Comments by "Tony Wilson" (@tonywilson4713) on "A Foreign Affair: Boris, AUKUS, Ukraine and Assange | Q+A Highlights | ABC News" video.

  1. I don't know about an award but it should never have dragged out this long. Just like how our government dragged its boots on Australians at Guantanamo its keeps trying to play nice with bullies. Most humans know by about the time they reach 12 years of age that you can't simply negotiate with bullies.
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  2. Its a nice idea, but NO. Go and look at the number of people it takes to operate an LA Class (129). On one hand it does look sensible as the USN is about to mothball a couple of them. But we have NOBODY who is trained on operating them. I'm an engineer, I work in industrial control systems and automation. A once worked with an electrician who's first career was in the US Navy as a nuclear power plant operator in aircraft carriers. It was 5 years of training to get qualified and that was on similar gear to what's in an LA Class. We could do it but for about 10 years we'd have to PAY for US Personnel to be on our boats. The other massive issue with the LA Class is they have a very large crew (129). originally the Collins was only 24 then upgraded to 58. The French sub is 60 while the British Astute is 98. The German 214 is only 27. Our real sub problem isn't what we can buy its how many submariners do we have to operate them. Right now we only have enough for 4 of the 6 Collins we have. So at best we could have maybe 2 LA Class or maybe 3 Astutes at a stretch. Navies around the world are having the same problem. NOBODY wants to be stuffed in a tin can and send underwater for 3 or more months with zero contact home. There's a joke in the US Navy. "If you want to get rid of a wife join the submarine corps!"
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  3.  @YaMumsSpecialFriend  Co-crewing would be the only way possible for Australia to operate LA Class or any other American submarine. I saw an awesome documentary years ago on WHY Iraq was going bad. It was by PBS Frontline and called "Rumsfeld's War" and you can still find it here on YT. About 1/2 way in a retired former general describes the 4 key points of the Powell Doctrine. I'm an engineer and those 4 points translate perfectly into engineering project management and I have used them ever since. One of those key points is Resources (men, machines and money). First we never could afford the ridiculous costs of the French Subs. Were were going to pay 3 times more for a downgraded version than the French Navy's nuclear powered version. PLUS we never had enough submariners to ever crew 12 of them. 60 x 12 is 720 and these days we barely have 250 and most of the time struggle to have 4 Collins in the water. The other 2 are in dock with no crews. Anybody with a brain who could do basic math knew it was crap.
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  4.  @TT-nk5hi  You're absolutely right. If China, America or any of several Asian nations ever wanted to invade Australia there's nothing we can actually do to stop them taking over our country. Its comes down to numbers. There's 25 million of us and hundreds of millions of them. Its the same for any smaller country. However there's the cost, as the Americans found out in Afghanistan and Iraq and as the Russians are finding out in Ukraine. There's some really smart people with military backgrounds commenting sensibly on what's happened in Ukraine. In less than 100 days the Russian lost over 200 tanks and keep losing more every day. Australia has 59 M1 Abrams tanks with an $3.5Billion order for another 75. The Chinese PLA has over 4,600 main battle tanks of various types. Sadly Ukraine cannot win, they just don't have the numbers, but they can make Russia pay a price they can't afford. As America learned form Afghanistan and Iraq, invading is one thing, controlling a population that hates you is another thing entirely. I recently heard an American analyst call it a "Strategy of Denial". Its where you have enough in place that the other guy with the massive military is always asking "What will it cost to start a fight?" So its NOT a matter of Australian being able to do anything to anyone else its a matter of how much do we need so that others wont do anything to us.
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  5. You make a valid point about Brandis (or any other politician) helping themselves, but the espionage charge has nothing to do with what Julian Assange's nationality is. The girl beside him, Kylie Moore-Gilbert, has the best point I have seen anyone make in a while. The Oxford definition of espionage is: the practice of spying or of using spies, typically by governments to obtain political and military information. How does what Julian Assange did fit that? FYI - I'm from Melbourne but went to uni in America. I did engineering but a bunch of my friends we pre-law and we used to discuss the US Constitution a lot. So I know that in a sensible court this would get thrown out on 1st Amendment grounds in about 5 minutes. Its also not just the free press thing either. That final part of the 1st says ", and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." So what do you call the things Julian Assange uncovered like the helicopter gunship shooting innocent civilians and prisoner abuses other than grievances? I'm actually stunned its gone on this long.
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  6.  @TT-nk5hi  They might not be wanting to take over Australia in a military sense but they damn well want to control our resources. The most important of those is agriculture, because food security is the major issue facing Asia and other large populations. Its why the Arabs are buying every farm they can in Australia. Don't crap on about us needing Chinese agriculture technology its the other way around. We have some for the most advanced agriculture in the world. Go watch ABC Landline and look through the back episodes, we are so far in front most countries its a joke. Our great risk is not looking after that sector or letting too many foreigners control it and they already have too much control. Ukraine isn't a land grab. Go look up Peter Zeihan he's a geopolitical strategist who specialises in demographics. He's explained WHY Russia invaded Ukraine and why they had to do it now. Its got to do with control of territory that's been used for 1,000 years to invade Russia again and again. they had to do it now because like many other countries they are ageing and if they didn't do it now in 10 years they wouldn't have enough 20 years olds. Its actually why China might need to invade Taiwan now rather than later. Their population is also ageing rapidly and they are running out of 20 year olds and wars are fought by 20 year olds.
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  7.  @TT-nk5hi  Go look up Peter Zeihan he's commented extensively on the comparison between Ukraine and Taiwan. Ukraine had some preparation and a land border. Taiwan has been in preparation for decades and is surrounded by a moat. How will China invade. If its by air they'll get shot down and it if its by sea they'll get sunk. Eventually they'd overwhelm Taiwan, but what would they gain other than an utterly destroyed island.
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  8.  @TT-nk5hi  Which is exactly what the Chinese are doing with predatory loans to smaller developing nations. AND WHY THEY ARE ANGERING PEOPLE. Have you stopped to ask why would any country take a loan they have to pay back instead of straight development grants from wealthier nations???? They pay off government officials. The Chinese haven't just got corruption in their system they have actually industrialised it. Go look it up. Government officials being paid to do favors is a key part of the Chinese system. So they have no issue with paying government officials in other nations to take on loans. Its how they do business and they do it everywhere.
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  9.  @petersinclairphd6626  Yeah I know its not new, but its something NOBODY in Australia is discussing. Its also a huge issue in other places. Leslie Dewan pointe out in one of here talks how after Chernobyl and Fukushima that the number of students enrolling in nuclear engineering collapsed and America lost an entire generation of engineers. I just started watching the MIT Open Course lectures on basic nuclear engineering. Its easy to have gotten the basics as I did from physics classes but these lectures go into a lot more detail. The truly surprising thing is how small the class rooms are, but then that course only has 12 attending students. Here in Oz the Murdoch media are pumping "nuclear, nuclear, nuclear" into the air waves. I swear Rupert must have shares in something, but there is utterly no mention on time frames or training. As I have said in comments i worked with an ex-USN nuclear power plant operator a while back and he told me about the years of training that took. Peter Zeihan the geopolitical strategist points out how China (through the 1 child policy) has a shortage of 30 year olds. the problem is it takes 30 years and 9 months to make a 30year old. Its not as bad as that for nuclear techs but you need to grasp the scope of the task which more than anything for us is starting from scratch.
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