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  1. #76
    Thailand Expat Saint Willy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sabang View Post
    were to cost an estimated lifetime total of $90 billion.
    Nope, it was estimated to cost $40B, costs overruns have ramped that up to $90B now.

  2. #77
    Thailand Expat helge's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by malmomike77 View Post
    True and what people are forgetting is the decision is a clear indication and affirmation to the Chinks where Oz affiliation lies and who they can depend upon for support
    Success

    That message has been sent and has been received.

    My guess would be that AUS will get an answer soon.
    Quote Originally Posted by malmomike77 View Post
    and who they can depend upon for support
    So you believe that the americans will start buying the surplus AUS will have in the future ?

    I know that the chinese are bullies.

    States of a certain size often is, but what excatly do you think Aus is worried about ?

    Invasion ?

    If that was the case, you'd see a very different world.
    Last edited by helge; 18-09-2021 at 02:58 AM.

  3. #78
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    AUKUS: another Morrison masterclass in big words, poor leadership and dud deals


    It’s taken 24 hours, and the emergence of some actual details, to realise just how awful a decision Scott Morrison has made to embrace nuclear submarines. It’s as if this government has a default setting of making the worst possible decisions when it comes to submarines.

    A simple recitation of the facts of AUKUS will illustrate this. Morrison has:


    • Torn up the existing submarine contract, based on majority-local build, five years and $2b-plus in, with a break fee of at least $500 million to come
    • Gone back to square one with an 18-month study
    • That study will examine how Australia will buy fewer subs, for even more money, most of which will be built overseas a decade later
    • Those subs will require more than twice as many people to crew and a whole new industry to maintain, when Australia can barely crew its existing fleet
    • Australia will have no option but to accept the least-worst option the study comes up with
    • The country with whom the existing contract was signed was completely blindsided and holds the whip hand over a trade deal with Europe and the potential for carbon tariffs on Australian exports. It’s also a country we’ve been working hard to get more engaged in our own region. France is mortally offended and unlikely to forget being stabbed in the back by ourselves and the Americans.


    It would have been straightforward to do this very differently: conduct the 18-month study of nuclear vessels in secret, present the results to Naval Group — a manufacturer of nuclear-powered submarines — and ask if it can match or beat it, injecting some competitive tension into the process, and not enraging the French who would have had a crack at retaining a subs contract. There’d have been no additional delay.


    But as we’ve learnt about the prime minister, he’s all about announcements. Actual competent management is beyond him.

    Somehow we’ve ended up locked into the outcome of an unknown process that will inevitably deliver a program worse than the existing one in every single way — cost, timing, local content, number of boats. The Americans or the British — most likely the Americans — can present us with whatever deal they like, confident we’re not going to refuse. We can’t go back to Naval Group in 2023 and ask it to revive the contract — not without a 20% hike in costs, total humiliation and a break fee with two extra zeroes on it.

    Morrison will be long gone from politics by the time construction starts — in Virginia and Connecticut, not Adelaide — and safely beyond the reach of any political accountability. His successors, however, will be stuck with a decrepit fleet of Collins-class vessels filling in another extra decade.

    Perhaps we can politely ask China to hold off on any further aggression for a couple of decades while we get our act together.

    They’ll also be stuck with the problem of where to get more than twice the number of submariners in a shrinking employment market as the world population ages. The usual Liberal solution is to simply bring in more foreign labour sourced from developing countries, but that’s probably not workable aboard our prize nuclear-powered strategic assets. The government is already budgeting a cost of $1 million per migrant to bring the talent needed to maintain these vessels to Australia. And it can’t think of a way to pay for what will be a $100+ billion program without dramatically lifting immigration.

    The press gallery reaction has been fascinating. Mainstream media journalists been almost completely taken in by the glamour of the announcement — don’t we love it when the Americans take notice of us — and missed the lack of substance and the managerial incompetence on display.

    Earlier this year, on a very different issue — Morrison’s profound deafness on gender issues — where coverage was led by female journalists in the gallery, every Morrison announcement was regarded with scepticism and his tendency to treat every issue as a political problem that could be dealt with via a media release was placed under real scrutiny.

    Yesterday, on an issue where coverage was led by male journalists in the defence, foreign policy and general politics rounds, they were almost as one entirely gullible. Boys and their toys?
    Readers and audiences have been badly served. But not remotely as badly as taxpayers have been and will be for decades.

    AUKUS: another Morrison masterclass in big words, poor leadership and dud deals (msn.com)


    It is dawning on many Australians that we have been handed one helluva big hangover here. Nobody even has any idea what it is going to cost.


    More scuttlebutt-

    That Fella Down Under! Scott Morrison’s AUKUS deal designed to win election, not make Australia safe - Michael West Media


    Game-changer or irresponsible? The known unknowns on Australia’s nuclear submarine deal (msn.com)

  4. #79
    Thailand Expat Backspin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by malmomike77 View Post
    Are you really that dumb? the Frenchies have pushed back delivery until at least 2030 and that was without a single steel laid. Forgive me but you come across as a bit of an apologist

    And what's the estimated arrival of one of these ones ? 20 years ?

  5. #80
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    Quote Originally Posted by helge View Post
    So you believe that the americans will start buy the surplus AUS will have in the future ?
    Helge, you are slipping out of comprehensible English, tweak the dial and have another go

  6. #81
    Thailand Expat helge's Avatar
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    Do you think that the americans will help the aussies by importing more aussie goods, now that the chinese have started with embargos on trade with AUS ?

    Can't do it better

  7. #82
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    On the contrary- they are exporting more goods to China! Aussie beef exports to China have been substituted by US beef.

  8. #83
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    No











































































































    its not a consideration. If you think the Oz will lose cash coz the chinks wont buy Iron well someone will

  9. #84
    Thailand Expat russellsimpson's Avatar
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    So now the French have recalled their ambassadors from both Washington and Canberra. So this has become very serious. I don't think it's ever happened before. Another big win for the brilliant minds in the State Department. Not.

  10. #85
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    Quote Originally Posted by russellsimpson View Post
    So now the French have recalled their ambassadors from both Washington and Canberra. So this has become very serious
    Russ no one gives fuk, that is why the US/UK/Aus fukd them off, the EU is in the same boat - irrelevant

  11. #86
    Thailand Expat helge's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sabang View Post
    On the contrary- they are exporting more goods to China! Aussie beef exports to China have been substituted by US beef.
    Quote Originally Posted by malmomike77 View Post
    If you think the Oz will lose cash coz the chinks wont buy Iron well someone will
    Ofcourse someone will.

    If it's cheap, even the french will.

    There won't be an embargo against AUS coming from the EU, eventhough we aren't, as you say, to be trusted for support.

    But one thing is for sure:

    There will be extensive french lobbying in the EU for adding some tarif on aussie goods.

  12. #87
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    Quote Originally Posted by helge View Post
    There will be extensive french lobbying in the EU for adding some tarif on aussie goods
    the froggie twats moan ad infinitum, its your lot to put up with it, the UK doesn't have to any more....................enjoy

  13. #88
    Thailand Expat helge's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by malmomike77 View Post
    the EU is in the same boat - irrelevant
    It's good. We'll be on the fence, if you need us.

    Just say please

  14. #89
    Thailand Expat helge's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by malmomike77 View Post
    the UK doesn't have to any more.
    And I have congratulated the english several times.

    It's all good; you made your choice

  15. #90
    Thailand Expat russellsimpson's Avatar
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    Fvcking brilliant. From the same folks who brought you the Afghanistan debacle, just in the diplomatic rather than military sphere. We've all been conned, all waiting to get rid of Trump to normalize relations among the 'allies'. But it turns out this wasn't just Trump but rather much broader foreign policy concerns. The French and other European allies were obviously not consulted on this new arrangement nor were the Canadians and Japanese. I think the Aussies may be taken for a walk down the path to nowhere, what's in it for them I wonder. Aus needs nuclear powered subs like they need a hole in the head.
    A true diplomat is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a manner that you will be asking for directions.

  16. #91
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    Quote Originally Posted by helge View Post
    It's good. We'll be on the fence, if you need us.

    Just say please
    Oh like the UN

  17. #92
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    Quote Originally Posted by russellsimpson View Post
    I think the Aussies may be taken for a walk down the path to nowhere, what's in it for them I wonder. Aus needs nuclear powered subs like they need a hole in the head.
    Russ you are absolutely right, they could sit on the sidelines................now who do we know next to Oz or the US that have done that for the last 50 years?

  18. #93
    Thailand Expat Saint Willy's Avatar
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    News

    France recalls US and Australia envoys over submarine deal

    Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian says decision ‘justified by exceptional seriousness of announcements’ made by Australia and the United States.


    France has recalled its ambassadors to the United States and Australia for consultations, in a backlash over a submarine deal.
    Australia on Wednesday cancelled a multibillion-dollar deal for conventional French submarines to enter a strategic Indo-Pacific alliance with the United States and Britain in which it will obtain US nuclear-powered submarines.
    Calling the cancellation “unacceptable behaviour”, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a statement on Friday the decision to recall the envoys, on request from President Emmanuel Macron, “is justified by the exceptional seriousness of the announcements” made by Australia and the United States.
    Earlier on Friday, a top French diplomat spoke of a “crisis” in relations with the US.
    The diplomat, who spoke to The Associated Press news agency anonymously in line with customary government practice, said that for Paris “this is a strategic question concerning the very nature of the relationship between Europe and the United States about the Indo-Pacific strategy”.
    He would not speculate on the effects the situation would have on France’s relationship with the US.
    “There’s a crisis,” he stressed.
    France has pushed for several years for a European strategy for boosting economic, political and defence ties in the region stretching from India and China to Japan and New Zealand. The European Union unveiled this week its plan for the Indo-Pacific.
    The French diplomat said on Friday that Macron received a letter from Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday morning announcing the decision to cancel the submarine deal.
    French officials then decided to reach out to the US administration “to ask what was going on,” he said. He added that discussions with Washington took place just two to three hours before Biden’s public announcement.
    Le Drian on Thursday expressed “total incomprehension” at the move and criticised both Australia and the US.



    “It was really a stab in the back. We built a relationship of trust with Australia, and this trust was betrayed,” he said. “This is not done between allies.”
    He also compared US President Joe Biden’s move to those of his predecessor, Donald Trump, under Trump’s “America First” doctrine.
    Paris had raised the issue of the Indo-Pacific strategy during the June 25 visit to Paris of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, expressing the importance of its submarine programme with Australia, the diplomat said.
    “We said that it was for us a very important and critical component in our Indo-Pacific strategy,” he said. Blinken met with Macron during the visit.
    The French diplomat said Australia never mentioned to France before its will to shift to nuclear-powered submarines, including during a meeting between Macron and Morrison in Paris on June 15.

    France recalls US and Australia envoys over submarine deal | Australia News | Al Jazeera


  19. #94
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    ^^ And how well has 'not sitting on the sidelines' worked out for the US, UK & Oz this century? Just one humiliating debacle after another.
    But of course you have helped your friends and allies in the EU too- by handing them a refugee crisis.

  20. #95
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    Quote Originally Posted by sabang View Post
    And how well has 'not sitting on the sidelines' worked out for the US, UK & Oz this century? Just one humiliating debacle after another.
    But of course you have helped your friends and allies in the EU too- by handing them a refugee crisis.
    It's all bluster and smoke and mirrors, creating chaos and letting others clean up the mess - main thing is act and talk tough while sinking lower and lower . . .

  21. #96
    Thailand Expat David48atTD's Avatar
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    Five mins YouTube for the Background for those interested in the facts


  22. #97
    Thailand Expat David48atTD's Avatar
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    Two mins YouTube on how/why the Nuclear powered subs is a better tactical beast


  23. #98
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    ^ finally the crux. A kettle rather than the diesel belcher .....

  24. #99
    Thailand Expat HermantheGerman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by malmomike77 View Post
    the froggie twats moan ad infinitum, its your lot to put up with it, the UK doesn't have to any more....................enjoy

    Hey Admins! Do your job and erase this imbeciles posts.
    Or do you guys belong to the Empire that went down the drain a long time ago?

  25. #100
    Thailand Expat HermantheGerman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by russellsimpson View Post
    Fvcking brilliant. From the same folks who brought you the Afghanistan debacle, just in the diplomatic rather than military sphere. We've all been conned, all waiting to get rid of Trump to normalize relations among the 'allies'. But it turns out this wasn't just Trump but rather much broader foreign policy concerns. The French and other European allies were obviously not consulted on this new arrangement nor were the Canadians and Japanese. I think the Aussies may be taken for a walk down the path to nowhere, what's in it for them I wonder. Aus needs nuclear powered subs like they need a hole in the head.
    Was the U.S. drone also a joint venture with the U.K. and Downunderwear?

    Kabul drone strike that killed 10 was 'a mistake' -Central Command head

    https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/head-of-us-central-command-kabul-drone-strike-was-a-mistake-679689

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