The ratcheting up of tension and trade war talk in just a week is a reminder of how trigger happy the geopolitical situation in the Pacific has suddenly become.
With yesterdays announcement by Australia to purchase a fleet of British designed nuclear submarines with the sudden possibility of an immediate purchase of five Virginia-class submarines from the US.
For the West, the Australian nuclear submarines armed with hypersonic missiles presents a first strike capacity platform against mainland China that the Chinese will find utterly unacceptable.
This latter news means Hawks within China who will have argued for a strike against Taiwan before Australia gain this capacity (2040), should strike now before Australia buys the Virginia-class submarines from the US.
As those new calculations are considered in this Chess match between China and America, NZs SIS have outed a possible spy while Chippy was unambiguous that NZ would consider sanctions against China if China resources Russia as part of the Ukrainian war effort, a conflict that China now views as strategically import to back Russia in so as to sap American strength.
The threat of a trade war occurs as America prepares sanctions and the NZ State secretly discusses moving away from China economically to avoid them having any hold over us if they start a trade war.
On the heels of that, this morning the former US Ambassador says that the US should infill any drop in trade China threats us with.
The constant drum beat for war means we must consider our geopolitical position, and from that point of view, only the Māori Party have engaged meaningfully by suggesting neutrality…
“In 1987 Aotearoa declared that we were nuclear free. Te Pāti Māori now declares that Aotearoa must be militarily neutral, a Switzerland of the South Pacific” said Rawiri Waititi.
“We must asset our Rangatiratanga and Mana Māori Motuhake. In doing that, we must assert our own Foreign Policy and Military requirements. We will no longer have our sovereignty determined by others, whether it is in Canberra, London, Washington, Beijing or Moscow.
“We will no longer be a political football in the wars of imperial powers. We will no longer act as a Pacific spy base for the Five-Eyes Alliance”
…this is an intelligent proposal and alongside our independent foreign policy should be the bindings of a strong national identity.
Let’s be clear, not one of us wants to get tricked by America into fighting China.
We need to increase Military GDP spending to 3%. Interestingly Labour have quietly ratcheted GDP military spending from just over 1% to just under 2%.
I believe that the climate crisis means we need a vastly larger military to cope with civil disasters and if we are attempting to distance ourselves from China and America, we need to make a decision to dramatically lift what we spend on the military for purely defensive capacity.
How would we go about defending the realm of NZ and all our economic exclusive zone?
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Cue PRC Quislings en masse…
So smart arse, how’s our economy going to look if we go to war with China?
Pleased NATO didn’t share your mindset Nick re Russian invasion of Ukraine.
I don’t know who “America” is supposed to be but USA is sure ratcheting things up, just as they did over the past decade in Ukraine and Eastern Europe. As their economic hegemony wanes their military brinkmanship escalates.
The US electorate needs to put those neoCon warmongers like Blinken and Nuland out of office.
We could start by instituting the equivalent of the US “Second Amendment”, so at least we can defend ourselves from foreign invaders, regardless of the capabilities of our standing army.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
But I’m pretty sure that isn’t what you’re thinking here, ‘cos God forbid that we should be allowed to individually defend ourselves from oppression.
They definitely don’t want the peasants to have access to pitchforks. Er, for public safety. Yeah, right.
within a ‘well regulated militia?’ nitrium or the usual slow fat stupid US style militia?
BRING ON THE GRAVEY SEALS
Ok. We now know that four foreign banksters steal $180.00 a second from we, a neutered, de-unionised captive market.
We know that we were sold out to four Australian owned banks who are in turn now owned by american banksters.
Now lets find out why we ended up having to ‘trade’ with China which, as most of you know, gave rise to shitting, pissing cows chowing down on junk grass fertilised with artificial chemical fertilisers which spins our titties into a bundle because water pollution, soil pollution and air pollution.
Before Woody Harrelson came along to popularise sustainable agricultural practises in this excellent free to view documentary https://kissthegroundmovie.com/ our farmers WERE farming sustainably and then we’d ship our produce to the UK, Europe and the USA and the money returning from those markets built AO/NZ into an egalitarian first-world economy. But then, wait…? What happened? Well, greed happened. Power freaks in tight suits and small moustaches sniffed out the money and began a series of scams that now sees agriculture down trodden or corporate owned while our society, now deprived of the basic revenue to sustain all people homes, all people employed and all people feeling safe and secure in their lives.
The generation of swine who did that to us all, but specifically to our farmers, are still alive, more or less, and they need to be held accountable for their traitorous endeavours. Aye boys?
Put bluntly; politicians enabled privateers to steal farmer produce bound for Northern hemisphere markets, then once that produce was sold, they, the privateers, kept the money. To ensure that supply of money kept rolling out the farm gate producer boards were established headed up by corporate minions and with the introduction of SMP’s (supplementary minimum prices) farmers were guaranteed a minimum price for their produce to ensure the parasites never went without their fortunes while farmers barely survived.
Meanwhile, in GB, Germany, France, Holland etc they got bored with being rorted by our farmers parasites and established their own means of allowing their farmers to survive by providing subsidies to their farmers and it was at that point we we’re fucked. And now, today, we’re owned by China. They say jump and our farmers must now ask how high.
I’ve just had an analogy-flash ! Imagine a farmer who has a nice house, a nice car, a nice shed full of nice machinery and some nice animals scattered about? Imagine that?
Now, imagine some educated deviant coming by while the farmers were, say, so busy with what they were doing out in their fields to look up and see a back stabbing deviant coming by seeing an unlocked house and stuff and things so the deviant walks out with the nice house, the nice car, the nice shed and its contents and those nice animals then disappearing with the lot to sell to buy a Remuera Mansion. Imagine the farmer coming in from the fields to discover that all that he/she/they worked and earned were suddenly gone. What do they do? Nothing. Instead they go back into the fields and work seven days a week between sun up and sun down to get another nice house, a nice car, a nice shed full of nice machinery and some nice animals to scatter about until a deviant comes by again while the farmers are out in the field… you know the rest of the story.
Nine multi billionaires and four foreign owned retail banks later? We have a downward spiralling agrarian industry hated by almost everyone while everyone shoves food down their greedy, hypocritical gob holes and we owe billions to foreign owned banks leveraged against the false economy nuttiness of domestic house prices while nine kiwi-as billionaires suck on our withered titties while China and Russia threaten to go to war with the West. Here’s some free advice and I’m a farmer so of course you’ll expect stuff and things from us to be free.
Learn how to grow vegetables, buy chickens and a house cow if you’ve got the room for her.
RNZ
Green Party wants immediate action on bank profits
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018881050/green-party-wants-immediate-action-on-bank-profit
Get rid of useless fucking davidson and shaw and have Swarbrick as sole leader of The Green Party who would then go and woo the farmer.
Chloe? Go and get that farmer money. Go and take the farmer money off the deviant natzo’s.
People who make claims like NZ could be the Switzerland of the South Seas have no clue what independence means.
We could be neutral yes, but that is not the same.
Switzerland has an extremely well trained military, sophisticated weaponry, natural barriers to invasion, economic independence and resilience, a strong sense of identity and nationalism, unity, civil liberties and a long history of democracy and the ability to withstand any invasion including a system of redoubts.
In other words they have the wherewithal to be independent, it is not something one just naively proclaims just as the schoolyard bully is about to lay you out in the hope it might save your ass.
Scott C
Don’t say any more. We can’t handle so much truthful basic information at once. How about you put it in a cake and it bursts out half-cut with a cherry on its head.
Meanwhile I’ve just been reminded of a Dilbert cartoon where he holds a sign with large letters pointing the way to Unattended Piles of Money. Unfortunately it is right next to a cliff edge and all the zombie NZs are toppling over, both the rats and the fatcats from toppish management.
Unfortunately the artiste Scott Adams should stick to drawing and restrain his mouth. The everlasting mischievous polls have resulted in him saying something that is both stupid and racist at the same time. I think that even cutting edge cartoonists have to learn restraint to some extent as we all are biased in some way, so play it like lawn bowls and watch your bias so your bowl is prevented from speed wobbles.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/484893/dilbert-cartoon-dropped-after-racist-rant-bycreator-scott-adams
…Adams’ initial remarks came in response to a conservative Rasmussen Poll that appeared to show that 26 percent of Black respondents said they disagreed with the statement “It’s okay to be white.” Another 21 percent said they were not sure.
However, Rasmussen also said the online and phone survey last week of 1000 likely US voters showed that 72 percent of Americans overall agree it’s OK to be white, compared with 12 percent who disagree…
Great comments.
Which is why I think we AO/NZ’ers should cling to the UK and its well documented promises to us like synthetic fluff to a nylon frock on a nor west day.
Besides all that, we’ve already lost steerage of our country anyway as can be proven by the way the rapacious greed of the foreign banks and now nine multi billionaires own our arses and can go about parasitising us with complete impunity. What really got me was learning via RNZ that the four foreign bankster’s net profits for the last financials was $180.00 a second! That stat alone’s mind boggling.
Whether or not Australia gets Virginia submarines is irrelevant when it comes to China’s calculations concerning Taiwan. Those calculations are entirely dependent on China’s assessment of the reactions of the United States. Given that the United States has strongly indicated that it will come to Taiwan’s aid, not just in the supply of arms, but as an actual combatant, there is no chance that China will attempt an invasion of Taiwan. An invasion attempt would be defeated with massive loss of life of the Chinese invaders. Chinese strategists know the reality of that.
As for New Zealand becoming a neutral nation, this entirely ignores New Zealand’s relationship with Australia. A formal declaration of neutrality would end all preferences with Australia. New Zealand is the only nation whereby its nationals can go and permanently live in Australia, without needing to become formal immigrants. That right, which has been used by millions of New Zealanders, would be entirely lost if New Zealand became a neutral nation and thus abandoned any security obligations with Australia.
Te Parti Maori’s view on this is entirely fanciful. It will never be picked up by Labour, being the major party of the left. Neither will Labour ever bow to their minor coalition parties on this. The only way Aotearoa New Zealand becomes a neutral nation is for Te Parti Maori and the Greens to become the major components of a government of the left. That is not going to happen any time in the next thirty years. The ethos of our nation would have to change in quite a dramatic way before that could happen.
So when did war with China become a thing? Who is calling for it? Why now? Who is threatening whom?
Seems to me the sabre rattling is coming through the corporate media from the USA.
Be aware that while Switzerland is neutral, it is armed to the teeth. It has nuclear shelters for its entire population too. Neutrality sounds good but it is VERY expensive.
Be aware that while Switzerland is neutral, it is armed to the teeth. It has nuclear shelters for its entire population too. Neutrality sounds good but it is VERY expensive.
Anyone who trusts American promises is mentally retarded, and should be treated like their fellow dupes (Kurds, Juan Guaido).
‘former US ambassador’ Scott Brown is a serial sex pervert.
Who’s the guy in the image? Reminds me of the dead guy in Weekend at Bernies. Is that supposed to be a typical PMC NZ m.le?
The truth bursting half-cut out of a cake announces sternly ‘Don’t trifle with me!’ Sorry but laughter is so essential when the national armies start to paw the ground and snort and then send in killer drones as well. We have shut the mental hospitals and psychiatrists just treat the unhappy psychopaths and crims till they can stabilise them with pills and then say ‘Look how nice and quiet the lyin’ beast is’ – he/she will be fine. Also an idea you could watch Short Circuit on DVD while you park your brain for recharging.
pointless, whilst trade with china is our livelihood, trade with NZ is a winnet on the hair of chinas taint.
just like the UK and EU we’ll impose trade sanctions on ourselves….
HUZZAH