Sick and tired of Cullen

[Winston001]

The US and Oz do expect us to have nuclear subs and carriers (visit), frigates (purchase) plus the US crooks did, remember, try to sell us fighters that they had already sold to Pakistan. Had been paid for them , didn't refund the money and didn't supply the planes. For the NZ govt. it was a bit like buying something that had fallen off the back of a truck. An absolute bargain.

There is the minor issue of Pakistan exploding a hydrogen bomb which upset a few people - sort of put all arms deals on hold.

As for willingness for the big players to stand behind them look at the Iraq experience. They were a major ally in the middle east and purchaser of huge quantities of military hardware and no doubt 'weapons of mass destruction'.
The US played both sides in the Iraq/Iran conflict supplying hardware and intelligence to both sides.
Just doing their business.
When their former allies lay down their arms in surrender they launch a genocidal invasion.

Er No. Certainly the US supported Saddam Hussein because he offered secular moderate peace in an area of the world fraught with tension. Bad call IMHO.

But then he got cocky and invaded Kuwait. Even worse call. So I'm not sure where you get the "lay down arms/genocidal invasion" from. The current Iraq War is a Western attempt at introducing stability and removing a tyrant - which hasn't been a success so far. As for the deaths in Iraq, almost all of them are caused by sectarian violence by Iraquis themselves.

Look at the US response to identifying the French plan to blow up the Rainbow Warrior. Did they pass on that info? Like hell they did.

Yep, but understandable. Look at it from a foreign intelligence perspective. Greenpeace were an annoyance, it was only a small boat being scuttled (but sadly a guy died), France and the US are in NATO, NZ gave the finger to the US military.....NZ would learn that terrorism could touch our distant shores....maybe appreciate ANZUS.....hey, it was a win win. Cynical yes, but intelligence is a dirty game.

A bit more thinking is required to identify situations that may degrade our standard of living.
Being able to identify those threats may take a bit more thinking but determining measures to overcome those threats is even more difficult.

Of note now is the recruiting season for priests and ministers.
That could be the answer.
'In God we trust'.

Agreed.

[Coldrider]

HMNZS Te Mana is in the Pursian Gulf under the command of the Royal Bahrain Navy on security missions, such a long way from home.
Do you think the Afganistans don't know that (assuming they can tune into & decipher Stuff.co)

[Delerium]

Yes well thought-out and I agree. If we had a hardened shell in the military lingo, we'd be ignored.

But - we can't financially afford it, we are just too small. Bring back ANZUS.

Besides, NZ today is not self-sufficent. We've got food, a bit of oil and gas but damn all else. Any sort of blockade 500km out would starve us of technology.

NZ spends approx 1% GDP on defence. our allies spend in the region of 3%. small percentage makes many billions difference. We can afford a lot more for national survival I beleive.

[Hinny]

Hey Winston, You forgot to add p/t to the end of your post.

[Ocean1]

I particularly liked the story of the army guys who played by completely new modus operandi resulting in the US observers asking them to do the exercise again so they could get their heads around what the Kiwis had done.

Blink, Malcolm Gladwell. Very good read about institutional vs intuitive strategy. (Sorta).