G20 – Chinese social-imperialism on the march

Written by: Nick G. on 21 November 2024

 

(Above: Xi Jinping addresses the G20 in Brazil.   Photo: Xinhua)

Chinese President Xi Jinping's remarks at the 19th G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he called for building a fair and equitable global governance system and outlined China's eight actions for global development, outflanked rival US imperialism, currently floundering between the final days of the Biden administration and the aggressive protectionism promised by incoming President Trump.

The soft diplomacy and honeyed words from the Chinese President hark back to the days when under Khrushchev’s phoney “communism”, the world was promised “peaceful coexistence”. Khrushchev’s “peaceful coexistence” assumed that imperialism, and US imperialism in particular, would give up their butcher’s knives and turn into Buddhas just because the Soviet Union was now promising to peacefully accommodate their demands by ceasing support for national liberation and other revolutionary struggles.

Lenin and Stalin correctly saw peaceful coexistence between countries with different social systems as desirable and necessary for the Soviet Union’s peaceful construction of socialism. But they had no illusions about the inevitability of wars so long as imperialism existed, and placed, alongside their policy of peaceful coexistence, their internationalist duty to support revolutionary struggle.

“Soviet Russia,” said Lenin, “considers it her greatest pride to help the workers of the whole world in their difficult struggle for the overthrow of capitalism.”

Xi Jinping said nothing about the dangers of imperialism from his G20 platform.

"We should keep in mind that mankind lives in a community with a shared future, see each other's development as opportunities rather than challenges, and view each other as partners rather than rivals," he said. 

He fed the illusion that imperialist rivalry could somehow benefit humanity, asking US imperialism to work with his own Chinese social-imperialism to “promote an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization."

Fighting hunger and poverty has become a priority issue at this year's G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, with the first session of the G20 Summit focusing on the issue and a Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty launched, with China having decided to join as a key participant. 

Sometimes praised for lifting hundreds of millions of its own people out of poverty, Chinese social-imperialism portrays itself as a champion of global poverty alleviation through its “partnerships” with countries of the Global South.

But China exports capital for the same reason as the US and other imperialist countries: to capture sources of raw materials and to extract surplus-value from the labour-power of workers in countries made dependent on Chinese capital.

China itself is a negative example of capitalist “poverty alleviation”. In Chairman Mao’s time, advancing along the socialist road, it was one of the world’s most egalitarian and least socially polarised countries. 

China is a wealthier country today than it was at any time during the era of Chairman Mao. The capitalist mode of production, however, ensures the unequal distribution of that wealth. The social relations of China, the great gaps that socialism was successfully reducing, have deteriorated as the material wealth has increased.  Capitalist methods in China have resulted in a faster elimination of absolute poverty, but at the cost of entrenching massive relative inequality and a new class structure. 

China’s contribution to “global poverty alleviation” will impose the same development pattern of wealth for a few and a widening of the gap between the lucky few and the mass of the people.

It is regrettable that in our country, the same sort of people who fell for Khrushchev’s phoney communism and “peaceful coexistence” have also fallen for “socialism with Chinese characteristics” and “stability through multipolarity”. 

In the absence of a clearly proletarian class outlook, and without a conscious struggle to understand and repudiate revisionism, the illusions spread by Xi Jinping fall on fertile ground.

The strange case of the JP9102 satellite system

Written by: (Contributed) on 18 November2024

 

 (Above: A March 2022 statement by Boeing of its investment in the JP9102 satellite    Image from www.ex2.com.au/)

Controversy surrounding the decision in Canberra to cancel research and development of a sensitive satellite system has raised interesting issues and divisions within the corridors of power. Reliable information in the public domain from elsewhere, however, has already revealed that the decision was taken following US research and development of different systems, raising serious concerns about interoperability between the Pentagon and Australia.

In early November an official Australian government announcement that the proposed JP9102 satellite system was to be cancelled led to a prolonged series of controversial statements surrounding defence and security provision. (1) The initial research for the development of the sophisticated satellite system began in 2019, and was placed for tender in 2021; Lockheed Martin had been selected to deliver the system last year. (2)

Information emerging about the JP9102 system has revealed it was to have included 'multiple ground stations across Australia … and … two new satellite operations centres'. (3)

It was also recorded as operational 'across a vast region, from the central Indian Ocean (Diego Garcia) to Solomon Islands, and from the Artic to the Antarctic'. (4)

The range and the capacity of the JP9102 system was centred on an area of Indonesia where planning for a new capital city, Nusantara, is also under-way; controversy has already arisen due to the role of China with the planning and construction and their later diplomatic role. Nusantara is strategically placed midway on a sensitive US intelligence arc from Diego Garcia to Guam from Pine Gap, over the line, and below the actual straight line from Diego Garcia and Guam. (5)

Composed of three to five satellites specifically for the Indo-Pacific region, the JP9102 contract was hindered by delay leading to its eventual cancellation. (6) A Senate committee was recently informed that '$90m of taxpayers' money had been wasted on the project'. (7)

Initial planning for the JP9102 geosynchronous system, nevertheless, included provision for it to be stationed at about 36,500 kms above earth, and to provide a multitude of roles including an 'uncrackable data network for communications and data links for our advanced fighter jets, naval assets and land forces'. (8) It was officially noted, however, that the whole JP9102 system was assessed as increasingly vulnerable due to 'increasingly aggressive and provocative Chinese and Russian counter-space operations across the full range of Earth orbits'. (9)  

Reports that China had recently test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile in the Pacific, also heightened fears of the vulnerability of the JP9102 system. (10)

While the decision taken by Canberra to cancel the JP9102 system resulted in tidal waves of finger-pointing and controversy, reliable information elsewhere provided the main reasons for the decision.

It has been noted that the US has developed a tendency to move away from single-orbit constellations due to their vulnerability; moves are already afoot for the Pentagon to prioritise multi-orbit capability and low-earth orbit communications systems. (11)

Interoperability between the US systems and that of their allies appear to have been the main reason for the decision to cancel the JP9102. A statement from Canberra following the controversy noted, however, 'the ADF needed a more resilient system than the one that was originally planned because of new technology which enables satellites to literally be shot out of the sky'. (12)

An official statement from Canberra noted, furthermore, 'the project (JP9102), which would have been the nation's biggest space investment – was originally envisaged as a sovereign owned and operated system, but that might no longer be what the ADF would get. Under the revised plan … the ADF could potentially pay for guaranteed access to a satellite system operated by an ally or commercial vendor'. (13)

It was noted, furthermore, the 'US Space Development Agency (SDA) has awarded contracts to Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman to build satellites for the SDA's Transport Layer low-earth orbit communications system'. (14)

In conclusion, during the meantime, the Australian government and Defence will be using the following systems for regional military and security provision:

                                1.     Optus C-1 satellite;
                                2.     Intelsat IS – 22;
                                3.     US Space Forces SATCOM., WGS network. (15)

An accompanying statement from the Chief of Joint Capabilities, Susan Coyle, stated 'the department would work with partners and vendors next year to provide advice on an accelerated pathway to deliver alternative capability to the ADF by the early 2030s if not sooner. (16)

The decision to cancel the JP9102 system was taken, however, to comply with the Pentagon-led interoperability:

                                         We need an independent foreign policy!

1.     Satellites go out: defence in $7 bn hit, Australian, 4 November 2024.
2.     Diggers to get $40k bonus to hang about, Australian, 5 November 2024.
3.     Lockheed Martin to deliver, Australian Government – Defence, 3 April 2023.
4.     Satellites go out, Australian, op.cit., 4 November 2024.
5.     See: Indonesia's new capital city, Monash University, 12 September 2022; and, Peters Projection, World Map, Actual Size.
6.     Satellites go out, Australian, op.cit., 4 November 2024.
7.     Budget 'prioritisation' in satellite plan axing, Australian, 7 November 2024.
8.     Moving toward control of our space domain, Defence Report Supplement, Australian, 31 October 2024; and, Letter, Ross McDonald, Gordon, NSW., e Australian, 6 November 2024.
9.     Moving toward control of our space domain, ibid., Australian, 31 October 2024.
10.   Chinese missile launched in Pacific, Australian, 26 September 2024.
11.   Defence confirms JP9102 cancellation, ADM., Hanwha Defence Australia, 4 November 2024.
12.   Budget 'prioritisation' in satellite plan axing, op.cit., Australian, 7 November 2024.
13.   Ibid.
14.   Defence confirms JP9102 cancellation, op.cit., ADM., 4 November 2024.
15.   Ibid.
16.   Budget 'prioritisation' in satellite plan axing, op.cit., Australian, 7 November 2024.

Nullarbor Plain Environment Threatened By Proposed "Green" Hydrogen Energy Hub

Written by: Ned K. on 18 November2024

 

"Developers" Intercontinental Energy and CWP Global are planning one of the largest "green" hydrogen energy production hubs on the Nullarbor Plain north of Eucla. The project involves building a desalination plant, use of ground water in the Basin below the Nullarbor, 3,000 wind turbines and 60 million solar panels. The multinational corporations involved claim it will produce 3.5 million tonnes of "green" hydrogen a year for the Australian and international market.

According to The Weekend Australian of 16-17 November, the corporations involved in this proposal formed a "partnership" with Korea Electric Power Corporation, the largest South Korean electricity provider. 

Venture capitalists Paris-headquartered Hy24, and Government of Singapore Investment Corporation GIC have together sunk equity investment totalling $US115 million ($180 million) into the project.

The project will involve hydrogen electrolysers, water and hydrogen pipelines, a new port and the clearing of over 27,000 hectares of Nullarbor Plain land.

The corporations involved claim 10% of the venture will be owned by the First Nations Mirning people who have native title rights to the area. InterContinental (46 per cent), CWP Global (44 per cent) account for the remaining 90% ownership.

Intercontinental Energy and CWP Global had previously begun a similar-sized green hydrogen project in the Pilbara, the Asian Renewable Energy Hub (AREH). In 2022, British multinational BP bought into the project and took over its operations, renaming it the Australian Renewable Energy Hub.

Scientists say that the project will be a disaster for the Nullabor Plain environment which includes extensive underground caves and unique fauna.

The corporations and WA Government of course say that "avoidance of impact" on environment and marine life is their highest priority!

The scientists say "The caves have preserved ancient underground landscapes, environmental histories and fauna that have remained frozen in time for hundreds of thousands and even millions of years".

The network of the cave system and groundwater system is so interconnected that scientists say that the project cannot avoid or mitigate harm to this environmentally fragile area. 

In 1994 the area in question in a report to the UN found that the Nullarbor karsts met World Heritage criteria.

The message from the scientists is "go build your ‘green’ hydrogen hub somewhere else"!

In the hands of multinational corporations and their governments at state and federal level, "development" for profits come first, especially when they throw in the argument that projects like this one are renewable energy projects and not fossil fuel projects.

This puts traditional owners, the Mirning, in a difficult conflict-of-interest situation.

The Mirning are the traditional owners of the Nullarbor, and Mirning Green Energy, whch holds 10% equity in the project, is the commercial arm of the Mirning Traditional Lands Aboriginal Corporation (MTLAC).

In 2017 the Mirning People were granted native title over the land on which the developers now want to build, which means before any development can go ahead, an Indigenous Land Use Agreement must be negotiated.

"Our cave systems are our storylines," MTLAC chair Shilloh Peel said.

"Each family is connected to each cave, as well as the rock holes that provide water to the caves.

"We need to bring our people along with us … and we would have to make sure that all our cultural sites, heritage sites are protected."

However renewable energy projects are not much use to the struggle against capitalism's global warming crisis if the projects destroy the environment, including the cultural heritage of First Nations peoples.

What's the answer then?

As an interim demand, all renewable energy projects should be nationalised rather than in the hands of "developers" and only proceed by agreement with First Nations peoples.

Only an independent socialist Australia will maximize Australia's contribution to saving the planet.

Media and CFMEU Administrators threaten rank and file fightback

Written by: Louisa L. on 14 November 2024

 

Multi-sided attacks against NSW CFMEU members increased in the lead-up to a strike and rally organised by rank and file workers on Tuesday 12 November. Yet thousands of fired-up ETU, CFMEU and Plumbers Union members still lit up Sydney streets with their demands.

The Australian Financial Review (AFR) labelled NSW “Australia’s most lawless” branch. In two editions it targeted a leading delegate of 30 years standing. The failed and now disbanded Construction Commission (ABCC) also systematically targeted him for “illegally” refusing to speak to its inspectors. It once charged him for refusing to take down a crane’s Eureka Flag. It also threatened construction company managers for not taking action against him. 

AFR intimated he was a thug and criminal. Yet his father, who became honorary President of the NSW Builders Federation as a rank and file worker, fought in the lead against gangster control of the union, alongside Jack Mundey and Norm Gallagher. Like father, like son, both incorruptible, both putting the needs of construction workers before their own.

Invitation to sack workers

The two NSW Administrators also got in on the act. First, they instructed organisers not to support the strike. 

Next, they texted all members demanding a law designed to cripple or completely destroy unions (its giant legal bills paid with CFMEU members’ money) “must be decided in court”. 

Warning members not to attend, they pretended concern, “We do not want to see any member …  put at risk of losing their job.” But it’s also a disguised threat to construction companies and subbies to keep their workers under control, in attacks that benefit billionaire developers and their trillionaire financiers. 

Administrators then directly extended the invitation to employers to sack workers, telling them any sacked worker would not be assisted by the Administrator-controlled, so-called union. Giant developer Lendlease immediately threatened any worker who walked out with the sack. 

A parade of nominee companies make up Lendlease’s Top 20 security holders. Nominee companies invest on behalf of multiple different corporations and individuals. They are mostly run by foreign banks and finance companies, some with Australian offices. Investors use nominees to hide their identities. 
Lendlease’s 2023 Annual Report also revealed the five biggest “substantial security holders” within these hidden holdings. Number one is Aware Super, holding 8.56%. 

But most importantly the second, third and fourth biggest are three closely linked US finance corporations – State Street Corporation, BlackRock Group and the Vanguard Group, who control 19.19% of Lendlease. As a bloc, it gives them great power to make decisions. 

Defend workers and challenge Administrators

Many workers and even delegates were cowed by intimidation and deliberate misinformation. At knock off time the day before, the Administrators, calling themselves “NSW CFMEU”, sent every member a text saying there was “no CFMEU rally” the next day.

In the wash up, Australian Financial Review again attacked the most prominent rank and file leader, after he called for members to prepare each other for massive industrial action if the High Court challenge to ALP-Coalition legal threats and thuggery against workers failed. It also deliberately named his employer company, to pressure its managers.

Rank and file delegates are leading this critically important fightback. United, they have the collective experience to defend each other and challenge the Administrators’ attempts to divide and conquer. 

Community outreach by support organisations is informing the general public of truth of this dangerous legislation, which looks and smells exactly like the Nazi Labour Front of the 1930s. There’s clear untapped interest and support among the general public, and plenty to be done.

 

Dare to struggle, dare to win against Administrator: CFMEU Sydney Rally

Written by: Tovaris on 13 November 2024

 

More than 2000 construction workers courageously defied the fascistic administrator to march in Sydney on 12 November. This was despite a desperate letter sent from CFMEU NSW administrators and class traitors Chris Christodoulou and Philip Pasfield urging members not to join the rally, which was followed up by a pathetic text message sent to all members stating that there was no rally on 12 November.

The rally was strongly supported from the Electrical Trades Union (ETU), the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (RAFFWU), the Meat Industry Union (AMIEU) and the Plumbers Union (PPTEU). Despite the lower numbers of this rally compared with the last few CFMEU rallies in Sydney, the tone and mood was significantly more militant.
CFMEU representative Denis McNamara clearly and correctly called for support from the rest of the Australian working class: “If all workers are beside us, we will never be defeated!” This statement was met by thunderous applause from workers in attendance. McNamara also addressed members on the need to strike indefinitely if the sacked union leaders of the CFMEU lost their High Court challenge to the fascistic administration. 
 

Allan Hicks from the ETU spoke of the scourge of the Masters Builders Association who teamed up with CFMEU administrators and visited NSW job sites in the lead-up to the rally to convince union members not to come to the rally. Hicks stated that threatening imprisonment of unionists who defy the administrator would not deter workers from fighting for their rights.

 
Loukas Kakogiannis from RAFFWU told of the traitorous nature of the ALP and ACTU in not supporting retail workers against rampant wage theft from corporate giants Coles and Woolworths. Kakogiannis had a great reception from workers when he stated “At RAFFWU, we know what side we are on!”

Meat Workers Union representative Jacqui read out a statement denouncing the sacking of the 270 officials of the CFMEU without trial and spoke of how the legislation used against the CFMEU will certainly be used as a blueprint to attack other unions, especially with a Federal election looming in the near future.

Chris Seet from the Plumbers Union spoke out on the need to stick together with the CFMEU “who are courageous and standing for their rights and dignity”. Seet pledged support from the Plumbers union all the way in CFMEU members combating the fascistic administrator imposed upon them. 

Elected NSW CFMEU Secretary Darren Greenfield, who was removed by the fascistic administrator from his elected position, spoke of his immense pride in the courageous actions of CFMEU members acting against the administrator. Greenfield correctly spoke of the utmost need to get the CFMEU back in control by union members and gave a warning about the fascistic administrator organising “ALP hacks on a union ticket to run the CFMEU that suits their aims”. 

Placards from the ‘Democracy on Trial’ campaign group were proudly held overhead by CFMEU members, with the message ‘Our right to innocence until proven guilty in under threat’ – referring to how the capitalist class can remove the so-called rights of people at any time. 

Importantly, rail workers, nurses and teachers have met to plan to fight back against the cost of living crisis imposed by the capitalists against the Australian people. Only when all Australian workers politically run the country will we see a system where workers’ labour provides healthcare, education, transport and housing for all people as a guaranteed right. The struggle of CFMEU members against the fascistic administrator is proving a great training site and ultimately instructive for all workers to unite against the capitalist ruling class. 

 

Richard Boyle: Hero not Criminal

Written by: Tom R. on 12 November 2024

 

On Monday 11 November, Richard Boyle  appeared in the Adelaide District Court where a date was set for his trial to start in November next year. The Alliance Against Political Persecutions organised a rally outside the court in support. Around a 100 people turned out to back him. Barbara Pocock Green's Senator, Jodie Sard from Adelaide for Assange and Amnesty International, and Derek Burke from IPAN-SA spoke about Boyle's case and the importance of whistle-blowers. Singers from Stay Human Project sang songs of satire against the unjust treatment of those who speak truth to power.

The following is the speech given by Derek Burke, Convener of IPAN-SA.

Over 12 months ago, we were all here to protest the persecution of the whistleblower, Richard Boyle. He has been dragged before the courts for divulging the Australian Tax Office’s unfair and unethical debt recovery practices.
Richard exposed how his area of the ATO was instructed to use heavy-handed tactics to recover money from those with tax debts.
Now that his bid in the High Court has failed, he appears set to stand trial over those charges. He is now facing 24 charges and the charges carry a maximum sentence of up to 46 years.

The Australian whistleblower protection and the Public Interest Disclosure Act are a failure. In fact they are a sham. The Act only applies to the act of disclosure rather than steps taken to make that disclosure.

How else are you able to disclose malfeasance if you can't take steps to disclose it? The law is an ass!

The Public Interest Disclosure Act is a contradictory Act, a Catch-22. It is only there for optics and ends up protecting the powerful rather than the powerless.

Our Rule of Law equally reflects what our so-called democracy is; a big sham! The Rule of Law protects the power of elites and the wealthy. Similarly, with our so-called democracy, we have the worst elections that big money can buy. 

Have you noticed that the corporate donors always win after an election and the ordinary voters get next to nothing? In effect we are ruled by a plutocracy.

Richard Boyle, Julian Assange, David McBride, Daniel Duggan, Bernard Colleary, Witness K and J have had to face authoritarian law that is in place to hide the truth and entrench injustice. 

Julian Assange suffered 7 years confinement in the Ecuadorian Embassy and 5 years solitary imprisonment in Belmarsh prison until he pleaded guilty to one felony count of violating the Espionage Act in exchange for immediate release. This the penalty for exposing US military war crimes.

David McBride, the Australian Army lawyer and whistleblower who provided the Australian Broadcasting Corporation with documents that contained information about war crimes committed by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan, was prosecuted for unlawfully disclosing Commonwealth documents. 

For his trouble with speaking truth to power, he was sentenced to 5 years and 8 months in prison, with a non-parole period of 2 years and 3 months. Once again, the act of taking steps to make a disclosure is what has criminalised McBride. This is plain and simple authoritarianism.

We can see authoritarianism at work with the Albanese Labor government cracking down on unions and their enterprise agreements. Labor's plans to destroy the CFMEU and place it under administration have got little to do with the union's alleged involvement with organized crime. 

Victoria's Labor premier Jacinta Allan made that clear when she terminated existing enterprise agreements moments after the federal government moved against the CFMEU and placed it under administration.

In reality, the Labor government is doing the bidding of the construction industry bosses to end pattern bargaining under government administration. 

Compare this to the treatment of the banks who were never put under administration nor broken up when they were found guilty of criminal behaviour and corruption by the Royal Commission.

Now we see Richard Boyle being sacrificed on an authoritarian alter in favour of the powerful Australian Tax Office for exposing their crimes. 

The lesson is quite clear: do not embarrass or expose crimes of the powerful or else they'll make an example of you so that others will not dare be a whistleblower. 

We must not tire of supporting Richard Boyle, David McBride and Daniel Duggan whatever happens to them. The real criminals should be put in gaol, the powerful who cover up their crimes, not the brave whistleblowers.

 

Sleepwalking to war?

Written by: (Contributed) on 8 November 2024

 

(Abandoned since 1946, and largely taken over by the jungle, US imperialism plans to  re-commission the airfields from which they sent the planes to drop atomic bombs on Japan in 1945.  Photo - news9live.com)

 

Dramatic increases in Australia's defence budgets planned for the next decade, are best assessed in the context of interoperability with US-led regional military planning; being an ally is not a cheap option.

US-led defence and security planning for Indo-Pacific region, likewise, has a direct bearing upon Australia's active participation as a major ally for 'US interests'.

The announcement that Canberra will be increasing defence budgets has revealed a heightened preparation for regional 'real-war scenarios':

                                                 TOTAL DEFENCE FUNDING

                                                      2024/25 - $55.7 billion
                                                      2026      - $58.4 billion
                                                      2027/28 - $67.4 billion
                                                      2034/35 - $100 billion (1)

The projections have been designed to enhance the position of the US-led military-industrial complex and Wall Street with their cohorts in the 'Defence State' of South Australia.

Australia, despite its geographical position, has been continually pushed higher up US military agendas for regional operations for 'US interests'. In fact, it has been openly acknowledged that 'Australia would still be a strategic backwater for the US if China had not developed such long-range offensive weapons capable of hitting Guam and other US bases in the region'. (2)

A high-level diplomatic statement from Michael McCaul, chair of the US House of Representatives foreign affairs committee, furthermore, stated 'Australia had become the central base for operations for America's military to deter Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific'. (3) An official statement from Canberra, for example, included reference that 'Australia has gone from being the periphery in importance to the US to the essential core'. (4)

The moves have included large-scale US troop rotations through Australia and upgrades to military facilities for 'enhancing a ring of military bases spanning the coastline from Perth to Townsville to make them available to US forces in a conflict'. (5)

The moves rest on earlier sensitive US intelligence facilities based at Pine Gap in the 1970s;
control, and even accountability, by Australian governments was considered controversial by the Pentagon. It set the Whitlam administrations in Canberra on a well-publicised collision course with the White House and Pentagon which eventually led to the sacking of Whitlam by the Governor-General. (6)

The later publication of a top-secret telex revealed just how fraught the diplomatic relations between the US and Australia had become during the period: three points emerged; the CIA was bypassing the Australian government, they had deceived Canberra and were threatening to break diplomatic relations. (7)

The controversy still continues to the present day; it has never been resolved. Later studies of the Pine Gap facilities have concluded with the point that they provide 'a vital contribution to the US war-fighting mission … and they integrate … Australia into US war-fighting machinery'. (8)

Hidden within the recent defence budgets lie references to interoperability with Australian-based equipment and facilities being compatible with US-led models. It is not difficult to find examples in numerous defence publication in the public domain. (9) The Pentagon, furthermore, remains preoccupied with retaining their control over that of their allies; political leaders in Canberra and provincial states have willing accepted the 'deal', reducing Australia to a regional sub-imperial power for 'US interests'. (10) References in a recent Australian military publication actually referred to the Western Pacific, a vast area many thousands of kms from Australia and composed of numerous 'independent' countries as recognised by the United Nations, as 'our front yard'. (11) So much for their sovereignty.

The continued failure of the Pentagon to cede control of equipment and facilities based in Australia has, however, raised serious questions about our sovereignty. Statements issued by the Pentagon, therefore, about 'pooling of sovereignty … and … increasing enmeshing of the military forces of both countries' are best viewed as political spin, devoid of meaningful content and designed to deflect public opinion and controversy. (12)

Moves by the US to re-establish sensitive military facilities on Tinian (15 degrees north, 145 degrees east), a remote Pacific Island in the Northern Marianas, have revealed just how close Australia has been drawn into US-led planning for 'real-war scenarios'. It would appear not coincidental that Tinian is strategically and centrally placed within the boundaries of the US-led Indo-Pacific Strategy which is defined by the linking of intelligence facilities at Pine Gap with counterparts in India, Japan and on the west coast of the US. (13)

With the bare minimum of publicity, the US has begun moves to create a major military hub on Tinian, which was abandoned in 1946 following its landing strips being used by the USAF for bombing Japan at the end of the Second World War. The 39 square mile island, with three thousand population who are US citizens, has been officially earmarked to 'become an extensive facility'. (14) With a budget of US$78 million, the USAF are seeking to transform Tinian as part of a network of 'smaller, dispersed locations … to … provide more options for joint force commanders' with larger airbases such as nearby Guam being assessed as susceptible to attacks; the proposed Tinian facilities can be regarded as a Pentagon-planned fall-back position in time of war. (15)
 
Other details about the Tinian planning reveal a great deal about the mindset of those who lurk inside the corridors of power inside the Pentagon, and their planning. The extensive US$409 million jungle clearance contract was awarded to Texas-based Fluor, which has historically been closely associated with oil and gas exploration; the area of the Pacific is regarded as rich in natural resources. (16)  

Secondly, Tinian rests on the same arc which swings from Diego Garcia to Guam from Pine Gap in Central Australia. (17) Both remote US intelligence facilities have been upgraded in recent decades to become hubs for military operations, with Darwin Harbour as a support centre.

No doubt, somewhere in the recent $7 billion allocated by Canberra for use over the next decade to 'revolutionise its air and missile defence systems under a new agreement with the US … for … strengthening deterrence in the Indo-Pacific', recent US-led developments in Tinian will be taken into account. (18)

                                            We need an independent foreign policy!

1.     Defence's big budget boost, The Financial Review, 14 May 2024.
2.     See: US forces get the nod to help contain China, The Weekend Australian, 14-15 September 2024.
3.     Ibid.
4.     Ibid.
5.     Ibid.
6.     See: The Secret State, Richard Hall, (Australia, 1978), page 144, 146, 169, 173, pp. 176-77, pp. 184-86, page 202.
7.     See: The CIA's Australian Connection, Denis Freney, (Sydney, 1977), Chapter 6, The CIA and the Kerr coup, pp. 26-31.
8.     Sub-Imperial Power, Clinton Fernandes, (Melbourne, 2002), page 43.
9.     See: Indian Ocean Defence and Security, Special Report, Australian, 24 July 2024; and, Land Forces 2024, Special Report, Australian, 11 September 2024.
10.   See: Sub-Imperial Power, op.cit., Clinton Fernandes.
11.   AUKUS nuclear submarines will also be a game-changer for the army, Land Forces 2024, Special Report, Australian, 11 September 2024.
12.   Weekend Australian, op.cit., 14-15 September 2024.
13.   See: Diagram, US Indo-Pacific Strategy, The Reasons behind Washington's push for GSOMIA., Hankyoreh, 12 November 2019.
14.   US Air Force to reclaim Pacific airfield, CNN., 21 December 2023; and, US Air Force scatters to survive, Australian, 22 October 2024.  
15.   Ibid.
16.   US Air Force issues $409 m award, Asia-Pacific, 11 April 2024.
17.   See: Peters Projection, World Map, Actual Size.
18.   $7 bn deal to bolster missile, air defence, Australian, 23 October 2024.