(Yes, September 30, 2018)
4 October 2018
By Catherine McGregor
Last week, Jacinda Ardern (click here) received rapturous acclaim for her address to the United Nations General Assembly. Ardern is an inspiring, authentic leader. I admire her. Her speech was both eloquent and expressed noble sentiments. It provided a stark contrast to the ramblings of the American Caligula who is presiding over the death throes of Pax Americana. Yet despite my regard for Ardern and my contempt for US President Donald Trump, her clarion call for collaboration and multilateralism is likely to fall on barren ground as the post-war liberal order she defended collapses with the decline of American capability and resolve....
Caligula was the third emperor of Rome. In his seven month of his reign he was stated to have gone insane, but, maintained his power. He humiliated the Roman Senate, made Senators kiss his feet, etc., etc. In this context, Caligula is Trump and when understanding that breadth of that, it is mostly true.
Jacinda Arden at UN (click here)
Guardian record Prime Minister Jacinda Arden (click here) - Most notably she froze New Zealand's Prime Minister (Yes, she is the Prime Minister) pay to address the divide between rich and poor. She really is very genuine. If she is worried for New Zealand there is a solid reason why.
Jacinda Arden at UN (click here)
Guardian record Prime Minister Jacinda Arden (click here) - Most notably she froze New Zealand's Prime Minister (Yes, she is the Prime Minister) pay to address the divide between rich and poor. She really is very genuine. If she is worried for New Zealand there is a solid reason why.
...But it was a speech that only a New Zealand prime minister could give. She spoke for a harmonious nation blessed with benign strategic geography, social harmony and prosperity. As David Lange once quipped, New Zealand is “a dagger pointed at the heart of Antarctica”. Even as Australia entered peak torpor with a long weekend and football finals in our most populous states, there were disconcerting reminders that we inhabit an unstable region....
...Likewise, when some racist ratbag demands a ban on Muslim immigration, ask yourself how you would feel as a patriotic Indonesian soldier or intelligence officer risking your life to contain the global jihad if your allies regard you as sub-human?
The Muslim nations in the world defeated Daesh. They have had enough of patronizing notions such as those of Trump.
Even more alarming was the near collision in the South China Sea between a Chinese destroyer and the USS Decatur near the disputed Gaven Reefs. There has little been manifestation of Ardern’s optimism in our immediate region, since China’s promulgation of its preposterous Nine-Dash Line over parts of the South China Sea. That claim derives no legitimacy from either history or international law. However, I have always believed that China’s militarisation of the reefs and atolls in that region was designed to acquire strategic space to deny the United States maritime access to the Chinese mainland.
The allies need to start speaking loudly and clearly about how they have stood by the USA in Afghanistan and how they expect USA POLICY that is loyal to those values. New Zealand is reacting to the fact they put so much faith in the USA and now there is TRUMP and are unable to grow their own national defense in the face of abandonment by their much valued and endeared ally.
The People's Liberation Army was humiliated and shocked at its inability to locate the US naval carrier groups that sailed into the Taiwan Straits during the crisis of 1996. Ever since then, their military force structure and strategy have been fused under the rubric of anti-access area denial. Their aim is to achieve freedom of action to recover the wayward province of Taiwan, by a cross straits invasion. Until recently, I harboured the view that this was decades away. Recent Chinese behaviour suggests they are committed to dominating the sea lanes through which most of our trade passes in the near future. They appear indifferent to the risk of war, though the ground reality in the South China Sea is such that there is nothing left to fight over.
The allies also need to learn to speak the words INCOMPETENT when speaking about Trump and his administration. Abandonment of allies is no small matter and Trump is headed for isolationism to create a false sense of security within the USA borders.
"The Nine Dash Line and it's Basis in International Law" (click here)
As this crisis intensifies, we have learnt that our expensive submarine program is beset by problems. Our 2016 Defence White Paper belatedly recognised that the era of expeditionary land force operations by niche forces was over and that we urgently needed to configure the Australian Defence Force to fight a conventional adversary in the littoral approaches to our continent. Yet our most potent maritime strike platforms are nowhere near operational capability....
If the Kiwis want to argue how best within their country can lead a sovereign military that is capable of national security, that is up to them. But, I caution them to put a politician in charge so much as educating the public to their best outcomes. I trust the population to understand and make decisions. Their sovereign treasury and economy are intricate parts of these major decisions and the people will understand the future and what that might hold. I will say this, the Kiwis are very capable of understanding the Climate Crisis and to protect from it. I have confidence in their ability to wade into complex issues such as national security as well.
...Few Australians remember the last existential threat to our sovereignty. The Second World War ensued the last time two totalitarian quasi-capitalist rising powers challenged the global order. Those preconditions exist again today. We are sleepwalking into an era of unprecedented danger with a legacy force configured to contribute small force packages to the United States in hybrid wars. Neither our major ally nor our own forces are ready for the most dangerous threat to our security since the bombing of Darwin. I admire Jacinda Ardern, But Thucydides understood international security better than she. “The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must”.
...Likewise, when some racist ratbag demands a ban on Muslim immigration, ask yourself how you would feel as a patriotic Indonesian soldier or intelligence officer risking your life to contain the global jihad if your allies regard you as sub-human?The Muslim nations in the world defeated Daesh. They have had enough of patronizing notions such as those of Trump.
Even more alarming was the near collision in the South China Sea between a Chinese destroyer and the USS Decatur near the disputed Gaven Reefs. There has little been manifestation of Ardern’s optimism in our immediate region, since China’s promulgation of its preposterous Nine-Dash Line over parts of the South China Sea. That claim derives no legitimacy from either history or international law. However, I have always believed that China’s militarisation of the reefs and atolls in that region was designed to acquire strategic space to deny the United States maritime access to the Chinese mainland.
The allies need to start speaking loudly and clearly about how they have stood by the USA in Afghanistan and how they expect USA POLICY that is loyal to those values. New Zealand is reacting to the fact they put so much faith in the USA and now there is TRUMP and are unable to grow their own national defense in the face of abandonment by their much valued and endeared ally.
The People's Liberation Army was humiliated and shocked at its inability to locate the US naval carrier groups that sailed into the Taiwan Straits during the crisis of 1996. Ever since then, their military force structure and strategy have been fused under the rubric of anti-access area denial. Their aim is to achieve freedom of action to recover the wayward province of Taiwan, by a cross straits invasion. Until recently, I harboured the view that this was decades away. Recent Chinese behaviour suggests they are committed to dominating the sea lanes through which most of our trade passes in the near future. They appear indifferent to the risk of war, though the ground reality in the South China Sea is such that there is nothing left to fight over.
The allies also need to learn to speak the words INCOMPETENT when speaking about Trump and his administration. Abandonment of allies is no small matter and Trump is headed for isolationism to create a false sense of security within the USA borders.
"The Nine Dash Line and it's Basis in International Law" (click here)
If the Kiwis want to argue how best within their country can lead a sovereign military that is capable of national security, that is up to them. But, I caution them to put a politician in charge so much as educating the public to their best outcomes. I trust the population to understand and make decisions. Their sovereign treasury and economy are intricate parts of these major decisions and the people will understand the future and what that might hold. I will say this, the Kiwis are very capable of understanding the Climate Crisis and to protect from it. I have confidence in their ability to wade into complex issues such as national security as well.
...Few Australians remember the last existential threat to our sovereignty. The Second World War ensued the last time two totalitarian quasi-capitalist rising powers challenged the global order. Those preconditions exist again today. We are sleepwalking into an era of unprecedented danger with a legacy force configured to contribute small force packages to the United States in hybrid wars. Neither our major ally nor our own forces are ready for the most dangerous threat to our security since the bombing of Darwin. I admire Jacinda Ardern, But Thucydides understood international security better than she. “The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must”.
