There is no better day than ANZAC Day, when we remember our soldiers who died in war, to talk about military threats and America’s endless wars in pursuit of “full spectrum dominance” of the plant Earth. The US – a waning imperial power – still wants to control the planet politically and economically while using its vast military power to enforce its will.
Their latest plans are to spread their conflict with China to the Pacific with an aggressive new alliance – AUKUS – bringing Australia alongside the UK in a massive military plan to “contain China”. There are plenty of reasons for us to be wary of China and its human rights abuses in places like Tibet and Hong Kong but many more reasons to be wary of the US with its appalling record of overturning democratically elected governments which cross its path and unleashing murder and mayhem on countries across the globe – almost always with brown-eyed citizens – which dare to follow their own path.
I have pointed out previously that the US will right now be working hard to undermine and overturn the democratically elected Solomon Islands government as it tries to drive China to the margins of the Pacific.
I’m not aware China has any military bases outside its borders while the US has several dozen massive bases around the globe and is striving to increase these right to China’s borders. The US would never accept any other country However in the process the US has lost the support of most of the world with emerging economies turning their backs on the schoolyard-bully regime.
It’s fine for Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand to say we agree with a “rules-based international order”. But such an order must be based on international law, international treaties, the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court and United Nations resolutions. Unfortunately the US doesn’t go along with any of those so that in effect we are talking about an international order dictated by the US and its global, and regional, priorities. This is no place for Aotearoa New Zealand.
We need a genuinely independent foreign policy which has respectful relations with both the US and China but which is prepared to call either of them out when we disagree. Such a policy demands respect – the alternative is obsequiousness. One of the most unfortunate aspects of the current government is that it has allowed us to be dragged back closer into the US orbit than at any time in the last 40 years. We now have the awful sight of our current PM following in Ardern’s footsteps to attend another NATO leaders meeting in July.
It is any wonder the rest of the world looks on NATO as the white thugs club?
Aotearoa New Zealand should have nothing to do with US plans to isolate China. We were not invited to be part of the first version of AUKUS because of our anti-nuclear policies but there are plenty of bureaucrats, commentators and one-dimensional politicians (National’s Mark Mitchell comes to mind) who are pushing hard for us to join a second-tier AUKUS which shares intelligence with AUKUS states. This is simply anti-China posturing because our GCSB (Government Communications Security Bureau) already provides intelligence to America’s National Security Agency through the five-eyes agreement. (This is an agreement between spy organisations in the US, UK, Australia. Canada and Aotearoa New Zealand)
We should say no to AUKUS at any level and withdraw from the five-eyes agreement. There are more important, safer and principled things we should be doing than playing poodle to the US.
Australia unfortunately seems to have no such qualms. It is incredibly brainless and dangerous for Australia to sign up to a massive arms race in the Pacific driven by US paranoia and Quixotic dreams of ruling the world. It will be a boon for the US arms industry but will make the Pacific a much more dangerous place.
We can only hope a people’s movement develops in Australia to sink AUKUS – for the sake of all who call the Pacific home.
“I’m not aware China has any military bases outside its borders….” John Minto
Unfortunately the Chinese imperialists are just as expansionist as the US.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Liberation_Army_Support_Base_in_Djibouti
Pat+O’Dea The horn of Africa is about to experience a revolutionary change and finally release itself from the shackles of European imperialism that has plagued their country’s for centuries. General Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Burhan is a CIA puppet and is about to be ousted by Hemiti head of the RSF who the Russian and the Sudanese people favor.
When these African countries unite (Ethiopia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Somalia, South Sudan) its bye bye USA and its NATO allies. However Egypt is still under the thumb of the zionist but that will likely change with peace breaking out in the M.E thanks to Russia and China.
I find it difficult conflating China as an imperialist power to the USA and its european counterparts, when China ambitions are more economical than imperialist. And Wikipedia isn’t the greatest source of information even they admit to this.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_is_not_a_reliable_source#:~:text=Wikipedia%20is%20not%20a%20reliable%20source%20for%20citations%20elsewhere%20on,in%20progress%2C%20or%20simply%20incorrect.
Jingoistic pro-war, pro-imperialist propagandists, on both sides, are lining up behind their chosen imperialist bloc, in preparation for another bloody imperialist slaughter to redivide the world.
“General Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Burhan is a CIA puppet and is about to be ousted by Hemiti head of the RSF who the Russian and the Sudanese people favor.” Stephen
Why do you think the Russian imperialists have their bloody fingers in this dispute?
And you think this is a good thing?
Russia is just as bloody and expansionist as any other capitalist colonial power operating in Africa.
https://sofrep.com/news/russian-military-expands-in-africa-by-building-bases-in-six-countries/
“I find it difficult conflating China as an imperialist power to the USA and its european counterparts, when China ambitions are more economical than imperialist.” Stephan
I think the difficulty you are experiencing in your understanding of this link, is that imperialism springs from economics.
All capitalist economies must expand. It’s either growth or recession. But as the environmentalists say, infinite expansion on a finite planet is impossible.
Sooner or later any expanding capitalist economy will run up against the holding limits of the planet, or its economic rivals. The first leads to biosphere collapse, the second leads to war.
Since the birth of capitalism in Britain and the industrial revolution, British imperialism was able to expand across the face of the globe. At its peak the British Empire controlled almost a quarter of the world’s surface and almost a billion people.
The world is a pretty big place, later developing capitalist economies in America and France could also expand their colonial empires without directly coming into conflict with each other.
Not so for the late comers capitalist economies Germany, Italy and Japan. These rising capitalist economic powers found they couldn’t expand as the world was already divided up. Their only resort was war.
This WWI and WWII prewar pattern, is being repeated today. China and Russia have replaced Germany and Japan as the rising capitalist economic powers whose expansion is being constrained by the existing imperialist powers. Aggression against the existing powers is not just probable it has started, and can only get worse until the whole world is engulfed in war.
Rather than picking sides, New Zealand needs to pull away from all military ties with any imperialist bloc.
Pat+Odea,”Russia is just as bloody and expansionist as any other capitalist colonial power operating in Africa.”
The implication that Russia is on par with other imperialist european counterparts historically and contemporary and the US is utterly false. The Russians have a more amicable relationship with the africans and are more favoured in that region of the world than their predecessors.
During the cold war period the US and its european NATO allies brutally suppressed progressive socialist govt that wanted to decolonise from european exceptionalism that has plagued their continent for centuries. Communist Russia was in favour of supporting african nations in lifting this oppressive plague once and for all.
The Soviet Union established a multifaceted partnership with countries like Mali after it gained independence in 1960. In 1961, the two countries signed trade, economic and cultural cooperation agreements, allowing Mali to reduce its dependency on France. It also built infrastructure, such as a cement factory and gold mining enterprise, to aid Mali’s industrial development.
Keita’s regime in Mali was overthrown in 1968, with power taken by a government that improved relations with France. However, Mali continued to receive military aid from the Soviet Union, such as pilot training as well as artillery and parachute training. This relationship represents the basis for Russia’s involvement in Mali to this day.
The Soviet Union also engaged in a partnership with Guinea. After independence from France in 1958, Guinea became the first former French colony in West Africa to refuse membership in the French community and opt for full independence instead. This move led France to withdraw support.
Guinea’s leader Sekou Touré rejected the United States as an ally and courted the Soviet Union instead. Guinea received arms and equipment as well as military training and economic assistance. The Soviet Union also provided millions of dollars in aid to Guinea, supporting its industry and constructing cement and leather mills.
As for China imperialist pursuit doesn’t have the same historical baggage as their european counterpart and less invasive and the writer of the article you’ve posted use to work for the US military special forces in AFRICOM as an NCO so his articles are bias to say the least.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-cold-war-comes-to-africa-as-guinea-gains-its-independence
Earth to Stephen, Comrade Putin’s rapacious capitalist Russian Federation is not the 21st Century socialist home world.
Pat+Odea, “Earth to Stephen, Comrade Putin’s rapacious capitalist Russian Federation is not the 21st Century socialist home world.”
Using ad hominem isn’t a smart argument that you seem to revert to when your narrative get challenged for instance calling academics like John Mearsheimer a russian puppet when he’s a distinguished professor.
Russia’s engagement with African countries is not new. Backed by its ideological commitment to decolonisation, Russia’s communist predecessor, the Soviet Union, established partnerships with African countries soon after they claimed independence. Its involvement was driven by a mixture of ideological commitment, pragmatic economic interests, and the need to build alliances in the Cold War.
The newly independent African countries desperately needed to find economic partners other than their former colonial powers to help them build their economies and survive in the long term. Several ultimately became theatres for protracted Cold War proxy wars, such as the Ethio-Somali war (1977 to 1978) and the Angolan civil war (1975 to 2002).
The Soviet Union engaged with many regimes across the continent, including Modibo Keita in Mali and Sekou Touré in Guinea. It provided support across a variety of fields, ranging from industrial to military assistance.
Backed by its ideological commitment to decolonisation, Russia’s communist predecessor, the Soviet Union, established partnerships with African countries soon after they claimed independence.
The Soviet Union established a multifaceted partnership with Mali after the country gained independence in 1960. In 1961, the two countries signed trade, economic and cultural cooperation agreements, allowing Mali to reduce its dependency on France. It also built infrastructure, such as a cement factory and gold mining enterprise, to aid Mali’s industrial development. Keita’s regime in Mali was overthrown in 1968, with power taken by a government that improved relations with France. However, Mali continued to receive military aid from the Soviet Union, such as pilot training as well as artillery and parachute training. This relationship represents the basis for Russia’s involvement in Mali to this day.
The Soviet Union also engaged in a partnership with Guinea. After independence from France in 1958, Guinea became the first former French colony in West Africa to refuse membership in the French community and opt for full independence instead. This move led France to withdraw support. Guinea’s leader Sekou Touré rejected the United States as an ally and courted the Soviet Union instead. Guinea received arms and equipment as well as military training and economic assistance. The Soviet Union also provided millions of dollars in aid to Guinea, supporting its industry and constructing cement and leather mills. The West African country’s relation with the Soviet Union fluctuated over the years: from rapprochement with the United States during the Kennedy administration to allowing the Soviets to use its airfields during the Angolan war.
However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation faced a decade-long social and economic crisis. Its commitments in Africa became marginal, though the legacy of ties remained.
Re-entering the African stage
Russia’s interest in Africa was reignited following the oil boom of the first decade of the 21st century. Buoyed by newfound economic strength, Russia set out to establish a multipolar world in which it could have a pivotal role. Since then, Russia has expanded its partnerships on the continent. In 2008, President Vladimir Putin visited Libya, a country which previously enjoyed close ties with the Soviet Union. Putin went to discuss energy and arms sales and cleared billions of dollars in Libyan Soviet-era debt. Then, in 2009, recently elected President Dmitry Medvedev embarked on a four-day trip to Africa, visiting countries such as Egypt, Nigeria, Namibia, and Angola, accompanied by a 400-strong business delegation, including heads of key Russian companies such as Gazprom. The trip focused on energy and mineral exploration as well as the sale of Russian technology.
Hoping to reset the US-Russia relationship as well as increase its influence in Africa, Medvedev’s Russia abstained from a vote in the UN Security Council in 2011, enabling a US-led NATO intervention in Libya. The Russian president took this decision despite security officials warning him about its potential to extend US hegemony and then Prime Minister Putin decrying a possible rise in extremist movements in case of a NATO intervention.
Enabling NATO’s intervention proved disastrous for Russia. Not only did the intervention contribute to regime change and Libya’s destabilisation, but it jeopardised 6.5 billion dollars worth of signed or verbally promised contracts for Russian energy companies. Instead of resetting US-Russia relations, the intervention made Putin, who would soon regain the presidency, more distrustful of the West. After the killing of Gaddafi, Putin flatly denied there was a US-Russia alliance at the time, stating: “I sometimes feel that America does not need allies. It needs vassals.”
NATO’s intervention heightened Putin’s sense of vulnerability. If a leader like Gaddafi, who accepted Western terms, was nevertheless brutally removed from power, who could guarantee that this would not happen in other places, including Russia?
Western sanctions enacted following Russia’s occupation of Crimea and wider intervention in Ukraine since 2014 led Russia to redouble its efforts in Africa. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has made several trips to the continent over the past few years. Russia has rekindled relations with former allies, such as Guinea and Mali, and entered a new partnership with the Central African Republic (CAR).
Russia re-entered the stage at a time of growing discontent. France, in particular, is seen as continuing a policy of imperialism in West Africa through conditional support and profitable business deals. Increasing numbers also felt disillusioned with China’s offer of an alternative, as it indebted African partners with its loans while conducting its projects with Chinese workers and experts. This disappointment has led countries such as Ghana to cancel Chinese-led initiatives. Russia’s re-engagement also coincided with US disengagement from the region under Donald Trump, whose priorities were Iran, China, and American isolationism.
African countries’ rapprochement with Russia might also be aided by the legacy of the Soviet Union’s involvement. Support in a time of dire need created a lasting reservoir of goodwill towards its successor. Having suffered exclusion from the international market and Western-imposed sanctions, some African countries might be more sympathetic to Russia’s current situation. Russia avoids taking any moralising stance, as opposed to both its Western counterparts and its predecessor the Soviet Union. It traded ideology for interests to engage with regimes questioned by Western powers, such as Mali, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and CAR.
Military collaboration: the complicated case of Mali
Russia has already been able to reap the benefits of some of its re-engagement. Since 2015, Russia has signed military agreements with more than 20 African countries, with cooperation ranging from counterterrorism and peacekeeping to weapons sales.
Russia is currently Africa’s main arms supplier, accounting for around 39 per cent of the continent’s defence imports between 2009 and 2018. The two main clients are Algeria and Egypt. These ties date back to the Cold War, but military relations continue to be attractive because Russian arms are sophisticated, reliable, and often less expensive than those supplied by Western countries.
Several countries, such as Mali and Mauritania, have asked for Russian support in combating terrorist groups, such as the Islamic State (ISIS), Ansaroul Islam, and Boko Haram. In Mali, Russia has deployed Russian trainers on the ground to enhance the security forces’ operational capacity. In 2021, it also provided Mali with four helicopters, weapons, and ammunition.
The EU and US ended their military training in Mali after the 2020 coup, which deposed the democratically elected president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. In 2021, Mali experienced a second coup, ousting its allegedly French sympathising transitional president. In response, France announced the withdrawal of its 2400 troops in February 2022. Several hundred European ones will withdraw from Mali over the next four to six months. Russia’s place will likely become even more important as a result. In March 2022, reports emerged of atrocities committed by Russian mercenaries fighting alongside the Malian army. The Malian government has denied the presence of mercenaries, stating that they are only bringing in official Russian trainers. Similarly, the Kremlin has also rejected any link with the mercenaries and emphasised that private military initiatives were not of concern to Russia’s official business.
With the rise of violent extremist movements across West Africa, the untimely withdrawal of European support could lead to a complete destabilisation of the region. As French President Emmanuel Macron emphasised, “al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have made the Sahel region of West Africa and the Gulf of Guinea nations a priority for their strategy of expansion.”
Russia is currently Africa’s main arms supplier, accounting for around 39 per cent of the continent’s defence imports between 2009 and 2018.
In a semi-desertic region of the world, where borders are porous, states are weak, and resources are limited, climate change is further driving the dynamics of conflict. An upsurge in extremist groups would be extremely difficult to rein in and the consequences would be disastrous and global: not only would extremist groups have a new geographic base from which to plot attacks around the world but it could also lead to mass displacement of people.
Russia’s involvement in Mali could help maintain some stability in the region but it would be on its terms. Western powers such as France and the US, are particularly concerned about the involvement of mercenary Russian organisations, such as the Wagner Group, which has close ties to the Kremlin. Some analysts believe that the Wagner Group is “a proxy organisation of the Russian state rather than a private company selling services on the open market,” providing a force that is “cheaper, less accountable, and often more capable than regular armies.”
The first identification of the Wagner Group was during the 2014 conflict in Ukraine when its mercenaries backed pro-Russian separatist forces in eastern Ukraine. The Wagner Group is also reportedly active in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Their numbers are likely to increase as they are trying to recruit soldiers into their ranks. Troops from countries such as the Central African Republic have expressed their interest in fighting in Ukraine.
Organisations like the Wagner Group are tools for state influence. Deployed under the cover of plausible deniability, they enable arms trafficking networks and hide casualties from the Russian side. This aspect of Russia’s presence sets a dangerous precedent for interventions in other parts of the world.
The resource scramble for the green transition
Apart from military collaboration, Russia has also started working with African countries on extracting key natural resources. As the race for metals and rare earth needed for the green transition speeds up, they are competing with Western and Chinese interests on the continent.
In Guinea, Russian aluminium company Rusal owns the Kindia Bauxite Company which accounts for a third of Rusal’s bauxite output, as well as two other companies that mine bauxite and refine it into aluminium. Aluminium is essential for aircraft and spacecraft components, as well as power lines and many other applications.
Although Guinea has a mining code that requires mining companies to pay taxes and protect the environment and the communities around their mines, these rules are relaxed where favoured partners are concerned. Many Russian companies are exempt from paying land taxes and salaries and even enjoy the renewal of long-term contracts.
Russia is also expanding its lithium investments in Africa. Lithium is essential for the shift to e-mobility: there will be around 18 times more lithium required by 2030 and up to 60 times more by 2050. Electric vehicles and energy storage solutions could potentially increase demand by almost 500 per cent by 2050. African countries such as Zimbabwe and the DRC are among the countries with the greatest lithium reserves. Rosatom, the Russian state nuclear energy company, aims to control 3 per cent of the world lithium market by 2025 and 10 per cent by 2050, partly by tapping into these African resources.
Europe’s “partnership of equals”
For a long time, Europe considered Africa its “backyard”, which is arguably similar to Russia’s view of Ukraine and the other former Soviet states. The Treaty of Rome in 1957 gave African colonies association status, thus setting the stage for the EU’s structured involvement on the continent. Today, China and Russia’s expanding footprint in Africa is generating “deep nervousness” in European countries, particularly as the EU seeks to establish itself as a global actor.
As a result, Africa has returned as a cornerstone of Ursula von der Leyen’s European Commission. In 2019, one week after assuming office, von der Leyen emphasised the EU’s commitment to building a “partnership of equals”. This contrasts with the Juncker Commission, which viewed EU-Africa relations largely through the lens of the EU migration crisis. Its hope was that financial support, job opportunities, and economic growth would slow the rate of migration from Africa into Europe.
This strategic shift is most recently reflected in the joint vision for a renewed partnership by 2030 between EU and African leaders, developed during the February 2022 Brussels summit. Economic development was at the crux of the summit’s Joint Declaration. An Africa-Europe Investment Package of at least 150 billion euros will focus on investment, health, and education.
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Some of the identified priority areas for investment include the green transition and digital transformation as well as decent job creation and transport facilitation. The declaration also announced a “renewed and enhanced cooperation for peace and security,” focusing on combating instability, violent extremism, and terrorism, among other aspects. The declaration, however, made no reference to security collaboration in tackling several controversial political issues: such as a long-term resolution to the civil war in Ethiopia; military coups in countries such as Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea; or the diplomatic tension between France and Mali.
Some African leaders have met the reset of the EU-Africa relationship with scepticism. EU affairs expert Shada Islam argues that, historically, the EU-Africa relationship has been marked by “an imbalanced donor/recipient relationship, with African governments seeking access to EU trade and aid preferences, while European leaders have cultivated privileged ties with African elites and ignored the needs of the continent’s younger generation.”
African countries have also complained about the conditionalities imposed by the EU’s African policies. In 2020, the European Parliament voted to make development aid conditional on cooperation with the EU on migration management – far from an announced partnership of equals.
The two continents’ relationship is complicated by their shared colonial past. Many of the European countries responsible for colonialism, such as France and Germany, have yet to reckon with the destruction their actions caused. France especially is still accused of excessive involvement in the politics and economies of its former colonies.
To succeed in this new partnership, the EU needs to distinguish itself as an actor apart from its individual member states as well as fundamentally leave its own paternalism behind. One way to do so would be to acknowledge the heavy damage done by colonialism and encourage its member states to adequately tackle their legacies. Another concrete option through which the EU could recognise this damage would be by leading the calls to cancel Africa’s debt, which is an enduring part of colonisation.
Cancelling the debt would represent the basis of a truly equal partnership. Debt cancellation could be coupled with green development aid in the form of grants, rather than loans, to support green transition and climate adaptations, seeing as African countries are disproportionately vulnerable to climate change.
In the meantime, many African countries abstained in the United Nations vote condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, pointing towards a mix of allegiance and dependence. These countries included Mali, Namibia, and CAR. Their vote signals a willingness to continue and potentially expand their partnership with Russia, a country which offers them an alternative to Western and Chinese influences.
The long-run consequences of the Western sanctions are yet to play out. They could well further push the recalibration of the world order. As the EU tries to reset its partnerships in Africa, Russia will likely continue to expand its influence too.
The youtube video that you chose is another attempt to impose and reflects your narrative. I’m not suggesting that Russia or China are saints but I merely point to the facts that they’re more palatable to africans aspirations then the colonial despots that have ravaged their continent for centuries.
I’m sorry I lost count of the times you wrote “The Soviet Union….”
The Soviet Union no longer exists. Brought down in a popular revolt by the people of Warsaw Bloc countries in 1991. Most importantly of all to the dismay of all old tankies like yourself who saw the Soviet Union as some sort of socialist paradise, the Soviet Union was ultimately brought down by the Russian people themselves.
Russia today is a neo-liberal capitalist kleptocratic dictatorship ruled by a criminal gang of neoliberal oligarchs and ex Soviet Siloviki thugs like Putin. The modern Russian Federation is thoroughly capitalist and like all capitalist countries thoroughly imperialist.
You haven’t even read my fucken comment in it entirety which basically means that you’re wasting my time.
“The Russians have a more amicable relationship with the africans and are more favoured in that region of the world than their predecessors.”
Interesting how you use lower case first letter for Africans, while Russians get an upper case. A typo? Maybe.
Or is it a subconscious bias for a people you regard as colonial subjects?
What’s more interesting is that the Russian imperialists in Sudan, by backing one local warlord against his rival, are taking a leaf straight out of the textbook of how the British conquered India and other colonies, by arming and supporting a local despot or warlord in a partnership to oppress and rob the local population.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBx9SkjBITI&ab_channel=DemocracyNow%21
Democracy Now, has its bias, like the other link that you posted of the NCO special forces to reflect your worldview. Amy Goodman reporting especially about Russia need to be heavily scrutinized. Her assumptions of Russia and there intervention in Syria sprouting false narrative for instance that Assad has been using chemical weapons on his own people which is a proven lie and has been debunked by one of her previous employees “Aaron Mate” who now works for another independent media Greyzone. He even went before the UNSC and reported the false allegation coverup by the OPCW. He sat next to a Russian UN representatives diplomat Vasily Nebenzya
while he was giving evidence, I suppose he’s a Russian puppet like John Meisenheimer?? Russia or China aren’t angels but in comparison to the US and it european counterpart they don’t even come close.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKD10eUDsCU
“General Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Burhan is a CIA puppet and is about to be ousted by Hemiti head of the RSF who the Russian and the Sudanese people favor.” Stephen
Neither of these warring generals are favoured by the Sudanese people.
For a good and balanced reporting on the events in Sudan you couldn’t beat “Democracy Now” With Amy Goodman.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBx9SkjBITI&ab_channel=DemocracyNow%21
Russia under Putin the appalling beast.
Silly Pat but you have to catch Minto out, to suggest they are as expansionist as the US is totally nuts.
China has about eight foreign military bases — one in Djibouti and some on human-made islands in the South China Sea.
China may have few offshore bases because they are just starting to acquire them – the US at one point had very little also.
Is the objective of the Americans expansionistic?
I thought it was about protecting liberty.
O’ Dea he’s at it again? So China has One Base outside of it, but it doesn’t have 800 Bases like America does Pat! Whose threatening who!
“China has One Base outside of it, but it doesn’t have 800 Bases like America does” Antforce62
How many military outposts and colonies one imperialist power has is not a measure of its intent only a measure of its success!
Antforce asks: “Whose threatening who!”
Nazi Germany had zero bases and colonies outside its territory. That’s the point. They had none. They wanted them.
Prior to WWII, as well as military bases and colonies all around the globe, the British Empire had 300 thousand troops of its Expeditionary Force stationed in Europe. . The purpose of the combined Franco/Anglo forces stationed in Europe was to contain German imperialist expansion. With the launch of the German Blitzkrieg, (Lightning War), the British Expeditionary Force barely made it out of France, at Dunkirk.
History records, (rightly) that Germany was the aggressor.
History will record that Russia is the aggressor in Ukraine. Just as history will record that China was the aggressor if China invades Taiwan.
These are wars of choice, by imperialist wannabees.
If we really want peace we must oppose imperialist aggression where ever it breaks out, whoever is the aggressor.
Well said, John.
There are almost 800 publicly discoverable offshore US bases and military facilities, mostly butting up against their imperialist rivals territories. China has barely half a dozen.
AO/NZ participation in AUKUS has to be resisted, Andrew Little has shown himself to be a “very very very good friend” of the Americans through the TPPA/CPTTP, despite Trump’s slap down of any trade deal. Labour Ministers are as apt as the tory ones to suck up to yanks once they get their security briefings in the wood panelled offices and a few spooks visit in small jet planes.
Martyn – Fully agree…another way of looking at it is look at how the USA treats their veterans…not well
neihana are you hung ova? Its John not Matyn
Tipene – Thanks
I sit on the other end of the political spectrum than you Mr Minto but on this we are in complete agreement. Australia has become a vassal state of the US. I disagree regarding your comment on the 5 Eyes agreement – this is hugely important for our regional security, particularly with the organised crime networks and cartels becoming ever more prevalent in the Pacific but in terms of foreign policy, time for NZ to forge it’s own path independent of US influence.
You mean spying on our mates.
Come on!
Sī vīs pācem, parā bellum
If you want peace, prepare for war
Put your tinfoil hat on Andrew and hopefully you’re the first person in line with battle gear ready to show NZers how to die bravely?
Agreed Andrew and of course so did the Ukrainians otherwise they would be under Russian occupation once again.
There are people on this site who would cherish being under Russian occupation.
Bob the last, Russia doesn’t occupy anyone country but Ukraine which one could rightfully argue that it use to be part of Russia when the mongolian hordes evaded Kiev rus in the mid 13th century.
Unlike like the fascist americans that you venerate occupying the oil and wheat fields of Syria among others.
Stephen,
How long did you live in Eastern Europe before the collapse of the Berlin Wall?
How long did you live in the USA?
and you’d be happy bob the last, no poofters, no trans, long prison terms in very nasty places, a unified state ideology, untrammelled free market capitalism, rule by oligarchs….sounds like just your cup of tea.
You know what gagarin you have me convinced.
Small correction I have no issues with people’s sexuality.
Being an oligarch comes with risk though.
Well said John.
However – Lest we forget. Our alliances with USA originate from the huge commitment made by the USA in defending the South Pacific during WWII, their sacrifice of young lives was huge.
Given our small size, closeness to Australia, and limited resources, navigating a non-aligned position would require huge political expertise and also a cross-party agreement if we hoped to achieve it.
or alternativly the US drawing up a defence perimeter for their pacific assets…where really ‘the locals’ that’s us
are secondary hell thirdly….don’t mistake confluence of interests with anything grander.
On the button Peter Kelly.
Dammit, John,
I hate you!
Why is you can put Into words those things about which I can only think.
However,I think you have been rather unkind to the good Ole USA In giving them with far fewer overseas military bases than they actally have.
From what I have read courtesy of Google et al. That number is more like 700+
Which Includes a weapons dump in Apartheid israel from which the israelis can draw to replenish and replace those used in enforcing their Apartheid policies against the Palestinians.
Kia Kate John
More strength to your arm.
Peter Wilson
Gosh that’s dreadful Peter Wilson.
Great article John.
The West uses human rights abuses, real or cooked up, to justify smashing developing countries. It’s like going into someone else’s household and slaughtering the whole family to prevent domestic violence, and then taking over the house and land
I normally have RNZ going most of the day but I cannot bear it on ANZAC day especially. How many of these people have ever joined a peace movement, ever marched or signed for peace. I hate the endless adoration of it all, and it is adoration!
Great work @ JM. Seeing The Chip over there squeezing oily Albanese’s soft pink little hands is unsettling.
The rest of the world considers the US a thug state? I wonder, using this form of hyperbole what the world thinks of China and Russia? Despotic regimes who crush descent in their own countries and bully their neighbor’s? It’s a little funny how socialists can only see one imperial power in the world, hence their utter confusion and utter failure to comprehend the world in any way other than “but, but America is a failing imperial state”, at the same time an imperial state attacks its neighbor. Great job socialist muppets, foreign policy is not your forte, go advocate for something useful like state paid dental or vision.
Pig ignorant Ham?
“just under a million people – between 897,000 and 929,000 – were killed directly due to violence across five theatres of war involving significant US and Western military involvement: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.” ,,,,, “The real death toll is far, far higher – a fact that has not been properly reported in media reports.”,,,,
“When the number of direct and indirect deaths in each major war zone is then totalled, it reveals that at least 5.8 to 6 million people are likely to have died overall due to the War on Terror – a staggering number which is still probably very conservative.” https://bylinetimes.com/2021/09/15/up-to-six-million-people-the-unrecorded-fatalities-of-the-war-on-terror/
Usa foreign policy?? ,,, Unlimited Sadism Abroad. ,, usa ,,,
Still starving children to death, and still thinking “it’s worth it”.
Ham, I am sure they do think that of China and Russia, but because I don’t want a bar of the US doesn’t mean I want a bar of either of those countries either.
Completely agree Ham.
a strawman arguement using whataboutism to be apologetic – take your pick. Hating on the US does not preclude hating on China and Russia too. We should hold the West to a high standard – considering we allie to it, or are you happy to let your morals and ethics slide for “our team”?
@Ham apparently foreign policy is not your forte either, this is not a zero game it’s possible not to like any of them. Many here would prefer to stay neutral.
good description of the rights mission in the undemocratic USA ham….need I say electoral college?
Greatest democracy in the free world.
Well said Ham.
John Bolton saying the quiet part out very loudly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0y2gYoqOnA
A certain Joe Biden then the ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee on Russian discomfort with NATO expansion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY_eNUXQMzM
For a deeper dive into US hegemony
https://williamblum.org/books/killing-hope
As long as US foreign policy is dominated by neocon and PUNAC alumni, with partnerships creating vassel states and not peers, NZ should keep the US at arms length.
CCP intentions are also unclear, such as Confucian institutes and their influence in universities and wider society. In other western nations this has exceeded cultural exchange into soft power politics and intimidation of chinese overseas citizens. We should also have an explicit policy of supporting dissident chinese students.
What’s so hard to understand? Everyone knows the US want’s to throw the biggest parties and have the best drugs. Gangsta 4 Life.
NATO is a club, alright.
Racist club?
Not so much.
And we’ve learned nothing from this example of the colonial ties to the ‘other’ as we are now committed to another group called USUKA’s acronym.
Best acronym of the day
The exorbitant privileges that the US has experienced for the last 70 years is coming to an end and they don’t like that. We have 3 economic regions on a macro scale which are the America, Asia, Europe. The US has already put enormous stress on the European economies by targeting Russia borders with the overthrow of an elected govt of Ukraine in 2014.
Now the US is targeting our region ‘Asia’, yes we are in the asian economic region one of the wealthiest regions thanks to China. More nations are started to de-dollarize and trade in their own currencies which will weaken the US dollar ova time. According to US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen economic sanctions imposed on Russia and other countries by the United States may have put the dollar’s dominance at risk.
To suggest that the US and its allies are going to contain China is magical thinking. The peace arrangements between Saudi Arabia & Iran is phenomenal. The Gwadar ports west of Karachi Pakistan. For China, the proposed CPEC route will offer the shortest possible access to the Arabian Sea. The port is just outside the Gulf of Oman after the Strait of Hormuz built by the Chinese. You have to realize why China has been successful in fermenting Peace arrangement’s between Iran & Saudi Arabia because its in their best interest to make this work. They have found alternatives to the malacca Straight’s.
https://multimedia.scmp.com/news/china/article/One-Belt-One-Road/pakistan.html
Russia & China built and are building more Gas and oil pipeline project from Siberia to China. The pipeline was filled with gas in October 2019. Deliveries to China started on 2 December 2019. Gas supply to China from the Power of Siberia 1 pipeline reached 4.1 billion cubic meters in 2020, 10.4 bcm in 2021 and 15 bcm in 2022. For 2023, volumes are expected to reach 22 bcm.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/03/23/second-russian-pipeline-delay-sign-that-china-holds-upper-hand-analysts-a80588
China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) has discovered a new oil and gas field in the Xinjiang region. The new find is located in the Shunbei area of the Tarim Basin. Sinopec is one of the largest oil and gas producers in China. The company expects the discovery to host around 100 million tonnes of oil equivalent. In 2016, the company discovered the Shunbei field in Xinjiang. Last year, the field’s annual oil output and gas productions were around one million tonnes and 350 million cubic metres respectively.
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202208/1272682.shtml
We have to make a choice and its look more than ever that we are siding with our allies which in my opinion is the wrong side. It’s between economical Security or safety from US militarism. To be an enemy of the US is dangerous, but to be a friend is fatal. Henry Kissinger
Ae. Tautoko.
Weren’t there auks in The Lord of the Rings? And the acronym Aukus sounds like we are asking to be auked!
What is an Orc? Orcs are a race of humanoid creatures that serve the Dark Lords of Middle-earth. 22/08/2022
The Lord of the Rings: ‘The Rings of Power’ Unveils the Orcs
https://www.aboutamazon.com › news › entert
Instead we need to foster togetherness and goodwill. Can we get behind a trust that runs a sort of Blerta-like travelling show that goes around NZ setting up flash mobs like this Zorba one. All fun and together, shoulders connected, a communal experience with music. All high world defence meetings should start not with a mendacious prayer but with a will to dance together to good music!
Our dances could be developed by Maori for suitability to the style so that any person would be able to join in, and there would also be those of other cultures but always incorporating Greek that have brought this lovely dance and music to the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4zmlPq4hz4
I’ve been watching some great interviews with some very interesting people on Russell Brands show. I’ve also been watching and reading anything interesting ( to me at any rate ) on other media like The Guardian, YouTube and, of course here, and what strikes me as dismaying is the broad and mindless adherence to commercialism. The ever onward slog to monetise literally everything everywhere.
I also watched this on YouTube. Is mind boggling stuff. MASS PSYCHOSIS – How an Entire Population Becomes MENTALLY ILL https://youtu.be/09maaUaRT4M. I mean, look at us? We’re almost all unintentionally devoted to work+consumption= money and today, of all days, we must surely be reminded of what happens when good people fail to act against the mental illness that is a logical-fallacy reality foisted on us whether we like it or not.
Nine AO/NZ’s multi-BILLIONAIRES! Again: BILLIONAIRES and four foreign owned banks stealing $180.00 a second from us has a level of what one can only be described as a criminal audacity mated with Professor Stanley Milgram’s experiment. One that can’t and definitely shouldn’t be ignored. And yet it is.
Here it is. https://youtu.be/rdrKCilEhC0
We have poor people living in motels because there’re no affordable homes for them and yet we were mesmerised by artificial, lab-grown property values sky rocketing and now the retail banks in collusion with our very own RBNZ are tut-tutting about essential interest rate rises while tearfully warning us that they’re certain to go higher! And we swallow that garbage.
The cartoon above with hideous biden, the vertical cadaver, and evil little richie the rat would be funny in that ironic sort of way if it were not so foreboding.
The other chilling thing is, is that our media are entirely caught ( read all bought and paid for ) up in the loony money-money narrative. RNZ’s a dismal, dead little thing with only enough puff left in its guts to squawk pro natzo, pro bankster, pro rbnz garbage while TVNZ is a mystery to me because I can’t watch the awful thing. TVNZ is media’s version of a brain dead old declawed and castrated tom cat. It’s all yowl from the fence and no substance. I’ve tried to watch tvnz but I just get nauseous and have to lie down. The hair, the teeth, the makeup while I’m mercifully left to only imagine the bleached perineums and waxed arse holes squeaking around within wear-once undies sewn together by Bangladeshi nine year olds.
Here’re my predictions. We’re being fucked without the kissing by experienced crooks who will sell us out in a heart beat, if they’ve not already done so.
I like ol King Charles and I love the UK. We should glue ourselves to them both. There will be wails and moans coming from all orifices but I don’t care because I know I’m right. If we go towards the U$A and its americlone cuzzie Australia we’re done. ( Farmers. All of this? In the short and long run it’s your money. Australia is an export-market enemy and the U$A refused to have us continue to export to there so why are we sucking up to the USA and Australia again? )
That is complete nonsense.
I don’t know how long the death rattle of an ending empire lasts for, but it should serve as an alarm of serious danger.
Empire is the ability to extract resources from those with less power, and to stack the deck to do so. It is power-over by its nature. It is not about the American people, nor has it been about the everyday peoples within past empires.
That the international movement to censor free speech is emanating from a dying empire, and especially ‘the home of the free’ should be especially chilling for the left.
That journalism seems to be acting as a vigilante against such freedom should also be a wake-up call, along with the sudden and vehement ”concern” about oppressions of individual identity. It’s not the concern but the context, its ‘instead of’ rather than ‘in addition to’ nature in relation to bigger pictures, the resulting diversion and division, and the profound subversion of journalism and how journalist see their role; from providing – to openly suppressing and controlling information.
War Is A Racket – YouTube Book Reading
https://bit.ly/War-Is-A-Racket-Chapter1
https://bit.ly/War-Is-A-Racket-Chapter2
https://bit.ly/War-Is-A-Racket-Chapter3
https://bit.ly/War-Is-A-Racket-Chapter4
https://bit.ly/War-Is-A-Racket-Chapter5
Book Depository
War Is A Racket
https://bit.ly/WAR-IS-A-RACKET–General-Smedley-Butler
Another great article John, so true, ANZAC Day remembrance is to honour Veterans of these stupid Wars, not to encourage more Wars! If anything, it’s to warn against the perils of participating in New Wars? And I love that Cartoon pic, so apt, Wars a racket!
Can anyone tell me where I can find a copy of the Book that contains the Rules written down for the “Rules based Order” that America constantly mentions? Oh that’s right none exists, it’s just implied & consists of two rules? 1. America Rules the World! 2. You obey US or else! Very Borg like isn’t it, Resistance is Futile!
We must turn our backs on those who condemn our friends.
Buhahaha keep the jokes coming lol
America has no friends only interests.
Henry Kissinger
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/633024-america-has-no-permanent-friends-or-enemies-only-interests
“We must turn our backs on those who condemn our friends.” Bob the first
Who do you think our friends are Bob?
As Kissinger points out it is certainly not the US which only has its own imperialist interests at heart.
In my opinion, our friends first and foremost are our closest island nation neigbours, who have been fighting a long and lonely rearguard action for a nuclear free pacific and against nuclear proliferation in this region.
In my opinion the enemies who we should be turning our backs are the traitorous lickspittle military leaders in Australia and New Zealand who are sucking up to the US in pushing the AUKUS deal on our island neighbours. These disgusting betrayers of this country’s nuclear free status are currently touring our Pacific Island neighbouring countries to lean on them to ditch their support for a nuclear free Pacific and accept AUKUS.
“The Chiefs of the Australian and New Zealand armies signed a new cooperation agreement this week, Plan ANZAC…..
….. Immediately after signing the deal, both army chiefs will travel together to Fiji and Vanuatu aiming to encourage both countries into similar arrangements.” Ben Morgan
The same week?
The very same week that Australia granted new path to citizen rights and other benefits to Kiwi expats. What else can this be but a bribe to soften our nation’s nuclear free policy. Now these dirty corrupt war mongering traitors have joined up and are off to lean on our Pacific Island neighbors to pressure them to also give up their long opposition to nuclear proliferation in the Pacific.
This is all being done in preparation for war.
A war we don’t want and should have no part of.
We the people didn’t agree to this and weren’t consulted.
Our expats may get better treatment in Aus. New Zealand may no longer be treated as a dumping ground for 501s.
But we will pay in war and nuclear proliferation and contamination of our region.
The anonymous New Zealand military chiefs currently pushing the nuclear AUKUS pact on our friends and neighbours are traitors to this country’s nuclear free deal. They need to be named and shamed. They have no mandate for their dirty traitorous behaviour from us.
I know who our friends are and so do you.
Consult some history books and refrain from reading propaganda.
I know who our friends are and so do you.
Maybe you need to spell it out then.
Is it our Pacific Island neighbours who want a nuclear free Pacific, or the US imperialists.
Notice how the US refuses to allow New Zealand access to their markets for our agricultural produce, while demanding that we back them militarily in confronting China our biggest trading partner.
The US would trash New Zealand’s export led economy it it suited US imperial interests.
Remember what Henry Kissinger said, ‘America doesn’t have friends only interests
Ridiculous we export considerable quantities of beef and lamb to the USA.
There is the New Zealand Lamb Company in the United States.
(Fully NZ owned.)
Near NZ – https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/04/19/surveillance-fears-for-nz-aus-as-china-builds-new-antarctic-station/#:~:text=China%20is%20reportedly%20ramping%20up,the%20first%20time%20since%202018.
Also China
Djibouti – People’s Liberation Army Support Base in Djibouti.[8]
Tajikistan – A military post in southeastern Gorno-Badakhshan.[9]
China is no different to anyone else like US.
Indeed. The number of foreign military bases a country has is not a measure of imperialist ambition or aggression.
My fear is that J.M. is making a fatal mistake in thinking that Russia or China are less aggressive or less a danger to peace than the US.
Without control of foreign markets, trade routes and raw materials, both Russia and China are at risk of internal collapse and rebellion. This is analogous to the motive force driving the other commercial and military empires of the past aggressive foreign policies of colonial expansion and war.
What we are seeing in Sudan and other places in Africa and the Middle East is the private mercenary army the Wagner Group operating as strong arm for Russian commercial interests in Africa. Much like the East India company’s private army operated for the British Empire in India.
Stand with Sudan against the violent expansion and aggression of the Russian imperialists and their proxies.
1pm today Aotea Square Auckland
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10159102368547601&set=a.10150330486717601
Good God Pat, “It was the Russians…..” in Sudan. You’d believe anything, such a dullard.
Are you denying that the Wagner Group are in Sudan.?
Or are you denying that the Wagner Group are backing the RSF?
These two warring generals are fighting over the spoils of the coup that they staged against the hard fought for democracy by the people of Sudan against the military rule of Bashir. Neither of these two warring generals have any support amongst the Sudanese people.
Do you deny that the Russian imperialists have set up a military base in Port Sudan?
Do you believe like Stephan that the Russian Federation is the communist homeworld liberating the people of Africa and Ukraine and Syria from the evils of democracy. That the gold, minerals, oil, agricultural produce and military bases are just reward for this this selfless service.
Do you deny all the evidence that the Russian Federation is just another dirty imperialist ripping off the people of Africa?
https://www.occrp.org/en/investigations/documents-reveal-wagners-golden-ties-to-sudanese-military-companies
Yes agree NickJ.
Protest sign seen at the rally in support of the Sudanese people against the warring proxy war lords.
“WE DREAM OF A SUDAN DRIVEN BY THE PEOPLE”
(And not by these disgusting warring colonialist proxies)