When the
Soviet Union’s Khruschev attempted to place missiles in the Caribbean,
President Kennedy, a Democrat, picked up the phone to Moscow and politely
explained if the Soviet ships carrying ICBMs did not turn around and go home
the USSR could expect a phalanx of US troops on Soviet soil and a pile of
nuclear weapons waiting to be dropped from an overhead flock of B52s....Khruschev
quietly turned around and went home.
The extremity of Obama’s aggression is confined to pointless sanctions
on countries that openly and persistently break international agreements and
treaties. Those sanctions hurt no-one except innocent civilians while the
resident tyrant continues to order the best of Champagne and caviar from France
to be flown in on private aircraft.
America's standing in the World has never been at a lower ebb than under
Obama. China feels free to do whatever it likes in the South China Sea while
the US, despite its military treaties in the area, sits on its hands.
Anyone who believes this latest move by China is not a serious threat
either doesn’t read history books or lacks understanding of the Sino mindset.
The only missing part in the puzzle is Putin. Where the bloody hell is
he?
The master Russian tactician shares the coast line of the Korean
Peninsula in the Sea of Japan and abuts China itself, yet not a word from the
Little General.
China and Russia have no military treaties between them and both are
free to act in their own interests. Perhaps Putin is preoccupied with Kiev and
NATO's chest-beating. Putin has been painted into a corner by Obama by imposing
further sanctions over the conflict on Ukraine’s Eastern border. It is a mere
annoyance, but Putin sees it as far more of an immediate threat than China’s
expansionism.
Kiev has refused to pay billions it owes for Russian gas. Putin in
return has said that he will supply gas on a cash only basis. Kiev’s Poroshenko
has promptly tapped the pipeline from Russia and is using Russian supplied
energy for free while refusing Putin land access to his fleet in the
Crimea.
Now there’s a better powder keg for you! And maybe Putin is more
justified being concerned about stuff a lot farther away from the Sea of China.
Russia can throw a stone into Japanese territory and it has treaties
with South Asian nations, so we can’t expect Russia to enter any conflict
against China in the area. And Obama is more concerned with defending the
“Black Lives Matter” crew than attending to a growing South East Asian powder
keg.
Anyway, Putin is depending on Chinese influence to
stem US and NATO aggression on his doorstep over Ukraine
But let’s get fair dinkum here. There is no chance of a serious nuclear
threat emerging from any nation involved in the area.China can deter any
challenge to its aggression with trade sanctions that would cause more damage
than any nuclear bomb.
It can cripple the US overnight (it holds a major part of the US $20
trillion debt) and it already has large financial investments and territorial
footholds in Australia and elsewhere in the area.
China is too big to fail. It is using its ability to cripple any nation
it wants via trade in an insidious, unspoken way. So don’t expect a partially
crippled Russia, already suffering from Kiev bastardry which is supported by
the West, to take an interest in the South China Sea.
The nation that could have acted to protect the critical trade sea lanes
of Australia and its near neighbours was the US. But America has suffered eight
years of torpor from the most destructively useless President in US history.
We will need to wait to see how this pans out. China will certainly be
able to reign the area as part of a new Chinese Empire with new ownership of
resources and sea lanes, and it may be a fair or foul overlord.
Whatever the case, not a shot need be fired. This is a war of exchange
rates, trade deals and debt that only China can win.
The rest of the world has been asleep for far too long.
Larry Pickering
Four-time Walkley Award winning political commentator and Churchill
Fellow, has returned to the fray over concern that the integrity of news
dissemination is continually being threatened by a partisan media.
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