Show Notes
Some reflections on vital infrastructure prompted by a journey on a high speed train from Luang Prabang in Laos to Kunming in Southern China.The part of the railway in Laos took a mere 5 years to build through some of the most difficult terrain imaginable. Around 60% of the line runs through tunnels. How is it that Laos - one of the poorest countries in Asia - can build infrastructure but Australia struggles. At least we will now have a Parliamentary inquiry into national resilience.
We have a look at the strange episode where Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy said that the deployment of USN Virginia class submarines to HMAS Stirling would end in 2032. Since then the government has walked that back - but what was it all about? Did Australia just try to blackmail the US? Finally some thoughts on US military technology, which looks like it is veering in some very strange directions. However, our sycophants in Canberra refuse to acknowledge that something alarming is unfolding. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from Asia Pacific Defence Reporter
Australian politicians and Defence planners - please note that the US betrayal of Ukraine is worsening. On top of an illegal decision to purchase Russian diesel fuel, other sanctions have been lifted and the absolutely vital Star Shield military grade internet service to Ukraine was curtailed. During that time, launches of Russian ballistic missiles went undetected, resulting in civilian deaths - and the outrage in the US has been so strong that Donald Trump and Elon Musk are now blaming each other.
We start with the latest ongoing US betrayal of Ukraine - and it's a shocker. Following a 90 minute phone call with his best friend Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump has announced that the US will now buy diesel fuel from Russia. This is a total breach of western sanctions and not only stabs Ukraine in the back but also undercuts support for Ukraine. The consequences could be profound and demonstrate again that the Trump administration will break any alliance agreements whenever it suits them.
We start with some words about delayed flights in Australia and how this is a metaphor for obscure Defence decision-making, especially on subjects like AUKUS. Nuclear-powered submarines are great for travelling long distances at high speed underwater but there has never been any analysis of how this benefits Australia - particularly for the gigantic amounts of money involved.
A lot has been happening on the international scene with Australia's PM Anthony Albanese at the United Nations in New York partly to lobby for one of the rotating seats on the Security Council. It's not clear how much support Australia will receive since we are in the process of converting ourselves into one giant US military base.
We begin with another Defence procurement farce. Two years ago Defence abandoned a project called JP 9102 for geostationary military communications satellites with Minister Richard Marles explaining that they were too vulnerable and of insufficient capability. In an extraordinary development, Defence has just issued a tender for a satellite very similar to the one they cancelled. The problem is that we have missed at least 3 years acquiring a vital capability - and Australian industry lost more than $300 million because of the ineptitude of Defence.