Political discussion

[rtt_rules]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-02/ ... /105364740

USA hits Australia with tariffs and now wants us to increase military spending to $100 Bpa or 3.5% of GDP (same as USA). Australia is currently 2.0 % and being progressively increased to 2.3% by 2030.

In total spending we are currently around #10.

Not sure if we should or shouldn't, more likely the later, but any increase should be towards EU suppilers until Tariff's are removed.

[Heihachi_73]

Tell 'em to get stuffed, Albo, mark a nice big red X across Pine Gap on a map of Australia, I'm sure the original owners will be more than happy to take it back.

[rtt_rules]

https://thedefensepost.com/2024/10/22/a ... -missiles/

$4.7B on USA made missles, if there was comparabe EU sourced ones they should be considered as this one purchase is probably 20 x the tariff earnings from Australian aluminium and steel to the USA. UAE raised the middle finger to the USA over something political and changed a fighter jet order from US to EU Eurofighter. I don't have a clue if there was a not the best outcome for the UAE defense requirements, but decisions have conequences.

[rtt_rules]

Ukraine seems to be moving towards a guerrilla style war.

[Campbelltown busboy]

Here's something that's going down involving Trump
https://youtube.com/shorts/ptYyWVSlGWk? ... rg30mPyVmj

[Swift]

Tell 'em to get stuffed, Albo, mark a nice big red X across Pine Gap on a map of Australia, I'm sure the original owners will be more than happy to take it back.

I picked up some rumour in a documentary that the Whitlam government was threatened with invasion if we expelled the US from their bases here.

[Heihachi_73]

Would be an awful shame if we just randomly handed China a plot of land for "space exploration" right next door!

[rtt_rules]

Would be an awful shame if we just randomly handed China a plot of land for "space exploration" right next door!

Yeah well, we now have not one but two superpowers in the process of leadership failure.

Putin has backed himself into a corner for which he is increasingly unlikely to survive and its only a matter of time before one of his own has the balls to take him out and likely be received as a hero. Putin no longer has a ploitically plausable out to end the war short of the impossible task of taking all of Ukraine.

Trump, Putin's #1 mate is in the early stages of collapse as with Musk gone, others will follow. Trump is clearly fearful of Musk joining up with the Dem's as he had to go public to warn him not to. Considering the damage Trump has done to NASA including dumping of Elon's #1 choice and the inidustry's #1 choice for NASA Boss, I think its highly likely Elon will partner up with the Dem's provided they find the right nominees and policies.

Like Trump 1.0, after about year 2, some of Trump's leading team members were either fired or resigned in increasing numbers and this is expected to occur eariler this time.

I think its time for countries like Australia and EU to partner up to form a new Superpower with relevence.

[rtt_rules]

mmm, military parades are the stuff of dictators.

Celebrate the army's anniversary by all means but spending $10M's in the process is hard pill to swallow when you claim you are trying to reduce the budget deficit and formed a department focused on govt waste.

[rtt_rules]

https://edition.cnn.com/us/live-news/mi ... t-06-14-25

Shootings of USA politician.

1239 days to go until the next Preidential election, lets hope Americans they can survive the remaining three and half years of the current Trump Presidency to actually have an election.

https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/v ... bdpIvUXOhA

[Swift]

*Sigh

[MiCCROwavE_OVEN]

I think Americans will actually survive to the next election, for as long as political violence is frowned upon by both sides of politics.

What disappoints me is that lots of people have taken the opportunity to blame Trump and his political rhetoric directly for this incident, in the absence of any actual concrete evidence to support their conspiracy theories. I am extremely appreciative of the fact that Donald Trump and the White House have all publicly denounced the killer's actions - I was expecting another blame-fest and it's great that this has not yet happened.


A few days ago, I was cheering on Los Angeles as the city faced off with ICE officials. Though I am still staunchly against ICE's mass deportations, I think that everyone should also be suspicious of Governor Gavin Newsom - it's fair to assume that he's manipulating the situation for his own political benefit. Watch out America.

[rtt_rules]

Mostly agree.

The issue I see is that both sides have been playing politics for too long and yes I think Trump hasn't helped the situation at all and the inaguration speech was another classic example. As they play politics they divide the population where as the likes of Obama generally tried to unite the population. You may not like him, but he doesn't insult you or call you out. Bush did the same. Where as Trump uses the words "they" to create a "Us vs Them" situation.

Australian major political leaders, not the minor parties generally avoid references to "they" for this reason. Note during the last election AA instructed ALP supporters to remove advertising taregtting Dutton's family and in the past TA has been known to provide a ear and a shoulder to members of both sides including I think it was Shorten when his father died and Rudd when he was still PM, but clearly on the out by his party and no one would talk to him at a major event so Abbott went over to talk to him.

Trump is a wanna be dictator trapped by a consititution and a support base that most of which wouldn't tolerate him breaking, however Trump is being caught out repeating similar issues to that of Biden, ie refering to Putin as a WW2 veteran.

[rtt_rules]

*Sigh

Yes, the world has been "sighing" for 6mths now.

[Swift]

You make me feel really exceptional.

[rtt_rules]

You make me feel really exceptional.

DT love children normally are.

[Swift]

I like Donald Trump and his instant chuck outs policy towards uninvited guests. Get rid of them!

[rtt_rules]

I like Donald Trump and his instant chuck outs policy towards uninvited guests. Get rid of them!

Which policy

The one that came to him on the toilet, in the kitchen, walking to bedroom. Then replaced the next day, then changed the day after it was screwed up the day before...

[Swift]

Any that gets rid of illegal immigrants, you know the ones the corporate media insists on conflating with ones who followed due process and who integrate with their host Anglo Celtic society.

[rtt_rules]

Any that gets rid of illegal immigrants, you know the ones the corporate media insists on conflating with ones who followed due process and who integrate with their host Anglo Celtic society.

The USA illegal immigrant issue is a smoke screen by Trump to cover other issues and get support, its not like illegals in Australia. The whole problem with this is that the US economoy is partly built on cheap illegal immigrant labour and it cannot simply just be turned off.

Additionally the whole process Trump is uses is one screen up after another. Deporting even one person incorrectly shows the system isn't robust. We already know he's been deporting them at higher cost than previously done. They even arrested a US Senetor with a Mexican apprearance. Additionally from what I've read, Trump is still deporting illegals at a rate slower than Biden.

Moral of the story, Trump mouths off about what he says hes going which usually varies alot from what he actually does and his actuals are usually alot less. Meanwhile previous and future POTUS just get on with it.

[Swift]

I never heard anything about Joe’s ICE blitzes to boot out illegal migrant invaders. I have heard the out of control inflow has been very effectively retarded quickly after the new admin however.
I do wish the master servant so called friendship between America and Australia would stop. That is something that no President wants to fix.

[rtt_rules]

I never heard anything about Joe’s ICE blitzes to boot out illegal migrant invaders. I have heard the out of control inflow has been very effectively retarded quickly after the new admin however.
I do wish the master servant so called friendship between America and Australia would stop. That is something that no President wants to fix.

No blitz, just got on with the job without the big mouth fan fare to feed the plebs who voted him in.

Ironcially now, some of the deportees now have uni loans they no longer have to pay and one former student said said he was paid $1000 by the USA Fed Govt if he vounteered himself to go. If you go through the data, Trump has spent more money per deportee than under Biden who shipped more.

Look, the US illegal immigration issue is very different to Australia. Its a system for which the US tolerates as a means to run part of their economy on ultra cheap labour and hence why it was tolerated for so long (not saying I agree with it). Trump is carrying on about this because its seen as a easy win with some voters, but the actual data doesn't support a significant change over Biden and that costs are out of control, especially when the wrong people are illegally deported. Hell one Mexican heritatge USA citizen and senator was arrested for being an illegal for which he wasn't due to hysteria when he tried to talk at a rally.

Trump's biggest problem is his mouth. What he says he will do and what he actually gets done are two very different things. He carries on like an aging dictator with long rants of meaningless garabage and then fails at concluding most of what he starts. The tariff issue was a major cluster. All the back groudn work should have been done before it was presented. Rather it was presented, found to be a screw up prepared by effectively school age children over lunch and then took 6 weeks of stock market destorying BS to complete.

And speaking of being a big mouth, how many days did he say he would have Gaza and Ukraine under control? Then when challenged, his response, " I've stopped wars that you have not even heard of", seriously what complete BS. Just own your mistake and show us a realistic pathway forward.

His army parade (Dictator 101, hold military parades) was an expensive fizzer, which is a shame as its only undermined the army.

As for AUKUS, its about time we walked away from this. Its too complicated and requirement that the USA produces its quota of Virgina class subs, which it isn't, its only around 50% of demand.

[rtt_rules]

US Fed keep rates on hold. So whats the commentry from the USA President on this?

In Trumps 5min ramble on the subject

- "I think he's stupid", he being J Powell head of the US Fed Reserve that Trump put into the role during his first term and hated him ever since.
- "I tried inviting him over for dinner to discuss", repeated many times
- "I don't think he's very smart"
- "I don't think he likes me very much"

Remember the head of the Fed resereve is supposed to operate outside politics.

You really do have to wonder how low level is the intellgence Trump's comments are taregtted for.

[Campbelltown busboy]

The government are hitting a wall in their brainstorming when it comes to their under 16 social media ban as they are not using photo IDs or online digital IDs as that would upset the government is trying to control everything we do conspiracy crowd

[rtt_rules]

The government are hitting a wall in their brainstorming when it comes to their under 16 social media ban as they are not using photo IDs or online digital IDs as that would upset the government is trying to control everything we do conspiracy crowd

Yeah, this is one of those, "heart in the right place, but its not going to work".

When this first the airwaves to expats in Dubai, there was a partial outcry, by those mostly without school age children. However the school age children parents especially in the teenage ones it was a strong "YES".

A few differences between UAE and Australia private schools
- Almost no private school bans kids from having mobile phones on them at all times. Many (non Aussie / usually non western) parents have very strong feelings that they must be able to contact their children at all times.

- Where as the private school my son goes to in SW Brisbane. Phone is to remain in locker from arrival to departure from school and if caught with it it will be confiscated and the parents must come to collect it.