As the British government slowly but surely turns “Muslim”, IMO, the Palestinians have a “friend” in Westminster.
1 Like
I tend to go with the Elven language of Middle Earth.
Well the feckless Brits could beg Turkey to re-establish the Ottoman empire and with it “Palestine” Oh but the name Palestine is a Roman imperial invention in order to erase the original Judean settlements, which of course were conquered lands taken from the Caananites, right?
Only Western imbeciles would entertain this type of slow suicide. Asian, Arabic nations laugh themselves into stitches over the stupidity of the west and the growing ignorance of the insane consequences of our actions.
2 Likes
What’s the consequence of this action?
The British Indian Ocean Territory never belonged has never belonged to a country called Mauritius.
In colonial times the Islands were administered as part of the British Crown Colony of Mauritius. But were separated before Mauritius became an independent country.
The Chagossians are descended from slaves settled on the islands by the French and British, since they were forcibly transferred to Mauritians apparently they have been very badly treated. Apparently a lot of them were against Mauritians getting sovereignty of the islands because of the bad treatment they have had from Mauritians.
I’ve seen it mis-reported that the BIOT is the last British colony in Africa, however these islands are geographically not in Africa. None of the islands sit on the African tectonic place. The norther part of the islands sit on the India plate and the southern part on the Australian plate.
Saint Helena is arguably the last British colony in Africa, it sits on the African tectonic plate.
3 Likes
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy thinks he can talk Trump into agreeing that UK should give away BIOT to Mauritius.
Co-conspirators would be forgiven for wondering what magic Lammy will bring to the flailing process. He is on the record, after all, calling President Trump a “KKK/neo-Nazi sympathiser”…
Latest news is that Labour govt are saying £9 billion for a 50 year lease.
At least he got that right.
4 Likes
Your evidence?
1 Like
Woke propaganda and hate speech is the option when there is no evidence. I am afraid healing process is impossible in this case.
1 Like
The solution is quite simple. Have Australia buy Diego Garcia from Britain.
Australia then deals with the whole Chagossian issue. Australia should be happy to do it. They contribute little to their defense from China. They stubbornly refuse to outfit even one carrier group to defend their continent, and rely on the USA to fund their defense. Australia should be happy to pony up the money for this one meaningful gesture towards their own defense.
The combined defence budget from Australia and New Zealand would fund a operational US battle group for about 6 days. To run one one for a month would involve closing schools and hospitals and these tend to make the natives somewhat restless.
1 Like
Then they should increase their defense budget. Or, buy Diego Garcia. Cheaper in the long run. A bargain.
The CIA estimate for USA expenditure on the military is 3.4% of GDP. Australia spends 2% New Zealand is upping expenditure from a woeful 1.3% to 2% with a new government. If we spent the same proportion of GDP as the US between us the battle group would run for a fortnight.
If we took over Diego Garcia what would we do with it? A few aircraft and a lot of cardboard cutouts.
A lot of talk on this thread about what Britain or the USA should do re: Diego Garcia. Why the USA?
Why do we fund all the defense and heavy lifting? Which defense partner is nearest DG? Australia. Which defense partner has the most Indian Ocean expertise? Australia. Which country shares a sovereign with Britain? Australia. It goes on and on.
Why bother the USA with the land and population management of Diego Garcia? Australia should contribute to its own defense by taking over the little teeny-weenie, pesky task of owning the islands, and allow the USA to concentrate on the big expensive part of running the base and shipping stuff back and forth.
1 Like
You would lease it to USA and live comfortably.
Not even the Mauritians are ‘buying’ it. They get extra cash for taking it.
Australia would not want it. We already have enough far flung Indian Ocean islands (Cocos, Christmas) which come with good air fields but no military bases.
Possession of Chagos would simply extend Australia’s responsibility over yet vaster areas of ocean that we can’t patrol effectively even now, probably including SAR responsibility as well.
Yes, Australia should spend more on defence, but we are ‘blessed’ for the time being with a loony Leftie government that talks big on defence but does nothing. And they absolutely deplore colonialism, hating the very founding of Australia by those dastardly British over our own warring, cannibal, Stone Age tribes whose laudable cultures we are forced to pay obeisance to whenever a ceremony of any sort takes place. It would cause their heads to explode were they pressed to take over (as colonisers) another immiserated island and dare to impose our British-inherited values on the population of gulls and terns.
2 Likes
Don’t need to patrol anything. Just take over the islands and all the legal mumbo-jumbo stuff. The USA, as usual, does the rest.
If the Australian taxpayer paid as much for defense as the Israeli citizen does, you’d have a defense budget of $81 billion. France has a defense budget of only $60 billion, yet funds a nuclear carrier.
Do you spend anytime on forums commenting on that?
Australia covers an entire continent, yet has a population not much bigger than the metro area of Mexico City. You expect to be defended by the USA, but you make no plans to defend itself. You could, by just increasing your population. More people = more taxpayers = more defense. But you refuse to. And so, in typical socialist fashion, you expect the USA to pay for everything.
Here’s a win-win: USA turns Australia into the 51st state. Screw Canada. Too cold up there. We could base a whole naval fleet a lot closer to China in Australia rather than Hawaii. Perfect military sense. Change the name to West Arizona.
To be honest, since your President Steve Irwin got eaten by a jellyfish or whatever the place has kind of gone to pot. USA comes in and makes you #51 and I guarantee you’ll have truck stops and casinos as far as the eye can see. We’ll have that place paying for itself in no time at all.
What do you got down there anyway? Wheat? Coal? Wool? That’s it? Eh… You have babes, that’s true. Some quality exemplars. Naomi Watts. Very nice, But getting long in the tooth. We’ll work something out.
What do you say? Or…you take over the management of Diego Garcia and stop asking the USA to do all the heavy lifting for your own defense.
Yes, I do. I’m active in lobbying for more defence funding and hitting power and through veterans groups.
No. We don’t. We appreciate our close partnership with the USA as allies who have fought together for over a century. We host vital US bases. The simple fact is that Australia doesn’t feature on the world’s hot spots list and so we have been happy to coast along with defence of the homeland but contribute (albeit minimally) to combined operations overseas with our allies. New Zealand is even happier to do that.
Oh we are flooding in immigrants. That’s causing the same problems you have. Our idiot government is even welcoming ‘refugees’ from Gaza without vetting. These people come and don’t pay taxes for generations, happy to sponge up the free stuff and attend street protests against Israel.
Win for whom? We sensibly drew on the founding experiences of America when our colonies federated and benefited from your constitutional formation. But we decided to largely persist with our British heritage with some bits of Swiss (referendums) thrown in. We specifically rejected your presidential system.
Your Declaration of Independence and your eventual constitution are lauded and worshiped but they didn’t create perfection. We came after and got something better. Australia achieved full independence peacefully, so much so that nobody knows when it was actually finalised it was so ho hum. No deaths, no wars, no (tea) party. Americans slaughtered hundreds of thousands of your fellow countrymen in the pursuit of whatever you have now.
So, sorry to disappoint, we reject being your 51st state. We in the west of Australia already get miffed by being ruled by remote pollies in Canberra on the other side, so we are unlikely to go for the newly renamed City of Washington (DC has gone, I’m told) to tell us what to do.
We have truck stops and casinos already and, talking about Steve Irwin, the most deadly snakes, crocodiles, spiders, scorpions, jellyfish, sharks and drop bears in the world. We survive nevertheless but couldn’t survive the attentive ministrations of the Washington bureaucrats with a new toy to destroy.
We have Ugg Boots … until you pricks stole the name.
2 Likes
If you don’t expect us to defend you why do you host American bases? You’d be fine pulling out of ANZUS, correct?