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pat on the back while kissing trump's arse....Many Australian journalists think Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Ambassador Kevin Rudd did a wonderful job this week in handling the corrupt narcissist who runs the United States, Donald Trump. Of course, forelock tugging to monarchs is an essential in the Australian political leaders’ toolbox (former prime ministers Paul Keating and Gough Whitlam excepted). Albanese and Rudd sold out freedom of the press this week
But not only did the two of them diminish themselves and Australia — the world’s view that we are the 51st state (albeit we might technically be 52 – behind Israel) was well and truly reinforced — but they were prepared to sell out a core value, freedom of the press and opposition to censorship in doing do so. The decision, obviously initiated by the vengeful Trump and happily acquiesced to by the incrementalist and timid prime minister we have, that ensured the celebrated ABC journalist John Lyons was not in the press pool for the circus in the White House on Monday, did not seem to bother Albanese or Rudd. That Lyons, the ABC’s head in Washington, was not allowed to attend the meeting must be unprecedented. Who can remember the last time a journalist travelling with an Australian prime minister to Washington was censored in this way? The shabby treatment of Lyons was because he rightly asked Trump last month, before a 4 Corners program on the issue, how much richer he had become since being back in the White House. An entirely legitimate question given that, as Lyons wrote a few weeks later, “critics say [Trump is] operating like no president has before, mixing business and politics in a way that may violate the US Constitution and threaten the very foundations of American democracy". The 4 Corners program that Lyons put together, and which aired earlier this month, revealed Trump’s overt preparedness to leverage his office for the enrichment of himself and his family. But as we know, Trump, the self-proclaimed sun king, berated Lyons with his childish “I going to dob on you to your prime minister” type jibe. For daring to ask a question that was not either fawning or timid of this president, Lyons was to be banished. And Trump got his way. The ABC too, in the sadly customary timid way it deals with matters these days, has said little other than, “oh well we tried”. So what do we learn from this? That the business of getting on with the corrupt leader of Australia’s closest friend matters much more than standing firm on press freedom and opposition to censorship. It does not matter that the conduct of the president is at once petulant and sinister, so long as the minerals deals, which are not worth the paper they are written on, get done. And most of all, do not upset the man. Whatever level of sycophancy is required, Albanese, Rudd and co can accommodate it. Freedom of speech and opposition to censoring critical voices should be a bedrock principle for Australian political leaders and one they should defend whenever they see it threatened. Lyons deserved support. Not to be tossed overboard. But as Lyons said yesterday, Albanese’s office “didn’t really want to say anything much about it. They’re all a bit vague in their reasons. It was all done verbally. They had nothing in writing. So we are left in the dark as to why they wouldn’t allow me to have access to a meeting today". Gutless is the best word. If we were a truly independent nation charting our own course in the world, we would be aghast at the treatment of Lyons. But it’s just a side story for most of the media in this country. Consider the response to the news from Andrew Probyn, ex-ABC and now Channel 9 political correspondent. He told the Australian Financial Review that the rules and conventions about journalist access during Australian prime ministers’ visits to Washington exist no more. “Trump is an unconventional president, and the rules of yesteryear are exactly that.” What Probyn should have said is that Albanese let down his nation by agreeing to soothe Trump’s irrational anger. But then he is not the only Australian journalist sacrificed by a prime minister so as to appease Washington. When Julia Gillard was signing us up to the dangerous China containment strategy back in 2010 through allowing US troops to be stationed in Darwin, she wanted the WikiLeaks founder and publisher Julian Assange thrown to the wolves. Assange had revealed serious war crimes by the US and its allies in Afghanistan and Iraq. For all of those patting the prime minister and ambassador Rudd on the back for their efforts this week in making sure we remain the 51st state, shame on you. Both Albanese and Rudd sold out freedom of the press. https://johnmenadue.com/post/2025/10/albanese-and-rudd-sold-out-freedom-of-the-press-this-week/
YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.
Gus Leonisky POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.
BEAUTIFUL CARTOON AT TOP BY CATHY WILCOX, SMH 22/10/2025
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sovereign-ish....
Trump has indicated the US will proceed with AUKUS. Good news for the US, serious consequences for Australia. Former submariner Rex Patrick reports.
“Submarines in our time!” He didn’t say it, but Anthony Albanese might as well have, as he returned triumphantly from his meeting with Donald Trump this week.
AUKUS is indeed a fantastic deal. For the Americans, at least.
“Trump is not going to cancel AUKUS”, a well-connected industry source told MWM two weeks ago.
“AUKUS is so good for US industry – Australia is spending billions on their shipyards, and then there’s the purchase of the submarines themselves. General Dynamics Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls Industries will see tens of billions of Australian dollars flow their way, as will Lockheed Martin and Raytheon”, said the source.
“And assuming things go well, the shipyard mess in the UK will see us going from three US Virginia-class subs to five, and then likely eight. Australia will abandon the UK AUKUS-designed subs, and even more Australian money will flow into the bank accounts of US companies.”
They’ll be lobbying the White House to ensure this cash keeps on flowing.
And clearly, the lobbying has worked so far. Trump has endorsed AUKUS. It’s the sort of deal he likes.
As former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull stated in the lead-up to the meeting, it wasn’t going to be in Trump’s interest to withdraw, “The AUKUS deal is a fantastic deal for the Americans, a terrible deal for Australia, so there is no way Donald Trump will walk away from it because what does he get?” he said.
Turnbull was right. He was also right in his analysis after the meeting, “warm words don’t build submarines”.
Submarine woesThe United States is not building enough Virginia-class subs. They’re not building enough for their own Navy, let alone ours. That is the determining fact sitting in the middle of the AUKUS slipway.
For more than a decade, the US Government has been trying to build two Virginia subs per year. But they haven’t been able to move the shipbuilding dial. They’re currently struggling along at 1.1 submarines per annum, not enough to meet their own demand, let alone the 2.3 boats per annum they need to hit to be able to spare a submarine or three for Australia.
The spin from US and Australian politicians is turning in the opposite direction to the analysis of the United States Congressional Research Service, the US Government Audit Office and the US Chief of Naval Operations. No matter the spin from politicians, they can’t cause a change in the engineering and construction taking place at Groton, Connecticut and Newport News, Virginia.
Trump needn’t be worried though; he won’t be the President in the early 2030s when the first Virginia Class sub can’t be delivered because doing so,
will have a detrimental effect on the US Navy’s undersea warfare capability.
The US Congress has enshrined that “America First” requirement in their AUKUS legislation, and the crunch point is already less than a decade away – too little time for the US submarine industrial base to make the enormous strides that are so easily spruiked but so difficult, if not impossible, to achieve.
Eroding our sovereigntyMeanwhile, MWM’s industry source has foreshadowed the closing down of some Australian Defence companies struggling to make ends meet after Defence has cancelled a range of local programs, and is not initiating replacement work, so that they can meet the almost $10B in payments to both the US and UK governments to invest in their industry.
AUKUS is sending Australia into a sovereignty-eroding spiral.
We are already tightly integrated into the US military with common hardware, common ordinance and common tactics. As the US turns its eye towards its superpower competitor, China (incidentally, our biggest trading partner), we are also seeing an expanding US military footprint on Australian soil, including:
And there’ll be a forward staging base for US Navy Virginia-class subs out of HMAS Stirling near Perth from 2027.
US nuclear-powered, and by the early 2030s likely nuclear-armed, submarines will be using Western Australia as a strategic base for operations extending from the Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, to the South China Sea and the East China Sea and beyond.
All this is about strategic competition with China.
The Australian Defence Force, as it diverts money to AUKUS, will suffer in terms of independent capability. Industry will suffer. The taxpayer will suffer.
https://michaelwest.com.au/aukus-deal-of-the-century-at-least-for-the-americans/
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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.
Gus Leonisky
POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.