Luxon, NATO, APT40, the new American Red Sea adventure and a Chinese geopolitical economic threat of National’s making
The Australian Signals Directorate released a new joint advisorywith its Five Eyes partners, including New Zealand, on China’s state-sponsored cyber group, APT40.
So China almost has the same spying powers that America has over us?
SHIT JUST GOT REAL!
Luxon is more pro America than Winston, and Winston almost loves America as much as himself.
Because the National Party is riddled with Chinese spy’s and Chinese Business interests, Luxon has to over compensate and literally sign us up to any NATO and American adventure.
We are selling our Independent Foreign Policy for 3 magic beans from the American Military Industrial Complex.
The madness of John Key’s ‘All our cows in one Beijing Paddock’ strategy saw massive dairy intensification and debt in NZ and this has enslaved us to China.
The irony of National Party activists who are utterly dependent on China accusing Labour of communism is the most hilarious confusion because it’s our Dairy Farmers and the National Party who have trapped us under the Chinese Communist Party!
Gordon Campbell continues to be the best blogger in NZ and has broken down what extra money we will need to invest in Defence if we are to hit the magic 2%…
Counting the Cost
How much would spending 2% of GDP on Defence actually cost us? Since New Zealand’s GDP is currently worth $NZ410 billion, that May Budget figure of $4.949 million amounts to only 1.21% of that target figure. Kicking Defence spending up to a 2% ratio of a GDP worth $410 billion would amount to $8.2 billion. Meaning: given the climate of austerity for everything else, if David Seymour and Peters can get National to commit to devoting 2% of our GDP to Defence, this will entail a massive shift in taxpayer priorities.
Even under more conservative estimates of the size of the gap between current spending and the 2% targeted amount, this would still involve shifting at least $2-3 billion more into Defence spending in each and every year. For perspective: the amount involved would probably exceed the $2.4 billion contingency fund set aside in this year’s Budget to meet all of our national or regional emergencies.
Yet in all likelihood, it wouldn’t end there. Here’s a relatively recent guesstimate of the cost of re-equipping Defence with its current shopping list of self-conceived “needs:”
The increase in capital expenditure across the three services will be not less than $5 billion.However, this expense will be spread over a decade, so the increase in capital is $500 million per year. The 2022 budget continued defence expenditure at 1.5 percent of GDP, made up of approximately $3 billion in operating costs and $1.5 billion in capital costs.
These are ridiculously large numbers, even before you include the borrowing costs. We could well be talking about an extra $5-6 billion in capital expenditure alone in a context where – judging by recent past performance – the subsequent operational costs have been running at double the capital costs.
…I believe that we are heading towards a far more dangerous geopolitical destabilisation driven mostly by climate change and that our need to increase spending on military is unavoidable, especially if we want to remain an Independent Foreign Policy.
Gordon makes the point that this extra military spending will come from the taxpayer under a crippling austerity package thanks to tax cuts next year…
Try not to freak out, but taxpayers could be looking down the barrel of a circa $9 billion commitment in extra Defence spending over the next decade. That’s before we add in (a) any extra costs generated by joining the second pillar of AUKUS and (b) the cost of replacing those breakdown-prone prime ministerial 757s and (c) the extra cost of fixing the inadequate runways and sub-standard accommodation at Ohakea for the crews operating those new P-8 Poseidon anti-submarine aircraft.
For a useful comparison: the alleged “ blowout” in cost for the ferries project that was deemed unacceptable, and that drove Finance Minister Nicole Willis to cancel the project, came to only $1.47 billion. ( i.e. little more than half what we’ve spent so far on the Poseidons.) When Luxon returns from Washington babbling about the dire state of the world, and the alleged need to make “tough decisions” about Defence, this is the scale of spending he’s talking about. The opportunity cost to New Zealanders in the coming years, if extra billions of dollars are ploughed into Defence budgets, is heart-breaking.
…If we are serious about an Independent Foreign Policy, we have to accept it is going to cost us a lot more.
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?
Currently we spend 1.3% of GDP on our entire military, to defend the full realm of NZ and pursue an independent foreign policy, I argue we need to push that up to 3%.
Note – NZ should only build up its military to defend our full territory (NZ islands, EEZ, Ross Dependency, Tokelau, Cook Islands and Niue). Any upgrade of our military is for purely defensive purposes, not for military adventure or invasions.
We can’t pull away from America and China and pretend there is no cost to being Independent.
With the climate crisis looming, we need that debate now.
We also have the geopolitics of it.
With China building a forward military base that could cut America off…
A Chinese politics specialist has called the deal between the Solomon Islands and China a “game-changer” saying New Zealand could be cut-off US military support.
…the real danger here is the Chinese Fishing Militia that will use it as a base to raid deep into fisheries.
We need to protect our fisheries.
If you are going to recognise the problem, the solution has to be legitimate.
I maintain we must have an independent foreign policy and that our stance must be friend to all, enemy to none, but we will urgently need to protect what is ours and acknowledge how the climate crisis will demand more civil emergency infrastructure and assets.
We need a complete review of our defence force and massive increase in spending.
Tax the rich to build our fortress.
As for the new extension to our latest American adventure in the Red Sea…
NZ Defence Force deployment in Red Sea extended
New Zealand’s Defence Force deployment in the Red Sea will be extended, the Government has announced.
Defence Minister Judith Collins and Foreign Minister Winston Peters made the announcement today, saying the Defence Force will extend its contribution to the US-led coalition aimed at upholding maritime security in the region.
Collins said the decision reflected the “continued need to partner and act in line with New Zealand’s values”.
…Let’s be very clear what we’ve signed up to. In the words of one of the best analysts in NZ, Dr Paul Buchanan…
…that’s right.
We are in the “kill chain” now. That’s what our NZDF deployment will be doing.
We are helping select targets for America to bomb.
We may as well be pulling the fucking trigger ourselves, so don’t you dare flinch when hear ‘kill chain’, don’t you dare pretend we won’t be killing people and destroying shit.
Again – want to keep sea lanes open, but bombing the Houthis isn’t the fucking solution!
REMEMBER: We claim we are doing this to support the Rules based Order, yet Israel is committing an active ethnic cleansing war crime and we aren’t doing jack shit about that!
REMEMBER: The Houthis are attacking Red Sea shipping lanes BECAUSE Israel is committing a current ethnic cleansing war crime! If we want the shipping lanes open, we should be demanding an immediate Israeli ceasefire!
REMEMBER: Bombing the poorest country in the Middle East is not a fucking solution, it’s an act of war!
Aside from the moral crime, the whole strategy is counter productive bullshit!
The Washington fucking Post isn’t a card carrying member of the Communist Party, and their assessment is that the current bombing campaign we have just enabled and signed up to will actually only strengthen the Houthi…
Analysts contend that this new phase of hostilities may strengthen the Houthis, rather than weaken them. The aftermath of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on southern Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas has seen Israel conduct an operation unprecedented in its scale and ferocity, reducing much of Gaza to rubble, killing more than 23,000 people and immiserating Gaza’s population. The Houthis are part of the so-called “axis of resistance,” a network of Iran-aligned militant groups around the Middle East. While militias like Lebanon’s Hezbollah seem to want to avoid a direct escalation with Israel, the Houthis thrust themselves into the spotlight by taking up the mantle of the Palestinian cause. They insist their actions in the Red Sea will stop when Israel ceases its bombardments.
…so we are bombing a poor country and using tactics that will only strengthen the group we are attacking?
Well that’s all splendid isn’t folks?
This entire adventure is an escalation in a region that desperately needs de-escalation and because Luxon is so weak, we have war dogs like Judith Collins and bloody Winston Peters (who loves America almost as much as he loves himself!), signing us up to a conflict where we are on the side of evil!
You heard me!
WE. ARE. ON. THE. SIDE. OF. EVIL.
This expose by the BBC hilariously came out at the same time as our decision to sign up to it. The special investigation shows how our side in this conflict have conducted illegal political assassinations FFS…
UAE has funded political assassinations in Yemen, BBC finds
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has funded politically motivated assassinations in Yemen, a BBC investigation has found.
Training provided by American mercenaries – hired by the UAE in 2015 – has then been used by Emiratis to instruct locals, sparking a surge in targeted killings, a whistleblower says.
The findings come as conflict in Yemen has returned to the international spotlight following attacks on ships in the Red Sea.
The UAE government has denied the allegations in our investigation – that it had assassinated those without links to terrorism – saying they were “false and without merit”.
The killing spree in Yemen – more than 100 assassinations in a three-year period – is just one element of an ongoing bitter internecine conflict pitting several international powers against each other in the Middle East’s poorest country.
The deadly atmosphere has discouraged the permanent return of Yemen’s internationally recognised government. This, it could be argued, has indirectly helped to embolden the Iran-backed Houthis. Washington has announced that it will now re-designate the group as “global terrorists”.
…that’s right!
Just when you couldn’t start feeling more sick about what this new hard right racist Government has signed us up to, ‘our side’ has been conducting a wave of political assassinations that hilariously have only made the Houthis more powerful.
What the fuck are we doing getting involved in this orgy of malice?
Obscenely the NZ mainstream media have done sweet fuck all in holding these war numpties to fucking account here!
It’s more important to shame Golriz for shoplifting than hold this Government to account over why the fuck they have signed us up to a new American war!
I get everyone still feels like they are on holiday and the C Teams are running the newsrooms, but sweet fuck everyone, Judith and Winston just led us into a fucking war and no one seems to be paying any attention.
What happens if we wrongly target something?
What happens if us targeting something escalates this conflict?
What happens if we kill civilians?
See we all need answers now because Judith and Winston signed us up and we need to know what the hell the exit strategy looks like.
I love you all, I really do, but sweet Jesus we are an easily led and easily distracted people!
Lets encourage the murder of women and children ,mean while the world either burns or gets washed away .What a fucken joke ,we give 16 million to Ukraine which wont even buy a single missile .What the hell is Luxon doing strutting around a blabbering on as though he ,and only he ,is NATO.
This whole Rules Based Order justification really is a piece of shit. I haven’t worked out if the people who say it actually believe in their hearts it is true or if they are just very good at keeping a straight face.
Our enemy China accepts our exports without tariff. Our very very very good friends the USA and also Japan, Canada, Britain, the EU all place tariffs and other restrictions on what should be the free trade of goods. The world really is fucked up.
When the shit really hits the fan so, that what’s going on now in Gaza and Ukraine just looks like a friendly little pissing competition, I don’t think that being under anyone’s umbrella is going to save us. I don’t think 2% or 3% gdp is going to save us. We might be thankful that Act gave us back our semis. I’m hoping they reappear quicker than Sudafed on a chemists shelf. I know that won’t save us either but what the hell.
> What happens [when] we kill civilians?
Pretty simple, same thing as in the Operation Burnham massacre… senior public servants and political veterans just cover it up and pretend nothing happened.
The Luxie guy is so full of shite he couldn’t coordinate a bathtub battle with his rubber duckies !
On the bullshit radar today, he says…
“Giorgia Meloni, we were sitting together at dinner, it was great. I told her about the mobile phone ban and I think she’s gone and done it today, which is great,” he said in San Francisco on Friday (NZT Saturday).
FFS would someone tell the guy Italy had school class phone bans since 2007 !
These Houthis? Never met any around here.