Politics is a dirty word

The USS Carl Vinson Strike Group, which has been operating close to Korea has returned to its home port of San Diego. The group has been replaced by the USS Nimitz strike group in a move designed to keep pressure on North Korea. A British Think Tank, The Royal United Services Institute has said that tensions between the United States and North Korea are so high that war is “a real possibility.” The conflict would result in hundreds of thousands of casualties, severely disrupt the global economy, and have profound implications for the political and diplomatic landscape of East Asia.

Many Americans are preparing for a nuclear strike against them by North Korea and its allies. California is preparing for a nuclear attack, after continuing threats from Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. Propaganda by both leaders has escalated tension and scuttled any prospect of a peaceful solution to thecontinuing problems created by US involvement in the Korean War. The Los Angeles Joint Regional Intelligence Centre has asked officials to "familiarise themselves with radiological and nuclear emergency response plans," to reduce the number of casualties. It is thought that North Korean submarines may already be on their way to cruise the US coast.

China is reported to have deployed at least 200 of its J20 stealth fighters. The first few entered service last March. The plane, is a twin-engine multi-role fighter that can reach speeds of 2,100 kilometres an hour. China appears to be getting ready to act if the US launches strikes on North Korea.

Politicians and highly-paid bureaucrats love to paint a picture that everything is going along fine and that there is no need for dumb voters to worry. After all, they are in control, and they 'know' what they are doing. But the reality is rather different, they don't know what they are doing and are bumbling the economy (here and throughout the world) into recession likely to hit within the next three years. Even the international business magazine, Forbes acknowledges that Australia is one of the countries most likely to be hit by a massive debt crisis within three years. Our current account deficit is $1 trillion and politicians and bureaucrats have no idea how to get the economy under control. Unemployment in Australia is still too hight at 5.8%.

US Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, is trying hard to maintain some credibility despite the poor performance of US policymakers on North Korea. She has said that the US Security Council has exhausted its options on containing North Korea’s nuclear program and the Pentagon may need to take action. "We have pretty much exhausted all the things that we can do at the Security Council at this point," Ms.Haley said. Her comments followed threats from Donald Trump that he would respond with 'Fire and fury' if North Korea did not abandon its nuclear programme. The ludicrous situation is that North Korea will not wind back its nuclear capability and sanctions can never work, so if the US wants war, they may as well get on with it. China and Russia will not stop trading with their ally, Tax havens like Switzerland, Bahrain, Bermuda, Singapore and the Cayman Islands will not impose financial constraints on the North Korean regime. The failure of sanctions against...

South Korea has conducted its own test of a ballistic missile in response to yet another missile shot over Japan by North Korea. It remains to be seen if t he UN and other Government leaders, including Australia's Malcolm Turnbull condemn South Korea as roundly as they condemned the North Korean test. The North Korean missile flew a distance of just over 3,700 kms with a maximum height of 770kms.

Former Prime Minister, John Howard has called for ­proposed same-sex marriage legislation, including full protections for parents, religion and free speech, to be produced before the postal survey vote closes in ­November. He supports the No campaign in the costly postal survey. He says it is disingenuous for the Yes campaign to argue that changing the law to ­include same-sex marriage did not affect other rights and that the survey involved a simple yes/no question.

Australia's financial deficit is currently running at $44.5 billion and there is no sign that politicians plan to reign-in spending – making a mockery of claims that the budget will return to surplus. The United States is in an even worse position with a current deficit of $440 billion. Huge military spending will ensure that the deficit grows for the foreseeable future.

The US air force has acknowledged that it will take at least two more years for the much-hyped F35 Joint Strike fighter to be ready for combat roles.It has taken longer than expected to develop the weapons systems needed to make the plane an effective fighting platform.

The first rule of bureaucracy is 'always make sure there is someone to blame when things go wrong'. Successful bureaucrats are never left holding the bag when the bomb goes off. The current financial and political turmoil around the world is a clear example of this practice at work. The global financial crisis was carefully engineered to create chaos. It was part of a long-term plan by the global financial elite to take control of national governments by imposing stringent conditions aimed eventually at establishing a global currency and a world central bank. In a paper published in 1995, Richard K Moore wrote that declines in the quality of life, the breakdown of traditional values in society, widespread government corruption,chronic poverty and armed conflicts, needed to be met by significant reforms to the way we conduct ourselves. Nothing has changed.

Generals in the US Pentagon have been jolted by reports that North Korea has finally perfected a cobalt bomb – a dirty weapon carrying enriched uranium, capable of spreading large volumes of the isotope Cobalt 60. North Korean scientists began development in 2012, shortly after the death of of President Kim Jong il. The bomb is probably not capable of being delivered by missile because of its size, but could be dropped by aircraft or launched as a torpedo. The explosion of such a device would cause widespread and long lasting contamination which is one reason for US military indecision on how to respond to North Korea's actions.