Geo Political Risk

[Balance]

Balance, not quite sure where you want to go with these endless repetitions. Looks like you took some tools out of the toolkit of your former archenemy Trump and his brainless supporters. Repeat, repeat, repeat and at some stage it might stick.

We do vehemently agree that the people running the West are not inherently better than the people running the autocratic block (like Russia, China, Iran to name only some). We do agree that the US committed as well plenty of fellonies and that they have (as well) a habit of abandening the very people who used to fight together with them if it suits their agenda.

However - apart from smearing a thick black sludge across everybody (no, I can't really remember any people who didn't comit crimes and abandened their friends at some stage in history) - what exactly is your point?

Chinese and Russians are the crooks of the year ... and they are an imminent danger to anybody on this globe who wants to live in peace and freedom. We can either go with the other (somewhat better behaved) guy or we can choose to go down.

I personally prefer not to go down ... but hey, it is your personal choice. Some people seem to prefer to support crooks and bullies while others have values. We both didn't understand the people supporting Trump by smearing everybody else, but it appears in the case of Russia and China your values did change?

350,000 civilians deaths caused by US promotion of war is repetition?

I spent time in Vietnam in the last decade and observed what the American War there did to the people there - it's disgusting beyond contempt. There are orphanages there housing children born with horrendous defects due to the use of chemicals and there are children with missing limbs due to the millions of land mines planted by the US.

Between 1965 and 1975, the United States and its allies dropped more than 7.5 million tons of bombs on Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia—double the amount dropped on Europe and Asia during World War II. Pound for pound, it remains the largest aerial bombardment in human history.

You should not make the grievous mistake of thinking that anti-US war mongering = pro China or pro Russia.

Open your eyes and see the US arm & weapon industry for the control it exerts over the US - just as the guns industry there control their government. A nation which will not ban guns used to kill school children, year after year - you sure you are on the right side?

[Panda-NZ-]

Vietnam has forgiven them and what's more they have a strong alliance with them despite still being a communist state.

They clearly trust the US more than they do China now despite all of the history (which says something).

[Panda-NZ-]

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/polit...-diplomat.html

NZ should eventually merge with australia and as a consequence we adopt their policies including AUKUS.

I'm probably in the fringe on thinking that though and its a 50-100 year project but we are stronger together in this uncertain world.

[Davexl]

Biden set to meet Pacific leaders in Washington amid China tensions

https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/129526241/biden-set-to-meet-pacific-leaders-in-washington-amid-china-tensions


"Campbell said New Zealand had been “more ambivalent in some areas of security”, but he didn't believe that would be the case in future."

Maybe we will finally see a strong lift in our Defence spending following the upcoming review after all...

[GTM 3442]

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/polit...-diplomat.html

NZ should eventually merge with australia and as a consequence we adopt their policies including AUKUS.

I'm probably in the fringe on thinking that though and its a 50-100 year project but we are stronger together in this uncertain world.

If I remember rightly, the Australian Constitution already includes an option for New Zealand to be admitted as a State of the Australian Federation.

"The Constitution gives New Zealand the option to join Australia. Covering clause 6 of the Constitution states New Zealand may be admitted into Australia as a state. New Zealand has not yet taken up the offer."

A mere stroke of the pen. . .

https://peo.gov.au/understand-our-pa...ority-to-vote/

[dobby41]

A mere stroke of the pen. . .

And then get treated like Tasmania is?

[BlackPeter]

Slip of the tongue ....,.obviously she meant Taiwan......

https://www.wionews.com/world/nancy-...e-world-505350

Here's her long held view on freedom in China.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/02/w...a-history.html

The official name of Taiwan is "Republic of China". Maybe she just said "the Republic of China is one of the freeest countries in the world (which is true), and whoever wanted to create and spread disinformation removed the "Republic of".

This would as well explain the cracking in the video before the name "China".

Amazing, how desperate some people are to make up lies and to throw dirt, isn't it?

[Davexl]

BB - Worth a mention - reset your cookies...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s swing through Asia aimed to convey the US’s “strong and unshakable” support for the region. It ended up leaving many countries in stunned silence. Shockwaves from Pelosi’s stop in Taiwan are still reverberating, after China conducted, and then extended, military exercises designed to show an ability to encircle the island and cut off the Taiwan Strait, one of the world’s busiest trade routes.

Many governments saw the visit as a step too far — and they don’t want to get caught in the middle. Taiwan’s foreign minister said China was using Pelosi’s visit as a pretext to prepare for a possible invasion of the island. Meanwhile, American defense experts running a simulation of a US-China war over the island show a US victory could come at a huge cost. Get the full story here.

[BlackPeter]

350,000 civilians deaths caused by US promotion of war is repetition?

I spent time in Vietnam in the last decade and observed what the American War there did to the people there - it's disgusting beyond contempt. There are orphanages there housing children born with horrendous defects due to the use of chemicals and there are children with missing limbs due to the millions of land mines planted by the US.

Between 1965 and 1975, the United States and its allies dropped more than 7.5 million tons of bombs on Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia—double the amount dropped on Europe and Asia during World War II. Pound for pound, it remains the largest aerial bombardment in human history.

You should not make the grievous mistake of thinking that anti-US war mongering = pro China or pro Russia.

Open your eyes and see the US arm & weapon industry for the control it exerts over the US - just as the guns industry there control their government. A nation which will not ban guns used to kill school children, year after year - you sure you are on the right side?

Well, I recommend you spend as much time in Tibet and in the Xi-an province and do research what the Communist Chinese did to the population there. Chinese weapons kill as well as Americans. Do as well some research how many millions the Chinese killed during the culture revolution and how many thousands disappeared after the Tianmen square massacre. Just walk around in China and ask the people ... maybe they tell you before they lock you up!

After that research (if you survive it ) you will find the numbers the Americans killed in Vietnam laughable small.

Afterwards you might want to do the same research, just focussing on Russian attrocities. A vist to the Dombass might be educational. I hear they have interesting prisons there.

If you are afterwards still around, then feel free to tell us about the American attrocities in Vietnam (and yes, many of the things they did have been as bad as what the Dutch and the Britains did to the Indians, or what the Germans did to Eastern Europe, or what the Japanese did to the Koreans, or what the Belgians did to the people in Kongo, or .... what New Zealanders did to the Maoris (during the landwars) or what the Maoris did to other Maoris before that time.

Just put it all into perspective, wil you? You should try to balance your outrage, otherwise you just come across as incredibly unbalanced.

[Davexl]

We'll see...

Solomon Islands PM insists extending his term is ‘one-off’, says Australian minister

Manasseh Sogavare has moved to change the constitution to stay in office until after the Pacific Games in November 2023

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...alian-minister