Swords or ploughshares. Guns or butter. War or peace. We make choices and they have consequences.
The drumbeat to war is relentless these days and I can’t blame those people who want to try to tune it out. But tuning out is hard when the noise keeps getting amplified. Here in my hometown of Newcastle, in Australia, I read in my paper that dozens of jobs are likely to be lost in our area following the federal government’s decision to slash about $100million from the national science and research agency, the CSIRO.
Meanwhile, the government has announced plans to spend $200million on a missile factory next to the fighter base at nearby Williamtown.
It goes without saying, I’m afraid, that Australia’s health and education systems are looking increasingly threadbare, while resources are ostentatiously funnelled into preparations for the expected future war against China.
Our new missile factory will build weapons created by US mega-corporation Raytheon, partnering with Norwegian firm Kongsberg Defence Aerospace. Naval Strike Missiles, apparently costing about $2million each, are designed to be launched from ships against marine or land-based targets. Air-to-air missiles are also on the cards. The idea, it seems, is to make Australia somewhat more self-sufficient in weapons manufacture. This rather echoes World War 2, when long and vulnerable supply lines forced Australia to cultivate domestic manufacture.
All of this follows Australia’s decision to sign up for the AUKUS program, under which it essentially pays for nuclear submarines to help with the US goal of containing China in the Pacific. This and other decisions have served to tie Australia more tightly than ever into the global US-controlled military web.
Meanwhile other Asian and Pacific nations are doing much the same, as the US shores up military deals and agreements everywhere from Japan and the Philippines to India – a grand encirclement of China. At the same time, the US and countries attached to its empire are limiting trade with China while also amplifying and generating anti-China propaganda.
NATO has been directed to widen its focus from Europe – where it is currently closely involved in a Ukraine-flagged incursion into Russian territory – to the Asia-Pacific region. Again, China is in the crosshairs. Germany, heeding the call, has sent naval and air force units to participate in joint naval exercises with the US and Japan.
The writing seems to be on the wall. As I have noted before, empires don’t like to fall and the US empire is no exception. It will evidently not stand aside to watch the rise of China, hence the frantic and bloody ructions across the globe as China’s key allies – Russia and Iran – are put under relentless pressure. When the time comes a conflict with China could be triggered via the pressure points already established in Taiwan or the South China Sea. When that happens, the US will expect its regional vassals and allies to play a big part in the front lines of the conflict.
The big question is, how is China planning to react? Will we see a protracted “Cold War” period in the Pacific as the US continually tightens the screws on its opponent? Or will China decide to try to break out of the trap before it becomes inescapable?
Either way, the Pacific region – including Australia – seems set for a rocky ride.
