Read ex-PM's blistering 200-word rant about American nuclear submarines - warning 'if the US can't beat a bunch of Taliban rebels in pick-up trucks, what chance would it have against China?'
Daily Mail
September 16, 2021
Former prime minister Paul Keating has slammed the new nuclear
submarines deal between the US, UK and Australia, arguing the US
military can't beat a bunch of Taliban rebels in pick-up trucks.
PAUL KEATING'S STATEMENT
The announced agreement between the United States, Britain and Australia for Australia to move to a fleet of US supplied nuclear submarines, will amount to a lock-in of Australian military equipment and thereby forces, with those of the United States with only one underlying objective: the ability to act collectively in any military engagement by the United States against China.
The arrangement would witness a further dramatic loss of Australian sovereignty, as materiel dependency on the United States robbed Australia of any freedom or choice in any engagement Australia may deem appropriate.
Australia has had great difficulty in running a bunch of Australian built conventional submarines, their maintenance and operational complexity.
And all this at a time when United States reliability and resolution around its strategic commitments and military engagement are under question.
If the US military with all its might could not beat a bunch of Taliban rebels with AK-47s rifles in pick-up trucks. what chance would it have in a full-blown war with China, not only the biggest state in the world but the occupant and commander of the biggest land mass in Asia.
When it comes to conflict, particularly among great powers, land beats water every time.
It
has to be remembered that China is a continental power and the United
States is a naval power. And that the United States supply chain to East
Asia would broadly need to span the whole Pacific from its base in San
Diego and others places along the American west coast. Australia, by the
announced commitments, would find itself hostage to any such a gambit.
4 comments:
Most of the Taliban P/U trucks were purchased from auctions via wholesalers in Houston and shipped from the Port of Galveston. I know because my team checked each vehicle being shipped for contraband and stolen. Then 1 day on the evening news an enemy truck shooting at our soldiers was photographed with the Texas plumbing company name and phone number on the door. The plumbing company received threats even though they had simply traded the truck in.
We didn't lose to the Taliban. We quit fighting and ran away. There is a difference, though the effect is exactly the same.
We weren't fighting a war any longer. We were nation building. Back room deals with contractors and Afghan officials were the rule of the day. The Afghanistan has never been taken because they are tribal. Warlords rule vast areas and produce opium for export. History tells us that no one will ever win a war in or against the Afghanistan population.
You can not build a modern western style industrialized nation in a place that is still essentially tribal and grossly corrupt. We found that out the hard way.
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