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> Australia plans to defend itself in case one of the Chinas attacks. I'm not sure I find that very plausible. Especially when I find out about stuff like this

> Australia plans to defend itself in case one of the Chinas attacks. I'm not sure I find that very plausible. Especially when I find out about stuff like this where Australia has been extracting resources from its smaller powerless neighbors. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia%E2%80%93East_Timor_spying_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia%E2%80%93East_Timor_s... The Australia–East Timor spying scandal began in 2004 when the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) clandestinely planted covert listening devices in a room adjacent to the East Timor (Timor-Leste) Prime Minister's Office at Dili, to obtain information in order to ensure Australia held the upper hand in negotiations with East Timor over the rich oil and gas fields in the Timor Gap.[1] Even though the East Timor government was unaware of the espionage operation undertaken by Australia, negotiations were hostile. The first Prime Minister of East Timor, Mari Alkatiri, bluntly accused the Howard Government of plundering the oil and gas in the Timor Sea, stating: "Timor-Leste loses $1 million a day due to Australia's unlawful exploitation of resources in the disputed area. Timor-Leste cannot be deprived of its rights or territory because of a crime."[2] https://www.npr.org/2021/04/25/989546260/i-remember-them-screaming-afghans-detail-alleged-killings-by-australian-military https://www.npr.org/2021/04/25/989546260/i-remember-them-scr... 'I Remember Them Screaming': Afghans Detail Alleged Killings By Australian Military

kspacewalk2 4y ago
Not sure how a minor oil fields dispute ought to modify in any way my original belief that Australia plans to defend itself against the PRC.
- robinsoh 4y ago
  It appears to me that Australia is using its "defense" budget to fund offensive actions against weaker neighbors like Timor in order to steal billions of dollars worth of petro-resources. That's not a "minor" thing. Bugging a Prime Ministers Office in another country can't have been cheap. That's probably a couple of million dollars just on that operation.
  - kspacewalk2 4y ago
    The scale of this problem, and this offence, seems so vastly different from the potential catastrophe that the PRC would wreak on all these countries and their neighbours if they're allowed to operate unchallenged in the South Pacific that, again, it just seems like a footnote to the real story.

kspacewalk2 4y ago

Not sure how a minor oil fields dispute ought to modify in any way my original belief that Australia plans to defend itself against the PRC.

robinsoh 4y ago
It appears to me that Australia is using its "defense" budget to fund offensive actions against weaker neighbors like Timor in order to steal billions of dollars worth of petro-resources. That's not a "minor" thing. Bugging a Prime Ministers Office in another country can't have been cheap. That's probably a couple of million dollars just on that operation.
- kspacewalk2 4y ago
  The scale of this problem, and this offence, seems so vastly different from the potential catastrophe that the PRC would wreak on all these countries and their neighbours if they're allowed to operate unchallenged in the South Pacific that, again, it just seems like a footnote to the real story.