It doesn't mean that the Chinese won't still do it. Putin took over the Crimean peninsula with no retaliation from the West - China is probably calculating the reaction from the West verses the value of taking over Taiwan at home - finally reunifying the country in their opinion.

You might be interested in an exploration of the issues more fully - Foreign Policy. Taiwan has a historically ethnic connection to China but not much else. The KMT fled there in 1948 - that's what's motivating Xi to 'reunify' the two nations.

Thats a fair bit different. For Crimea, many were Russian and wanted the Russian's to come in. A number of key military leaders defected from Ukraine ti Russia  because they supported Russia. Russia was going to offer better standards of living. There was a land border involved to cross and the West, there is not significant economic value of the Crimea and the West had no military systems in place to do anything about it.

"Probably", I'd say its been in continual calculation since 1948 and they couldn't do it.

I'm aware of the history of Taiwan.

It doesn't mean that the Chinese won't still do it. Putin took over the Crimean peninsula with no retaliation from the West - China is probably calculating the reaction from the West verses the value of taking over Taiwan at home - finally reunifying the country in their opinion.

You might be interested in an exploration of the issues more fully - Foreign Policy. Taiwan has a historically ethnic connection to China but not much else. The KMT fled there in 1948 - that's what's motivating Xi to 'reunify' the two nations.

Thats a fair bit different. For Crimea, many were Russian and wanted the Russian's to come in. A number of key military leaders defected from Ukraine ti Russia  because they supported Russia. Russia was going to offer better standards of living. There was a land border involved to cross and the West, there is not significant economic value of the Crimea and the West had no military systems in place to do anything about it.

"Probably", I'd say its been in continual calculation since 1948 and they couldn't do it.

I'm aware of the history of Taiwan.

The other big thing about Taiwan is its Semiconductor Industry and associated foundries.  Destroy that and you basically destroy a big chunk of computer and smartphone manufacturing worldwide.  China wants to control that for worldwide domination.

It doesn't mean that the Chinese won't still do it. Putin took over the Crimean peninsula with no retaliation from the West - China is probably calculating the reaction from the West verses the value of taking over Taiwan at home - finally reunifying the country in their opinion.

You might be interested in an exploration of the issues more fully - Foreign Policy. Taiwan has a historically ethnic connection to China but not much else. The KMT fled there in 1948 - that's what's motivating Xi to 'reunify' the two nations.

Thats a fair bit different. For Crimea, many were Russian and wanted the Russian's to come in. A number of key military leaders defected from Ukraine ti Russia  because they supported Russia. Russia was going to offer better standards of living. There was a land border involved to cross and the West, there is not significant economic value of the Crimea and the West had no military systems in place to do anything about it.

"Probably", I'd say its been in continual calculation since 1948 and they couldn't do it.

I'm aware of the history of Taiwan.

The other big thing about Taiwan is its Semiconductor Industry and associated foundries.  Destroy that and you basically destroy a big chunk of computer and smartphone manufacturing worldwide.  China wants to control that for worldwide domination.

If there was a serious threat, they would relocate or at least diversify geographically.

Daniel Andrews doubles down on his love for Communist China - News.com.au;

The Belt and Road agreement has been heavily criticised by Mr Andrews’ detractors and it has fuelled conspiracy theories as an intense spotlight fell on his government during the coronavirus second wave.

He copped heat over the deal throughout his state’s lockdown, and yesterday he was asked again by reporters whether he would be turning his back on it — given what has happened between Australia and China this week.

Giving a single word answer of “no”, his intentions were clear.

“This relationship is far too important to farmers, to manufacturers, to workers, to profits for Victorian companies and therefore prosperity for our state,” Mr Andrews said.

“This is not just our biggest customer, but it is all about jobs. We need a good relationship but it has to be a fair and respectful one.”

He called on the federal government and China to “refocus on trying to repair” their relationship.

Queensland and Western Australia (also governed by Labor Premiers) have backed Daniel Andrews in his continued love of the communist totalitarian China;

“What the mining companies are saying to me is the last thing they want to see are mines closed in Queensland,” Ms Palaszczuk said.

“That could have an impact on Queensland jobs.

“It’s not just Queensland — it’s Western Australia … private companies are saying to us, as heads of government, that they are concerned for local jobs — and we are seeing that across now a whole different variety of sectors, so it is a national issue.

It seems that Labor is all singing from the same China apologist song sheet.

This is a typical representation of the information that comes from Murdoch's failed right wing propaganda machine.

Failed

Failed twice to influence the outcome of TWO Victorian elections which saw Dan Andrews increase his majority on both occasions and took blue ribbon Liberal seats like Hawthorn which lost the Victorian Liberals their only hope going forward in John Pesutto.

Failed twice to unseat Annastacia Palaszczuk in Queensland and she increased her majority at her second recent election as well.

Will in all likelihood fail in WA, despite the ridiculous Murdoch headlines for the latest WA Opposition leader in recent days and the revolving door of WA conservative Opposition leaders.

Failed to get Trump re-elected. Well if Trump got re-elected the US would become a social and climate change basket case...relying solely on Democrat and a very few Republican states to advance their response to the Paris climate change accord, but I digress.
Fox News pulled out all possible stops to get Trump re-elected and now abandoning support for Trump their fan base has left in droves.

It also goes to your ultra-conservative views which is what's expected from you...and you have every right to convey in our democracy.

IMO your views are unlikely to change any ones political thinking in here.


Mike.

It seems that Labor is all singing from the same China apologist song sheet.

They are; the Libs/Nats wrote it when they let Darwin port to the Chinese for 99 years, and Labor got copies. "All together now!"

This is a typical representation of the information that comes from Murdoch's failed right wing propaganda machine.

Failed

Failed twice to influence the outcome of TWO Victorian elections which saw Dan Andrews increase his majority on both occasions and took blue ribbon Liberal seats like Hawthorn which lost the Victorian Liberals their only hope going forward in John Pesutto.

Failed twice to unseat Annastacia Palaszczuk in Queensland and she increased her majority at her second recent election as well.

Will in all likelihood fail in WA, despite the ridiculous Murdoch headlines for the latest WA Opposition leader in recent days and the revolving door of WA conservative Opposition leaders.

How is it a 'misrepresentation'? Are you saying that Dan Andrews and Anna Palaszczuk didn't say those things about the necessity of the Commonwealth government in sucking up to China in order to 'repair the relationship'? Penny Wong said the same thing in Parliament the other day, that Morrison had an obilgation to talk directly to Xi Jinping himself; apparently completely ignorant of the fact that China has been refusing any and all contact from all Australian government ministers and well as the Prime Minister.

And what you've presented us with here Mike is a red herring - the fact that those governments have been re-elected has absolutely nothing to do with what's being discussed here. And your argument should cut both ways: Shorten lost the unlosable last year so using your logic Sco Mo must being doing something the public really likes - correct? So by deduction Sco Mo's handling of our relationship with the CCP is the correct way to go, since he's actually in charge of the country and the Premiers are just in charge of their little fiefdoms and not our actual foreign policy.

Failed to get Trump re-elected. Well if Trump got re-elected the US would become a social and climate change basket case...relying solely on Democrat and a very few Republican states to advance their response to the Paris climate change accord, but I digress. Fox News pulled out all possible stops to get Trump re-elected and now abandoning support for Trump their fan base has left in droves. It also goes to your ultra-conservative views which is what's expected from you...and you have every right to convey in our democracy. IMO your views are unlikely to change any ones political thinking in here. Mike.

So?

Not exactly politics but Virgin Airlines new owners have launched a new ad campaign starring (strangely) America's Got Talent runner-up Annie Jones:



https://youtu.be/lopmUNUJERs

The new American venture capital owners (Bain Capital) are hoping that the re-positioned airline will make inroads into Qantas's passenger base with an all-737 fleet and an emphasis on capital city routes; they're competing with a newly-capitalised REX which is also going into the capital city markets and Qantas with its very deep pockets and established customer base.

Personally I never liked the old Virgin and always avoided them where-ever possible - almost as expensive as Qantas but with none of the service or reliability. If you're going to fly budget it might as well have been Jetstar - although often as unreliable as Virgin at least the prices were usually much more attractive.

Too bad if you were a shareholder of the old Virgin Australia - they got exactly nothing out of the re-birthed airline deal. And Queensland taxpayers have sunk another $200 million into it in exchange for keeping the airline headquartered in Brisbane (and a small slice of equity). I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out they've spent that money for no reason - its already been broke once, Bain Capital won't hesitate to just shut it down if it turns out their investment bleeds their money.

Not exactly politics but Virgin Airlines new owners have launched a new ad campaign starring (strangely) America's Got Talent runner-up Annie Jones:



https://youtu.be/lopmUNUJERs

The new American venture capital owners (Bain Capital) are hoping that the re-positioned airline will make inroads into Qantas's passenger base with an all-737 fleet and an emphasis on capital city routes; they're competing with a newly-capitalised REX which is also going into the capital city markets and Qantas with its very deep pockets and established customer base.

Personally I never liked the old Virgin and always avoided them where-ever possible - almost as expensive as Qantas but with none of the service or reliability. If you're going to fly budget it might as well have been Jetstar - although often as unreliable as Virgin at least the prices were usually much more attractive.

Too bad if you were a shareholder of the old Virgin Australia - they got exactly nothing out of the re-birthed airline deal. And Queensland taxpayers have sunk another $200 million into it in exchange for keeping the airline headquartered in Brisbane (and a small slice of equity). I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out they've spent that money for no reason - its already been broke once, Bain Capital won't hesitate to just shut it down if it turns out their investment bleeds their money.

I feel compelled to reply, not because I don't like you, but because I probably know a little bit more about the situation than you do, being privy to certain information.

Rex is competing with Virgin, not the other way around. In fact they are leasing some of Virgin's planes to provide their new east coast triangle services.

Qantas only has deep pockets because Alan Joyce builds war chests by crying poor to the government, then repeatedly sacking staff.

Virgin were competitive with Qantas price wise but excelled with their premium product and offered stuff not available with Qantas, like half a dozen rows in economy class with extra legroom and family pooling of status credits with their Velocity frequent flyer program. That last point is more significant than you think. And they were miles ahead of Jetstar with inclusions.

Any modicum of research will reveal that there is actually very little difference in service reliability between any of the carriers.

Only a fool would buy shares in an airline.

Bain's intention with Virgin is to provide the cheapest service possible, turn revenue in the right direction, and flog it off.

Bain's way of doing that is to offer a service worse than Jetstar or Tiger. IMHO it is the wrong direction to take; Virgin were a pleasure to fly with when they turned themselves into a full service carrier from their earlier discount carrier days, but you are right, Qantas had deeper pockets.

THE Western Australian government will pay foreigners up to $50,000 to buy homes in Western Australia... to support the real estate market I suppose? From News.com.au;

Chinese buyers are being lured back to the Australian property market by generous government rebates of up to $50,000 on a new home, with calls to extend the incentive schemes past their expiry dates next year.

Lily Chong, the Perth-based Australian head of Chinese property portal Juwai IQI, said overseas buyers had started looking past the COVID-19 pandemic and were planning for when travel restrictions eased.

“Australia will pay foreigners up to $50,000 to buy a new home,” Ms Chong said.

“Australia will pay Chinese up to $50,000 to buy a new home, Australia will pay Hong Kong-ers, Australia will pay Malaysians – it doesn’t matter where you come from. It’s all in the interests of supporting the economy.”...

...“Because of the pandemic, most foreign buyers don’t know about these incentives,” Ms Chong said.

“When we explain it to them, their eyes pop open. Buyers are rushing for us to get their deals done before the deadline expires.”

WA’s rebate scheme has been extended until October 21 next year, while Victoria’s ends on July 1.

Australian citizens can, in addition, take advantage of the federal government’s $25,000 HomeBuilder rebate for new home purchases or renovations, which will decrease to $15,000 at the end of the year before expiring in March.

Ms Chong predicted the incentives would shift overseas buyers from other parts of the country to WA and to a lesser extent, to Melbourne.

“Buyers in Queensland are now looking at Perth because of the incentives,” she said.

“Buyers who aren’t tied down to a specific location will go wherever they can to get the best deal. Right now, that’s Perth.”

She said there was a lot of interest now for “Airbnb-ready apartments” being sold by Juwai.

“They are pre-approved for short-term leasing, start from $303,000 and can deliver yields of 8 per cent,” she said.

This is just insane, why weren't those schemes limited to Australian domestic purchasers only? At least the Commonwealth government money was - and bolstering the housing market with more and more government money is simply not a good use of taxpayer funds, this whole thing is just crazy. State governments are actually giving foreign nationals money to buy houses here and help price locals out of the market - unbelievable.

Qantas only has deep pockets because Alan Joyce builds war chests by crying poor to the government, then repeatedly sacking staff.

Yep.

Any modicum of research will reveal that there is actually very little difference in service reliability between any of the carriers.

I flew the now-defunct Tiger a few times and they seemed worse than most. Jetstar was always my first choice, I really don't care how roomy my seat is or if I have to pay for a can of drink, you're only there for a while. The only thing that sometimes did make me change preference was the inclusion of booked baggage, I almost always get a ticket with that option because I can't be bothered competing with others for overhead space and its just easier all round.

Only a fool would buy shares in an airline.

Again, yep.

Not exactly politics but Virgin Airlines new owners have launched a new ad campaign starring (strangely) America's Got Talent runner-up Annie Jones:



https://youtu.be/lopmUNUJERs

The new American venture capital owners (Bain Capital) are hoping that the re-positioned airline will make inroads into Qantas's passenger base with an all-737 fleet and an emphasis on capital city routes; they're competing with a newly-capitalised REX which is also going into the capital city markets and Qantas with its very deep pockets and established customer base.

Personally I never liked the old Virgin and always avoided them where-ever possible - almost as expensive as Qantas but with none of the service or reliability. If you're going to fly budget it might as well have been Jetstar - although often as unreliable as Virgin at least the prices were usually much more attractive.

Too bad if you were a shareholder of the old Virgin Australia - they got exactly nothing out of the re-birthed airline deal. And Queensland taxpayers have sunk another $200 million into it in exchange for keeping the airline headquartered in Brisbane (and a small slice of equity). I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out they've spent that money for no reason - its already been broke once, Bain Capital won't hesitate to just shut it down if it turns out their investment bleeds their money.

Old Virgin Shareholders got nothing because the airline owed more money than it was sold for. As the share price was almost zero when it was de-listed then they got what their shares were worth.

Bain Capital basically picked up Virgin and its staff at a fire sale just trying to cover some of their debts.

In 5 years time, its unlikely either Rex or Virgin will exist. Usual will happen, one will get bought out or go broke.

Qld govt via its investment arm QIC is doing what most state govts and Fed's have done at some point and invest in an industry to keep jobs. Some don't work out, but many do and you only have to go through QIC's investment history to see some of the significant wins they have had over the years.

Agree, Bain will walk away if it starts to loose money, however Bain are not planning to repeat the mistakes of the past so we will see.

I feel compelled to reply, not because I don't like you, but because I probably know a little bit more about the situation than you do, being privy to certain information.

Rex is competing with Virgin, not the other way around. In fact they are leasing some of Virgin's planes to provide their new east coast triangle services.

Qantas only has deep pockets because Alan Joyce builds war chests by crying poor to the government, then repeatedly sacking staff.

Virgin were competitive with Qantas price wise but excelled with their premium product and offered stuff not available with Qantas, like half a dozen rows in economy class with extra legroom and family pooling of status credits with their Velocity frequent flyer program. That last point is more significant than you think. And they were miles ahead of Jetstar with inclusions.

Any modicum of research will reveal that there is actually very little difference in service reliability between any of the carriers.

Only a fool would buy shares in an airline.

Bain's intention with Virgin is to provide the cheapest service possible, turn revenue in the right direction, and flog it off.

Bain's way of doing that is to offer a service worse than Jetstar or Tiger. IMHO it is the wrong direction to take; Virgin were a pleasure to fly with when they turned themselves into a full service carrier from their earlier discount carrier days, but you are right, Qantas had deeper pockets.

Virgin forgot why they existed and all their staff knew their approach was wrong apart from the former CEO with a ship on his shoulder loosing the top job at QF to Joyce. The short-term CEO who took over in 2019(?) was turning Virgin around, but would have taken a few years with many more routes to be cancelled and the airline downsized quite a bit. Of the Virgin people who lost their jobs in 2020, I think most in the industry expected many of these jobs would have gone anyway had CV-19 not happened.

In general I wasn't a big user of Virgin and booked QF in preference unless timing and price was just not suited.

Qantas went into the crisis with a strong balance sheet, it was profitable and expected to pay a considerable Corp tax payment in 2020, hence it got govt bail out money and Virgin didn't. One significant outcome of recessions is that it by and large removes poor performing companies and employees from the economy. Virgin was a seriously underperforming organisation, every time you flew Virgin before, your ticket was subsidized by the many people and organizations who have lost money. Where as every time you flew QF or Jetstar, no one else was funding your ticket.

However no airline can afford to go from growth to almost all planes parked up within 1mth for months and expect it not to make steps to prevent bankruptcy.  While QF has slightly downsized, most of the jobs removed from the QF payroll were actually outsourced. The rest of the ACTUAL job losses were expected and needed and in most cases far less than most international carriers. For example Emirates has laid off 35% of its workforce, mush of its remaining pilots and senior staff are not working but also on minimal pay and expect to be so for up to 12mth with no guarantee they will have a job at the end.

Bought Shares in QF early this year and have doubled my money.

The winner of the 2020 "The Block" is kinda in doubt after the buyer of the winning property failed to pay - News.com.au;

Jimmy and Tam’s house on renovation TV show The Block is once again needing a buyer after the winning bidder at auction failed to settle and some previously interested parties purchased elsewhere.

The revelation of the failed settlement has also prompted calls for the Victorian government to consider introducing rules that would force bidders to register before auction.

The Queensland couple sold their striking 1950s-style home last month for $4.256 million, beating the reserve price by $966,000 and winning the contest.

But A Current Affair reported on Tuesday that the sale had fallen through and claimed the purchaser had produced fraudulent documents to suggest the deposit and final payment had gone through, even though the money has not yet arrived. The purchaser insisted to ACA she had paid the money.

The Block and A Current Affair are both on Channel Nine, which is the majority owner of Domain.

“You feel like you’ve been played,” Tam Wilkins told ACA. “It was like we knew her as a friend and we welcomed her into our family as a friend.”

LOL, really, you welcomed the person who bought your house into your family as a friend? That's probably further than I'd go...

The winner of the 2020 "The Block" is kinda in doubt after the buyer of the winning property failed to pay - News.com.au;

Jimmy and Tam’s house on renovation TV show The Block is once again needing a buyer after the winning bidder at auction failed to settle and some previously interested parties purchased elsewhere.

The revelation of the failed settlement has also prompted calls for the Victorian government to consider introducing rules that would force bidders to register before auction.

The Queensland couple sold their striking 1950s-style home last month for $4.256 million, beating the reserve price by $966,000 and winning the contest.

But A Current Affair reported on Tuesday that the sale had fallen through and claimed the purchaser had produced fraudulent documents to suggest the deposit and final payment had gone through, even though the money has not yet arrived. The purchaser insisted to ACA she had paid the money.

The Block and A Current Affair are both on Channel Nine, which is the majority owner of Domain.

“You feel like you’ve been played,” Tam Wilkins told ACA. “It was like we knew her as a friend and we welcomed her into our family as a friend.”

LOL, really, you welcomed the person who bought your house into your family as a friend? That's probably further than I'd go...

I would suggest "The Block" needs to consider delaying the final broadcast until the actual transactions have taken place and at the same time changing from auction to registered parties only which then becomes a legal binding contract and that the 2nd place bid is the alternative legal buyer.

Why people bother to bid on properties they have no intention on buying I have no idea.

Yes agree, friends and large financial transactions don't belong in the same room together.

There's $14.6 billion more in cash in circulation than there was this time last year - the RBA is having trouble keeping up with the demand for cash - from ComSec today:

The amount of bank notes in circulation rose by $1.6 billion in December or 1.7 per cent to a record $98.6 billion. The value of bank notes is up by 17.4 per cent over the year.

The amount of $50 notes in circulation rose by $1.1 billion or 2.3 per cent in December to stand 23.8 per cent higher than a year ago – the fastest annual growth in 12 years.

The amount of $100 notes in circulation rose by $346.2 million in December or 0.8 per cent. Annual growth has slowed from a 29-year high of 15.8 per cent in October to 13.6 per cent in December.

I'm really not surprised that there's a lot of cash hoarding going on out there - at the height of the COVID19 thing I saw heaps of ethnic people pulling huge amounts of cash out of the bank. Why would you bother keeping cash in the bank with them paying almost nothing in interest rates?

Also I think there's a lot of concern about the health of the banking system in general - lots of people in the know I've been speaking to saying that the unprecedented 25 year run of mega-prosperity is now over.

There's $14.6 billion more in cash in circulation than there was this time last year - the RBA is having trouble keeping up with the demand for cash - from ComSec today:

The amount of bank notes in circulation rose by $1.6 billion in December or 1.7 per cent to a record $98.6 billion. The value of bank notes is up by 17.4 per cent over the year.

The amount of $50 notes in circulation rose by $1.1 billion or 2.3 per cent in December to stand 23.8 per cent higher than a year ago – the fastest annual growth in 12 years.

The amount of $100 notes in circulation rose by $346.2 million in December or 0.8 per cent. Annual growth has slowed from a 29-year high of 15.8 per cent in October to 13.6 per cent in December.

I'm really not surprised that there's a lot of cash hoarding going on out there - at the height of the COVID19 thing I saw heaps of ethnic people pulling huge amounts of cash out of the bank. Why would you bother keeping cash in the bank with them paying almost nothing in interest rates?

Also I think there's a lot of concern about the health of the banking system in general - lots of people in the know I've been speaking to saying that the unprecedented 25 year run of mega-prosperity is now over.

Well Covid-19 didn't get rid of cash, contrary to popular opinion several months ago, as contactless payment was all the rage...

There's $14.6 billion more in cash in circulation than there was this time last year - the RBA is having trouble keeping up with the demand for cash - from ComSec today:

The amount of bank notes in circulation rose by $1.6 billion in December or 1.7 per cent to a record $98.6 billion. The value of bank notes is up by 17.4 per cent over the year.

The amount of $50 notes in circulation rose by $1.1 billion or 2.3 per cent in December to stand 23.8 per cent higher than a year ago – the fastest annual growth in 12 years.

The amount of $100 notes in circulation rose by $346.2 million in December or 0.8 per cent. Annual growth has slowed from a 29-year high of 15.8 per cent in October to 13.6 per cent in December.

I'm really not surprised that there's a lot of cash hoarding going on out there - at the height of the COVID19 thing I saw heaps of ethnic people pulling huge amounts of cash out of the bank. Why would you bother keeping cash in the bank with them paying almost nothing in interest rates?

Also I think there's a lot of concern about the health of the banking system in general - lots of people in the know I've been speaking to saying that the unprecedented 25 year run of mega-prosperity is now over.

Well Covid-19 didn't get rid of cash, contrary to popular opinion several months ago, as contactless payment was all the rage...

Cash has almost disappeared here (UAE), almost everything went contactless payment in April. We were heading that way anyway but likely boosted by a few years. I probably take out less than $200/mth cash anymore. Even my lunch at work $8 or at petrol station I pay via card. Almost all govt transactions are now card or transfer, no cash accepted. The one recent exception was a finishing trip which had to be paid in cash on arrival. I suppose it just makes it simple for the owner/operator.

Its also interesting that a few years ago in Tanzania, all govt transactions by foreigners had to be via card or soon would be with visa's no longer available on arrival to stop corruption of govt employees. Middle of no where on a quiet road on a small island to pay for the national park fees there was a govt "booth" made out of basically driftwood with the thing running on electricity being the EFTOPS machine charged from a car battery.

Sub-cont and Asian's are used to saving in gold under the bed due to inflation and lack of trust of local currency and banking system. Vietnam, its still common to buy property using gold.

The other big use of cash is for buying stuff off Gumtree and Facebook buy and sell...

It also comes in handy for bargaining a better price. And very common in small tradie jobs to get stuff repaired etc.

It doesn't mean that the Chinese won't still do it. Putin took over the Crimean peninsula with no retaliation from the West - China is probably calculating the reaction from the West verses the value of taking over Taiwan at home - finally reunifying the country in their opinion.

You might be interested in an exploration of the issues more fully - Foreign Policy. Taiwan has a historically ethnic connection to China but not much else. The KMT fled there in 1948 - that's what's motivating Xi to 'reunify' the two nations.

I'm aware of Taiwan's history.

Crimea was a piece of land attached to Russia that was full of people (most on very low incomes chasing Russian welfare with no significant industry there, not even its own water supply) who wanted to rejoin Russia, hell half the Ukrainian military forces sent to defend defected. (side note, what happens to these people in Russia, you clearly cannot trust them to be loyal)

The West was never going to get involved, too much pain for so little return.

Meanwhile Taiwan would like to be a separate country, physically separated from China. There are what 5 or 10m people involved who don't want to be part of the PRC as their incomes are significantly higher than China as are their freedoms.

Meanwhile Taiwan is investing in a larger diesel submarine fleet which are quieter than the PRC nuclear subs. Could make a sea crossing a bit more dicey for the PRC.

PVO and Emma Husar, comments on the latest, alleged smeg fight in Canberra.

PVO and Emma Husar, comments on the latest, alleged smeg fight in Canberra.

Yeah, like hell he wouldn't have known.

If he knew and did nothing, he's complicit. If he didn't know he's incompetent.

Morrison is a degree or two better than the best quality Teflon. He makes sure that absolutely nothing sticks. I wouldn't be so rude as to accuse him of lying; I'd just say he is guilty of terminological inexactitude.

Morrison is a degree or two better than the best quality Teflon. He makes sure that absolutely nothing sticks. I wouldn't be so rude as to accuse him of lying; I'd just say he is guilty of terminological inexactitude.

Just my opinion, add coward.

Read this and be shocked, outraged and disgusted, the excerpt from The Australian. (of all places)
https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2021/02/is-scomo-kidding-reynolds-has-to-go/