TheHolm

@TheHolm@aussie.zone

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Iran wants to 'horizontally escalate' war at great cost to Trump: Turnbull | ABC NEWS⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  Automatic transcript

  Our national cabinet will meet for a second time next week as pressures grow on fuel supplies with the effects spreading way beyond the bowser. It’s also raised more questions about not only Australia’s ability to fend for itself when it comes to sovereign capability, but also when it comes to security. And for more on this, we’re joined by the former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who has of course been speaking publicly about these issues for some time. Malcolm, welcome back to News Breakfast.

  Yeah, great to be with you. Now, we’ll get to some of the domestic issues in a moment, but I just wanted to take you to what’s happened overnight. Donald Trump has again criticized allies, including Australia, saying Australia has not been great regarding his war in Iran. How do you think the government should be responding to these kind of criticisms? Well, look, the government’s probably going to let it go through to the keeper, but because they don’t want to get into a, you know, a verbal slanging match with Donald Trump, but they’ve been absolutely right, as have other allies, in not getting involved. Um, you know, the that for a start, they weren’t consulted. This is a war that Israel and America chose to start. They didn’t have to do it. They’ve started it and the consequences have been enormous for the whole world. But remember this, the Iranian tactic, they are the weaker party is to horizontally escalate the conflict. So that’s why they’re bringing in other countries, attacking their Gulf neighbors, attacking their assets, their economic uh infrastructure, and so forth. If more countries get involved, all that does is increase the horizontal escalation, right? And and that’s what the Iranians want because what they’re doing is from a position of great weakness, they’re increasing the cost of the war to Trump and putting him in the position where he may have to put boots on the ground. Now, once he does that, of course, there will be American casualties. Uh the implications for that for him in his domestic politics are massive. I mean, this is a guy who ran for president on the promise that there would be no more wars. He was the m, you know, huge critic of the Iraq war in 2003. And he’s, you know, absolutely slammed America’s endless wars in the Middle East. The people closest to him, like JD Vance, like Elbridge Colby on national security are absolutely opposed to this war. So he’s dividing his own political party. And so if the Iranians keep raising the cost of this war, they’re really undermining uh Trump where he is most vulnerable, which is in the domestic American political environment. There has been this speculation that some sort of ceasefire can be done. It’s difficult to say how close that is. Donald Trump is saying Iran wants a deal. Iran says at the moment it doesn’t. And there’s been a lot of back and forth. If some sort of agreement can be reached around the straight of Hormuz, do you think Australia should be playing any role at all in keeping it secure? Well, Australia’s offered with other allied countries to play a role once uh you know, the war the conflict is stopped. And I mean that that would make sense, I guess. Uh but you know, you’ve really got to ask yourself how poss you know, how is it possible to have a uh a negotiated settlement to this war in circumstances where Trump has twice attacked Iran in the course of negotiating with Iran, right? Uh so the I mean he is not he is not he is a leader who believes and makes no bones about it that might is right. So the Iranians would need an enormous amount of reassurance uh to you know agree to any ceasefire and so I mean there will be people in America and certainly in Israel that will be saying to Trump the only way to deal with this is to absolutely flatten the Iranians and that means sending the you know forces into Iran boots on the ground but then you’ve got you know Iraq potentially uh a second Iraq war but one with a much bigger and more complex and more united country. You’ve been talking for a long time now and saying that Australia should have more independent foreign policy, especially when it comes to the Orcus deal, which you’ve been clear you think is a dud. I think some viewers might agree with you this morning, some won’t. But if we were to get rid of Orcus, what should Australia be spending money on, do you think, to become more independent, to defend itself if we we were to go down this path? Well, we should be spending money on capabilities that are sovereign. I mean, sovereignty matters. I mean, that the tragedy of Orcus is that it it made us vastly more dependent on the United States at a time when the United States was becoming vastly less dependable. And you know, I had a conference having a conference today in Canra with David Kilkullen. Uh it’s similar format to the one I held last year on this point, sovereignty and security. I mean, we our parliament is is basically gaslighting the Australian people because we’re not hearing our political leaders talking about these issues of sovereignty and our security other than with sort of, you know, bland asurances that Orcus will be the solution. I mean, the reality is we are very unlikely to get any submarines at all. We’re very unlike and we’re certain not to get them for many, many years. uh you know for well into the next decade at the earliest and so we should be buying and capabilities whether they are submarines that we build ourselves such as the ones we are working on with France or other longrange strike capabilities that enable us to defend Australia ourselves. I mean sovereignty matters. I mean the tragedy of Orcus and you know frankly much of our uh national security policy since the Morrison government has been a constant sacrifice of sovereignty for the sake of security. But in reality we’re going to end up losing both. So we have to be able to stand on our own two feet. I mean this is if ever there’s one me you know message that comes out of this these events at the moment it is sovereignty self-resilience independence patriotism we’ve got to get off our knees >> yes and we should just point out we had the defense minister Richard Miles on the show earlier he has repeatedly said he’s confident that we will get the submarines but no doubt that debate will continue just before I let you go >> he keeps he keeps saying that but there is no basis in fact for him for his confidence >> okay uh just finally before I let you go One Nation outpold the Liberal Party in South Australia at the weekend. When you look at the landscape at the moment of Australian politics, do you think the Federal Liberal Party can ward off the threat of Pauline Hansen and Barnaby Joyce? Well, they can do so, but they’ve got to get back to the center. They’ve got to start to they’ve got to start sounding like the Liberal Party ought to be sounding, which this is talking about the economy, talking about tax, talking about productivity. I mean, the Liberal Party’s great strength, really, its only real comparative strength is on economic management. And unless they’re focused on those issues as opposed to the cultural war issues that fire up the audience who audiences who watch Sky News and read the Murdoch press, if they focus on the economy, then people will start listening to them. Again, Australian politics is determined at the center. And unfortunately at the moment and this is unfortunate for everyone because we need a viable opposition uh the only major political party that is operating at the center of Australian politics is the Labor Party. You know the Liberal Party has become like a national party light chasing One Nation down that right-wing populist burrow and all they’re doing by doing that is enhancing the credibility of One Nation. I mean it’s a it is a terrible abdication of responsibility to be a viable electable opposition. Malcolm Turnbull, thanks for joining News Breakfast today. Thank you.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨148 schoolgirls martyred in Israeli regime's heinous attack in Minab⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Encyclopedia example was answer on you remark about historical contents. And Cambridge directly contradict you, there is no victim there. OED marked that meaning as obsolete. Only webster prove your point.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Supporting ‘illegal aggression’ against Iran ‘the worst thing’ Australia could do, international law experts say⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Ok. What do you expect Jews to do when their enemy’s position is unmovable: “kill all Jews”? Israel defends itself. Fight or die. It is a war. There are plenty of Muslims living in Israel without problems, so the problem is not on the Israeli side. And why do you bring these poor girls as an argument? They have nothing to do with Palestine.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨148 schoolgirls martyred in Israeli regime's heinous attack in Minab⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Hmm, www.britannica.com/topic/martyr – and other dictionaries disagree with you. It has to be a willing sacrifice.

  Berate? Why do you come to this conclusion? Does it matter to parents whether they call the child a “martyr” or a “victim”? In both cases the child is dead?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨148 schoolgirls martyred in Israeli regime's heinous attack in Minab⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  It just English. Martyrs die willingly for their cause. These poor souls just die; they have not been given a choice. They are victims not martyrs

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Supporting ‘illegal aggression’ against Iran ‘the worst thing’ Australia could do, international law experts say⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Israel in the war with Hamas (which they did not start), and sad nature of the wars that civilians die. So 70k are not applied there. Same with Iran; attack on Iran was an act of war. No one targets these poor girls on purpose. They are just another tragic collateral. This is a main difference with the action of Iran’s government and the US. The US so far has not killed civilians intentionally (but does not give much fuck about their lives either).

  Will Iran and the world win if Iran gets a less murderous government? I guess it will.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨148 schoolgirls martyred in Israeli regime's heinous attack in Minab⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩:

  Martyred? No, they just get killed. US managed to kill more civilian in one day than Russia and Ukraine together for an year.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The Current Situation (Sorry Americans)⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  To what “direct request” are you referring too?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Where would you put yourself today?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I would take -40 over +40 on any day.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨As of December 10th, You need to be sixteen to use Aussie.Zone⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Is there a way to check whether I sent her a message? I’m sure I did, but I can’t find it anywhere.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Failure to launch: why the Albanese government is in trouble⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  I can’t even imagine how much damage will be done by sweeping reforms from party which so disconnected from reality so it pushed “The Voice”. Both labor and liberal are leaving in their universes and no not care much about general population. We should stop voting for both of them, pick a small party of your choice and put it first, it is how democracy works.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Property investors fear forced sales under negative gearing changes⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  Look how much any maintenance/repairs costs now. It may be true.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨In a void of detail, two reports attempt to spell the challenge for Peter Dutton to go nuclear⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  Yeh, just push all costs of using “classic” green generation to existing generation and for sure it will came cheapest. add transmission, over-provioning, and storage cost to it and picture is not that rosy. Go and find that that report, it is just bit of shit.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Questions on sexuality and gender have been cut from the 2026 census. Why are LGBTQI+ people saying it's an omission?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  Why it should be there? I guess at this time no one give a f%&k about someones sexual orientation in Australia. And I fail to see any reason to register it for healthcare/taxation or similar purpose. IMHO questions of nationality should go away too.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Global Monitor Confirms Civil Liberties Continue to Wane Under Albanese⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  Than stop voting for the bastards.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Join fediverser.network, make it easy to bring Australian redditors to the Fediverse?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  FIDO net. A worldwide hobbyist network providing email and USENET like services. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FidoNet. It was very geeky place with high barrier to entry.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Join fediverser.network, make it easy to bring Australian redditors to the Fediverse?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  Lemmy reminds me FIDO of old by this. Collective of elitist geeks.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Australia's criminalisation of peaceful protest is a stain on our democracy⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  Disrupting other people lives and businesses is not a peaceful protest on my book. Fines should be proportional damage they caused and $20K is top you can get, exact sum is up to court.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Australia's criminalisation of peaceful protest is a stain on our democracy⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  It is a not a peaceful protests. So why complain?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Parliament blocks Greens attempt to recognise Palestinian statehood⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  any support for you claims? Israel done a lot trying to live in peace with Palestinian, and it is ends up with them intentionally killing civilian. What you can do about enemy whose sole position is “Kill all Jews” ? They at war now. Israel do not genocide Palestinian, it wedges a war. There are plenty of arabs and muslims living normal live in Israel. Only very some need to be cordoned in prison city, to stop some them from killing.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Parliament blocks Greens attempt to recognise Palestinian statehood⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  I guess genocide is base of Palestiian politics, not Israel. Israel is just fighting a war now, and they did a lot to avoid it.
  UN, just another example of “out of touch and destructive”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Parliament blocks Greens attempt to recognise Palestinian statehood⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  So Greens once again show how out of touch and stupid they are.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨US bans imports of all poultry products from Victoria⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  poor chickens, they going to die for nothing.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Australian man says border force made him hand over phone passcode by threatening to keep device indefinitely⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  are they allowed to hold it without warrants?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Push to lower Australia's compulsory voting age to 16 as advocate says youngsters feeling 'disenfranchised'⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  Current system gives all regions some chance to have a voice. Otherwise only interests of cities will be considered and interests of outback will not be represented at all.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Albanese government to propose legislation to crack down on doxing⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago⁩:

  What is doxing?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Experts have said for years we need more social and affordable housing. So where is it?⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨years⁩ ago⁩:

  All we need is to force businesses out of the cities. IT will solve transport problem big time. There is no need for cities anymore.