Financial Dimensions of a Re-Emergent Anglosphere with added Militaristic Cover in that Dynamic Pragmatism of Mainstream Politics
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By Denis Bright
Our political and corporate leaders within the Anglosphere group of countries have recovered a global outreach beyond the wildest dreams of King George III (1738-1820).
United by the Five Eyes Intelligence Network in Australia, Canada, USA, Britain and New Zealand with a steadfast commitment to neoliberal political and economic values, the Anglosphere has reached out to consolidate a network of influence globally that brings together a diverse range of countries like Japan, Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia as the prime movers and shakers of contemporary modernism.
The global militarism fostered by the Five Eyes Intelligence network is closely embedded in a commitment to neoliberal politics and economics through the influence of the major multinational corporates in the Anglosphere world of commerce and finance.
The most significant one hundred corporate giants can be critically ranked on factors such as revenue and brand reputation. Most are located in the USA. Others include BP, HSBC and Berkshire Hathaway within the Anglosphere.
Readers can try out Google Bard to identify the key corporations. In the USA, the highflying corporates include JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, State Street Corporation, Fidelity Investments, Vanguard Group, Charles Schwab Corporation. In Australia, some of the key corporates were once in the public sector. The Australian list includes Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac Banking Corporation, ANZ Banking Group, National Australia Bank, Macquarie Group, AMP Limited, Suncorp Group, Australian Super, Challenger Limited, IFM Investors
The military arms of the neoliberal states is supported by corporations which research and deliver weapons of mass destruction. In the US, this military industrial complex includes a list of corporates which are readily identified by a search on Google Bard. Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc. of California seems to wish to contain its media coverage:
The interim dividends tabled on 15 February showed that annual sales of defence products for 2022 amounted to a cool $US2.22 billion. Keen students could search the other major defence suppliers which have their hands out for more taxpayer dollars at a time of great financial austerity for infrastructure and essential services within the USA. Debate over government spending in the USA of course excludes refence to this list of so-called patriotic companies.
- Bechtel
- Boeing
- BWX Technologies
- General Dynamics
- Honeywell International
- Huntington Ingalls Industries
- Jacobs Engineering
- Lockheed Martin
- Moog
- Northrop Grumman
- Orbital ATK
- Raytheon
- Textron
These companies play a variety of roles in the nuclear weapons programmes, including:
- Designing and manufacturing nuclear warheads and components
- Developing and testing nuclear weapons delivery systems
- Maintaining and modernizing the nuclear weapons stockpile
- Providing logistical support for the nuclear weapons program
Making use of Google Bard, of course brings readers into the corporate network of Alphabet USA. It is in the top echelons of global economic power and influence globally (Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year Results for 2022):
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – February 2, 2023 – Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG, GOOGL) today announced financial results for the quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2022.
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet and Google, said: “Our long-term investments in deep computer science make us extremely well-positioned as AI reaches an inflection point, and I’m excited by the AI-driven leaps we’re about to unveil in Search and beyond. There’s also great momentum in Cloud, YouTube subscriptions, and our Pixel devices. We’re on an important journey to re-engineer our cost structure in a durable way and to build financially sustainable, vibrant, growing businesses across Alphabet.”
Ruth Porat, CFO of Alphabet and Google said: “Our Q4 consolidated revenues were $76 billion, up 1% year over year, or up 7% in constant currency, and $283 billion for the full year 2022, up 10%, or up 14% in constant currency. We have significant work underway to improve all aspects of our cost structure, in support of our investments in our highest growth priorities to deliver long-term, profitable growth.”
Alphabet USA is the parent company of Google, the world’s most popular search engine. Alphabet is also a holding company for a number of other businesses, including Calico (longevity research), Waymo (self-driving cars), Verily (life sciences), and Capital G (venture capital)
- Google Search is the most popular search engine in the US, and it is used by millions of Americans every day to find information, shop online, and stay connected with friends and family.
- Google Maps is the most popular navigation app in the US, and it is used by millions of Americans to get around town and plan their trips.
- YouTube is the most popular video streaming platform in the US, and it is used by millions of Americans to watch videos, learn new things, and be entertained.
- Google Cloud Platform is a leading cloud computing platform, and it is used by businesses of all sizes in the US to store and process data, develop and deploy applications, and more.
There are real and quite non-radical alternatives to neoliberalism with its strategic outreach to military industrial networks. Some and probably most of the US corporates actually want a less troubled world and are ideologically at loggerheads with their more aggressive cousins from the military industrial complexes.
Ironically, the corporate world of the global Anglosphere network strongly engages with lower cost developing countries and transitional economies to maintain the supply of lower cost manufactured goods and even services. All of us have interacted with the competent credit card support services of credit card networks which are often in locations like Manila in the Philippines.
Such co-operation extends to the supply of vital products from China. Even some public hospitals in Australia draw products like health shoes from China through financial intermediaries after appropriate measurements are made by health specialists. In the US itself, leading brand names of health shoes are derived from Chinese suppliers.
However, the far-right of politics across the political aisle has a fortress the developed world mentality which is stocked by opinions generated by populist voices in the soft digital media and sections of the mainstream press which are eroding the long-standing commitment of working-class people for a more humane world at home and abroad.
As work re-commences on Joe Biden’s New Wall to seal off Mexico from thousands of refugees from Central and South America, there are striking similarities to other barriers imposed on refugees in Europe and the Middle East. The dilemma of refugees is being exploited by the nasty rhetoric from leaders on the Conservative Party at their annual conference in Manchester as covered in Irish Times (3 October 2023):
A senior member of the Conservative Party was ejected for loudly criticising the conference speech of Suella Braverman, Britain’s home secretary, as she warned a hall full of Tory delegates that a “hurricane” of immigrants is coming.
Ms Braverman took a characteristically hard line on migration issues in her address on Tuesday from the main stage at the Manchester Central Convention Complex, as she claimed that a Labour victory in next year’s general election would result in an open borders policy.
She pledged that the UK government will do “whatever it takes” to stop “bogus asylum seekers” reaching Britain. This appeared to be a reference to the possibility of the UK leaving the European Convention on Human Rights, if it prevents a toughening of British laws.
This type of rhetoric is far from being a long-term solution and is being repeated in the domestic politics across the Anglosphere to mimic the stand taken by former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
As British infrastructure plans and support for National Health are being curtailed, British defence industries are having a field day with support from gullible leaders worldwide as noted by Dan Sabbagh from The Guardian (22 May 2023):
British arms exports doubled during 2022 to a record £8.5bn according to the only publicly available official figures, reflecting escalating geopolitical uncertainties and fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The largest destination for UK-made weaponry was Qatar, which bought £2.7bn-worth, and 54% went to countries designated as “not free” by the human rights group Freedom House. These include Saudi Arabia and Turkey, as well as Qatar.
The £8.5bn recorded in 2022 is comfortably a record since the UK began publishing export data in 2008 and is more than double the £4.1bn recorded in 2021. The previous high was £6.9bn in 2015, a time when Syria had collapsed into civil war.
“The latest export licence figures for 2022 show that the UK arms industry is working overtime to arm some of the world’s most authoritarian regimes,” said Sam Perlo-Freeman, a researcher at Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), “as well as countries engaged in armed conflict, with the UK government’s full approval.”
The following British companies are involved in the production of nuclear weapons:
- Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) – A joint venture between the UK government and Lockheed Martin, AWE is responsible for the design, manufacture, and maintenance of the UK’s nuclear warheads.
- BAE Systems – BAE Systems provides a variety of support services to AWE, including engineering, manufacturing, and maintenance.
- Serco Group – Serco owns a one-third share in AWE-ML, which manages the AWE site and facilities.
- Rolls-Royce – Rolls-Royce is developing a new class of nuclear-powered submarines for the UK Royal Navy.
- Redhall Group – Redhall Group provides engineering services to AWE.
These companies play a vital role in the UK’s nuclear weapons program. They design, manufacture, and maintain the UK’s nuclear warheads, as well as providing support for the nuclear weapons delivery systems.
Even slightly dissident leaders of the Anglosphere countries like Labour’s Chris Hipkins of New Zealand will face overwhelming electoral pressures at the forthcoming national elections on 14 October 2023 under that country’s proportional voting system. The far-right minority ACT Party was well funded at the 2020 national elections to gain ten of the 61 seats in NZ’s unicameral parliament.
A re-emergent National Party under the leadership of Chris Luxon is likely to form a coalition with the ACT Party to bring NZ back to the fold of the other Anglosphere leaders to cool its trading an investment ties with China and to deepen its tentative associations with AUKUS. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken outlined the conditions for closer involvement of NZ on his visit to Wellington in July 2023:
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Image: Reuters- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) poses with New Zealand’s Prime Minister Chris Hipkins at Parliament in Wellington on July 27, 2023
The new Albanese Government faced similar pressures in its early days and decided to fall into line with the due processes established during the Morrison years on the AUKUS deal as engineered by disgraced former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The arrival of Caroline Kennedy as the new US Ambassador to Canberra in July 2022 provided an opportunity to restate any drift towards New Zealand’s dissident policies as noted by Andrew Tillett in the AFR (25 July 2022):
Ms Kennedy demonstrated the embrace of an Australian colloquialism, playing a straight bat on key issues in the bilateral relationship and regionally.
Asked whether she would raise a Chinese company’s ownership of the Port of Darwin during talks on Wednesday with Anthony Albanese, as well as climate policy, Ms Kennedy said she was looking forward to meeting the prime minister and advancing shared goals.
A question about timelines for the AUKUS nuclear submarine project also sunk without trace.
“I think AUKUS is a really significant partnership between three of the closest allies. There are many announcements to come in coming weeks, so I think it’s best to let that unfold and then maybe we’ll talk about them as they do,” she said.
In the far-off UK, British Labour is well ahead in recent polling, A future British Labour Prime Minister in Sir Keir Starmer KCB KC is likely to fall into line with due process if these polling trends continue (Politico Poll of the Polls).
A slowing global economy might be expected to tilt many EU countries back towards the political centre. However, economic slow-downs also sharpen support for the far-right of European politics as in the last national elections in Germany, France, Italy and Greece. Secondly, the corporate giants of the Anglosphere are largely exempt from the direct effects of higher interest rates through their command of tax minimization strategies which can be re-invested in company expansion and perks for senior executives. Thirdly, the foreshadowed recession may not be as severe as originally expected because the corporate giants of the Anglosphere have a command over the application of new technology and especially developments in AI initiatives. Untimately, the Amazonization of employment in developed countries will make big inroads into future employment prospects.
Mohamed El-Erian (5 October 2023) has the latest economic trendlines as reported in the Financial Times (paywalled).
For responsible activists, it will be a long haul back to social democratic goals and more interventionist government policies to address gowing levels of homelessness, poverty and inequality.
The youthful values of JFK once saved humanity from a nuclear war over the Cuban missile crisis when he was seduced by military intelligence to support the CIA’s Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba in 1961 and to allow US nuclear weapons to be installed in Turkey in close proximity to the boundaries of the Soviet Union. This disaster was used by Cuba to justify the acquisition of nuclear weapons sites which were spotted by US Surveillance in 1962.
With the assistance of Alphabet, as owner of the You Tube network, readers might be inspired by Barry McGuire’s Age of Destruction lyrics. Barry lives on in California with more seniority than Joe Biden or Donald Trump as potential leaders of the Anglosphere beyond 2024. Barry still generates a share of celebrity gossip at 87 years of age.
Denis Bright (pictured) is a financial member of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA). Denis is committed to consensus-building in these difficult times. Your feedback from readers advances the cause of citizens’ journalism. Full names are not required when making comments. However, a valid email must be submitted if you decide to hit the Replies Button.
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24 comments
Login here Register hereNo need to wonder why we have such a pissweak ‘LABOR’ government…neo liberal lite.And McGowan,that highly successful LABOR premier takes jobs with climate fucking organisations Who knew?.It’s always,always, all about the money.WE ARE FUCKED.I sincerely hope the younger generation are a lot smarter than us.Actually, they may not have a choice.
They been a disappointment haven’t they, Harry?
You are asking Bard the wrong questions … you have to ask it ones like the one I just asked!!
Q: If all military budgets of every country on the planet were stopped and used for social projects like housing and health would a single person go without a home and medical care on the entire planet??
Bard’s Response: It is unlikely that a single person would go without a home and medical care on the entire planet if all military budgets were stopped and used for social projects.
In 2021, global military spending was estimated to be $2.1 trillion. This is a significant amount of money that could be used to address a wide range of social needs, including housing and healthcare.
According to the United Nations, there are an estimated 1.6 billion people living in inadequate housing worldwide. In addition, there are 400 million people who lack access to essential health services.
If all military spending were redirected to social projects, each person on the planet would have access to an additional $263 per year. This would be enough to provide basic housing and healthcare for everyone in the world.
Of course, there are a number of challenges that would need to be addressed in order to implement such a plan. For example, it would be important to ensure that the funds are distributed equitably and that they are used effectively. However, the potential benefits of redirecting military spending to social projects are significant.
In addition to the direct benefits to individuals, investing in social projects can also have a number of indirect benefits, such as reducing crime and poverty, and promoting economic growth. Therefore, it is likely that if all military spending were stopped and used for social projects, there would be a significant improvement in the lives of people all over the world.
Back to me: Unfortunately all our governments have no idea what a waste military spending is … but it is necessary because every other government spends on their military … this is a serious failure in human nature!!
Rhonda,the only flaw in your argument ,is that would mean treating every human on earth as intrinsically equal.And not classify everything purely from a dollar point of view.Sound familiar?No profit…no deal.
Roswell,disappointing doesn’t get near it, given the approaching cataclysm.Timid, gutless and out of date.It looks like we must sleepwalk into the abyss before anything changes.
Rhonda: Correct, however humans have more than territoriality hard wired in our genes. The whole flight/fight response to stressors is used by adrenaline junkies to get a buzz and spectators who watch also get an empathic buzz. No matter how much logic you apply, there is always somebody that will go against the common good for their own advantage. People that seek power have a propensity to “sacrifice” in order to get an outcome. Usually those sacrificed are the already disadvantaged. When young I was taught to “make your own decisions” after gathering relevant information, however it seems that following your “favorite influencer” is the current maxim. The way the whole world is moving to the right is of concern.
I have had enough contact with Mc Gowan to know that he is neither weak, or timid, or gutless.
My sceptical mind tells me he knows stuff that the rest of us dont, and that does not make for a rosey future.
In a lifetime you come across those who say, “if I told you, then I would have to kill you”!
An RAF guy in UK spending huge chunks of time in California learning to fire cruise missiles as an example.
I think I know all there is to know about Assange?
An open media, free from manipulation, is a nice treat.
Hopefully the electorate will move back to Those Times They Are a-Changin’ Themes to celebrate Joe Biden’s approaching 81st birthday on 20 November this year. Thanks for your research on our times, Denis.
Thanks for waking everyone with your coverage of this issue at a time when our governments need to take more risks in defence of social democracy at a time when freedom means more corporate and military influence in society.
Sometimes the obvious is missed by the mainstream media. This article helps to fill a terrible vacuum in news coverage of the obvious.
Given the extraordinary rise in numbers of the bipedal hominid across the face of the planet, and its never-quenched thirst for material comforts, a behaviour evidenced over millennia but perhaps, given we live now, here, in this time, and that we are bombarded with a never-ending barrage of information on how this obsession is impacting the planet’s ecosphere, its biosphere – the structural integrity of the myriad and uncountable degrees of relationship within the natural world that operate harmoniously, naturally, symbiotically, in unison, as it were, and as such enables the planet’s natural systems to function as they have, more of less, for uncountable millions of years – and given that we, the bipedal hominid uniquely endowed with a massively developed brain, three times the size of a chimpanzee’s and carrying a frontal cortex that confers unique language skills along with the capacity for abstract mentation that is at the root of all human activity – given all of this, it’s no surprise that we’re in the mess that we face at this pointy end of the march of humanity in its relatively short time on the face of this planet, and that part of that mess is the sense of how we’ve failed, as a sentient and supposedly intelligent bipedal hominid, to take care of our home, the globe we call Earth.
James Lovelock, the author of the term ‘Gaia’ in the context of seeing the Earth as an intelligent super-organism, presciently warned that there were limits to the extent to which we could continue to use the planet as a never-ending source of raw materials needed to sustain our material lifestyles. He foresaw consequences, and warned they would not be welcomed.
People like Lovelock, clear-eyed visionaries who focus on consequences as much as causes are never popular within societies. Who among us wishes to be told that pretty much most of what we do is useless, pointless, harmful, unnecessary, or destructive? And who amongst us has the capacity to alter the trajectories and momentum of corporations, those massive entities whose sole focus is on keeping the machinery of capitalism grinding on, ever-forward, intent as ever on the primary goal of selling goods and services for the highest profit after making them for the least cost, and at whatever the cost to humanity; think about the armaments industries whose sole products in toto are things designed to kill people – in a sane world would these things be tolerated? – or the agrochemical industries, whose products have contributed greatly to the creation of wastelands across the planet; along with many other examples of the contribution of corporations to the diminution of the overall circumstances of life on earth.
And now, this period, these days and months and the years to come have been termed the Anthropocene, the Sixth Extinction, such is the impact of humanity on the planet’s environmental and biological ecologies. Whatever the so-called movers and shakers might have to say, the chattering classes, the media, the politicians collectively, the universe of social media commentators, the left-wingers, right wingers, greens, indies and undecided along with all the issues du jour that so deeply fascinate us, capturing our attention and bringing about earnest discussion, debate, disagreement, along with abuse and threat and worse, all of this is just, in reality, just pissing in the wind in the face of the gorilla in the room, being unsustainable resource extraction and use, unsustainable use of potable waters, unsustainable atmospheric loading of heat-trapping gases that in turn initiate massive negative feedback loops on the planetary surface and lead to distress of human communities on a scale not witnessed since perhaps close to a century ago when war ravaged a major portion of several continents.
It was a big effort to prepare this article. There is so much secrecy in public life and news reporting. The electorate is well primed to accept the need to prepare for war and to extend social injustice through the application of neoliberal values as the norm.
On the way to the bus stop to pick up my bicycle from Uni Cycles at UQ after sending off the article, I realized that the revenue base for Aerjet in California should have been $US2.1 billion and not $2.1 trillion. Also there was a typo in menyioning the Soviet Union in the second last paragraph. I asked our editor in Canberra (Michael Taylor) to fix up these problems.
I think that the macro-themes of this article are well researched and designed to challenge secrecy in Australian public life. I welcome discussion across the political divides and will look at the few responses to date.
I am a financial member of the MEAA but my union is not interested in taking a position relating to AUKUS or the inequality impsed on everyone by the reflexive application of neoliberal values. I emailed the MEAA specifically to clarify its stand on AUKUS which will break our country financially. Eventually a reply was forthcoming and the AUKUS issue was not of any policy interest to my union.
That’s a disappointing response for a non-party politically aligned union.
Thanks Rhonda. Global military spending is around $US 1 trillion and this is almost doubled if spending on intelligence services is added to the total according to one of the DW News Bulletins I watch each day.
Compare this with the funding allocated to UN agencies to respond to the found of current crises facing humanity and the appears built up by USA in payments to the UN. Commitment to the UN Charter is mentioned in the original AUKUS Treaty of 1951. This was the foundation of the original post-war Australia-NZ-US Alliance which was approved by the Menzies Government over 70 years ago with bipartisan support. Reforms to make the UN more effective as peace-keeper and an activist for social justice are so important.
US Ambassadors over the years have also interfered in Australian domestic politics. This goes against the spirit of AUKUS. It should be no business of the current US Ambassador in Canberra who Australia sends to represnet our country at US staged events to build up nostalgia for conflicts in the 1940s. in the Solomon Islands.
John Curtin insisted that participation in military alliances should always be in Australia’s interest. AIF troops were withdrawn from North Africa with opposition from Winston Churchill who wanted them in Burma as a second best option for Britain.
Australia was conned by the Obama Administration to support the troop surge in Afghanistan and for Australia to sign up as an Associated Member of NATO so far from Western Europe.
Many US corporations like Drew Shoes in Ohio support Win-Win Strategic Strategies of engagement with China as their businesses depends on these continued associations. It is a similar story with the supply of health products to some Australian public hospitals which measurements are made here and the products are delivered from show factories in Guangzhou at no cost to patients under our free hospital scheme whiich was always a Labor initiative.
Interesting to note that the US Republicans who favour abandoning Ukraine military support are not doing so because of some disinterested altruism or a commitment to global peace. They are doing it because the US is not being paid for the armaments being delivered to Ukraine.
They would have absolutely no problem about continued massive armaments support if somebody else was paying.
Tell the readers more Harry Lime. I always support your concerns. From my perspective I try to be as inclusive as possible in my criticism of neoliberalism and militarism through our support for mainly US and British multinational companies. The post-1989 era should have been peaceful but look what has happened since the Wall came down. Why does Australia have to give financial support to Britain through purchases from the BAE Systems for exotic military hardware to the glee of those naval admirals and vice-admirals in Canberra and at HMAS Cerberus and HMAS Stirling. There would be few progressive votes in those institutions which are All the Way with the USA iand Britain n their strategic orientations.
Keep tilting at those structures of power and influence Harry which are moving Australians in wrong directions and at great cost to future generations.
I did my share of tilting at Windmills of Power in my coverage of the opening of Anthony Pratt’s cardboard factory at Wapakoneta in Ohio in the presence of Trump, Morrison, the Australian Ambassador from DC in 2020. I am pleased that footage of this propaganda event has resurfaced on recent news bulletins. Trump has been exposed for bragging about US nuclear submarine secrets. It’s now out. Those vessels carry nuclear weapons on their overseas port visits.
My coverage of the opening of the Cardboard factory at Wapakoneta: https://theaimn.com/seeking-the-post-covid-consensus-is-the-biden-harris-team-energizing-a-cautious-global-progressivism/#comments
Biden won the 2020 election a few months after that event but delivered very little of that Cautious Progressivism.
Do take a look back at that article if you are interested. Notice how Republican Senator Rob Portman is propped up by military brass in the news pic provided in that article. Like our US Ambassador in Canberra today and Antony Blinken as Secretary of State, Portman is a postgraduate from a prestigious law school who has served in various eminent law offices in the traditions of those nineteenth century Gilbert and Sullivan musicals still popular at senior high musicals in the USA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ-gfalEWI0
A good Saturday morning read. It generated some good discussion. Keep up the research on those Australian Wincmills of Power and Influence which have ongoing colonial features. Vested interests in the USA and the UK have no love of more Australian sovereignty and welcome their future AUKUS submarine sales. Don’t forget to add a reference list next time, Denis.
If business culture takes risks, while are our leaders so timid in their promotion of global warming and permanent war strategies?
The scourge of neoliberal planning is a risk to our environment. Traffic jams in coastal towns are deemed to be a sign of progress. That is the strong leadership mindset in action.
Did you know that is the US, within 10 years, net interest costs on federal debt will exceed federal spending on crucial programs like Medicaid and defense.
Spending for net interest will become the largest “program” in the federal budget within the next 30 years, outpacing spending on Medicare and Social Security.
Borrowing has a big downside !
Thanks for your reminder Terence Mills. Multinational US Corporations, including those major companies supporting the global defence and intelligence sectors, are specialist in tax evasion. Cubic defense incorporating Cubic transport of San Diego (operator of public transport ticketing systems) is just one small time example, No wonder the US government is short of revenue for the essentials like national health, alternative energy and infrastructure. Both sides of the aisles in Conggress support these low tax strategies in varying degrees. Time for another American Revolution against such bad practices and strategies to protect Australian politics from this Americanization.
Yeah, it’s all about money and power. But neither is of any value in the hands of the desperate, cowardly despots (both political and corporate) that seek control of their world, any world, or all the world. In their delusion of righteousness, they become easily drawn to paranioa and Machiavellian bids to secure their power and dominance, the only thing they actually do is hone their sophistry and assail the ordinary folk with it. Meanwhile they uttlerly lack the fortitude to get together, engender and persist with the dismantling of the circularity of obscene abuse of money and power.
They are of course in an increasing state of ‘shitting themselves’, because they are aware of their own ineptitudes and the ultimate failure of politics, so they just run to narcissism, build their sophistry of nationalistic siege mentality, peddling of evil ‘otherness’, glorification of deadly force, and spreading the soporifics of bling and drugs.
Like never before, all this has been accelerated by the advent of the internet – a thing that could change the world for the better (maybe). As for AI, that’s another story all over again.
A surfer from Taiwan told me that there is no problem with travel between Taiwan and Mainland. The problem of freedom of nativation is a construct from naval officers and western intelligence services. Taiwanese can travel to China without a passport and Chinese citizens are able to visit Kinmen Island in Taiwan by regular ferries for day trips or overnight stays. Taiwan’s Eva Air operates services between Taiwan and China and between Taipei and Kinmen Island which is within a few kilomteres of the Chinese City of Xiamin.
Money is being wasted by Western Countries on Freedom of Navigation jaunts through the Taiwan Straits.
What would China inferfere with commercial shipping across the Taiwan Straits when most of Taiwan’s trade is actually with China?
Defence suppliers in the USA and Britain love international tensions as it is good for business as the Anglosphere article tells us.
Rhonda’s comment: “Back to me: Unfortunately all our governments have no idea what a waste military spending is … but it is necessary because every other government spends on their military … this is a serious failure in human nature!!”
I think we are on a similar wave-length Rhonda. Google Bard and ChatGPT can assist with critical journalism as does the vast support base on YouGov in opinion polling from its corporate HQ in London and its operations in Australia.
Hypotheses are provided which can be tested by critical investigative journalism. The questions asked of Google Bard can be varied to deliver similar responses as AI lacks the critical intelligence of good journalists.
Almost every aspect of Australian life is monitored by YouGov and Google Bard. The latter is a vast coorporate marketing and data analytic firm which keeps on aquiring more and more companies including Galaxy Research in Australia and Polimetrix in the USA.
And Anthony Albanese is off to more consultations with the military chiefs of the Anglosphere begging for more top secret equipment from the corporate military industrial complexes of Britain and the USA. The voters of Grayndler in inner-Sydney will ultimately pay for such excesses in the name of preparations for war.
The expansion of the Anglosphere through its corporations and military ties extends to countries like Egypt. Pro-western leaders like President al-Sisi seized power with the support of leaders from the Anglosphere in 2013. Naturally, Egypt waits for instructions before it can send more aid convoys through the Rafah road crossing for the relief of the 2.5 million people in the Gazan enclave. Here premature babies are literally dying in hospitals under siege from air attacks. . Australian leaders should be speaking up publicly on this issue but have headed off to DC to receive more instructions and to sign a $5 billion deal with Microsoft for more electronic surveillance here. Thanks to the tens of thousands who marched for Palestine last weekend, there is a ripple of protest across Australia but our lifestyles here should extend beyond the Cool and Casual Look promoted by corporations in the annual pre-Christmas spending sprees.