Britain, Australia and America announce AUKUS

[-:Undertaker:-]

Britain, Australia and America announce AUKUS

- Trilateral security pact between Britain, Australia and America announced
- Designed to counterbalance China in the Indo-Pacific region
- All Artificial Intelligence (AI) between the three countries to be shared
- Australia has cancelled its submarine deal with France to instead purchase nuclear submarines from Britain

This is unprecedented: No10 have just announced Boris Johnson, Joe Biden and Australian PM Scott Morrison will make a joint TV address at 10pm tonight. It will be "a strategic national security announcement”. No further details.

— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) September 15, 2021

ABC: Australia will scrap its A$90 billion program to build 12 French-designed submarines, and work with the US and the UK instead.

— Guido Fawkes (@GuidoFawkes) September 15, 2021

‘Had France been more accommodating with its closest defence ally over Brexit, it may have earned London’s support for France’s participation in the new nuclear-powered submarine deal.’

✍️ John Keigerhttps://t.co/ooB4VPoXaf

— The Spectator (@spectator) September 16, 2021

Quite an important development in terms of the rise of China and the growing integration of Anglosphere countries following Brexit.

Regrettable that New Zealand and Canada are not yet involved, but we will have to wait for more favourable governments to be elected there for this to happen.

[-:Undertaker:-]

Wow. The French are pretty pissed.

Can’t quite believe I’m writing this, but:
France is recalling its ambassador to the US and to Australia over submarine deal and #AUKUS agreement.
For such close allies, this is an extraordinary step

— Jon Sopel (@jonsopel) September 17, 2021

[FlyingJesus]

When MAD is already a global concept and has been since before any of us were born, what this actually amounts to is a random pointless trade deal for insanely overpriced weaponry that nobody needs. If we're invaded by anyone on the globe for some reason or other, it's going to be *** all use to us to us that Australia now have a nuclear submarine with MADE IN ENGLAND stamped on the bottom of it rather than FABRIQUE EN FRANCE. Well done to the 5 or so billionaires making more money out of this deal, otherwise it's nothing for nobody

[-:Undertaker:-]

When MAD is already a global concept and has been since before any of us were born, what this actually amounts to is a random pointless trade deal for insanely overpriced weaponry that nobody needs. If we're invaded by anyone on the globe for some reason or other, it's going to be *** all use to us to us that Australia now have a nuclear submarine with MADE IN ENGLAND stamped on the bottom of it rather than FABRIQUE EN FRANCE. Well done to the 5 or so billionaires making more money out of this deal, otherwise it's nothing for nobody

Firstly, the theory of MAD doesn't apply to dominance in global politics as we've seen with the increasingly aggressive Chinese presence in the South China Sea or Chinese clashes with India in the Himalayas regarding the disputed border. Our allies in the area of which China has territorial disputes with concerning rights of passage in the sea - Vietnam, India, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines - certainly don't share your view that having some nuclear weapons on standby will keep China in check, because it hasn't. A British fleet including HMS Queen Elizabeth recently sailed through the area as a show of strength against growing Chinese influence. If you want the world to continued to be shaped in western interests and not those of the CCP, you have to have a presence. Geopolitics isn't just about nuclear weapons: politics, money, influence, capabilities, economics, alliances. I'd rather live in a world where the Union Jack, Australian Ensign and Stars and Stripes fly over the South China Sea than the flag of the insidious and creepy Chinese politburo.

Secondly, arms deals and ship building secure thousands of British jobs for ordinary workers and collect revenue to spend on public services. 133,000 Britons were directly employed in the defence industry in 2020 and 31,000 in shipbuilding. Would you rather have the French republic and its people benefit from Australian defence contracts, or would you prefer for Britain to benefit from it?

[FlyingJesus]

"It doesn't work, so we need to do more of what's not working!"

[-:Undertaker:-]

"It doesn't work, so we need to do more of what's not working!"

So you think allowing complete Chinese domination of the South China Sea is the answer?

Or is strengthening western presence in the area between Great Powers an answer, as AUKUS (like Five Eyes in intelligence terms) seeks to do.