advice-neither-frank-nor-fearless-but-dishonest-and-fearfull/

 

SEE ALSO: https://michaelwest.com.au/marles-the-drunken-sailor-rex-patrick-exposes-defence-ministers-haste-on-defence-spending-waste/

 

 

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https://www.youtube.com/shorts/iobhGPtN8Y8

MAD MAX BATTLE TACTICS BY THE RUSSIAN ARMY...

 

 

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