The United States(!) of A
mikehunt207 wrote:Interesting
Surely submarines are going to become unmanned underwater drones in the (very near) future?(prob before the ones we signed up for are even made ) . Cut the things to half the size without having 150 sailors and all the living space .
Australia buying expensive outdated equipment , maybe the US has some cases of old muskets they can throw in to sweeten the deal !
At present the drones are not very fast so their tactical use is vastly lesser than the manned nuclear sub; major powers are all still building nukes so watch for them to stop this and go all-drone. Drones will be increasingly important in all areas. For anyone interested in subs, I suggest visiting H I Sutton's youtube page or website to learn more.
andy-mac wrote:Yep MH, that is what I have been thinking.
VJ has some valid points on why he thinks we need them.I think that we can no longer rely on USA and need to become more self-sufficient defence wise. Reckon the Sub deal is going to cost us a lot and deliver little, if anything. Especially now with the way the US seems to be going.
We might need Chinese subs to defend us from USA. ;)
Only if you want to live in a society which is Leninist with Chinese characteristics - who knows, maybe many University staff actually want this?
I do agree current US is becoming an unreliable ally - and we need to increase self sufficiency in defence as much as possible. Have been over on European defence sites and they are freaking out and doing 'declaration of independence' style posts.
US is abandoning Europe to pivot to Pacific and face China, I can only think they would solidify and strengthen ties with Australia, for the simple fact that if they lost this continent, they are blocked out of the Indian Ocean, and pushed back to Hawaii for basing. I think you'll see them double down on Australia in the face of the massive Chinese military build up.
Back to DOGE - you can review all the savings they've made, and how nutty some of the contracts they have exposed, here:
''Only if you want to live in a society which is Leninist with Chinese characteristics - who knows, maybe many University staff actually want this?''
Just for record, tongue was firmly in cheek.
DOGE savings, like sacking all the nuclear watchdog team?
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/doge-screw...
Yes, like sacking the nuclear watchdog team and scrambling to find them and re-instate them!
"The people who sacked those people, have all been sacked," to paraphrase Monty Python.
Settle down there @info, I did read your link and at best it provides some dated tenuous links between Hamas and the Qatari Govt,
To my point which to date you seem to have avoided. If the Qatari Gov't currently supported /protected Hamas in any way as you had implied ^^ why is their airline allowed to freely fly throughout the world and in Australia with the support of both the Gov't and Dutton's opposition? Surely, if the links between the Qatari's and Hamas were beyond doubt as, again you are proffering ^^, their planes wouldn't be permitted anywhere in the world!
Following on from Guardian link above
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/19/kyivs-white-house-wooing-i...
It's so weird Trump blamed Ukraine for being invaded by Russia, that's the definition of gaslighting I think? Any way, this is the most Kremlin White House in a long time, Russia wins in Ukraine despite having their arses handed to them militarily over 3 years, being revealed as not quite the army everyone thought they were, and having to resort to WW2 style artillery barrages and meat shield infantry charges to make ground. Not to mention the flagship of the Black Sea fleet being revealed as failing 3 layers of missile defence and sunk by a missile. Russia of the future has learned from these lessons and is mobilised on a war economy footing and is much more effective, is rebuilding strength and Europe is totally freaking as they took a 30 year arms holiday under the US security rug, which just got pulled.
Devil's advocate: maybe Russia are actually the good guys, and will stop the replacement of the indigenous European peoples in Europe by the current mass immigration? (When combined with native birth rates in the 20-40 fertile age group, this is a lot more plausible than you would think) History would suggest Russia ruling the place won't be fun for the locals, though.
burleigh wrote:Damn, how good is this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgXS81FS0zQ
yes, she's very effective in her role, if she dialled down the smug 20% (she's Jordan Shanks-Markovina level) and bought herself a hair-tie, this'd be nigh esky-worthy... headline in the Australian: "Karoline Leavitt’s rapid rise to the White House showcases both precocious skill and confrontations with the traditional media". Yep. Plus she clearly has Elon-level empathy. Go grrrl!
save sum dollarz fer $hiz, tax-fraud is one thing, but how friggin insular is the US intending to become just cos it has squandered its post-war wealth trying to build all the billionaires? into the gaping maw of global need steps Gy-naaa, with a tanker of yuan, scooping up the goodwill.
though apocryphal (like the "if you are not a liberal when you are young, you have no heart, and if you are not a conservative when old, you have no brain" quote that conservatives love, but no-one ever said, certainly not Churchill), there are few that doubt that China was a sleeping dragon, suffocated under the weight of past glories (much like the bog the US is declining into) that has now woken, and will undoubtedly shake the world.
GuySmiley wrote:Settle down there @info, I did read your link and at best it provides some dated tenuous links between Hamas and the Qatari Govt,
To my point which to date you seem to have avoided. If the Qatari Gov't currently supported /protected Hamas in any way as you had implied ^^ why is their airline allowed to freely fly throughout the world and in Australia with the support of both the Gov't and Dutton's opposition? Surely, if the links between the Qatari's and Hamas were beyond doubt as, again you are proffering ^^, their planes wouldn't be permitted anywhere in the world!
Sadly it's just how things go sometimes, I guess money talks, plus it's a very good airline and it is total seperate from any of the government's dodgy dealings.
Hopefully one day all this will change.
But i wouldn't have much hope of it happening anytime soon, look at Iran and Iran air (government run), Iran is far worse compared to Qatar, Iran is a major supporter of terrorist groups and is no friend of the West, yet until recently Iran air was operating into Europe and may again soon.
It's flights only stopped due to sanctions and accusations that "The United States and Western allies accuse Iran of using its civilian air fleet to transfer missiles to Russia for its war in Ukraine - charges Tehran denies."
velocityjohnno wrote:Back to DOGE - you can review all the savings they've made, and how nutty some of the contracts they have exposed, here:
Interesting will have to check it out
Lets be real, this should have been done long ago, and should be done in Australia too.
You can argue about it's only this much or that much etc, but it all adds up, or this one or that one shouldn't be touched etc
The only reason some people are opposed to it, is because of who is doing it Trump and Musk
If it was a party or leaders they supported, they would be cheering from the sidelines praising what's being exposed.
indo-dreaming wrote:velocityjohnno wrote:Back to DOGE - you can review all the savings they've made, and how nutty some of the contracts they have exposed, here:
Interesting will have to check it out
Lets be real, this should have been done long ago, and should be done in Australia too.
You can argue about it's only this much or that much etc, but it all adds up, or this one or that one shouldn't be touched etc
The only reason some people are opposed to it, is because of who is doing it Trump and Musk
If it was a party or leaders they supported, they would be cheering from the sidelines praising what's being exposed.
Yeah man. I'm sure there'd be bipartisan support here if someone wanted to end the regulation of financial institutions, especially if that someone would benefit from said deregulation. smh
Honestly, it's easy to forget all of the wild decisions being made by this government in this "flood the zone with shit" onslaught, but this point should be at the front of everyone's mind when looking at the state of play. The world's richest man wants to stop financial regulation so that he can get richer, while the vast, vast, vast majority of the rest of the population is either getting poorer, or screwed by banks etc in some manner.
Hiccups wrote:indo-dreaming wrote:velocityjohnno wrote:Back to DOGE - you can review all the savings they've made, and how nutty some of the contracts they have exposed, here:
Interesting will have to check it out
Lets be real, this should have been done long ago, and should be done in Australia too.
You can argue about it's only this much or that much etc, but it all adds up, or this one or that one shouldn't be touched etc
The only reason some people are opposed to it, is because of who is doing it Trump and Musk
If it was a party or leaders they supported, they would be cheering from the sidelines praising what's being exposed.
Yeah man. I'm sure there'd be bipartisan support here if someone wanted to end the regulation of financial institutions, especially if that someone would benefit from said deregulation. smh
Honestly, it's easy to forget all of the wild decisions being made by this government in this "flood the zone with shit" onslaught, but this point should be at the front of everyone's mind when looking at the state of play. The world's richest man wants to stop financial regulation so that he can get richer, while the vast, vast, vast majority of the rest of the population is either getting poorer, or screwed by banks etc in some manner.
He's the worlds richest man for a reason. You dopey Elon haters are a strange bunch. He's saved billions of wasted money yet you still find a reason to whinge. What was that bank robber/police analogy again?
Sorry, is someone who doesn't know the difference between the right and left sides of politics trying to chime in? Went very quiet in that other thread. hahaha.
Hiccups wrote:Sorry, is someone who doesn't know the difference between the right and left sides of politics trying to chime in? Went very quiet in that other thread. hahaha.
Not much you've been right about so my mind hasn't changed.
You hate Elon so much you even post fake tweets from him. Why?
A tweet I realised was not real, though looked very much real, which I acknowledged shortly after I posted. Between that and making up what my views on covid etc were, incorrectly, I believe you got nothing on me. Tata little fella.
and you were getting dragged by multiple people about the left/right thing, you flamin' goose.
Hiccups wrote:The world's richest man wants to stop financial regulation so that he can get richer.
How is he stopping financial regulation? To me he is exposing the lack of regulation and integrity, and hopfully in time setup proper regulation.
How can exposing the tax payers money waste and spending it overseas to "organisations" that aren't in the countries best interest's, whist the US taxpayer are screaming for services for their own people, the taxpayer, be a bad thing?
And how is he getting richer from this? If it's the Tesla contract, that was awarded by Biden.
fitzroy-21 wrote:Hiccups wrote:The world's richest man wants to stop financial regulation so that he can get richer.
How is he stopping financial regulation? To me he is exposing the lack of regulation and integrity, and hopfully in time setup proper regulation.
How can exposing the tax payers money waste and spending it overseas to "organisations" that aren't in the countries best interest's, whist the US taxpayer are screaming for services for their own people, the taxpayer, be a bad thing?
And how is he getting richer from this? If it's the Tesla contract, that was awarded by Biden.
He’s not getting richer. He’s already rich. I would trust Musk more than someone who actually needed the money.
Hiccup doesn’t like change. He doesn’t like that the world is changing and his little outdated bubble is bursting.
dbl post
burleigh wrote:He’s not getting richer. He’s already rich. I would trust Musk more than someone who actually needed the money.
Hiccup doesn’t like change. He doesn’t like that the world is changing and his little outdated bubble is bursting.
Man, I gotta come back to this hilariousness. No, Musk doesn't need to be richer, but he needs money to feel more powerful. Don't understand that, you dolt? Oh, and I love change. The Democrats were foul and should have changed, then we might not be dealing with this shitshow now, the logical conclusion to late-stage capitalism.
fitzroy-21 wrote:Hiccups wrote:The world's richest man wants to stop financial regulation so that he can get richer.
How is he stopping financial regulation? To me he is exposing the lack of regulation and integrity, and hopfully in time setup proper regulation.
How can exposing the tax payers money waste and spending it overseas to "organisations" that aren't in the countries best interest's, whist the US taxpayer are screaming for services for their own people, the taxpayer, be a bad thing?
And how is he getting richer from this? If it's the Tesla contract, that was awarded by Biden.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/consumer-f...
Here's a start. Use google for more
Hiccups wrote:burleigh wrote:He’s not getting richer. He’s already rich. I would trust Musk more than someone who actually needed the money.
Hiccup doesn’t like change. He doesn’t like that the world is changing and his little outdated bubble is bursting.
Man, I gotta come back to this hilariousness. No, Musk doesn't need to be richer, but he needs money to feel more powerful. Don't understand that, you dolt? Oh, and I love change. The Democrats were foul and should have changed, then we might not be dealing with this shitshow now, the logical conclusion to late-stage capitalism.
Are you really that ding dong? Musk would be getting richer if he wasn't in control of D.O.G.E. You don't want REAL change, just enough to keep you in your bubble.
They're an obstacle to his current and future business ventures, so nowhere near as rich. My word you are slow.
Best be taking the DOGE website's proclamations with a grain of salt.
Might as well bang up some tweets and memes and wotnot. It appears to be the only way some people can ingest information.
Imagine stanning for a bloke who cuts funding to people in need of assistance because he thinks they're parasites.
Hiccups wrote:Imagine stanning for a bloke who cuts funding to people in need of assistance because he thinks they're parasites.
Is that you ExoticJeff?
Musk needs money like NOW. He wants to colonise Mars. Best estimates are that he has about 5% of what would be needed to do that on even a basic prototype level. He needs big, big cash; he needs to be in bed with those with big, big cash; and he needs to have governments (plural) willing to sub things out to him like NASA's 6-year-long Dragonfly mission to Titan in 3 years..
Has to be Hicjeff…..OCD reposter of anything.
Trump’s “ Golden Age “ federal holiday on his birthday. https://thehill.com/homenews/5149827-trump-birthday-bill/ Along with a DOGE payment of $5000 to taxpayers. That’s a lot of money that will come flooding into the economy . https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2025/02/18/musk-mulls-sending...
A lot of things Musk does are clearly not about getting richer, Twitter or Space X aren't money making ventures.
Is it power Trump & Musk seek?
Well yeah it is in a way, but i dont think its power for powers sake, its having the power to be able to make change where they believe it's needed.
That change under Trump is supported by half of American's voters and millions worldwide.
Better chance having mega rich politicians like in the U.S. who don’t even want to get paid trying to rescue a country rather than the dodgy self serving clowns we have here that won’t even drop negative gearing for more than one investment house. ….and suck up to foreign corporate donors for profit.
Gee whiz I wonder why they don’t want to….maybe they own more than one extra house….maybe the multi nationals are greasing their wheels.
It’s a wait and see in the U.S. to see the outcome.
Interesting to watch you must admit.
I don’t think they are doing anything for the money.
They have a vision for their country….whether it works out or not time will tell.
Hey @indo, sorry didn't reply to your post yesterday re. Al Jazeera, due to being caught up in Burleighs dribble.
Just on Al Jazeera. I support any mainstream media source that actually supports Palestine and Palestinians.
I know you dont/wont so no point going down that road, but yeah, if that's their crime, then good. Better than the other criminals in my opinion, and the Western media is a mouthpiece for Israeli government/USA government.(the real current day criminals).
Truth be told, i only occasionally jump on their website just to see a different point of view, and that story about the Israeli surfers was on the front page, so thought it interesting to share.
Cheers.
indo-dreaming wrote:A lot of things Musk does are clearly not about getting richer, Twitter or Space X aren't money making ventures.
Is it power Trump & Musk seek?
Well yeah it is in a way, but i dont think its power for powers sake, its having the power to be able to make change where they believe it's needed.
That change under Trump is supported by half of American's voters and millions worldwide.
Agree Indo
Pretty clear from this quote what Putin was after in Ukraine. And now what the US wants while they have Ukraine over a barrel.
“…..White House National Security Adviser Michael Waltz says Ukraine needs to rein in its criticism of the US, as Washington tries to secure a peace deal to end the war.
"It's unacceptable, they [Ukraine] need to tone it down and take a hard look and sign that deal," he tells Fox News. The deal he is referring to is a push by Donald Trump for access to rare minerals in Ukraine in return for aid, or even as compensation for the support the US has already provided….”
Ukraine has been its own worst enemy since the Soviet Union broke up.
Reagan promised Gorbachev that U.S. wouldn’t interfere and would not bring NATO weaponry up to its borders .
Russia was no longer the bad guy and the United States and the world had the unique opportunity to have a new friend that they could help to have a great lifestyle and prosperity.
But, there’s no weapons sales in that….peace equals no arms sales and with no bad guy to wind up there’s a big loss in profits.
The democrats have been the worst in influencing a corruptible Ukraine.
U.S. weapons moved in, two biological weapons labs built and admitted to in a senate committee hearing which was witnessed to by us here on swellnet after someone posted it…..a slip of the tongue and the Biden crime family exposed.
Then we have Obama, the cool dude from Hawaii, arming the Muslim brotherhood with US weapons which ended up in the hands of I.S and were shooting allies with.
On top of that, Obama was about to train the Proper far right neo Nazi Ukrainian AZOV brigade in the US in war skills in 2015 until congress found out about it.
They were also a part of the Ukrainian guard and their ideology was spreading through the army. Obama was also responsible for the uprising using social media to overthrow the elected Ukrainian govt and install an actor as leader.
So we have US weapons, US bio labs, U.S. trained Nazis, US backed Ukrainian armies soldiers assembling on the Russian border, US promising a NATO acceptance one day……all the things Russia hates ( especially Nazis) now in a country that was Russia only a few years ago and old Vladimir is supposed to just sit there and do nothing.
If you corner a big bear it’s going to come out swinging….big claws out…teeth showing.
Ukraine has blown it big time by listening to corrupt US leaders and war mongering fools.
Now they will have to give some stuff up to fix the stuff up.
As strange a guy as he seems, trump sees the whole picture, hates war, likes deals that benefit everyone including of course the U.S. the most.
Anyway, I might cook a Russian chicken Kiev tonight and ponder on the possible outcomes of all this.
Europe and the media still seem clueless as to what’s been going on so hopefully they will all stay out of it and we may just get a deal and some peace and a nice wide demilitarised zone that everyone can share between Russia and Ukraine.
Obama was also responsible for the uprising using social media to overthrow the elected Ukrainian govt and install an actor as leader.
FACT check, Zelensky won a democratic election in 2019.Tell us how he got him over the line, a very interesting "installation"?
Fact CHEQUE on Twumpy!
Optimist wrote:Ukraine has been its own worst enemy since the Soviet Union broke up.
Reagan promised Gorbachev that U.S. wouldn’t interfere and would not bring NATO weaponry up to its borders .
Russia was no longer the bad guy and the United States and the world had the unique opportunity to have a new friend that they could help to have a great lifestyle and prosperity.
But, there’s no weapons sales in that….peace equals no arms sales and with no bad guy to wind up there’s a big loss in profits.
The democrats have been the worst in influencing a corruptible Ukraine.
U.S. weapons moved in, two biological weapons labs built and admitted to in a senate committee hearing which was witnessed to by us here on swellnet after someone posted it…..a slip of the tongue and the Biden crime family exposed.
Then we have Obama, the cool dude from Hawaii, arming the Muslim brotherhood with US weapons which ended up in the hands of I.S and were shooting allies with.
On top of that, Obama was about to train the Proper far right neo Nazi Ukrainian AZOV brigade in the US in war skills in 2015 until congress found out about it.
They were also a part of the Ukrainian guard and their ideology was spreading through the army. Obama was also responsible for the uprising using social media to overthrow the elected Ukrainian govt and install an actor as leader.
So we have US weapons, US bio labs, U.S. trained Nazis, US backed Ukrainian armies soldiers assembling on the Russian border, US promising a NATO acceptance one day……all the things Russia hates ( especially Nazis) now in a country that was Russia only a few years ago and old Vladimir is supposed to just sit there and do nothing.
If you corner a big bear it’s going to come out swinging….big claws out…teeth showing.
Ukraine has blown it big time by listening to corrupt US leaders and war mongering fools.
Now they will have to give some stuff up to fix the stuff up.
As strange a guy as he seems, trump sees the whole picture, hates war, likes deals that benefit everyone including of course the U.S. the most.
Anyway, I might cook a Russian chicken Kiev tonight and ponder on the possible outcomes of all this.
Europe and the media still seem clueless as to what’s been going on so hopefully they will all stay out of it and we may just get a deal and some peace and a nice wide demilitarised zone that everyone can share between Russia and Ukraine.
Do not often agree with you Opti, but think you have this pretty right.
Some knowledgeable commentators have been saying this for the last number of years, Mearsheimer, Sachs, Crooke as well as many others and now they seem to have been proven correct.
Amazing that the media are still saying Russia is weak and then the next sentence they plan to take over Europe. Cannot have it both ways.
No fan of Trump or Putin, but this does extend from the end of the Cold War, and Putin had been making it very clear he wouldn't accept NATO in Ukraine.
My 2 cents.
Where Victoria Nuland now?
Great read.
Sums it up perfectly Stu….a great read indeed…..good find.
Loved the “ for those of us in the news business, it’s been exhausting …and it’s only been a month”…. Ha ha love it.
We have “ brokenness “ in Christianity too…… a man tries to solve all his challenges without his creator involved…..
Brokenness follows…..then an awakening….a merging of spirits…then pure joy through life’s challenges…..then The End ?……no ….The Beginning. !
Septic Tanks are going to Septic Tank