Politics is a dirty word

Political parties are the major reason for widespread public distrust of politicians. Once a candidate is endorsed for election, he or she has more allegiance to the party than to voters – which sees normal ethics, reality and accountability fly out the window. The party machine and hierarchy are all that matter and individuals will be protected whatever they do. Corruption in Federal and State politics is nothing new, politicians have been accepting bribes for ever and they have always had their hands in the pockets of taxpayers – but the scandals have grown in recent years. The latest to hit the fan are fraudulent claims totalling $140,000 which forced the resignations of the Victorian Parliament Speaker and his deputy. The regularity of scandals demonstrates that many politicians are simply crooks who can't be trusted. One way to overcome the problem may be to disband political parties, politicians should stand in electorates in which they live as independents directly represen...

The US has test fired 4 Trident ballistic missiles from one of its Ohio class submarines. This follows tests by North Korea and Russia.

The United States has sent the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson into the South China Sea in what it describes as "routine operations." The ship carries 60 aircraft including FA 18 Super Hornets and Boeing Growlers. Sailing with the 97,000-ton carrier is a guided-missile destroyer and a nuclear submarine. At this stage, the US has not formally asked Australia to send in ships but that may change if China deploys its naval and air forces in answer to US aggression.

At 8am yesterday we heard what seemed to be a heavy turbo prop plane approaching our farm. I went out to look and after a while, a strange looking plane appeared, and skirted around the property before heading towards Melbourne. I was unable to get a photograph and the plane was not close enough to read any markings, but it had small twin tail planes and what appeared to be a beam attached above the fuselage. On looking at aircraft photographs over the internet, it appears to have been a Chinese KJ 200 surveillance, early warning and electronic control aircraft. It seems that the Chinese are keeping an eye on Australia - and who can blame them given our Government's attitude over the South China Sea.I notified the Department of Defence but, of course I haven't heard anything!

A more than doubling of the spot price of coking coal to a high of $206 a tonne is likely to boost Australia’s export earnings by $25 billion – which gives the Government no excuse to bully the Senate into passing unfair cost-cutting legislation. But, of course, it won't stop them from trying and the parasites will want to increase taxes too in order to ensure there is plenty of money for them to dip into.

Britain may cancel its order for the F35 joint strike fighter and it is hoped that Australia follows suit. This single action would free up at least $25 billion and help to solve the Govenment's fiscal problems. Calls for cancelling orders for the stealth fighter being built by Lockheed Martin are not just based on excessive costs. The new plane's performance does not meet expectations. An analysis in the authoritative US Air force Air and Space Power Journal says: “Even if funding were unlimited, reasons might still exist for terminating the F-35. “Specifically, its performance has not met initial requirements, its payload is low, its range is short, and espionage may have compromised the aircraft long in advance of its introduction.” Advances in Russian and Chinese radar defences mean it is not clear that the stealth technology will still work, the analysis warns, adding: “The F-35 might well be the first modern fighter to have substantially less performance than its predece...

America's national debt is now almost $20 trillion and although the US has a new President, the Government seems to be locked into increasing deficit spending as China dumps US bonds. Russia is still in the market to buy. Figures show that China currently owns about 7% of US debt and if it and Russia organised a strategic US bond sell-off it would likely cause the US dollar to crash. The currency has been particularly vulnerable since economists decided to abandon the gold standard because they reckoned more money could be made by backing currencies with illusion and promises rather than gold in Fort Knox,the Bank of England or other central banks.

North Korea fired a ballistic missile into the sea of Japan on Sunday, but it was probably not an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. It was most likely an intermediate range version designed to annoy its neighbours. As a direct result the United States will probably fast-track the deployment in South Korea of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence system developed by Lockheed Martin - an automated missile defence shield.

Russian and Chinese hunter/killer submarines are apparently cruising the world's oceans in readiness for war with the US and its allies. The Russian submarine fleet is much reduced from the Cold War days when it operated than 200 subs but it still has 60 or so and China is reported to have 70 compared with the US's current attack sub force of about 50. US allies have relatively a handful of operational submarines between them.

Chinese bombers and fighter planes flew close to Japan yesterday. They went past Okinawa through to the Western Pacific . The action is similar to Russia flying two bombers close to the UK on Thursday. Both countries appear to be demonstrating that they have significant air power and are prepared to use it. The events are probably a response to US claims that it has a right to overfly the South China Sea. The next step may well be demonstration flights down the US west coast either by Russia, China, or both.

The Russian air force had a bit of fun with the Brits, flying two Tupolev TU-160 heavy bombers around Scotland and down the Irish Sea out into the Bay of Biscay, The RAF scrambled fighters and so did France and Spain but the Russian planes re-traced their flight and returned home. At no time did they enter British, French or Spanish airspace so presumably they were just demonstrating that they could do it. Much like the US flying over the South China Sea! Maybe they will try the same along America's Pacific coast.

With the US, Russia and China seemingly rushing headlong into a war, for the first time since the US civil War the Americans may have to fight on their own territory- after years of stamping around the world creating havoc everywhere else. In recent months Russia has established significant military installations along its eastern seaboard, including missile silos, naval facilities and bases for ground troops - some within 80kms of the US. So any war will not simply involve long range attack by hypersonic missiles - there may well be hand-to-hand combat across the country as troops advance. Many people don't realise that the Russians had parts of America as a colony for some years. Russian America was a lucrative property until the Russians sold Alaska to the United States in 1867 for $7.2 million.

China's aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, is reported to be in the final preparations for war. As well as cruise missiles and stealth fighter jets, electronic warfare jets have been loaded. They are fitted with active electronically-scanned arrays designed to disable US strike and defence systems.

Turmoil in Australian politics is no surprise. Anyone who thinks about politics here will have been aware for at least a year about the almost complete disenchantment by voters with the mainstream party system. Any decision by Senator Cory Bernardi to leave the Liberals and set up his own party could have taken place anytime since Malcolm Turnbull wrested Liberal leadership from Tony Abbott. The latest poll results confirm voter attitude to our politicians – We don't trust either of the major political parties.The level of corruption and incompetence has been breathtaking. For the first time 'Others' which include One Nation, the Greens and the Nick Xenophon Team have reached an overall vote in the poll of 20%. A figure which is a total kick in the guts for the Coalition and the Labor parties. Chaos will ensue.

US sanctions against Iran are likely to be counter-productive. New sanctions have been imposed allegedly in response to the country's test firing of ballistic missiles. But the sanctions are more likely just an expression of displeasure at the nuclear deal between Iran and former President Obama. In any event. In the past, sanctions have seldom achieved a desired result. Sanctions against Rhodesia imposed after prime Minister Ian Smith made a Unilateral Declaration of Independence actually helped to strengthen the country's economy by encouraging local businesses to engage in massive import replacement activities. The only real negative affect on the population was fuel rationing (but that was a minor irritation.) Businesses thrived and exports boomed despite the sanctions. Rhodesia became an economic powerhouse in the region with full employment and stable Government.

Multinational minerals companies are exploiting Australia's mining royalties system which politicians have allowed to disintegrate. The companies are likely to pocket an extra $500 billion over the next 20 years unless Governments close the loopholes. Minining royalties should be a huge source of income for Australia, but in past years, slack administration by the Federal Government as well as State Treasurers in Western Australia and Queensland has seen many hundreds of billions of dollars float off overseas. Australia would have no national debt if all royalties had been collected.

A second aircraft carrier is under construction in China and is expected to be completed by the middle of this year although it probably won't enter service until 2019. Its home base is likely to be the Yulin Naval base on Hainan Island which is home for the Chinese nuclear submarine fleet.