Welcome to 2026 ... and buckle up!

 

The year is barely three weeks old but it seems like we’ve been here for months. If you’re feeling exhausted and in need of a holiday, you’re not alone.

So far this year we have seen the USA invade Venezuela, devastating bushfires in Victoria, cyclone and floods in north Queensland, a rising tide of revolution in Iran, the announcement of a Royal Commission into the Bondi attack, parliament recalled to debate hate speech and gun laws, Australia retain the Ashes in just 11 days of cricket, and the Adelaide Writers’ Week implode. Suddenly the world seems to have moved into warp speed and we’re just hanging on and hoping it lands somewhere safe.

It’s difficult to know where to start navigating this gridlock of events and, it being summer break and therefore our traditional season of beach, barbeques, beer and a breather from current affairs, we’re just not used to such a high octane start to a new year.

Globally, the big question is will he, won’t he make a move on Greenland? In the light of the Venezuela invasion, it’s not so much a question of if, but when and how. The European powers are already positioning themselves behind Denmark in the event of a hostile takeover, but where does that leave Australia? Consecutive Australian leaders since Jesus played halfback for Palestine have described the USA as our “oldest and closest ally.” Perhaps it’s time to revisit that terminology and remember what the "NZ" in ANZAC stands for. It’s our longstanding mutual allegiance with New Zealand that has tied us to our geographical and geopolitical region and helped maintain regional stability. The USA only arrived on the scene in 1941 and have used us as a convenient military outpost ever since. New Zealand, at least, had the good sense to tell the US where to go and to take their nuclear submarines with them back in 1985. 

But I digress …

Trump has violated international law by invading Venezuela. While there are certainly many pleased to see the end of Maduro, a corrupt dictator, Trump’s claim that the US will now “run” Venezuela should be a very large red flag, both for Venezuelans and the rest of the world. Has Venezuela just swapped out one dictator for another? In any case, Trump’s insatiable thirst for power is now whetted and his sights are firmly set on Greenland.

The leaders of Germany, Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Poland have issued a joint statement backing Denmark, in a move also supported by Canada. This week, Germany, France, Sweden and Norway are commencing a joint military operation called “Arctic Endurance” in a show of united European support for Denmark and Greenland.

Note on image below*
Australia is not part of NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) obviously, but we are diplomatically and economically tied to Europe, and historically and economically to the UK and Canada through the Commonwealth. Our allegiance to the USA, despite the “oldest and strongest ally” rhetoric that our leaders spruik, only goes back 80-odd years and endures only insofar as it benefits the US. In the current political climate, if we ceased to be of use, we’d be very quickly sidelined.

America is now a rogue state under the autocratic rule of an unstable tangerine psychopath enabled by a bunch of spineless sycophants.

Our government’s official response to the Venezuelan invasion was a statement from the PM saying that the government was “monitoring developments in Venezuela,” and that “we urge all parties to support dialogue and diplomacy in order to secure regional stability and prevent escalation.” Presumably someone in the PM’s office is actually paid to produce this twat waffle.

Our allegiances have always been obvious. Australia has always sided with our traditional allies, but what happens when one of those allies goes rogue? Suddenly the world order has shattered and a new one, somehow, has to be built. Our government has to decide whether to scuttle along behind Trump like his tame cockroach (viz. John Howard sending us into Afghanistan in 2005 at the whim of George W Bush) and make ourselves as much a global pariah as our "great ally", or support international law and the defence of democratic sovereign nations.

We can’t afford to sit this one out. 

 

*I nicked this image from a Facebook meme. Credit to the unknown creator who is assuming that the Australian government will support international law and justice.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

On hiding Barnaby

Image
Cartoon: Matt Golding It seems the Nationals plan to "hide" former leader and serial drongo, Barnaby Joyce, for this year's election campaign, restricting him to campaigning within the boundaries of his electorate. Clearly, Barnaby has become a party liability, although his popularity in his rural heartland remains high. Mind you, restricting Barnaby to New England still means he has a lot of ground to cover. It's the twelfth largest federal electorate by area and covers a vast swathe of central west and northern New South Wales.  Of course, the Nats could hide Barnaby permanently by just disendorsing him. Find themselves a candidate who won't embarrass the party by getting pissed and passing out on the footpath in the middle of Canberra or knocking up a junior staffer while trumpeting CFV*. Ah, yes. Good old CFV. The public fallback position for all conservative pollies while they're privately pursuing anything but. They roll it out regularly in order to poi...
Read more

"De-extinction": the new frontier or scientific circus?

Image
There is no doubt that the impact of human development and negligence has caused the extinction of a lot of species. The thylacine, passenger pigeon and dodo for starters. The black rhino, orangutan and hawksbill turtle, among many others, are hanging on by a thread. In Australia the  antechinus, mountain pygmy possum and orange-bellied parrot are on the critical list and loss of habitat is posing a growing threat to our beloved koala, which could be gone within 25 years if there is not significant intervention to ensure their preservation. So when news broke this week that the dire wolf, a species extinct for the last 10,000 years, has been genetically reproduced and brought back , the popular media went into a frenzy of congratulatory glee. All those creatures we've hunted into oblivion can be restored! Let us rejoice! Umm, not so fast. Let's face it, apart from zoological paleontologists, who'd even heard of a dire wolf until the TV adaptation of George RR Martin's ...
Read more

How not to win a Nobel Peace Prize

Image
 When the inventor, entrepreneur and businessman Alfred Nobel died, his will stated that his fortune was to be used to reward “those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind.” The Nobel Peace Prize was first awarded in 1901, and is awarded to a nominated person who the Committee believes has done the most towards promoting peace. This year, the Committee has awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Venezuelan democracy advocate and opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, "for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy." Predictably, the malignant, bloviating orange blob currently occupying the White House, is throwing a full-scale hissy fit over the Committee's failure to award the prize to him, having been duly nominated by that other paragon of peace, the genocidal narcissist, Netanyahu. The White H...
Read more