Might look for another version... — Banno

Thanks.

tired smile

uclear an expensive threat to Queensland's drinking water and communities — Banno

Hmm. Interesting concealment of facts by you know who.

Nuclear Power – Research Summary: Department of the Premier and Cabinet — Banno

Have to read those 20 pages later. Hunger may distort a full appreciation.

still tired smile

At least it keeps some fresh blood running into the big media's collapsing advertising veins. — kazan

I’m afraid to say nothing about Clive Palmer is fresh. Everything about him is stale, verging on putrid. That media organisations have to feed off his hubris is disappointing in the extreme.

Also tired smile.

Alan Kohler, again: We're at a turning point in world history but our leaders are distracted

Given that our great and powerful friend has abdicated it's responsibilities and handed management of the world over to China, this forthcoming election has some import.

But we are stuck with mediocre leadership. And a potato.

Japan, South Korea, India and Indonesia are now those to whom we need to tie our wagon.

abdicated it's responsibilities — Banno

responsibilities? :chin:

The traitor-in-chief is actively, if not directly, killing millions word wide. Yep, the USA in the last month or so has reneged on responsibilities undertaken over the last eighty years.

Militarily, can Australia expect support under AUKUS and even ANZUS, given that NATO is on thin ice?

The present US administration has shown that it cannot be trusted.

The present US administration has shown that it cannot be trusted. — Banno

Kind of in the same way China can't be trusted. I was talking to a Kenyan about the weird things China does. They come in claiming they're going to employ Kenyans, they do photo ops, put up billboards with rainbows on them, and then the Chinese use Kenyan prisoners as slave labor.

Would the US do this? :chin:

Kind of in the same way China can't be trusted. — frank

...and that neither can be trusted shows us what?

The point being made is that the USA was reliable, and now it isn't. So why do business with them?

What MAGA misses is that the USA is not the whole game; indeed, it's not even the main game any longer, and it is actively working to decrease it's influence.

Imagine that you first found out that foreigners hate Australia when you were about 12. Since then that's always been in the wings as you encounter non-Australians. For the most part they hate you.

They moan and moan year after year about how ugly you are, how everything Australia does is fucked up, how the world would be MUCH better off without you, on and on and on, endlessly.

Then one day Australia feels like it's time to bounce off the global stage. Some native isolationism starts kicking. Now what do you hear?

They're moaning because Australia used to be reliable. They used to be sane. They used to save hundreds of millions of lives on the regular. They used to be there to defend us. And now they're GONE! Do you think you might be a little bemused? Anyway, the US never had any responsibilities.

The USA can do as it pleases. But having said that it would provide aid, defence materials and so on, and then having rapidly and unilateral backed out out of those undertakings, others will respond appropriately. Again, since the USA has shown itself to be unreliable, why should we do business?

There are other places to buy things.

(Indeed, I contemplated a personal ban on buying US produce, only to realise that extended as far as the occasional TimTam.)

...the US never had any responsibilities — frank

One example: the US said it would provide aid, then reneged. Hence, it is unreliable. See What Trump's USAID freeze means for the rest of the world

The Washington-based Malaria No More says new modeling shows that just a year of disruption in the malaria-control supply chain would lead to nearly 15 million additional cases and 107,000 additional deaths globally. It has urged the Trump administration to “restart these life-saving programs before outbreaks get out of hand.” — The Independent

If I were you I would limit purchases from the US due to carbon emissions involved in shipping.

US postal rates are so much higher than other regions - Canada, for example - that again, we don't make such purchases.

Again, the point MAGA misses is that the US has no monopoly on production. If you make it harder to buy or sell into the USA, we will buy or sell elsewhere.

Do you know the expression "Cutting off your nose to spite your face"?

Sorry, you didn't read my post so I'm not going to read yours. :cool:

responsibilities? :chin: — frank

Yes, responsibilities - things the US undertook to do, then backed out of.

China can't be trusted. — frank

Nor can the USA, as it turns out.

Do you think you might be a little bemused? — frank

I hope I would be aghast.

I would limit purchases from the US — frank

Such purchases are very few.

...you didn't read my post — frank

I think I did, but you didn't like the response.

Do you know the expression "Cutting off your nose to spite your face"? — Banno

But thanks for boosting this thread.

:grin: I wish you well though. Tim Tams aren't American, so you can buy them guilt free.

Tim Tams aren't American — frank

Indeed, famously Australian, but Arnott's were purchased by the US corporate Campbell's Soup in 1997. There followed an explosion of varieties in the crass US tradition, including of all things a cheese variety for the Indonesian market.

Divided loyalties.

Indeed, famously Australian, but Arnott's were purchased by the US corporate Campbell's Soup in 1997. There followed an explosion of varieties in the crass US tradition, including of all things a cheese variety for the Indonesian market.

Divided loyalties. — Banno

Oh, I see. In honor of Campbell's soup and Andy Warhol, you should take one of the Tim Tam packages, frame it, and put it on the wall. The art isn't the package, it's in the experience of staring at it in a frame. Just take note of what goes through your soul as you're staring at it. See how great America is?

If you need folk to genuflect, then I do agree that the US was a great civilisation.

The issue in this particular thread is, what next? Especially for us, in our parochial Dow Nunder considerations.

If you need folk to genuflect, then I do agree that the US was a great civilisation. — Banno

Really? I'm surprised you would say that. It did have some cool things in it.

Given recent indiscretions, to what extent can we rely on the US as a member of the Five Eyes?

Looks like NZ is no longer the weak link...

It's all going to hell, man. Beans are spilling all over the place!

It's all going to hell, man. — frank

Well, the USA is fucked. The rest of us will have to learn to accomodate that fact. We'll get by without them. The details will need to be worked out. That's part of what this election is now about.

Stressful times I guess. Not as bad as the pandemic though, right?