I heard it claimed the other day that the world is experiencing less wars than at any time in its history. Whilst this might or might not be the case, it does not mean that losses and gains in the global environment aren’t afoot.
Not all of these are in Europe and the Middle East. It is well documented that China has effectively assumed control of the South China Sea although shipping, in general, has not been hindered to any marked degree.
While the administration of President Trump works on ‘putting America first’ and adopting a policy of isolationism, China has been steadily spreading its influence in Australia and the South Pacific.
A couple of years ago, our Liberal/National Party conservative government, in its wisdom, allowed China to lease Darwin’s harbour for a term of ninety-nine years. Not even the then President Obama was made aware until after the fact, when he expressed his obvious surprise — and perhaps privately, his dismay.
Just last year the independent Tasmanian M.P., Andrew Wilkie, stated that the Labor Party of New South Wales — currently in opposition — had been ‘bought’ by the Chinese government. A claim to which the party did not publicly respond.
This claim could have current relevance as the federal Labor Party has chosen not to give its support to the government of P.M. Turnbull and its desire to sign a revised Trans-Pacific Partnership — brokered since America’s much-heralded withdrawal from the original pact — with ten other countries; none of which is China.
More recently it has become evident that China has reportedly invested some three-quarters of a billion dollars in our closest neighbour, Papua-New Guinea, and perhaps half that in Samoa and, from memory, the Solomon Islands.
Australian authorities have voiced their concern that should these loans be ‘called in’ the countries’ economies would be found to be wanting and, therefore, each nation could be asked to provide a ‘favour’.
By the way, Samoa is about half an hour’s flight from American Samoa, which possesses arguably the finest deep-water harbour in the South Pacific.
In January of 2018 the United Kingdom’s leading military advisor asked the government of P.M. May to provide for a meaningful increase in its spending on defence, as he was of the opinion that the country would not be capable of repelling an attack from Russia.
Some three years ago, I expressed my belief to an American that the Western World could not afford to continue its usage of the internet. After he had looked at me as though I had suddenly sprouted a second head, all I could offer him in support of my statement was the fact that so many Australians were — and still are — being duped of their savings. In addition to me recounting of how I had witnessed footage on one of our local news bulletins that purported to show large rooms filled with Russian women busily typing…on typewriters.
Just last month I observed an alleged expert state that crime via the cyber universe is predicted to increase threefold in the next decade.
As if this isn’t disturbing enough, last year, a medical report claimed that due to the excessive and obsessive usage of modern technology, newborns could expect to be declared legally blind by the time they turned fifty years of age.