/qnotables22/ - ===Q Notables 2022===

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15592354 (100903ZFEB22) Notable: ASIO foils foreign spy plot to disrupt federal election, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Mike_Burgess_says_I_can_confirm_that_ASIO_recently_detected_and_disrupted_a_foreign_interference_plot_in_the_lead_up_to_an_election_in_Australia_Picture_by_Sean_Davey.jpg

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ASIO foils foreign spy plot to disrupt federal election

SIMON BENSON - FEBRUARY 10, 2022

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A spy ring led by a wealthy “puppet­eer” with deep links to a foreign government and its ­intelligence agencies recently tried to bankroll vulnerable ­political candidates in an attempt to get sympathetic MPs elected to parliament.

In one of the most brazen ­attempts at subverting Australia’s political system, the network sought to get candidates into positions of power but was shut down by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation before it could fulfil its ambitions.

While ASIO has not named the country involved, the sophistication of the operation, according to intelligence sources, pointed to only two nation states with that level of intent and the resources to carry it out: China or Russia.

It is understood that the sting was carried out recently, suggesting the target was the federal election due in May. The Australian has confirmed that Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese were both briefed on the plot.

The subversion attempt has prompted a renewed warning to politicians from the country’s spy boss, ASIO director-general Mike Burgess, that the election is a ­highly vulnerable target.

Delivering the annual threat assessment in Canberra, Mr Burgess said on Wednesday night the security environment the country faced was becoming increasingly complex, with espionage and foreign interference now surpassing terrorism for the first time as the agency’s primary concern.

However, he warned that terrorism had also taken a sinister turn during Covid-19 lockdowns, with Australian children being radicalised and recruited to extremist groups at an alarming rate.

Almost half of all high-priority cases being investigated by ASIO now involve minors.

Mr Burgess revealed that the rise of ideologically motivated ­extremism, as witnessed during anti-vax and anti-government Covid-19 protests, was now deemed a significant security risk that would escalate.

Revealing the foreign interference spy plot, Mr Burgess said the agency was on high alert.

“I can confirm that ASIO ­recently detected and disrupted a foreign interference plot in the lead-up to an election in Australia,” he said. “I’m not going to identify the jurisdiction because we are seeing attempts at foreign interference at all levels of government, in all states and territories.”

The case involved a “wealthy individual with direct and deep connections with a foreign government and its intelligence agencies”. “This agent of interference has roots in Australia but did the bidding of offshore masters, knowingly and covertly seeking to advance the interests of the foreign power and, in the process, undermine Australia’s sovereignty.

“I’ll call this person ‘the puppeteer’, although it’s important to ­remember that while the puppeteer pulled the strings, the foreign government called the shots.”

The “puppeteer” provided hundreds of thousands of dollars through an offshore bank account to run foreign-interference operations through a third party with ­direct links to politicians, political staff and journalists. The third party identified candidates believed to be vulnerable to inducements and cultivation.

The plan sought to promote the candidates’ political prospects through financial support, positive media coverage and hiring staff.

“The aim was not just to get the candidates into positions of power, but also to generate a sense of ­appreciation, obligation and ­indebtedness that could ­subsequently be exploited,” Mr Burgess said.

“The political candidates had no knowledge of the plot. Even if the plan had proceeded, they would not have known who was pulling the strings. The puppeteer used the employee as a cut-out.

“This deliberate deceit and ­secrecy about the foreign-­government connection is what took the case into the realm of foreign interference. Our intervention ensured the plan was not executed, and harm was avoided.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15592355 (100903ZFEB22) Notable: ASIO DIRECTOR-GENERAL'S ANNUAL THREAT ASSESSMENT 2022, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Asio_boss_says_spy_agency_will_dump_terms_rightwing_extremism_and_Islamic_extremism_.jpg

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>>121172

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Mr Burgess last year warned that by the mid-2020s, espionage and foreign interference were ­expected to have overtaken terrorism as ASIO’s principal security concern, but that had been realised earlier than anticipated.

“In terms of scale and sophistication, though, espionage and foreign interference threats are outpacing terrorism threats, and therefore demanding more attention and more resources,” he said.

“The threat is pervasive, multifaceted and, if unchecked, could do serious damage to our sovereignty, values and national interest.”

He warned that the nuclear submarine deal under the banner of the AUKUS security agreement between Australia, the US and Britain had already become the target of espionage attempts.

However, he said, the significance of terrorism could not be downplayed, amid an alarming rise in the radicalisation of minors.

“The number of minors being radicalised is getting higher and the age of the minors being radicalised is getting lower,” Mr Burgess said. “Most of the radicalisation occurs online, reflecting the dynamic I raised earlier, but some of it also happens in person, face to face.

“Children as young as 13 are now embracing extremism, and this is happening with religiously motivated violent extremism and ideologically motivated violent extremism. And unlike past experience, many of these young people do not come from families where a parent or sibling already holds extreme views.

“As the director-general of security, this trend is deeply concerning. As a parent, it is deeply distressing. “As a nation, we need to reflect on why some teenagers are hanging Nazi flags and portraits of the Christchurch killer on their bedroom walls, and why others are sharing beheading videos.

“Just as importantly, we must reflect on what we can do about it.”

Whereas minors represented about 2 to 3 per cent of new ­counter-terrorism investigations a few years ago, now they made up about 15 per cent, Mr Burgess said.

“At the end of last year, on average, minors represented more than half of our priority counter-terrorism investigations each week. Perhaps more disturbingly, these young people are more ­intense in their extremism.

“Where once minors tended to be on the fringe of extremist groups, we are now seeing teenagers in leadership positions, directing adults, and willing to take violent action themselves.”

Mr Burgess revealed ASIO had in 2007 conducted a threat assessment of a pandemic that had foreseen anti-government behaviour, as being played out with anti-vax protests. He warned politicians and commentators against labelling them as left or right wing. “They are a cocktail of views, fears, frustrations and conspiracies,” he said. “Individuals who hold these views, and are willing to support violence to further them, are most accurately described as ­ideologically motivated violent extremists.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/asio-foils-foreign-spy-plot-to-disrupt-federal-election/news-story/7db568241b244211fa78f13be1d17127

https://www.asio.gov.au/publications/speeches-and-statements/director-generals-annual-threat-assessment-2022.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15592359 (100904ZFEB22) Notable: Video: ASIO foils spy plot ahead of election - Sky News Australia

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>>121172

ASIO foils spy plot ahead of election

Sky News Australia

Feb 10, 2022

ASIO says it has foiled a major foreign interference plot ahead of the federal election.

The operation, led by a wealthy puppeteer, had deep links to a foreign government and aimed to bankroll vulnerable political candidates to get sympathetic MPs elected to parliament.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ienqEBG1iSY

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15592406 (100932ZFEB22) Notable: Chinese state-affiliated hackers attack local media group, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: CyberCX_chief_strategy_officer_Alastair_MacGibbon_a_former_ACSC_head_says_the_company_s_investigators_were_confident_in_attributing_the_attack_to_China.jpg

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Chinese hackers attack local media group

BEN PACKHAM - FEBRUARY 9, 2022

Chinese state-affiliated hackers have targeted a major Australian media company, stealing passwords and data using a publicised vulnerability within hours of the software flaw being revealed.

The nation’s biggest cybersecurity company, CyberCX, said the attackers moved swiftly to exploit the Log4j vulnerability in December last year, gaining access to the company’s IT systems before it had a chance to patch the affected software.

CyberCX said those responsible for the attack used “tradecraft consistent with Chinese state-sponsored actors” to gain access to the company’s mobile devices management software.

The company – which was not News Corp and understood not to be Nine Entertainment – was initially notified of the security breach by the Australian Cyber Security Centre. The attack occurred on December 10 – the same day the Log4j vulnerability was publicised, sparking a rush by users around the world to close the potential backdoor.

CyberCX chief strategy officer Alastair MacGibbon, a former ACSC head, said the company’s investigators were confident in ­attributing the attack to China.

“They used what we call customised web shells. We know the Chinese state uses a lot of these web shells,” Mr MacGibbon said.

“They stole data. They weren’t looking to lock phones or hold their data for ransom. And we have seen this same threat actor in other investigations we have done.

“And then when you compare that with what is publicly known about the tools and tradecraft, we have a high confidence in saying it is a Chinese state-affiliated actor.”

The Log4j vulnerability, unearthed in a piece of Java software code, was one of the most serious ever seen, sparking millions of ­attempted cyber attacks.

CyberCX investigators believe the Chinese attackers had developed a thorough understanding of the target application, MobileIron, enabling them to quickly exploit the Log4j flaw when it became known.

Mr MacGibbon said the speed with which the hackers moved to exploit the Log4j vulnerability showed how aggressive they had become.

“There used to be a time when a vulnerability was exposed and it was days, weeks or months before someone used it,” he said.

“Now it is a matter of hours. That shows how agile they are, how hyper competitive this space is, and how quickly they use ­opportunities. As soon as this vulnerability was public, they just pounced.”

The hacking incident predated a cyber attack on News Corp identified on January 20 and linked to Chinese espionage ­activities that affected The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, and British newspapers The Times and The Sun.

Nine Entertainment was also the victim of a major cyber intrusion in March last year, which bore the hallmarks of a ransomware attack but was not accompanied by a demand for payment.

Mr MacGibbon said media companies were attractive targets for Chinese state-sponsored hackers because they received and analysed information that had intelligence value.

The ACSC – part of spy agency the Australian Signals Directorate – said it was aware of the cyber attack but declined to comment on whether China was responsible.

“Australia publicly attributes malicious cyber activity when it is clear and in the nation’s interest to do so,” an ACSC spokesman said.

“The Australian government condemns malicious cyber activity, including by cybercriminals, states and state-sponsored actors.

“No sector of the Australian economy is immune to the impacts of malicious cyber activity. All organisations should be alert to international threats and take ­action to strengthen their cyber ­security defences.”

The Australian government rarely publicly names the countries behind cyber attacks.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/chinese-hackers-attack-local-media-group/news-story/55471bf51f36473a683baf36969b048b

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15592415 (100942ZFEB22) Notable: Quad unease at China, Russia ‘no limits’ pact, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: US_Secretary_of_State_Antony_Blinken_disembarks_from_his_plane_in_Melbourne_for_a_three_day_visit_where_he_will_meet_regional_foreign_ministers.jpg, Marise_Payne_at_the_National_Press_Club_in_Canberra_on_Wednesday.jpg

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Quad unease at China, Russia ‘no limits’ pact

BEN PACKHAM - FEBRUARY 10, 2022

China and Russia’s new “no limits” partnership to stand up to the West will be at the top of the agenda at Friday’s Quad meeting in Melbourne, with Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne declaring the pact was “completely at odds” with Australia and its allies’ vision for the global order.

Senator Payne said on Wednesday that her meeting with US Secretary of State Antony ­Blinken, India’s Subrahman-yam Jaishankar and Japan’s Yosh­imasa Hayashi was part of a wider push to protect sovereignty and democratic freedoms, and ensure nations were free from coercion by authoritarian nations.

Mr Blinken flew into Melbourne on Wednesday afternoon, after spending “a chunk of this trip” on the phone to global counterparts about the Ukraine crisis.

While the US remains on high alert for a potential Russian attack on its neighbour, Mr Blinken said the Biden administration had a “sustained focus” on the Indo-­Pacific, “and that’s why we’re heading to Australia”. He said the Quadrilateral ­Security Dialogue was emblematic of US efforts ­towards “building, energising, (and) driving different coalitions of countries” to deal with pressing regional issues.

“The Quad is becoming a powerful mechanism for delivering; helping to vaccinate a big part of the world and getting a lot of vaccines out there; strengthening maritime security to push back against aggression and coercion in the Indo-Pacific region; (and) working together on emerging technologies and making sure that they can be used in positive ways, not negative ways,” he said.

In Canberra on Wednesday, Senator Payne met with her ­Lithuanian counterpart Gabrielius Landsbergis, whose country – like Australia – has borne the brunt of Chinese economic ­coercion. Mr Landsbergis, who is ­visiting Canberra to open the first local Lithuanian embassy, said China and Russia were working together “as disrupters of the global rule-based order”.

Australia has vowed to back Lithuania in its World Trade ­Organisation battle against Chinese trade bans, which were instituted after Vilnius agreed to host a Taiwanese trade office that bore the territory’s name rather than that of its capital, Taipei.

“For quite a while Australia was probably one of the main ­examples where China is using economy and trade as a political instrument, or one might say even as a political weapon,” Mr Landsbergis said.

“Now Lithuania joins this ­exclusive club … But it is apparent that we’re definitely not the last ones, especially if these practices are not stopped with the instruments that we have.”

Senator Payne said it was vital for “like-minded nations” to band together to counter coercion and authoritarianism.

The Quad foreign ministers will work to ramp up vaccine distribution across the region, boost co-operation on cyber and critical technologies, tackle Chinese disinformation and economic ­coercion, and improve collective efforts to address climate change.

The meeting comes a week after Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed unprecedented co-operation, backing each other over stand-offs on Ukraine and Taiwan with a promise to collaborate more against the West.

Senator Payne said the new authoritarian partnership “sets out a vision of the global order that is at odds with that of Australia and that of our allies and ­partners, and I’m confident that includes all of our Quad ­partners”.

ANU National Security College head Rory Medcalf said the increasing closeness of China and Russia would “put India on the spot” over its longstanding ties to Moscow.

“India has its own distinct relationship with Russia which is weaker than it used to be – it has leaned more closely to the US in recent years – but it still has a relationship where it wants to position itself as not aligning against Russia,” he said.

“So this Quad meeting will be an interesting barometer on how much India has shifted.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/defence/quad-unease-at-china-russia-no-limits-pact/news-story/72f4eeccf07dd795a81b83af579adc33

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15592419 (100945ZFEB22) Notable: Australia leads world on standing up to China, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: US_Secretary_of_State_Antony_Blinken_in_Melbourne_on_Thursday.jpg

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>>121177

Australia leads world on standing up to China, Blinken says

Peter Hartcher - February 10, 2022

China’s trade sanctions on Australia have backfired, and by standing up to Beijing Australia “set an incredibly powerful example” for the world, according to the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“I think China has lost more than Australia has in its efforts to squeeze Australia economically,” Mr Blinken said. Beijing would be “thinking twice about this in the future”, he told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age in an interview.

The Biden administration’s chief diplomat is in Melbourne for talks with his counterparts from the Quad nations – Australia, India, Japan and the US – while simultaneously negotiating to deter Russia from attacking Ukraine.

His visit in the midst of the Ukraine crisis “only reinforces the point that for us, as a Pacific nation ourselves, we see the future, we see it here and you have got to keep focus on the core thing even as you deal with the challenge of the moment”.

Mr Blinken said that if Russia did attack its neighbour, he would expect Australia to contribute to imposing “massive costs” on Moscow, diplomatic and political as well as financial and economic, but not military.

The Quad ministers, meeting on Friday, are expected to discuss the Ukraine crisis in an effort to reach a joint position. The leaders of the four Indo-Pacific democracies are due to hold a summit in the next few months.

While China has imposed boycotts on more than $20 billion worth of Australian products, US companies have taken their place in some areas of the Chinese market. Asked whether there was a more effective way that countries could deal with Beijing’s trade coercion, Mr Blinken had no direct solution to offer.

He first paid tribute to “the very good and effective work that Australia has done, and Australian companies have done, in terms of diversifying markets and supply chains, tremendous resilience that I think will have China thinking twice about this in the future”.

The Australian trade economist Tim Harcourt concurred with Mr Blinken’s assessment that China had lost more than Australia through its punitive sanctions.

“China disrupted their own supply chains – they have shortages now in coal and iron ore and Australian exporters have been able to effectively diversify.

“They have energy security issues, they have food security issues, they have 300 million middle-class kids wanting to go to uni, so anything aggressive was going to hurt China.”

Coincidentally, the Financial Times on Wednesday carried the headline: “Australia offers timely lessons in resisting Chinese trade coercion”.

Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg in September said that total exports to China in affected sectors “are estimated to have fallen by around $5.4 billion over the year to the June quarter” but that exports of those goods to the rest of the world have increased by $4.4 billion. The implied loss to affected Australian industries was $1 billion over the year.

Mr Blinken pointed out that the US supported Australia’s economy as the biggest foreign investor by its accumulated stock of investment, although Japan was the biggest source of new investment in Australia last year.

He said that while the five-month-old AUKUS security partnership between Australia, the US, and the UK was new, “there’s a lot of focus” on how best to get US nuclear propulsion technology into submarines for Australia.

He said Washington was “looking at the most effective and efficient pathways to move that forward – there’s a lot of focus on that now. As well, of course, as setting the standard when it comes to upholding the non-proliferation regime.”

Mr Blinken was keen to draw attention to “the flip side of the AUKUS coin, which is collaboration among us – and potentially other countries coming in – on other things that are going to be vital to our security and wellbeing, particularly collaboration on emerging technologies, on AI, on quantum, but also on supply chains and building more resilience there.

“That’s also a part of AUKUS and that’s going to make a profound difference to sustainable security for all our countries.”

https://www.smh.com.au/national/australia-leads-world-on-standing-up-to-china-blinken-says-20220210-p59vhd.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15592421 (100946ZFEB22) Notable: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Australia demonstrated best of humanity - His step-father arrived as a teenage refugee from Poland after the Holocaust with no education, graduated from University of Melbourne, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: U_S_Secretary_of_State_Antony_Blinken_visiting_for_tomorrow_s_meeting_of_the_Quadrilateral_Security_Dialogue_Quad_foreign_ministers_takes_part_in_a_health_security_partnerships_roundtable.jpg, U_S_Secretary_of_State_Antony_Blinken_is_escorted_by_Vice_Chancellor_Duncan_Maskell_as_he_arrives_to_hold_a_student_town_hall_at_the_University_of_Melbourne_in_Melbourne_Australia_February_10_2022.jpg, U_S_Secretary_of_State_Antony_Blinken_visiting_for_tomorrow_s_meeting_of_the_Quadrilateral_Security_Dialogue_Quad_foreign_ministers_holds_a_student_town_hall_at_the_University_of_Melbourne.jpg

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>>121177

Blinken in Melbourne says Australia demonstrated best of humanity

Kirsty Needham - February 10, 2022

MELBOURNE, Feb 10 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has told students in Melbourne that Australia had showed it was capable of the best of humanity, transforming the life of his step-father who arrived as a teenage refugee after the Holocaust.

Blinken is in Melbourne for the Quad meeting of foreign ministers on Friday, when he will meet counterparts from India, Japan and Australia.

On Thursday morning he spoke with students at the University of Melbourne, where his late step-father graduated, after he arrived with no education from Poland.

"Australia remade him," Blinken said, adding his family held Australia in a special place.

"It showed after a demonstration of how humanity is capable of the worst, it's also capable of the best."

Highlighting the closeness in values between the two nations, he said it was imperative for Australia and the United States to work together to tackle challenges from climate change to the pandemic, and ensuring technology was used to advance humanity.

"At a time when so many of those values and interests have been challenged, I think there's more of an imperative than ever, that our two countries be together, work together."

From Australia, Blinken flys to Fiji to reassure Pacific island leaders that Washington and its allies are committed to providing security and COVID vaccines, as China steps up its aid and influence in the region.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/blinken-melbourne-says-australia-demonstrated-best-humanity-2022-02-10/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15594672 (101744ZFEB22) Notable: Australia’s Pine Gap ‘hugely important’ to western monitoring of China, says former British spy chief - Richard Dearlove discusses facility’s role in monitoring China’s ‘rather alarming’ activities, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Former_director_of_MI6_Sir_Richard_Dearlove_describes_Australia_s_Pine_Gap_surveillance_facility_as_hugely_important_strategically_to_the_US_and_to_the_western_alliance_in_monitoring_China.jpg

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Australia’s Pine Gap ‘hugely important’ to western monitoring of China, says former British spy chief

Richard Dearlove discusses facility’s role in monitoring China’s ‘rather alarming’ activities

Daniel Hurst - 10 Feb 2022

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The former British spy chief Sir Richard Dearlove has described the Pine Gap surveillance base in central Australia as “hugely important” to western intelligence collection about China’s “rather alarming” activities.

Intelligence officials are usually tight-lipped on exactly what the joint US-Australian facility is used for, but the former head of MI6 said Pine Gap was “a sophisticated listening post, all right, and a lot else besides”.

“You’ve got the massive installation, which is partly NSA [US National Security Agency], at Pine Gap and that’s really important because, well, it’s an intercept intelligence site,” Dearlove said on the global affairs podcast One Decision.

“And it’s hugely important strategically to the US and to the western alliance because of its position, its geographical location.”

He explicitly confirmed the western interest in Beijing’s activities, saying Pine Gap – the installation near Alice Springs in the Northern Territory – was “crucial to, let’s say, western coverage of China”.

“I don’t think I should go into detail about what it actually does, that would be indiscreet,” Dearlove added. More broadly, he said, Australia had “a very sophisticated intercept capability”.

The former head of the British Secret Intelligence Service made the comments during a podcast conversation with the former Australian foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop, who said Australia’s relationship with China currently was “tense”.

Australia is a member of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing alliance, which also includes the US, the UK, Canada and New Zealand.

The presence of the Pine Gap facility in Australia has from time to time attracted controversy. A trove of NSA documents leaked by Edward Snowden indicated the site “plays a significant role in supporting both intelligence activities and military operations”.

The ABC reported in 2017 that the facility – officially known as Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap - provided detailed geolocation intelligence to the US military. That prompted some legal observers to question the site’s potential role in supporting deadly US drone strikes in the Middle East.

Bishop said China had been “much more assertive” and “indeed aggressive in some instances” since Xi Jinping became president.

Some of China’s wolf warrior diplomacy had been “startling”, Bishop contended, and Beijing had “sought to make an example of us” since 2020 by introducing steep tariffs or trade actions against Australian export sectors such as wine, beef and barley.

Bishop said Australia was in the “rather unusual situation that our major trading partner, China, is in serious competition with our major strategic defence and intelligence ally, the United States”.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15594679 (101745ZFEB22) Notable: One Decision podcast - The Wallaby and the Dragon - Julie Bishop, Foreign Minister between 2013-2018 talks to One Decision about Australia’s priorities in a western alliance post-Trump, and how the West needs to approach and counter, Beijing, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: One_Decision.jpg

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>>121180

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In the podcast interview, Dearlove asked Bishop whether it would be possible to “square this circle” in the long term.

Dearlove cited not only the Pine Gap installation but also Australia’s strategic alliance with the US, the rotation of US marines through Darwin, and the Aukus deal for the US and the UK to help Australia acquire at least eight nuclear-powered submarines.

“And all of this is, you could argue, [is] very provocative to the Chinese,” Dearlove said. “And at the same time, your economy or aspects of your economy, are absolutely totally tied to the Chinese market.”

Bishop agreed that it was “a balancing act” and called for Australia and China to “reestablish a more constructive dialogue”.

“It will be interesting to see how Xi Jinping is able to maintain this grip on power,” she said.

“I’ve not yet seen evidence that he’s losing it, but China’s future is facing many hurdles, many challenges. Its inexorable rise is not inevitable. I think there are many bridges to cross before China could be seen as a superpower in the nature of the United States.”

Bishop, who was foreign minister from 2013 to 2018, said Australia and other countries in the region were “looking for more US leadership, not less”. She contended that very few countries “would want to live in a region where the Chinese government was calling the shots”.

Dearlove called on the west to “develop a new security regime which copes with China’s presence as a superpower”.

But while saying he found China’s insistence on rewriting global rules as “rather alarming”, Dearlove also made an emphatic plea for Australia and other western countries to continue to seek dialogue with Beijing.

“I do firmly believe in talking, not just to one’s competitors, but to one’s enemies as well, and engaging in dialogue, and having some sort of bilateral infrastructure which allows for the treatment and discussion of problems on an almost constant basis,” he said.

The One Decision podcast, which is co-hosted by Dearlove and the journalist Julia Macfarlane, was recorded in December but released on Thursday. It is produced by the US-based communications firm Global Situation Room.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/10/australias-pine-gap-hugely-important-to-western-monitoring-of-china-says-former-british-spy-chief

—

One Decision podcast

The Wallaby and the Dragon

FEB 10, 2022

China’s growing power is a big concern for the West, but perhaps nowhere more so than Australia - US strategic partner and Five Eyes member. Julie Bishop, Foreign Minister between 2013-2018 talks to One Decision about Australia’s priorities in a western alliance post-Trump, and how the West needs to approach and counter, Beijing.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/one-decision/id1583753742

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15600267 (110817ZFEB22) Notable: Lithuania plays 'coercion card' against China in joining 'exclusive club' with Aussies - Vilnius' stunt exposes desperation, a laughingstock for immature actions - Liu Xin - globaltimes.cn, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Australian_Foreign_Affairs_Minister_Marise_Payne_right_and_Lithuania_s_counterpart_Gabrielius_Landsbergis_hold_a_press_conference_at_Parliament_House_in_Canberra_Australia_on_February_9_2022.jpg

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Lithuania plays 'coercion card' against China in joining 'exclusive club' with Aussies

Vilnius' stunt exposes desperation, a laughingstock for immature actions

Liu Xin - Feb 09, 2022

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In an attempt to hype so-called China coercion and play "victims" to win sympathy, the Lithuanian Foreign Minister claimed on Wednesday that his country is in an "exclusive club" with Australia against China, a move that would not help Lithuania solve its problems but exposed its desperation like a drowning person clutching at a straw, analysts said. Analysts mocked the exclusive club as an international laughing stock for immature, imprudent and impenitent actions that provoke other countries' sovereignty.

China has unsurprisingly become the main topic for Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis' meeting with Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne on Wednesday. Landsbergis, at a joint conference with his Australian counterpart, reiterated the accusation of China for acting as the global disruptor and called Australia as one of the "main examples" when China was using economy and trade as "a political weapon."

Seemingly to stress their "shared experience," the Lithuanian Foreign Minister added that Lithuania joined the "exclusive club" with Australia, and the two foreign ministers agreed to step up cooperation on strategic challenges, especially from pressure from China.

Lithuania is trying to gang up with Australia in playing "victims" to win sympathy from the international community. But unlike the US, which also imposes unilateral economic sanctions, China is never the one that makes coercive economic sanctions, Chen Hong, a professor and director of the Australian Studies Center at East China Normal University, told the Global Times.

"The 'exclusive club' is more like an exclusive club of laughingstocks that ate the bitter fruits of immature, imprudent and impenitent actions by Lithuania and Australia," Chen said.

In November 2021, China downgraded ties with Lithuania after the latter's wrong move of allowing the Taiwan authorities to open a "representative office" under the name of "Taiwan" in Vilnius. Bilateral trade also suffered due to the deteriorating relations.

By voicing its support to Lithuania, Australia has also descended into Lithuania's tool. "The current problems between China and Lithuania are rooted in Lithuania's provocations over China's bottom line. However, relations between China and Australia have not been downgraded, despite the current low ebb, and trade has continued. Why does Australia risk worsening relations with China for Lithuania?" Chen asked.

The expert noted that there is also one similarity shared by Lithuania and Australia - turning themselves into pathetic tools for the US to contain China at the cost of their own country and people's interests.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15600272 (110818ZFEB22) Notable: Quad foreign ministers meet amid divergent expectations - Targeting China, Russia only serves US strategic demand: expert - Yang Sheng and Liu Caiyu - globaltimes.cn, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: US_Secretary_of_State_Antony_Blinken_steps_from_his_plane_upon_arrival_on_February_9_2022_to_attend_the_Quad_foreign_ministers_meeting_in_Melbourne_Australia.jpg

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>>121177

Quad foreign ministers meet amid divergent expectations

Targeting China, Russia only serves US strategic demand: expert

Yang Sheng and Liu Caiyu - Feb 09, 2022

1/2

The tone of the 4th Quad foreign ministers' meeting scheduled for Friday in Australia is still based on ideological differences and a cold war mentality, as US and Australian officials stressed the meeting will discuss the "challenges" posed by China and Russia to so-called "democracy and rules-based order."

The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said the US image of democracy has already collapsed, and using democratic values to form cliques for confrontation is a "betrayal of democracy."

Zhao Lijian, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, made the remarks at a routine press conference on Wednesday, saying that "democracy is a common value shared by humanity, rather than a patent owned by a few countries."

For the "rules-based order," Zhao said China, just like most countries around the world, acknowledges and upholds the international system with the United Nations at its core, and international order based on international laws, rather than a "rules-based order" unilaterally defined by one or a few countries.

Zhao's remarks came after US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel J. Kritenbrink and Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne made remarks to the media that the upcoming Quad meeting will discuss the "challenges" that China and Russia posed to them.

Kritenbrink said at a briefing on February 4 ahead of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's trip to Australia that the discussion of the top diplomats from four Quad members "will relate to the challenges that China poses" to their shared "values" and "rules-based order" in a number of sectors.

Similarly, Payne said in an interview with ABC on Wednesday that "The approach of authoritarian regimes," naming Russia, China and North Korea, "are not contributing to security. They are not contributing to stability." She said China and Russia's "vision of the global order is completely at odds with the vision that Australia has and our allies and our partners have."

Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations at China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Wednesday that "emphasizing democracy or ideological elements is just an attempt to justify and beautify the Quad mechanism, to make it look more legitimate. But in fact, the Quad is driven by US strategic demand, which fabricates fears over China and Russia that the US uses to scare its allies. It's never been driven by democracy."

Stressing "democracy" or using the term "authoritarian regimes" to smear China and Russia and other countries is "a very outdated approach," and is just like "finding excuses to legitimize the crusaders' invasions of the Middle East," Li said. The values are just pretexts and tools, the interests and ambition of expansion are the real purposes, he noted.

Differences within Quad

Chinese analysts said that although the US, Japan, India and Australia can sit together and talk, what they want and what they want to get from each other are very different. This makes it hard for the mechanism to have any influence and presents obstacles for enacting concrete cooperation.

Chen Hong, a professor and director of the Australian Studies Center of East China Normal University, said that Payne's point is nonsense, and making Australia a rival or enemy to China and Russia is extremely unwise.

"China and Russia have never treated Australia as a threat. But Canberra, under the instruction of Washington, is willing to fight harder for the US while ignoring Australia's own interests and security. This is absolutely immature," Chen noted.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15600282 (110822ZFEB22) Notable: Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian’s Regular Press Conference on February 9, 2022, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Foreign_Ministry_Spokesperson_Zhao_Lijian_s_Regular_Press_Conference_on_February_9_2022.jpg

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Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian’s Regular Press Conference on February 9, 2022

The Global Times: The Productivity Commission, a research body of the Australian government, recently released two reports, namely Prison Dilemma and Report on Government Services 2022 for the justice sector. The reports pointed out the incarceration rate of Indigenous Australians is extremely high, which is grounded on a series of institutional problems like racial discrimination and selective law enforcement of the police. What is your comment?

Zhao Lijian: I have noted the reports. The comparison speaks volumes. According to the reports released by the research body of the Australian government, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people comprise 3.3% of the Australian population but 29% of prisoners in 2020. In the Northern Territory, they make up 84% of the prison population. And their rate of imprisonment is 13 times that of the non-Indigenous group. At least 474 Indigenous people died during incarceration over the past 30 years. These figures fully expose the grave human rights problems in Australia.

This is just the tip of the iceberg on human rights issues in Australia. In the past, Australia adopted genocide and assimilation policies against the Indigenous people. Up to 100,000 Indigenous children were taken by force from their families, and a large number of Indigenous people were slaughtered and enslaved. Even till this day, the Indigenous people are still subject to grave unfair treatment when it comes to living conditions and law enforcement. Systemic discrimination against ethnic minorities in Australia is severe and hate crimes are proliferating. Besides, Australia has set up offshore detention centers in third countries, where a large number of immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers are held in long-term and even indefinite forced detention with their basic human rights seriously violated. I have also given you many examples on how Australian soldiers illegally executed captives, tortured and killed civilians and committed serious war crimes in overseas military operations in countries like Afghanistan, but can still get away from punishment.

For a long time, Australia, a self-claimed “vanguard of human rights”, has turned a blind eye to its own problems while pointing fingers at other countries’ human rights conditions based on rumors and lies, which is out-and-out double-standard. Some in Australia should carefully read the reports, earnestly do some soul-searching, and seriously address the rampant human rights problems at home.

https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/2511_665403/202202/t20220209_10640558.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15600284 (110823ZFEB22) Notable: Video: #Australia adopted genocide and assimilation policies against the Indigenous people - SpokespersonCHN

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>>121184

#Australia adopted genocide and assimilation policies against the Indigenous people.

SpokespersonCHN发言人办公室

Feb 10, 2022

Australia adopted genocide and assimilation policies against the Indigenous people. Some in Australia should read the reports carefully, do some soul-searching, and seriously address the rampant human rights problems at home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f30sA9lqtQU

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15600512 (111055ZFEB22) Notable: Australians told to get COVID boosters to be considered fully vaccinated, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: A_staff_member_attends_to_a_visitor_at_a_vaccination_check_station_at_SEA_LIFE_Sydney_Aquarium.jpg

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Australians told to get COVID boosters to be considered fully vaccinated

Renju Jose - February 11, 2022

SYDNEY, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Australian residents will need to receive booster shots to be considered fully vaccinated against COVID-19, although authorities said foreign travellers will continue to need only two shots to enter the country.

Australia's national cabinet late on Thursday endorsed the revised guidance from the country's vaccination advisory group to classify "up-to-date" inoculations as including boosters.

A person's vaccination status will be considered "overdue" if they have not received a booster within six months of their second dose, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.

Australian officials have made vaccines mandatory only for some frontline workers, but many private businesses, including major corporations, restaurants and retailers, have made inoculations a requirement for entry.

The country is among the most heavily vaccinated in the world as a result, with 94% of people above 16 double-dosed. Nearly 10 million boosters have been administered so far.

The decision to keep the requirement for visitors to two doses only comes as authorities prepare to fully reopen Australia's borders, around two years after they were slammed shut to slow the progress of the pandemic.

Like other countries, Australia has been tackling the fast-moving Omicron variant.

Officials reported just under 26,000 new infections by midday on Friday, down from about 30,000 on Thursday, with Western Australia and Northern Territory still to report. Forty-eight new deaths were registered. Hospital cases remained on a downtrend, with nearly 3,300 admitted, the lowest tally in more than a month.

The bulk of Australia's pandemic total of around 2.7 million cases has been detected since the emergence of the Omicron variant in late November. Total deaths stood at 4,479.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/australians-told-get-covid-boosters-be-considered-fully-vaccinated-2022-02-11/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15600521 (111103ZFEB22) Notable: Quad ministers address Indo-Pacific 'coercion', climate, COVID, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Australian_Foreign_Minister_Marise_Payne_Indian_Foreign_Minister_Subrahmanyam_Jaishankar_Australian_Prime_Minister_Scott_Morrison_Japanese_Foreign_Minister_Yoshimasa_Hayashi_and_U_S_Secretary_of_State_Antony_Blinken.jpg, Australian_Prime_Minister_Scott_Morrison_U_S_Secretary_of_State_Antony_Blinken_Japanese_Foreign_Minister_Yoshimasa_Hayashi_Australian_Foreign_Minister_Marise_Payne_and_Indian_Foreign_Minister_Subrahmanyam_Jaishankar.jpg, U_S_Secretary_of_State_Antony_Blinken_meets_with_Australian_Foreign_Minister_Marise_Payne_at_the_Quad_meeting_of_foreign_ministers_in_Melbourne_Australia_February_11_2022.jpg, U_S_Secretary_of_State_Antony_Blinken_meets_with_Indian_Foreign_Minister_Subrahmanyam_Jaishankar_before_the_Quad_meeting_of_foreign_ministers_in_Melbourne_Australia_February_11_2022.jpg

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>>121177

Quad ministers address Indo-Pacific 'coercion', climate, COVID

Humeyra Pamuk and Kirsty Needham - February 11, 2022

MELBOURNE, Feb 11 (Reuters) - The United States, Australia, Japan and India on Friday pledged to deepen cooperation to ensure the Indo-Pacific region was free from "coercion", a thinly-veiled swipe at China's growing economic and military expansion, as their top diplomats convened to also tackle climate change, COVID and other threats.

Foreign ministers of the so-called Quad, the informal grouping of the four countries, vowed to work on humanitarian relief, terrorism, cyber and maritime security and global supply chain challenges.

Despite being outside the group's scope, an escalating crisis between the West and Russia over Ukraine was also a top agenda item, with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken casting Moscow's build-up as a challenge to the international rules-based order, which he said Quad would work to preserve.

"That includes championing the rights of all countries to choose their own path, free from coercion and the right to have their sovereignty and territorial integrity, respected. Whether that's here in the Indo-Pacific, in Europe, or anywhere else in the world," he said in his opening remarks of the meeting.

Blinken arrived in Australia this week as Washington grapples with a dangerous standoff with Moscow, which has massed some 100,000 troops near Ukraine’s border and stoked Western fears of an invasion. Russia denies it has such plans.

The Biden administration wants to show the world its long-term strategic focus remains in the Asia-Pacific and that a major foreign policy crisis in one part of the world does not distract it from key priorities.

Asked by reporters on Friday if confrontation with China in the Indo-Pacific was inevitable, Blinken replied "nothing is inevitable".

"Having said that, I think we share concerns that in recent years China has been acting more aggressively at home and more aggressively in the region," he said.

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said the Quad's cooperation on the region's COVID response was "most critical", with cyber and maritime security, infrastructure, climate action and disaster relief - especially after the recent Tonga volcanic eruption - also in focus.

New pledges are unlikely to be announced before a May summit of Quad leaders in Japan that President Joe Biden plans to attend.

Payne also said Ukraine, China and North Korea would also be discussed.

"More than one authoritarian regime is presenting itself in the current world climate as a challenge. DPRK (North Korea), China as well and they will be part of our discussions today. We strongly support U.S. leadership on these challenges," she said before a bilateral meeting with Blinken.

Britain said the "most dangerous moment" in the West's standoff with Moscow appeared imminent, as Russia held military exercises in Belarus and the Black Sea following the buildup of its forces near Ukraine.

The Quad nations have begun holding annual naval exercises across the Indo-Pacific to demonstrate interoperability, and the United States itself conducts freedom of navigation patrols in the South China Sea.

China has previously denounced the Quad as a Cold War construct and a clique "targeting other countries".

Blinken's trip comes after China and Russia declared last week a "no limits" strategic partnership, their most detailed and assertive statement to work together - and against the United States - to build a new international order based on their own interpretations of human rights and democracy.

U.S.-Chinese ties are at their lowest point in decades as the world's top two economies disagree on issues ranging from Hong Kong and Taiwan to the South China Sea and China's treatment of ethnic Muslims.

Biden told Asian leaders in October the United States would launch talks on a new Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. But few details have emerged and his administration has been reluctant to offer the increased market access Asian countries desire, seeing this as threatening American jobs.

Critics say the lack of U.S. economic engagement is a major weakness in Biden's approach to the region, where China remains to be the top trading partner for many of the Indo-Pacific nations.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/quad-ministers-convene-address-indo-pacific-coercion-climate-covid-2022-02-10/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15600527 (111111ZFEB22) Notable: China's military build-up, aggressive behaviour in the region a concern, says visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Japanese_foreign_minister_Yoshimasa_Hayashi.jpg

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>>121177

China's military build-up, aggressive behaviour in the region a concern, Japan says

GREG SHERIDAN - FEBRUARY 11, 2022

China’s military build-up and aggressive behaviour in the region have become “a grave concern”, according to visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi.

Mr Hayashi came to Australia to attend Friday’s meeting of the foreign ministers of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue involving the US, Japan, India and Australia.

In an exclusive, detailed written interview with The Australian, he accuses China of aggressive military behaviour in Japanese waters: “it is unacceptable that China Coast Guard vessels have repeatedly intruded into the Japanese territorial sea around the Senkaku Islands and have attempted to approach Japanese fishing boats.”

He sketches the outline of China’s massive military modernisation, and says: “Chinese military trends, combined with insufficient transparency on its defence politics and military affairs, have become a matter of grave concern to the region, including Japan and the international community.”

Mr Hayashi also offers strong support for Australia in standing up to the economic coercion it has faced from Beijing: “Japan and Australia are opposed to the use of economic coercion that undermines the rules-based trading system and the links between nations fostered by economic engagement. I am encouraged by the resilience with which Australia has responded to economic coercion to date.”

The Japanese foreign minister also provided an explicit endorsement to the AUKUS agreement involving the US, UK and Australia, hailing it as a positive for regional stability: “I believe that enhanced security and defence co-operation between Australia, the UK and the US will contribute to regional peace and stability. It is from this perspective that Japan supports AUKUS.

“I believe that Australia’s acquisition of nuclear submarines is also an important initiative for the security of the Indo-Pacific.”

Mr Hayashi believes the Quadrilateral Dialogue plays a “central role” in promoting “a free and open Indo-Pacific.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/chinas-military-buildup-aggressive-behaviour-in-the-region-a-concern-japan-says/news-story/abcd12e4ed0e30dbfdca98a391130691

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15600535 (111118ZFEB22) Notable: Quad pledges to counter China maritime aggression, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Scott_Morrison_with_from_left_US_Secretary_of_State_Antony_Blinken_Foreign_Minister_Marise_Payne_Indian_Foreign_Minister_Subrahmanyam_Jaishankar_and_Japanese_Foreign_Minister_Yoshimasa_Hayashi_in_Melbourne_on_Friday.jpg

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>>121177

Quad pledges to counter China maritime aggression

BEN PACKHAM - FEBRUARY 11, 2022

1/2

Australia, the US, Japan and India have vowed to ensure freedom of navigation in the East and South China Seas to counter Chinese maritime aggression, and pledged to work more closely with Indo-Pacific nations to help them protect their offshore resources.

In a historic meeting of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue in Melbourne, Foreign Minister Marise Payne, US Secretary of State Antony ­Blinken, India’s Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Japan’s Yosh­imasa Hayashi, also reaffirmed their support for a free Taiwan.

They pledged to work more closely to oppose Chinese disinformation and cyber attacks and secure undersea cables.

Secretary Blinken reaffirmed the US pivot to the Indo-Pacific during the meeting, saying his presence in Australia during the Ukraine crisis underscored US resolve to ensure the region remained free and open.

“Indeed, these efforts are part of one whole,” he said. “One of the reasons we are working so intensively to defend the core principles threatened by Russia in Ukraine, is because those very same principles are crucial to enduring stability in this region and every other part of the world.”

The Quad ministers also expressed deep concern over the military dictatorship in Myanmar, backing ASEAN’s plan to resolve the crisis, and condemned North Korea’s “destabilising” ballistic missile launches.

“Quad partners champion the free, open, and inclusive rules-based order, rooted in international law, that protects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of regional countries,” the ministers said in a joint statement.

Japan, which will host a Quad leaders’ meeting by mid-year, expressed particular concern over the Chinese activities in the East and South China Seas which Beijing treats as its own sovereign waters.

Minister Hayashi said: “I expressed serious concerns about the unilateral attempts to alter the status quo (in the seas) by force … and the four foreign ministers agreed to work together to counter the challenges against the maritime order.”

In the joint statement, the ministers committed to “deepen engagement with regional partners, including through capacity-building and technical assistance, to strengthen maritime domain awareness” and protect nations “ability to develop offshore resources” consistent with the UN Law of the Seas.

The ministers also backed Australia’s pushback against Chinese economic coercion, pledging to “work collectively to foster global economic resilience against such actions”.

They denounced violent extremism in the region and urged countries to work together to eliminate terrorist safe havens and disrupt terrorist networks.

Senator Payne said Australia supported a world order that favoured freedom, “where rules, not power and coercion, resolve disputes”.

“Today, in Melbourne, our overarching focus was on the Indo-Pacific,” she said.

“We agreed to strengthen Quad cyber and counter-terrorism co-operation, including by co-ordinating efforts to address the threat of ransom ware.

“We discussed humanitarian and disaster response and vital infrastructure delivery, which is climate adapted and resilient, in consultation with our partners.

“We agreed to boost maritime security support for Indo-Pacific partners to strengthen their awareness and ability to develop offshore resources to ensure freedom of navigation and overflight and to combat challenges such as illegal fishing.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15600547 (111124ZFEB22) Notable: Chinese spies in plot to install ALP candidates at coming federal election, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: ASIO_Director_Mike_Burgess.jpg, Anthony_Albanese_says_he_has_been_assured_ASIO_holds_no_concerns_over_the_ALP_s_NSW_candidates.jpg

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>>121172

Chinese spies in plot to install ALP candidates at coming federal election

BEN PACKHAM - FEBRUARY 11, 2022

Chinese spies sought to bankroll the campaigns of hand-picked NSW Labor candidates in the upcoming federal election in a plot foiled by ASIO.

ASIO director-general Mike Burgess referred to the case earlier this week, without identifying the political party involved or the nation behind the plot, saying a wealthy “puppeteer” had worked with a local “cut-out” to try to secure the election of sympathetic candidates.

Multiple national security and ALP sources have confirmed to The Australian that the case involved an attempt to subvert Labor’s NSW federal preselection process last year.

Anthony Albanese and Scott Morrison were briefed on the conspiracy.

Mr Albanese on Friday said he met with Mr Burgess regularly, but was unable to comment on the contents of those briefings.

However, he said he had received assurances that ASIO had no concerns about any preselected Labor candidates.

“I have spoken to Mr Burgess today and he has reaffirmed he has not raised concern about any of my candidates. I can‘t be clearer than that,” Mr Albanese said.

In a statement on Thursday, NSW Labor Party general secretary Bob Nanva said the state branch had not been briefed on the matter by ASIO.

“NSW Labor can confirm that no national security agency has ever raised these alleged matters with the parliamentary leadership or the organisational wing of the NSW Branch,” he said.

Revealing the spy plot in his annual threat assessment on Wednesday, Mr Burgess said the agency was on high alert for political interference.

“I can confirm that ASIO ­recently detected and disrupted a foreign interference plot in the lead-up to an election in Australia,” he said.

“I’m not going to identify the jurisdiction because we are seeing attempts at foreign interference at all levels of government, in all states and territories.”

Mr Burgess said case involved a “wealthy individual with direct and deep connections with a foreign government and its intelligence agencies”, who

“I’ll call this person ‘the puppeteer’, although it’s important to ­remember that while the puppeteer pulled the strings, the foreign government called the shots.”

The “puppeteer” provided hundreds of thousands of dollars through an offshore bank account to run foreign-interference operations through a third party with ­direct links to politicians, political staff and journalists

“This agent of interference has roots in Australia but did the bidding of offshore masters, knowingly and covertly seeking to advance the interests of the foreign power and, in the process, undermine Australia’s sovereignty,” Mr Burgess said.

The confirmation that the plot targeted potential Labor MPs came as Defence Minister Peter Dutton doubled down on his claim that China has decided to back Labor at the federal election.

He said there was “intelligence” and open source information of links between China and the ALP.

“I think there’s no doubt that there are elements within the Communist Party that would be very happy to see the back of our government,” he said.

“From what I see, both open source and other intelligence that I see, it’s a statement of the obvious, and there are relationships going back to Sam Dastyari and Bob Carr is still very close to Beijing, and there are many others.”

Mr Albanese said the suggestion China favoured Labor was “just desperate”. He said he taken a strong stand against foreign interference, and been clear in his rejection of Chinese trade bans against Australia and Beijing’s repression of Uighurs and citizens of Hong Kong and Taiwan.

“I'm not going to sit back and cop the sort of nonsense that has been put forward, from a government that sat back, while the port of Darwin was sold to interests of a company directly engaged with, directly connected to, the government of the People's Republic of China,” he said.

Mr Dutton’s attack followed his claim to parliament on Thursday that it was “open and obvious” that China was backing Labor to win the election.

“We now see evidence that the Chinese Communist Party has also made a decision about who they’re going to back in the next federal election … and that is open and obvious,” Mr Dutton said.

“And they have picked this bloke (Mr Albanese) as their candidate,” he added.

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull told ABC Radio the Mr Dutton’s attack was “a sign of desperation”.

“(His comments) were purely for crass political advantage,” he said.

“We’ve got to stand our ground (against China), but we’ve got to do so in a measured way. There has got to be nuance and diplomacy.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/chinese-spies-in-plot-to-install-alp-candidates-at-coming-federal-election/news-story/f917096d91d83d449bfad778e4685f5a

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15600564 (111132ZFEB22) Notable: ‘Reckless and desperate’: Malcolm Turnbull savages Peter Dutton for claiming China is backing Labor, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Malcolm_Turnbull_says_Peter_Dutton_s_proposition_that_Anthony_Albanese_is_under_influence_of_the_CCP_is_ludicrous_it_s_just_a_sign_of_desperation_.jpg

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>>121190

‘Reckless and desperate’: Malcolm Turnbull savages Peter Dutton for claiming China is backing Labor

Former Liberal prime minister says defence minister has undermined national security ‘purely for crass political advantage’

Paul Karp and Daniel Hurst - 11 Feb 2022

Peter Dutton has doubled down on his controversial claims that China would like Labor to defeat the Morrison government at the upcoming federal election, prompting Malcolm Turnbull to warn that such “reckless” comments had “no basis in fact” and harmed Australia’s national security.

The defence minister said on Friday there was “no doubt in [his] mind” about what he described as a “statement of the obvious” regarding China’s preference of Labor. He claimed he based Thursday’s inflammatory allegation on “open source and other intelligence”.

The Morrison government, struggling in the polls, is increasingly seeking to weaponise its perceived advantage on national security issues before the 2022 election, despite Labor’s bipartisan cooperation against China’s aggressive stance in the Asia-Pacific region.

In question time on Thursday, Dutton claimed that the Chinese Communist party had “made a decision about who they’re going to back in the next federal election … and that is open and that is obvious, and they have picked this bloke [Anthony Albanese] as that candidate”.

The personal attack on the Labor leader was echoed by Scott Morrison, who claimed that “those who are seeking to coerce Australia” knew that “their candidate” in the election was “the leader of the Labor party”.

Turnbull told ABC radio that Dutton’s claim was “reckless” because it “undermines Australian security” and “uses matters of grave national security purely for crass political advantage”.

The former Liberal prime minister accused Dutton of seeking to wedge both Labor and Morrison by “rushing off to the right” with the inflammatory claim.

“We should not be turning the debate about China and national security into some kind of reds-under-the-beds scare,” Turnbull said. “The proposition that Albanese is under influence of the CCP is ludicrous. It’s just a sign of desperation.”

Asked how ugly he thought the election campaign could get, Turnbull said he was “worried it’s going to get uglier” and the China accusation was “really bad”.

“Morrison should try to pull Dutton back in on that. It has no basis in fact and all that will do is undermine our prospects of being united in face of pressure from other countries.”

But Dutton defended the claim, telling ABC radio there was “open-source information reported over a long period of time” that China and Russia exerted political influence in Australia and other democracies, including the US and the UK.

China and Russia sought to influence “young members [of political parties] who are on the rise” and “pick somebody who will be influential within that party in years to come”, he said.

“If you look at the facts, in this case, I think certainly, from what I see, both open source and other intelligence that I see it’s a statement of the obvious,” Dutton said, without producing any evidence to substantiate the claim about Albanese.

Instead, Dutton cited “relationships going back to” former the Labor senator Sam Dastyari and the former New South Wales premier Bob Carr, who he said was “obviously very close still to Beijing”.

“There’s no doubt in my mind about the statement that I made yesterday. And I think there needs to be greater awareness, frankly, particularly from the Labor party about the engagement of people who don’t have our national interests [at heart].”

Labor has supported the government’s diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, criticised the Chinese government’s human rights record, and gone further than the Coalition in calling for targeted sanctions to oppose Uyghur forced labour.

In November Albanese rebuffed the former Labor prime minister Paul Keating for arguing for a return to the engagement policies of the 1990s. The opposition leader has also said he stands with Taiwan against Chinese aggression.

The director general of the Office of National Intelligence, Andrew Shearer, has said national security “is rightly bipartisan in a more partisan world” and his dealings with Albanese and senior Labor colleagues during private security briefings have been “cordial, constructive and professional”.

In his threat assessment speech on Wednesday evening, the head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, Mike Burgess, said “attempts at political interference are not confined to one side of politics”.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/11/reckless-and-desperate-malcolm-turnbull-savages-peter-dutton-for-claiming-china-is-backing-labor

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15600577 (111138ZFEB22) Notable: Australia deploys diplomatic resources to fight Chinese and Russian 'disinformation' on AUKUS submarine deal, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Australia_plans_to_acquire_nuclear_powered_submarines_under_a_new_security_partnership_with_the_UK_and_US.jpg, The_IAEA_works_to_regulate_the_use_of_nuclear_energy_and_limit_the_development_of_nuclear_weapons.jpg

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Australia deploys diplomatic resources to fight Chinese and Russian 'disinformation' on AUKUS submarine deal

Andrew Greene and Stephen Dziedzic - 11 February 2022

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Australia is bulking up specialised diplomatic teams in both Canberra and Vienna to win international acceptance for the AUKUS nuclear submarine project as it braces for a massive "disinformation" campaign from China and Russia.

In September last year Australia announced a contentious plan to acquire submarines with nuclear propulsion under a new security partnership with the United Kingdom and United States.

While the main focus has been on the technical challenges facing the ambitious proposal, all three AUKUS nations are now sizing up the formidable regulatory and geopolitical hurdles which also confront them.

One of the key diplomatic battlegrounds will be at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, the intergovernmental organisation which works to regulate the use of nuclear energy and limit the development of nuclear weapons.

Test of international diplomatic efforts

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has confirmed to the ABC that it has deployed "several" additional staff to the AUKUS initiative, including to the Australian permanent mission in Vienna.

DFAT has also been beefing up legal and diplomatic teams in Canberra which have been tasked with tackling the project's legal, regulatory and political repercussions internationally.

The scope and scale of the nuclear submarines plan were always going to place heavy demands on Australia's bureaucracy, but the challenges have been sharpened by the federal government's fraught relationship with China.

Beijing has already furiously criticised the AUKUS submarines plan, and Chinese officials have made it clear they will do everything they can in international organisations like the IAEA to delay or stymie it.

China says AUKUS plan a 'violation' of non-proliferation treaty

At an IAEA board of governors meeting late last year, China's ambassador Wang Qun criticised the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia over AUKUS, declaring the nuclear submarines plan would "spur regional countries to accelerate their development of military capabilities, and even seek to cross the nuclear threshold while increasing the risk of military conflicts".

He also pointed out that Australia would be the first non-nuclear weapons state to acquire nuclear-powered submarines.

This is not forbidden under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT), but Mr Wang said it was still an "explicit violation of the object and purposes of the NPT, to the detriment of the international non-proliferation regime".

The ambassador launched an unprecedented bid at the meeting to establish a standalone "special committee" at the IAEA devoted solely to examining the AUKUS arrangement, and he declared that the US, UK and Australia should halt the plan entirely until it had been more closely scrutinised.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15600598 (111145ZFEB22) Notable: Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union joins Noam Chomsky in protest of AUKUS nuclear subs deal - Anthony Albanese under pressure to distance himself from one of Australia’s biggest unions as it protests the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Labor_leader_Anthony_Albanese_has_been_accused_of_having_a_bet_each_way_on_defence.jpg, US_war_critic_and_philosopher_Noam_Chomsky_will_speak_against_nuclear_submarines.jpg, In_September_2021_Prime_Minister_Scott_Morrison_US_President_Joe_Biden_and_UK_Prime_Minister_Boris_Johnson_announced_the_creation_the_AUKUS_alliance.jpg, Russian_President_Vladimir_Putin_and_Chinese_President_Xi_Jinping_have_also_opposed_the_AUKUS_deal.jpg

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>>121192

Manufacturing union joins Noam Chomsky in protest of AUKUS nuclear subs deal

Anthony Albanese is under pressure to distance himself from one of Australia’s biggest unions as it protests the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal.

Matthew Benns - February 10, 2022

The National Secretary of one of Australia’s biggest unions is headlining a meeting with American activist Noam Chomsky in protest at the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal.

Steve Murphy’s Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union is also a major donor to the Labor Party leading to calls for Anthony Albanese to show strong leadership on defence.

“This is a test for Anthony Albanese; he can’t have a bet each way,” Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said.

“Anthony Albanese was happy to take $464,000 from the AMWU last year; is he also happy to take their lead on AUKUS?”

The call prompted Labor’s acting Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally to “reject” the views of the organisers of the event and stress that “nuclear propulsion is the best option for future submarines.”

The Zoom meeting on Saturday is organised by the Sydney Anti-AUKUS coalition and will tell attendees how “terrible” Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s deal with the UK and US for nuclear powered submarines would be for Australia.

Headlining it is 93-year-old American anti-war activist Noam Chomsky with AMWU National Secretary Mr Murphy among the speakers. On social media he has called the nuclear subs issue “a distraction” and said “we don’t need the threat of nuclear escalation at our doorstep.”

Mr Murphy said the union had a history of opposing nuclear proliferation and had been invited to speak at the event.

“The decision to pursue nuclear submarines has already cost shipbuilding jobs and we fear it will only get worse,” he said.

“The AUKUS deal is bad for our sovereign industrial capability. We want to build, maintain and sustain the Australia Navy’s ships and submarines in Australia.”

When he announced the new deal in September Mr Morrison vowed to build Australia’s eight submarines in Adelaide and taxpayer owned shipbuilder ASC has guaranteed the jobs of existing workers.

The anti-AUKUS movement in the past has also received support from the United Workers Union, Maritime Union of Australia, Retail and Fast Food Workers Union and the National Tertiary Education Union.

Their position is in lock-step with a joint press release issued from the Kremlin by Russia and China saying they “are seriously concerned about the trilateral security partnership” which is “contrary to the objectives of security and sustainable development of the Asia-Pacific region”.

Assistant Defence Minister Andrew Hastie said: “The Prime Minister stood up for our values and sovereignty in the face of aggressive economic coercion from the Chinese Communist Party government. The Chinese government is also conducting the biggest military building since the Second World War.

“Our deeds speak louder than words,” he said. “Will Anthony Albanese stand up for Australia when he can’t even control the communists in his own party?”

Ms Keneally said: “Labor has supported AUKUS from the very beginning because it’s in Australia’s national interest.

“We recently reaffirmed that Labor in Government will continue support for AUKUS when the British Foreign Secretary was in Australia, and we will be reaffirming that with the US Secretary of State directly when he visits later this week.”

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/manufacturing-union-joins-noam-chomsky-in-protest-of-aukus-nuclear-subs-deal/news-story/38cb5c0665a170fea45934404fcc7dcb

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15600712 (111212ZFEB22) Notable: Ben Roberts-Smith described alleged execution of Afghan teen as 'beautiful thing', court hears, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Ben_Roberts_Smith_has_denied_making_the_comment.jpg

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Ben Roberts-Smith described alleged execution of Afghan teen as 'beautiful thing', court hears

Jamie McKinnell - 11 February 2022

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Australian war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith referred to the alleged execution of an Afghan teenager as "the most beautiful thing I've ever seen", an elite soldier has told a Sydney court.

Mr Roberts-Smith is suing The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times newspapers and three journalists for defamation over a series of articles published in 2018.

The Victoria Cross recipient denies allegations in those stories of unlawful killings in Afghanistan, bullying of his former Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) comrades and domestic violence.

The third SAS witness called by publisher Nine Entertainment, code named Person 16, told the Federal Court the comment about the young man's death occurred during a 2012 mission in Afghanistan.

Mr Roberts-Smith has denied making the remark.

Person 16 said soon after arriving by helicopter, soldiers intercepted a Toyota Hilux and he placed two of its four occupants under confinement.

He described one as being in his "late teens", without a full beard, "a little bit chubby" and "shaking in terror".

"He appeared extremely nervous and trembling uncontrollably," the witness told the court.

Person 16 said he heard a radio call that improvised explosive device components were discovered in the vehicle and handed the two detained Afghans to Mr Roberts-Smith's patrol for tactical questioning.

Person 16 said about 15 to 20 minutes later he heard Mr Roberts-Smith make a radio call stating: "Two EKIA (enemy killed in action)".

He said he crossed paths with Mr Roberts-Smith in the barracks a day or two later and asked what happened to "that young fella that was shaking like a leaf".

"He said to me 'I shot that c*nt in the head'," Person 16 told the judge.

"And he said, 'Person 15 (another colleague) told me not to kill anyone on the last job, so I pulled out my 9mil, shot the c*nt in the side of the head, blew his brains out, and it was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen'."

Person 16 said he never reported what he claims Mr Roberts-Smith said due to a "code of silence within the regiment as to these things occurring".

"The fear of retribution, it would have been a career-ending move," he told the court.

"I would have been ostracised.

"I also think [for] my personal safety, I would have been in danger by making such allegations against someone so influential, so I thought I just, best keep quiet and move on with life."

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15607773 (120526ZFEB22) Notable: ‘Cold War is long over’: China hits out at Australia, US after Quad meeting - China has accused Australia and its allies of undermining international solidarity and trying to maintain US dominance, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: China_s_Foreign_Ministry_spokesman_Zhao_Lijian_has_criticised_Australia_and_its_allies_including_the_US.jpg, Marise_Payne_was_Australia_s_representative_at_the_meeting.jpg

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‘Cold War is long over’: China hits out at Australia, US after Quad meeting

China has accused Australia and its allies of undermining international solidarity and trying to maintain US dominance.

Angie Raphael - February 12, 2022

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China has hit out at Australia and its allies following a Quadrilateral Security Dialogue meeting, claiming the group is merely a “tool for containing and besieging” the Asian country to maintain US dominance.

At a meeting in ­Melbourne on Friday, Australia’s Foreign Minister Marise Payne, US Secretary of State Antony ­Blinken, India’s ­Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Japan’s Yosh­imasa Hayashi vowed to support efforts to advance an open Indo-Pacific region and protect the interests of their people, free from coercion.

“We reiterate the importance of adherence to international law, particularly as reflected in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, to meet challenges to the maritime rules-based order, including in the South and East China Seas,” a joint statement read.

The ministers committed to “deepen ­engagement with regional partners, including through ­capacity-building and technical assistance, to strengthen maritime domain awareness” and protect nations’ ability to develop offshore resources consistent with the UN Law of the Seas.

They also reaffirmed commitment to uphold and strengthen the rules-based multilateral trading system, with the World Trade Organisation at its core.

“We oppose coercive economic policies and practices that run counter to this system and will work collectively to foster global economic resilience against such actions,” they said.

Further, they said they welcomed progress on the practical co-operation they led to address “regional challenges, including humanitarian assistance and disaster response, maritime security, counter-terrorism, countering disinformation and cyber security”.

But China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian was quick to criticise the Quad meeting.

“China believes that the so-called Quad group cobbled together by the US, Japan, India and Australia is essentially a tool for containing and besieging China to maintain US hegemony,” he told reporters.

“It aims to stoke confrontation and undermine international solidarity and co-operation.

“I want to stress that as the Cold War is long over, the attempt to forge a so-called alliance to contain China wins no support and leads nowhere.

“Relevant countries should abandon the antiquated Cold War mentality, correct the wrong approach of bloc confrontation and geopolitical games, and contribute to peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15607785 (120528ZFEB22) Notable: Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian’s Regular Press Conference on February 11, 2022, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Foreign_Ministry_Spokesperson_Zhao_Lijian_s_Regular_Press_Conference_on_February_11_2022_1.jpg

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>>121196

Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian’s Regular Press Conference on February 11, 2022

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Bloomberg: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that China had been acting more aggressively both at home and in the region. But he added that he didn’t consider a conflict in the Indo-Pacific region as inevitable. Does the foreign ministry have a comment?

Zhao Lijian: The remarks made by the US politician are nothing but a rehash of political lies. China is firmly opposed to such remarks by the US side.

The US is playing up the “China threat” theory in order to smear, oppress and contain China’s development. This fully exposes the deeply-entrenched Cold War mentality and ideological bias of the US side. Speaking of acting aggressively in this region and beyond, the US is second to none.

Shenzhen TV: According to reports, US Secretary of State Blinken will visit Fiji on February 12, which will be the first visit to the country by a US Secretary of State since 1985. Some reports say with relations between China and Pacific island countries growing rapidly in recent years, Blinken’s visit aims to push back against China’s growing influence in the region. Do you have any comment?

Zhao Lijian: I noted that as you mentioned, this will be the first visit to Fiji by a US Secretary of State in 37 years. I did some homework before today’s press conference on Chinese leaders’ visits to Fiji since 1985.

I can tell you that more than 20 Chinese leaders and senior officials above the foreign minister level have visited Fiji since 1985. In recent years, the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Pacific island countries has developed rapidly and steadily. With political mutual respect, economic mutual support and cultural affinity, the two sides have set a good example of friendship, solidarity and cooperation between countries in different regions, of different size, and with different cultures. In developing relations with Pacific island countries, China always treats all countries, big or small, as equals, upholds justice while pursuing shared interests, and follows the principle of sincerity, real results, affinity and good faith. China is committed to building a community with a shared future with Pacific island countries, which has been warmly welcomed by the governments and people of these countries.

In the wake of the recent disastrous volcanic eruption in Tonga, China acted swiftly and provided emergency assistance through multiple channels. When rioting broke out in Solomon Islands in November last year, China provided firm and strong support to the country in fighting violence, curbing chaos, maintaining social stability, and protecting people’s safety. Recently, as the COVID-19 situation suddenly worsened in many island countries, China has overcome difficulties in transportation and sent a large number of anti-epidemic supplies and medical equipment by sea and air to ease their immediate difficulties. All these are true reflection of China and island countries offering each other assistance and sharing weal and woe.

I want to stress that the development of relations between China and Pacific island countries is open, transparent, inclusive, and not targeted at any third party. We hope all countries can take concrete actions to help Pacific island countries deal with challenges and do more to contribute to regional peace, stability and development.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15608332 (120802ZFEB22) Notable: Video: 60 Minutes’ Liam Bartlett in fiery clash with Trump-backed Republican candidate Kari Lake

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60 Minutes’ Liam Bartlett in fiery clash with Trump-backed Republican candidate Kari Lake

LIAM MENDES - FEBRUARY 12, 2022

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A Donald Trump-backed Republican candidate has accused Australia of running internment camps and rescinding the population’s democratic rights by “melting down their guns” in an explosive exchange with veteran journalist Liam Bartlett.

Kari Lake, who is running for governor of Arizona, walked out after the fiery interview with Bartlett, conducted via a Zoom call and leaked online. She has since labelled him a “complete nut” and a “complete insane person” for grilling her about Donald Trump, the 2020 presidential election and the riots that followed at the US Capitol.

Candid vision of the interview, recorded by Lake’s husband as part of her conditions for participating, has since gone viral on right-wing social media sites throughout the United States, with right-wing identities praising Lake for standing up to Bartlett’s intense line of questioning.

The 25-minute interview started off amicably enough but soon veered into uncomfortable territory, with Lake pushing debunked claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged.

Bartlett pushed back, saying: “On a broad scope, right across the United States, you’ve had election officials, you’ve had court officials, you’ve had judges look at this,” he said.

Lake replied: “They’ve not looked at the evidence, they’ve not looked at the evidence.”

Bartlett said: “There’s been no evidence, no evidence has been presented in a single court of law in your country that has proved there’s election fraud. I mean, if that is true, if it was stolen, as you say, why is there no evidence, a year down the track.”

Lake said: “It‘s really rich to have somebody from Australia coming here trying to tell us how our elections were run.

“You haven’t done your homework either,” she said.

The interview was conducted as part of an upcoming 60 Minutes story understood to be highly critical of conservative figures in the US political system.

The leaked vision will also come as a further embarrassment to the 60 Minutes’ executive team, which is still dealing with the fallout from its underperforming $2m interview with the parents of kidnapped West Australian girl Cleo Smith.

Lake, who also said Trump’s face should be added to Mount Rushmore, reiterated explosive claims that US voting officials are “corrupt”.

“It‘s really rich that sitting in Australia, you’re trying to tell us how our election was run, and it’s so typical of the media to push this propaganda, The Big Lie, The Big Lie is what the media has been pushing for many, many years,” she said.

Bartlett replied: “It’s the media’s fault, so the media are corrupt, the election officials are corrupt, the courts are all corrupt, everybody’s corrupt?”

She then accused Bartlett of not doing his research, with Bartlett replying: “I have done my research, with respect I could be sitting on a hill in Timbuktu, it wouldn‘t matter where I was, there’s still being no hard evidence presented.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15608804 (121143ZFEB22) Notable: Neo-Nazi in propaganda video burning an Aboriginal flag unmasked as former Young Liberal, Stefan Eracleous, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Stefan_Eracleous_on_the_campaign_trail_with_former_prime_minister_Tony_Abbott_in_2013.jpg

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Neo-Nazi unmasked as former Young Liberal

Nick McKenzie - February 12, 2022

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On January 19, a propaganda video depicting three masked neo-Nazis burning an Aboriginal flag, performing Sieg Heil salutes and reciting a white supremacist manifesto began circulating on social media. The video was poorly filmed and produced, reeking of a desperate effort to gain publicity and followers for a new extremist group.

Yet it began to gain traction with mainstream news outlets, largely because it singled out Greens senator Lidia Thorpe, who is also Indigenous. The senator’s name, alongside a vicious racist slur, was written on a sign behind the men. Soon, terror experts were warning of the potential for the video to incite attacks or further harassment of Thorpe, a development the anonymous neo-Nazi propagandist who uploaded the video greeted with glee in subsequent online postings.

But this neo-Nazi, who uses the online alias “John Dixon”, also made a mistake. Among hundreds of vicious and violent online posts – including those referencing the Christchurch terrorist – he left a breadcrumb trail of clues pointing to his true identity.

These clues led to an Australian mobile phone number and an approximate home address in outer suburban Melbourne. Further data mining fully lifted John Dixon’s black mask: he is a Victorian man and former Melbourne University Young Liberals office holder named Stefan Eracleous.

A deep dive into Eracleous’s online posts, court cases and interactions with other neo-Nazis provides a case study of what ASIO’s director-general, Mike Burgess, warned this week is an expanding and deeply disturbing trend: the descent of young Australians – some as young as 13 – into extremism.

The reaction of police to the flag-burning video offers its own insights. It highlights the challenge for security agencies in responding to this growing pool of radicalised Australians whose conduct may not cross a legal line but who may be fanning the flames of civil unrest and violence. Law enforcement sources say this challenge is amplified by the sheer number of online videos and posts published by extremist figures that threaten politicians in the wake of every significant COVID-related announcement.

As Burgess put it on Wednesday, “it’s harder to get a sense of what is simply big talk and what is genuine planning for violence”. Correspondence sighted by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald reveals that federal police initially advised Thorpe they could do little about the video because, despite being offensive, it “does not appear to contain material which constitutes a criminal offence”.

“As the material has been posted on YouTube, which is owned by Google, the advised course of action is to follow the YouTube process for reporting inappropriate material,” the Australian Federal Police wrote to Thorpe’s office on January 21. The senator declined to comment.

Since then, Victorian counter-terror authorities have begun assessing the video and the AFP is also understood to be making further inquiries.

Assessing the threat posed by Eracleous – who is in his late 20s and no longer a Liberal Party member – and the small but loud minority of Australians who, online or at rallies, discuss hanging politicians and acquiring firearms, is now devouring huge police and intelligence resources. According to Burgess, combatting rising radicalism should be viewed not only as a concern for security agencies but as a whole-of-society problem.

“As a nation, we need to reflect on why some teenagers are hanging Nazi flags and portraits of the Christchurch killer on their bedroom walls and why others are sharing beheading videos,” Burgess said in his annual threat assessment speech on Wednesday night.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15615627 (130635ZFEB22) Notable: Australian embassy in Kyiv evacuated as Russia invasion of Ukraine feared, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Military_exercises_involving_Russian_and_Belarus_forces_on_the_border_with_Ukraine.jpg

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Australian embassy in Kyiv evacuated as Russia invasion of Ukraine feared

Lisa Visentin and Shane Wright - February 13, 2022

The Australian government has ordered the evacuation of its embassy in Kyiv amid concerns that Russian troops massing on Ukraine’s border are preparing to invade.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the remaining three staff members at the Australian embassy had been directed to leave as the situation becomes increasingly dangerous, and he condemned Russia’s actions as “utterly unacceptable”.

“I want to send a very clear message on behalf of Australia – a liberal democracy who believes in freedom and the sovereignty of states, not just in Europe but in our own region as well – that the autocratic, unilateral actions of Russia to be threatening and bullying Ukraine is something that is completely and utterly unacceptable,” Mr Morrison said.

He said the government had already relocated other Australian-based staff and their families from the mission in Kyiv.

“They have already departed some time ago,” Mr Morrison said. “We have three remaining staff, and they have been instructed now to move – as other Five Eye countries are – to Lviv.

“But the situation, as you are all hearing as well, is deteriorating and reaching a very dangerous stage.”

Mr Morrison thanked the three staff members, who had remained to provide consular support to Australians, many of whom were dual Australian-Ukrainian citizens.

Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne said the Australian government had established a temporary office in Lviv while operations were suspended at the Kyiv embassy.

She said the government’s advice remained that Australians leave Ukraine immediately by commercial means. Security conditions could change at short notice.

“Russian military action in Ukraine will severely limit our ability to provide consular assistance to Australians,” Senator Payne said.

“Australia continues to support Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. We remain in close contact with our Five Eyes and other like-minded partners on the ground.”

Labor leader Anthony Albanese said there was no excuse for Russia’s actions.

“Russia should back off,” he told Sky News. “The threats and intimidation that’s occurring to a sovereign state like the Ukraine are entirely inappropriate in 2022, and we respect Ukraine sovereignty and that should be respected by all, including by Russia.”

Australians in Ukraine seeking consular assistance should call the Australian government 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre on 1300 555 135 or +61 2 6261 3305 outside Australia.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/australian-embassy-in-kyiv-evacuated-as-russia-invasion-of-ukraine-feared-20220213-p59w03.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15623621 (140811ZFEB22) Notable: China’s snow job can’t erase Aussie ties - 550 days since Australian journalist Cheng Lei was nabbed by Chinese agents in Beijing, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Australian_journalist_Cheng_Lei_has_now_been_behind_bars_for_18_months.jpg

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China’s snow job can’t erase Aussie ties

WILL GLASGOW - FEBRUARY 13, 2022

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Monday is the 10th day of the Beijing Winter Games.

It’s also the 550th day since Australian journalist Cheng Lei was nabbed by Chinese agents in the Olympic host city.

The Queensland University graduate has now been behind bars for 18 months.

She still hasn’t been allowed to see her two young children.

No trial date has been set.

The single mother – who was one of the most high-profile Australians in China – now features on a long list of subjects our Olympians have been advised to handle with care at these intensely political Games.

Snowboarding legend Scotty James did his best to negotiate the difficult terrain after he bagged his silver on Friday.

“I’m sorry about those circumstances,” he said after being awarded his medal at the man-made snow town just an hour away by fast train from where Cheng was ­arrested on August 13, 2020.

The wizard from Warrandyte and the prisoner in Beijing have a backstory.

They met in Beijing in late December 2019 when Cheng interviewed James in front of a business crowd at an Australian-backed steakhouse about his path to the 2022 Games.

The night at Hurricane’s Grill left an impression.

James became Cheng’s favourite member of Australia’s Winter Olympics team, and she recently told Australian diplomats she hoped to watch him compete.

That was after her prison wardens said she and her cellmates would be allowed to watch some of what China’s President Xi Jinping calls an “inclusive, open and clean Games”.

Whether she knows James won silver will remain a mystery until her next monthly online consular visit with Australian ­officials – her only ­contact with the world outside her cell.

“I hope she got to tune in. I hope she enjoyed it,” said James, when asked about a situation that is bizarre even by the standards of these Winter Games.

What is like to win Olympic silver with a fan cheering you on from a Beijing prison cell?

“Sorry, no comment on that,” said James.

And fair enough, too – he was still hours from flying out of China to his base in the US.

The situation is the same for athletes from all around the world – and for good reason.

Only a few weeks ago, a ­senior official on the Beijing 2022 organising committee warned that any speech against Chinese laws would be “subject to certain punishment”.

If asked about the more than one million Uighurs who have been sent to re-education camps, or the snuffing of civic life in Hong Kong, or the awful plight of Cheng or fellow Australian Yang Hengjun, or about all the others trapped in China’s dark prisons, Olympians have been advised to keep quiet – at least while they are in the People’s ­Republic.

It has contributed to a surreal environment inside the Olympics bubble, one that is completely ­removed from the world outside it.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15625898 (141750ZFEB22) Notable: Disinformation a ‘threat to poll’, says AFP chief Reece Kershaw, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: AFP_Commissioner_Reece_Kershaw.jpg

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>>121172

Disinformation a ‘threat to poll’, says AFP chief Reece Kershaw

CAMERON STEWART - FEBRUARY 14, 2022

The growing number of disinformation campaigns now poses a direct threat to the integrity of the forthcoming federal election, the head of the Australian Federal Police has warned.

AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw has also warned of an increase in espionage and foreign interference threats, saying the challenge is expected to get worse in the year ahead.

In his opening remarks to Senate Estimates on Monday night, Mr Kershaw pledged that the AFP would exercise its full powers to crack down on disinformation during the coming election campaign.

“In the lead-up to this year’s election, I am concerned about the prevalence of disinformation and the impact this can have on the integrity of our institutions and the election itself,” Mr Kershaw said. “Where disinformation reaches a criminal threshold, particularly where it urges or ­advocates violence, the AFP will be exercising the full force of its powers.”

Mr Kershaw did not describe the types of disinformation campaigns that the agency was most concerned about.

However, his warning comes amid a growing prevalence of online campaigns containing disinformation promoted by various interest groups, including anti-vaxxer and anti-vax-mandate protesters. Other disinformation campaigns have spread false rumours about state and federal politicians designed to undermine their chances of re-election.

“For example we charged an individual with computer, carriage service and electoral offences for his role in an offensive spam email campaign” during the 2019 Wentworth and 2020 Eden-Monaro by-elections, he said.

Mr Kershaw also warned of the growing prevalence of espionage and foreign interference. His comments follow warnings last week by ASIO director-general Mike Burgess that foreign powers were trying to meddle in the election and that espionage and foreign interference had now surpassed terrorism for the first time as the agency’s prime concern.

“The AFP is aware of increased espionage and foreign interference threats,” Mr Kershaw told Estimates.

“Most Australians won’t see foreign interference or be targeted by foreign interference. But it has the potential to affect every Australian because it erodes our democracy and our institutions.”

He said the multi-agency Counter Foreign Interference Taskforce had achieved “a number of successful disruptions”.

Without naming China, he said the types of interference included attempts to monitor and harass those in Australia who were viewed as dissidents by authoritarian states. “It may also ­involve attempts to silence members of the community from criticising the policies of regimes in countries to which they maintain links,” he said.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/disinformation-a-threat-to-poll-says-afp-chief-reece-kershaw/news-story/01a37b01d7d84c4714cb25f094be93af

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15631554 (150803ZFEB22) Notable: Prime Minister Scott Morrison calls on Beijing to speak up against Russian aggression, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Prime_Minister_Scott_Morrison_has_criticised_the_Chinese_Government_for_not_standing_against_Russian_aggression_toward_the_Ukraine.jpg, The_US_Australia_India_and_Japan_held_Quad_talks_in_Melbourne_last_week.jpg, Chinese_President_Xi_Jinping_attending_the_opening_ceremony_of_the_Beijing_2022_Winter_Olympic_Games_where_Australia_has_led_a_diplomatic_boycott_in_protest_of_China_s_human_rights_abuses.jpg

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Prime Minister Scott Morrison calls on Beijing to speak up against Russian aggression

China’s criticism of Australia for hosting peaceful diplomatic talks while Beijing remains ‘chillingly silent’ on Russian troops gathering on the Ukraine border has been condemned by Scott Morrison.

Clare Armstrong - February 13, 2022

THE hypocrisy of China criticising Australia for hosting peaceful diplomatic talks, while remaining “chillingly silent” on Russian troops gathering on the Ukraine border has been condemned by Scott Morrison.

The Prime Minister called out the double standard after Beijing accused Australia of using its “Quad” alliance with the US, Japan and India to “contain” China, but has not spoken out against Russian aggression.

“Australia has been criticised by the Chinese Government for peacefully coming together with our partners in the Quad … and working together to promote peace and prosperity in our own region,” he said.

“The Chinese government is happy to criticise Australia for engaging in such peaceful activities, but yet remains chillingly silent on Russian troops amassing on the Ukrainian border.”

In some of his strongest language yet against Beijing, Mr Morrison said the “coalition of autocracies” around the world seeking to “bully other countries” was not an issue Australia would ever take a “light position” on.

“My government has always stood up for anyone who seeks to bully or coerce Australia,” he said.

“And the bullying and the coercion that we’re seeing take place on the borders of Ukraine is an example of that.

“It’s unacceptable there, and it’s unacceptable anywhere else.”

Mr Morrison said Beijing worked with Russia to shut down the UN Security Council on even basic discussions about issues like Ukraine and Taiwan.

“When autocracies start working together and co-operate and partner in this way, then that obviously raises real concerns for freedom-loving liberal democracies, like Australia,” he said.

“That’s why it’s important that we have taken such a strong stand on these issues.”

Mr Morrison said he had never had an “each way bet” on national security, accusing Labor leader Anthony Albanese of entertaining ideas of “trade offs” with China to de-escalate tensions.

But Mr Albanese said he supported the Quad “very strongly,” noting Australia was dealing with a “different China” now than in 2013.

He said this made Australia’s relationship with the US its “most important”.

China’s Foreign Minister spokesman Zhao Lijian was highly critical of the Quad meeting held in Melbourne on Friday between Australia’s Foreign Minister Marise Payne, US Secretary of State Antony ­Blinken, India’s ­Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Japan’s Yosh­imasa Hayashi, calling it a “tool for containing and besieging China to maintain US hegemony”.

“It aims to stoke confrontation and undermine international solidarity and co-operation,” he told reporters.

A joint statement from the Quad leaders included commitments to support efforts to advance an open Indo-Pacific region and protect the interests of their people, free from coercion.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/prime-minister-scott-morrison-calls-on-beijing-to-speak-up-against-russian-aggression/news-story/5ee508b8a15f4983ab3cef281c94a023

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15631558 (150805ZFEB22) Notable: Scott Morrison's remarks about China being 'chillingly silent' over Ukraine labelled 'belligerent rhetoric' by Chinese foreign ministry, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Australian_Prime_Minister_Scott_Morrison_says_China_s_stance_on_Ukraine_does_not_align_with_its_stated_desire_for_stability_and_peace.jpg

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>>121204

Scott Morrison's remarks about China being 'chillingly silent' over Ukraine labelled 'belligerent rhetoric' by Chinese foreign ministry

Stephen Dziedzic - 15 February 2022

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has accused Scott Morrison of "clamouring for confrontation" in Ukraine as the Prime Minister intensifies his attacks on both China and Russia over the looming threat of war.

On Sunday, Mr Morrison said China that remained "chillingly silent on Russian troops amassing on the Ukrainian border", suggesting that Beijing had given Moscow tacit approval for an invasion.

And Mr Morrison intensified his attack this morning, suggesting China's position on Ukraine makes a mockery of its constant proclamations that it wants stability and peace.

"When you have a large country, in our own region, that suggests they want peace and harmony and yet are not prepared to call out the actions of an autocratic state that wants to the violate the territorial sovereignty of their neighbour, then that is very concerning. Chilling," he told radio station 2SM.

"I'm calling that out."

Mr Morrison's accusations drew a sharp retort from China's Foreign Ministry on Monday evening, with its spokesman, Wang Wenbin, calling Mr Morrison's criticisms "dangerous".

"We urge the Australian side to abandon the Cold War mentality and ideological bias and stop making belligerent rhetoric that will escalate the tensions," he told reporters in Beijing.

"Such acts of seeking selfish political gains by clamouring for confrontation are unethical and dangerous."

Morrison claims China wants ALP in government

Mr Morrison has also been ratcheting-up his attacks on Labor, repeatedly calling the opposition "soft" on Beijing and national security, despite a broad bipartisanship on most key China policies.

The Defence Minister Peter Dutton drew a furious response from the ALP when he declared in parliament last week that China's government had picked Labor leader Anthony Albanese as their "candidate".

On Monday, the Speaker ruled that claim out of order.

But this morning, Mr Morrison also claimed that China's government wants the Coalition to lose the approaching federal election, while accusing the ALP of trying to pacify Beijing.

"I can tell you what … the countries coercing us, I know they don't want to see the Liberal government re-elected. I know they're not having a one-way bet [on us], they're having a one way bet on others," he told radio station 2GB.

"We are in a very uncertain and challenging world and there is no time for weakness."

Mr Morrison's attacks come as global tensions over Ukraine continue to grow, with the Biden administration warning that Russia could launch an invasion at "any time".

The Prime Minister also said an invasion was "potentially imminent", telling 2SM there was a "real risk" of war.

But, he also stressed, there was no certainty of conflict.

Rudd hits back over 'smears'

The opposition has accused the government of shamelessly trying to exploit tensions with China – as well as the looming prospect of conflict with Russia — for domestic political gain.

Former prime minister Kevin Rudd also lashed the Coalition at a press conference this morning, pointing out that the Liberal Party had leased Darwin Port to a Chinese company, attempted to ratify an extradition treaty with China and signed the 2014 Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Beijing.

"I don't use the term 'appeasement' lightly. But when you look at the Liberal Party record over more than a decade, there's no other way to describe it but appeasement," Mr Rudd said.

"And I will not stand idly by while Dutton smears the Labor Party as somehow soft on China.

"That is rancid hypocrisy, and a rancid lie."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-15/china-foreign-ministry-scott-morrison-ukraine-conflict/100831646

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15631565 (150807ZFEB22) Notable: Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin’s Regular Press Conference on February 14, 2022, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Foreign_Ministry_Spokesperson_Wang_Wenbin_s_Regular_Press_Conference_on_February_14_2022.jpg

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>>121204

>>121205

Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin’s Regular Press Conference on February 14, 2022

Reuters: Again on the Ukraine crisis, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said China has been “chillingly silent” on the large number of Russian troops amassing on the Ukraine border. What’s China’s comment?

Wang Wenbin: We urge the Australian side to abandon the Cold War mentality and ideological bias and stop making belligerent rhetoric that will escalate the tensions. Such acts of seeking selfish political gains by clamoring for confrontation are unethical and dangerous.

Bloomberg: Just a few points about the Indian Foreign Minister Jaishankar. While he was visiting Australia, he criticized China’s economic actions toward Australia. And then separately, he mentioned the clash between India and China on the border had been discussed during Quad meetings. And at that time, he put the blame on China for the ongoing border conflict. Does the Foreign Ministry have any comments on the Indian Foreign Minister’s comments during the recent visit to Australia?

Wang Wenbin: With regard to the rights and wrongs of China-Australia relations, we have elaborated on China’s position many times and I will not repeat it here.

The ins and outs of the situation on the China-India border are very clear and the responsibility does not lie with China. At present, China and India are in communication on further improving border management and control and confidence-building measures. We hope that the Indian side will strictly abide by a series of agreements signed by the two sides, refrain from making irresponsible remarks and take concrete actions and work with China to jointly safeguard peace and tranquility of the border area.

https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/2511_665403/202202/t20220214_10642170.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15631625 (150832ZFEB22) Notable: Weak Australian leadership inhibits potential relationship reset with China - Bruce Haigh - globaltimes.cn, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Weak_Australian_leadership_inhibits_potential_relationship_reset_with_China.jpg

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Weak Australian leadership inhibits potential relationship reset with China

Bruce Haigh - Feb 14, 2022

1/2

A rip is a dangerous movement of water that can sweep swimmers out to sea. Struggling against a rip may lead to drowning; the best course is to move to the edge, away from the center, and swim ashore.

Australia became aware of a small rip generated by President Barack Obama. It ignored it and continued to surf. The rip strengthened under Donald Trump and Australia found itself swept along, made worse by believing the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, which said there was no problem. It was false advice. Its predicament became worse with President Joe Biden maintaining the rush to deep water.

Its only hope is that the rip slows allowing it to make for shore which is now a long way off.

Should Anthony Albanese become Prime Minister he will need help to get to shore. At the moment he is being swept along by a fear of upsetting voters prior to the Federal election due in weeks. The Murdoch-dominated media in Australia is anti-China and many in the Australian population go along with this view.

In addition, Albanese is a cautious person and politician. He is not an intellectual. He has demonstrated a propensity to believe the US view of the world without analysis. He appears to have accepted AUKUS and a dangerously increased US defense presence in Australia, particularly in the north.

Albanese could never be compared to Whitlam. He is not a lateral thinker, he is not creative, he will not be a charismatic leader. He will be a safe leader, if not an ordinary leader. If he were an officer in the army, he might lead a brigade but he would not be placed in a position to plan; stubborn defense might be seen as his forte.

Nonetheless, in comparison to Morrison, he positively shines, such is the abysmal state of Australian politics. Recently the head of ASIO, Mike Burgess, implied that he had thwarted attempts by a state player to infiltrate the selection process for Labor Party election candidates. The player was widely understood to be China. Under questioning he backed off giving just one example, without details, of an attempt to infiltrate the Australian political process through the Labor Party. Again, it was understood to be China.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15631870 (150946ZFEB22) Notable: Labor Senator Kimberley Kitching names billionaire Chau Chak Wing as 'puppeteer' in foreign interference plot, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Labor_senator_Kimberley_Kitching_made_the_allegation_under_parliamentary_privilege.jpg, Dr_Chau_Chak_Wing_has_donated_millions_of_dollars_to_political_parties_charities_and_universities.jpg, ASIO_Director_general_Mike_Burgess_declined_to_name_the_country_behind_the_conspiracy.jpg

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>>121172

Labor senator Kimberley Kitching names billionaire Chau Chak Wing as 'puppeteer' in foreign interference plot

Andrew Greene - 15 February 2022

A federal senator has used parliamentary privilege to suggest a prominent Chinese-Australian political donor is the mysterious "puppeteer" behind a thwarted foreign interference plot to back political candidates in the next election.

During a Senate estimates hearing, Labor senator Kimberley Kitching alleged the wealthy businessman behind the recent overseas conspiracy was property developer Chau Chak Wing.

Dr Chau has denied the claim, labelling it "baseless and reckless".

Her comments follow last week’s revelation from ASIO boss Mike Burgess that his security agency recently blocked an overseas-funded operation to bankroll unsuspecting candidates in an unspecified election.

During his annual threat assessment speech on Wednesday, Mr Burgess declined to name the country behind the conspiracy, or whether it was a federal, state or local election that was targeted.

“I am reliably informed that the puppeteer mentioned in your case study in your annual threat assessment speech given last week is Chau Chak Wing,” Senator Kitching told the committee hearing on Monday night.

“I believe it to be Chau Chak Wing. Are you able to confirm that it is Chau Chak Wing?” Senator Kitching asked Mr Burgess.

The ASIO boss told the committee he would not discuss the matter publicly.

“Senator, as I said before, I will not comment on speculation of who is and who isn't targets, in general or in specific, as you are asking me there," Mr Burgess said.

“I think it's unfair that you ask me that question in public."

In a statement, Dr Chau said Senator Kitching had hidden behind the "shield of parliamentary privilege" to vilify and attack him without evidence.

"I am a businessman and philanthropist. I have never had any involvement or interest in interfering with the democratic election process in Australia," Dr Chau said.

"In 2017, the ABC and Nine journalist Nick McKenzie made a similar allegation in a Four Corners report. The Federal Court subsequently awarded me very substantial damages which I donated to charity.

"I invite Senator Kitching to show some courage and integrity by repeating her claim and revealing the sources she says she relied on, outside the parliament."

Dr Chau is an Australian citizen originally from China, who has donated millions of dollars to Australia’s major political parties, universities and charities that help veterans.

In 2018, Liberal MP Andrew Hastie also named Dr Chau in parliament as being closely associated with the Chinese Communist Party’s lobbying arm, the United Front Work Department, and alleged he was a co-conspirator in an FBI bribery case.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-15/labor-senator-names-chau-chak-wing-interference-plot/100830078

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15631873 (150947ZFEB22) Notable: Video: Labor Senator Kimberley Kitching operated under 'parliamentary privilege' to 'name' Chau Chak Wing - Sky News Australia

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>>121208

Kitching operated under 'parliamentary privilege' to 'name' Chau Chak Wing

Sky News Australia

Feb 15, 2022

Labor Senator Kimberley Kitching used parliamentary privilege to accuse Chau Chak Wing of being behind a foreign interference plot in Australian politics, according to Sky News Political Editor Andrew Clennell.

“Let's talk about this bomb, Kimberley Kitching exploded on her side, naming the Chinese businessman Chau Chak Wing and claiming he was behind a foreign interference plot in Australian politics,” Mr Clennell said.

“The Labor Senator here, questioning ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess and making her allegation in Estimates.

“I'm told Kitching has information that federal and state Labor candidates were being recruited, but none of those candidates have been successful. The aim, supposedly according to her sources, was to have the candidates in parliament and have them owe their benefactor once elected.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CUNno9DZG4

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15631878 (150948ZFEB22) Notable: Chau Chak Wing hits back after Labor senator suggested he was ‘puppeteer’ in foiled election plot, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Chau_Chak_Wing_has_invited_Senator_Kimberley_Kitching_to_make_the_claims_outside_of_parliament.jpg, Senator_Kimberley_Kitching_said_she_was_reliably_informed_.jpg

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>>121208

Chau Chak Wing hits back after Labor senator suggested he was ‘puppeteer’ in foiled election plot

ASHLEIGH GLEESON - FEBRUARY 15, 2022

The billionaire and political donor named in a parliamentary hearing as the “puppeteer” involved in a foreign interference plot has hit back, calling the claim “baseless”.

Labor Senator Kimberley Kitching on Monday night put to Australia’s spy agency boss Mike Burgess that the wealthy individual involved in the foiled plot to rig the upcoming election was Chau Chak Wing.

“I am reliably informed that the puppeteer mentioned in your case study in your annual threat assessment speech last week is Chau Chak Wing,” Senator Kitching said, using parliamentary privilege.

“I believe it to be Chau Chak Wing.

“Are you able to confirm it is Chau Chak Wing?”

Mr Burgess, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) director-general, declined to answer.

“Senator as I’ve said before, I will not comment on speculation of who is and who isn’t targets in general or specifically,” he said.

“I think it is unfair you ask me that question in public.”

On Tuesday afternoon Dr Chau issued a furious statement which labelled the claim by Senator Kitching as “baseless”.

“I am shocked and disappointed at the baseless and reckless claim made by Senator Kimberley Kitching during a Senate Estimates hearing on Monday,” he said.

“It is always unfortunate when elected representatives use the shield of parliamentary privilege as a platform to vilify and attack Australian citizens without producing a shred of evidence.

“I am a businessman and philanthropist. I have never had any involvement or interest in interfering with the democratic election process in Australia.”

Dr Chau, who was last year awarded a large sum in a defamation case involving similar allegations, invited Senator Kitching to repeat her claim without parliamentary privilege.

“I invite Senator Kitching to show some courage and integrity by repeating her claim and revealing the sources she says she relied on, outside the parliament,” he said.

Mr Burgess first revealed that spies had plotted to rig an election during his annual threat assessment speech last week.

He said it involved a wealthy individual who he dubbed the “puppeteer” and the network sought to get candidates in positions of power before it was shut down.

“This case involved a wealthy individual who maintained direct and deep connections with a foreign government and its intelligence agencies,” he said.

“I’ll call this person ‘the puppeteer’, although it’s important to remember that while the puppeteer pulled the strings, the foreign government called the shots.”

It was later reported the case Mr Burgess was talking about involved Chinese spies trying to bankroll the campaigns of NSW Labor candidates in the upcoming federal election.

Dr Chau is a Chinese-Australian philanthropist and political donor who was last year awarded $590,000 in a defamation case against the ABC and Nine over a Four Corners episode in 2017.

The program, titled “Power and Influence”, investigated Chinese interference in Australian politics.

Dr Chau successfully argued in court the program falsely painted him as a corrupt Chinese Communist Party (CCP) spy who paid a bribe to a UN official.

“In 2017, the ABC and Nine journalist Nick McKenzie made a similar allegation in a Four Corners report,” Dr Chau said in his statement on Tuesday.

“The Federal Court subsequently awarded me very substantial damages which I donated to charity.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/breaking-news/chau-chak-wing-hits-back-after-labor-senator-suggested-he-was-puppeteer-in-foiled-election-plot/news-story/932719b885f986309affcb53f319abca

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15632005 (151022ZFEB22) Notable: Chinese propaganda outlet endorses Anthony Albanese as ‘better PM’ than Scott Morrison - Sharri Markson - theaustralian.com.au, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Federal_Opposition_Leader_Anthony_Albanese_during_Question_Time_on_Tuesday.jpg, GT_8.jpg

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>>121207

Chinese propaganda outlet endorses Anthony Albanese as ‘better PM’ than Scott Morrison

SHARRI MARKSON - FEBRUARY 15, 2022

The Chinese Government’s propaganda mouthpiece, The Global Times, has published an article endorsing Labor leader Anthony Albanese as a better prime minister than Scott Morrison.

The government-owned media outlet, which espouses the views of the Chinese Communist Party, is promoting an article praising Albanese as a “safe leader”, saying he “positively shines compared to Morrison”.

By contrast, Morrison is described as a “clown” and is accused of leading a government that is “imploding through corruption, failure to manage Covid-19 and a range of other anti-social programs and prejudices”.

The Global Times tweeted on February 14: “Albanese will not be a charismatic leader but he positively shines compared to Morrison. Such is abysmal state of Oz politics. One would like to see a reset in ties with China, but Oz leadership is weak and US pressure is sustained.”

The author of the piece is Bruce Haigh, a former diplomat with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

In his article, he writes that the “Murdoch-dominated media in Australia is anti-China and many in the Australian population go along with this view”.

“Mr Albanese is “being swept along by a fear of upsetting voters prior to the federal election due in weeks,” he claims.

The Global Times article criticises Mr Albanese for believing the “US view of the world without analysis”, and for accepting “AUKUS and a dangerously increased US defence presence in Australia”.

The Chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, James Paterson, said the Global Times was a tool of propaganda of the Chinese Communist Party.

“They don’t typically publish opinion they disagree with,” he said.

“It’s increasingly clear those who seek to coerce Australia don’t want to see the Morrison government re-elected this year.”

It comes as the Morrison government launched an attack on Mr Albanese and his team for being weak on national security and the Chinese Government’s party of choice.

Defence Minister Peter Dutton made a controversial claim in parliament last week that China would prefer an Albanese government to a Coalition victory at the looming election.

Labor accused him of weaponising national security and said there was no evidence China’s preference was for Labor to win.

The Global Times article describes Mr Dutton as “rapidly anti-China”.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/chinese-propaganda-outlet-endorses-anthony-albanese-as-better-pm-than-scott-morrison/news-story/e3e26b3a608654854fef7c64f853bfb1

https://twitter.com/globaltimesnews/status/1493177378809462784

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15640316 (160844ZFEB22) Notable: Anthony Albanese attended Chau Chak Wing event after ASIO warning - Anthony Albanese gave effusive praise for Chinese billionaire Dr Chau Chak Wing just weeks after ASIO warnings over foreign influence risks, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Labor_leader_Anthony_Albanese_praised_Chinese_billionaire_Dr_Chau_Chak_Wing_at_a_fancy_dinner_in_Sydney_in_2020_weeks_after_ASIO_warnings_over_foreign_influence_risks.jpg, Chau_Chak_Wing_leaves_the_Federal_Court_in_Sydney_Tuesday_June_19_2018.jpg, Dr_Chau_Chak_Wing_has_always_had_powerful_friends_in_high_places_He_is_pictured_above_right_with_former_PM_John_Howard_at_an_an_unidentified_function.jpg

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>>121208

Anthony Albanese attended Chau Chak Wing event after ASIO warning

Anthony Albanese gave effusive praise for Chinese billionaire Dr Chau Chak Wing just weeks after ASIO warnings over foreign influence risks.

Samantha Maiden - February 16, 2022

Labor leader Anthony Albanese offered effusive praise for the Chinese billionaire Dr Chau Chak Wing at a dinner in Sydney in 2020 just weeks after ASIO warnings over foreign influence risks.

Dr Chau, who previously hit the headlines for spending $70 million on James Packer’s mega mansion, is the Chinese businessman named in Parliament this week as the “puppet master” ASIO was referring to in a major speech.

The businessman has slammed the claims as “reckless” and “baseless” and ASIO has refused to confirm or deny the allegations made under parliamentary privilege.

Despite previous warnings by ASIO to both the major parties about taking money from two Chinese donors including Dr Chau Chak Wing and the risk of foreign influence operations, Mr Albanese attended an event in his honour in November, 2020.

Government sources, that are trying to elevate the issue of China’s influence in the Labor Party ahead of the election, briefed journalists last night that the Prime Minister had declined the invitation on the basis of national security advice.

But Mr Albanese paid tribute to the billionaire’s generosity in his speech, offering effusive praise for the businessman who has donated an estimated $40 million to Australian universities.

“The Chau Chak Wing Museum has risen thanks to the generosity of the man whose name that it bears, but also along with the Ian Potter Foundation, the Nelson Meers Foundation and Penelope Seidler AM,’’ he said.

“Four great philanthropists. We should not take that for granted for their generosity.”

Dr Chau was not in attendance and remained in China as a result of border closures. He does not read or speak English but has been a generous donor to both the major political parties and the universities.

Mr Albanese said Dr Chau’s museum was more than just a good news story.

“It is a reminder and a reassurance that beyond coronavirus, a brighter future is within our reach, if we dare to dream it,’’ he said.

“It will open minds and it will connect people a bit more powerfully to their place in our human race. It is an honour to be here”

Mr Albanese’s speech was delivered just a month after ASIO boss Mike Burgess told Senate estimates in October, 2020 that he would write to all federal MPs warning they were potential targets for foreign spies looking to steal Australia’s secrets and gain a foothold in the nation.

“We see evidence of intelligence services deceptively cultivating politicians at all levels of government who will advance the interests of the foreign countries,’’ Mr Burgess said.

Victorian Labor senator Kimberley Kitching used parliamentary privilege on Monday night to ask Mike Burgess, the head of Australia’s spy agency ASIO, whether the property developer was the mystery man involved in the alleged plot.

Dr Chau has slammed the allegations as baseless.

“I am shocked and disappointed at the baseless and reckless claim made by Senator Kimberley Kitching during a Senate Estimates hearing on Monday,” he said in a statement.

“It is always unfortunate when elected representatives use the shield of parliamentary privilege as a platform to vilify and attack Australian citizens without producing a shred of evidence.

“I am a businessman and philanthropist. I have never had any involvement or interest in interfering with the democratic election process in Australia.

“In 2017, the ABC and Nine journalist Nick McKenzie made a similar allegation in a Four Corners report. The Federal Court subsequently awarded me very substantial damages which I donated to charity.”

Dr Chau has previously been awarded $590,000 after a judge found he was defamed by an ABC program that portrayed him as a Communist Party member.

His lawyers argued the program carried six false and defamatory imputations including that he “betrayed” his country through espionage, is a member of China’s Communist Party and made enormous donations to influence politicians.

By naming Dr Chau under parliamentary privilege on Monday night, Labor Senator Kimberley Kitching cannot be sued for defamation.

The well-connected Dr Chau has always had powerful friends in high places and over the years has been photographed with former Prime Minister John Howard, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, Australian war memorial director Brendan Nelson and former foreign minister Julie Bishop.

https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/anthony-albanese-attended-chau-chak-wing-event-after-asio-warning/news-story/942a450b49a38fe476141c2054c196b3

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15640319 (160846ZFEB22) Notable: Video: Hon Anthony Albanese MP CCWM Preview Evening Speech - Chau Chak Wing Foundation, Dec 3, 2020

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>>121212

Hon Anthony Albanese MP CCWM Preview Evening Speech

Chau Chak Wing Foundation

Dec 3, 2020

On the 16th of November, Hon Anthony Albanese MP, Leader of the Australian Labour Party spoke at the exclusive preview evening of the Chau Chak Wing Museum opening at the University of Sydney.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hUC7cbZWik

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15640346 (160858ZFEB22) Notable: Who is Chau Chak Wing? The alleged ‘puppeteer’ behind foreign interference plot, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Labor_senator_Kimberley_Kitching_said_in_a_Senate_estimates_hearing_on_Monday_night_she_believed_the_puppeteer_was_Chau_Chak_Wing.jpg, Labor_leader_Anthony_Albanese_spoke_at_the_Chau_Chak_Wing_Museum_dinner_in_November_2020.jpg

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>>121208

>>121212

Who is Chau Chak Wing? The alleged ‘puppeteer’ behind foreign interference plot

Anthony Galloway - February 15, 2022

1/2

There are few political donors better connected or more controversial than Chinese-Australian businessman Chau Chak Wing.

Mr Chau has often made headlines for his generous donations but serious accusations have been made against him a number of times in Federal Parliament, most recently on Monday when Labor senator Kimberley Kitching claimed he was the “puppeteer” behind a foreign interference plot.

He responded on Tuesday, labelling the claim “baseless” and inviting Senator Kitching to repeat her comments outside Parliament.

“I am shocked and disappointed at the baseless and reckless claim made by Senator Kimberley Kitching during a Senate Estimates hearing on Monday,” he said.

“It is always unfortunate when elected representatives use the shield of parliamentary privilege as a platform to vilify and attack Australian citizens without producing a shred of evidence.

“I am a businessman and philanthropist. I have never had any involvement or interest in interfering with the democratic election process in Australia.”

In 2019 Nine, owner of this masthead, was ordered to pay Mr Chau $225,000 in damages after a Federal Court judge found he was defamed in an article on The Sydney Morning Herald’s website that went online in October 2015. Last year, Nine and the ABC were ordered to pay Mr Chau $590,000 in damages for a joint investigation with Four Corners that aired in June 2017. The subsequent reimbursement of Mr Chau’s legal expenses, plus paying their own expenses to defend the cases, cost the media outlets millions of dollars.

The outlets were found to have erred in suggesting Mr Chau paid “bribes” in the form of political donations and for imputations that he carried out the work of the Chinese Communist Party’s secret lobbying arm, the United Front Work Department. The media outlets’ defences that their reporting was in the public interest were rejected by the courts.

Since then, barely a word has been written about Mr Chau. Until this week.

Senator Kitching’s accusation in a Senate estimates hearing relates to foreign interference whereby the “puppeteer” hired an employee to begin identifying and bankrolling candidates likely to run for Labor in the federal election.

The head of Australia’s counter-espionage agency ASIO, Mike Burgess, told the same hearing that ASIO stepped in to foil the plot and that no current Labor candidates were of any concern to his agency. He said it was critical that Australia did not let the fear of foreign interference undermine stakeholder engagement or stoke community division, as that would have the “same corrosive impact on our democracy as foreign interference itself”.

Mr Chau has long been a well-connected businessman with ties to both major parties. He has donated more than $4 million to Australia’s major political parties since 2004 – although it is believed they have stopped taking money from him. He has also donated more than $45 million to Australian universities, making him one of the biggest donors in Australian history.

Politicians who have previously met Mr Chau include former prime ministers John Howard, Kevin Rudd, Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard, as well as former foreign affairs ministers Julie Bishop and Bob Carr.

But there is a now wide gap between what Australian politicians are prepared to say about Mr Chau within the Federal Parliament and outside its walls.

Speaking at the opening of the Chau Chak Wing Museum on November 16, 2020, Labor leader Anthony Albanese said the institution at the University of Sydney had risen “thanks to the generosity of the man whose name that it bears”, as well as three other philanthropists.

“Four great philanthropists. We should not take that for granted – their generosity,” Mr Albanese said at the event, which Mr Carr and former Liberal leader Brendan Nelson also attended, but not Mr Chau.

The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age has seen an invitation to Prime Minister Scott Morrison to attend the same event, which was declined by his office.

Defence Minister Peter Dutton appeared to be pointing this out in Parliament on Tuesday, when he said “we don’t hang out in a museum with Bob Carr ... and other murky figures”.

Asked why he attended the event, a spokesperson for Mr Albanese said: “As an alumnus, Mr Albanese regularly attends events at Sydney University.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15640390 (160913ZFEB22) Notable: West Australian ban thwarts AUKUS submarines tour - A high-level AUKUS delegation to Australia to help fast-track the nation’s nuclear submarines has been forced to postpone a planned visit to Western Australia’s HMAS Stirling – home of the Collins-class subs – due to the McGowan government’s strict quarantine requirements, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: West_Australian_Premier_Mark_McGowan_has_suggested_the_end_of_tough_border_rules_may_be_nearing.jpg

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West Australian ban thwarts AUKUS submarines tour

BEN PACKHAM and PAUL GARVEY - FEBRUARY 15, 2022

A high-level AUKUS delegation to Australia to help fast-track the nation’s nuclear submarines has been forced to postpone a planned visit to Western Australia’s HMAS Stirling – home of the Collins-class subs – due to the McGowan government’s strict quarantine requirements.

The delegation includes top US and UK officials, including Admiral James Caldwell, director of the US Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, and UK Defence Nuclear Organisation head Vanessa Nicholls.

The US co-ordinator for AUKUS initiatives, Dr James Miller, is also heading to Australia with the 10-person mission, hosted by the head of Australia’s AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine task force, Vice Admiral Jonathan Mead.

The experts will arrive in Australia on Thursday to tour Adelaide’s Osborne naval shipyards, and visit Australia’s only nuclear reactor at Sydney’s Lucas Heights.

They will also stop in Canberra to meet with Admiral Mead’s task force, and visit Melbourne for further talks with Defence officials.

The delegation had hoped to inspect Australia’s main submarine base at HMAS Stirling in Perth, where the planned nuclear boats would be based.

But Defence was informed its members were unlikely to receive exemptions to enter the state without quarantine, under WA’s hard border rules.

The US and UK have vowed to help deliver Australia’s planned eight nuclear submarines “at the earliest possible date” under the trilateral AUKUS partnership, after initial forecasts the first would not be in the water until at least 2040.

WA’s hard border regime has been notoriously impervious for much of the pandemic.

Until February 5, when the restrictions were partially eased, people trying to return to WA from states to visit dying relatives or attend funerals were barred from entry if they were from a state experiencing a large-scale outbreak.

The rules were changed earlier this month to allow people with family connections or compassionate reasons to travel to WA on the condition they isolate upon arrival. That isolation period for people entering WA from overseas or interstate has since been trimmed from 14 days to seven.

Exemptions to that isolation requirement have proved all but impossible to obtain, although several sporting teams – most recently two AFLW sides from Victoria – have received special authority to enter the state on the provision they instead observe strict biosecurity protocols.

The requirement to isolate upon entry extends to the uppermost reaches of politics. Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese would both need to isolate for a week if they entered WA under the current rules, and have had to amend their election campaign strategies accordingly.

Even WA Premier Mark McGowan faces the prospect of being caught up in the isolation requirements, given he will have to travel to Sydney later this month to testify in his defamation battle with Clive Palmer. The Premier will be required to isolate for a week upon his return.

Mr McGowan on Tuesday flagged that the end of the border rules may be nearing, telling reporters a new date could be set by the end of this month.

“We are reviewing (the border restrictions) as we speak. We are going to review it over February and no doubt we will reach an announcement some time in February,” he said.

“The reality is though that we are getting the third dose vaccination rate up, the eastern states appear to be coming off their peak, which is a good thing. We are getting children vaccinated, and every thing we are doing every single day is saving many West Australian lives.”

Admiral Mead’s task force has been given 18 months to examine every aspect of the nuclear submarine acquisition, including the planned design, regulatory issues, and how they will be built in Adelaide as promised by the Morrison government.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told The Australian last week the US was “focused very intensively on the pathways to the submarines, looking at what the most efficient and effective pathway would be”.

“That’s being very actively looked at by our experts right now,” he said.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/defence/west-australian-ban-thwarts-aukus-submarines-tour/news-story/5613b85163de8b6fa35fcd5ab5aae039

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15640432 (160927ZFEB22) Notable: Australia looks to landlocked Czech Republic to win European support for contentious AUKUS submarine plan, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: The_Czech_Republic_will_be_lobbied_by_Australia_for_its_support_on_procuring_nuclear_submarines_under_the_AUKUS_pact.jpg, An_Australian_foreign_minister_has_not_visited_the_Czech_Republic_for_almost_20_years.jpg

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>>121216

Australia looks to landlocked Czech Republic to win European support for contentious AUKUS submarine plan

Andrew Greene and Stephen Dziedzic - 16 February 2022

Stunning gothic architecture, a medieval Old Town square and the historic Charles Bridge typically draw millions of tourists to Prague each year and, for the first time in almost 20 years, an Australian foreign minister will soon get a chance to experience the picturesque city on an official visit.

The ABC can reveal that Foreign Minister Marise Payne will fly to the Czech capital next week for a visit, where discussions will focus on shared concerns, such as cyber security and the growing fear of war in Ukraine.

Diplomatic sources say they are hopeful the landlocked, former Cold War foe could help Australia's efforts in Europe to fight back against Beijing's efforts to stymie the controversial AUKUS nuclear submarine plan.

Last week the ABC revealed that Australia is bulking-up specialised diplomatic teams in both Canberra and Vienna to win international acceptance for the AUKUS initiative as it braces for a massive "disinformation" campaign from China as well as Russia.

A public announcement of Senator Payne's Prague stopover is yet to be made, as diplomats work to confirm meetings with key figures in the new Czech government led by its Prime Minister, Petr Fiala.

Closer cooperation on cyber security is expected to be discussed by Senator Payne, as well as concerns over Chinese and Russian foreign interference operations, and the growing military ties between those two military powers.

Czech officials have privately claimed credit for helping convince some European nations to back a campaign to have former finance minister Mathias Cormann elected as the new head of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Last month, the Czech ambassador to Canberra lodged a diplomatic protest with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade after tennis player Renata Vorácová was deported, ahead of the Australian Open.

Concerns over Russia and China front of mind during European visit

Alexander Downer was the last Australian foreign minister to visit the Czech Republic in 2005, when questions about the Iraq War dominated.

However, in 2022, concerns over a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine are top of mind.

Since the Velvet Revolution, Czech lawmakers have remained wary of Moscow's continued efforts to interfere in the small NATO member's affairs, but in recent years there has been growing alarm about Chinese Communist Party's influence.

Last year the Czech Republic expelled dozens of Russian diplomats and their families after accusing Moscow of deploying intelligence agencies to carry out two explosions at a military arms depot in 2014.

Tensions between the Czech Republic and China also flared last year when the Taiwanese Foreign Minister, Joseph Wu, was welcomed by legislators to the central European nation's parliament.

Senator Payne will also travel to Germany to attend the high-profile Munich Security Conference, which brings together political leaders and top officials from around the region.

While the conference will focus on a broader array of security challenges, this year's event is likely to be consumed by discussions about whether Russia is on the brink of invading Ukraine and how NATO can deter Moscow.

Ahead of her arrival in Prague, the Foreign Minister will visit Paris, where the government is still smarting at Australia's decision last year to scrap the $90 billion French submarine project, in favour of a yet-to-be-chosen nuclear powered fleet.

During her brief stopover in Paris, Senator Payne will attend a meeting of Indo-Pacific foreign ministers organised by the French government.

The trip may also offer Senator Payne a chance to begin patching-up ties with France, although it is not yet clear if she has secured any bilateral meetings with her French counterparts.

The Foreign Minister was expected to visit Thailand on her way home, but she told Senate Estimates that leg of the trip was no longer occurring.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-16/foreign-minister-to-visit-czech-republic-over-ukraine-submarines/100832342

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15640446 (160930ZFEB22) Notable: Ben Roberts-Smith trial: SAS Soldier tells court at least two men pulled from tunnel in Afghanistan compound - Ben Roberts-Smith told court “There were no people in the tunnel at Whiskey 108”, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Ben_Roberts_Smith_outside_the_federal_court_in_Sydney_during_his_defamation_trial.jpg, Whiskey_108_a_compound_in_Afghanistan_was_raided_by_Australian_troops_in_2009_An_SAS_member_has_told_the_court_two_men_pulled_from_the_compound_were_unarmed.jpg

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>>121195

Ben Roberts-Smith trial: soldier tells court at least two men pulled from tunnel in Afghanistan compound

Events at the compound on 12 April, 2009 have emerged as central to the defamation trial brought by Roberts-Smith

Ben Doherty - 16 Feb 2022

A serving SAS soldier has told a court that at least two men were pulled from a tunnel inside a compound being raided by Australian SAS troops during a 2009 clearance operation in Afghanistan, a mission that has since become a key element of the defamation trial brought by Ben Roberts-Smith.

Roberts-Smith is suing the Age, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Canberra Times for defamation over a series of ­reports he alleges are defamatory and portray him as committing war crimes, including murder. The newspapers are pleading a defence of truth. Roberts-Smith denies any wrongdoing.

Anonymised before the federal court as Person 42, the Warrant Officer Class 2 and veteran of more than two decades’ military service appeared in court as a witness for the Nine newspapers’ defence.

Person 42 told the court he and other soldiers discovered the hidden tunnel during the raid on a compound called Whiskey 108. The soldiers called out in Pashto for anyone hiding inside to come out.

“They came out unarmed, they came out freely, they came out relatively quickly once we gave them the commands,” he said.

Person 42 said he took custody of one of the men and patted him down to ensure he was unarmed before passing him to the control of another soldier. He did not see the man again.

The events at Whiskey 108 on 12 April 2009 – and the presence or otherwise of men in the tunnel – have emerged as central to the allegations made against Roberts-Smith in the newspapers’ defence of the defamation claim. Roberts-Smith is a Victoria Cross winner and one of Australia’s most decorated soldiers.

Roberts-Smith has been accused in the course of the newspapers’ defence of ordering the execution an elderly Afghan man and murdering another man who had a prosthetic leg, both of whom had been taken from the tunnel in the compound. Roberts-Smith denies the allegations and says there was no one discovered in the tunnel.

Two other soldiers have previously given evidence in the trial on behalf of the newspapers about the alleged executions of the two men at Whiskey 108.

One soldier, Person 41, told the court Roberts-Smith and another soldier borrowed his suppressor which was then used in the execution of the elderly man. Person 41 also said he later saw Roberts-Smith “frogmarch” the man with a prosthetic leg outside a village compound, throw him to the ground and machine-gun him to death.

Another soldier, Person 14, said he saw an Australian soldier carrying a distinctive weapon, a Minimi machine gun, throw a human-shaped object to the ground and fire a burst of bullets into it. He said he later saw Roberts-Smith carrying a Minimi during that mission.

Roberts-Smith has consistently denied those versions of events, describing them as “completely false”. In his evidence last year, he said he never ordered an elderly man shot, and says he killed the man with a prosthetic leg outside Whiskey 108 because the man was a legitimate target, armed and running away, and was killed in accordance with troops’ rules of engagement.

He said no people were taken out of the tunnel in the compound.

“There were no people in the tunnel at Whiskey 108,” he told the court.

Whiskey 108 was a compound in the village of Kakarak, known as an insurgent stronghold, on the western side of the Dorafshan River in Uruzgan province and near an allied forward operating base.

In court on Wednesday, Person 42 said Whiskey 108 had been bombed by allied aircraft ahead of the Australian troops’ mission to ‘clear’ the compound on 12 April 2009, checking for insurgents, weapons, and bomb-making materials.

They found some weapons, ammunition and grenades, but “there were no enemy combatants found as part of the assault”, he said.

Shown pictures of the bodies of the men allegedly killed during the raid on Whiskey 108, Person 42 said he was unable to positively identify them.

Under cross-examination, he said Australian troops discovered the tunnel after being alerted to it by women, and possibly children, who were in the compound.

Arthur Moses SC, acting for Roberts-Smith, put it to Person 42 that his evidence was not true “because you weren’t there”.

“That is not true,” the soldier replied.

The trial before Justice Anthony Besanko continues.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/16/ben-roberts-smith-trial-soldier-tells-court-at-least-two-men-pulled-from-tunnel-in-afghanistan-compound

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15640478 (160939ZFEB22) Notable: Military air bases fast tracked for upgrade as Australia joins US Pacific push - Australian military bases and airstrips are to be upgraded as US forces look for more part-time homes for their combat aircraft, troops and ships, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Australian_troops_from_1st_Battalion_Royal_Australian_Regiment_arriving_at_RAAF_Base_Scherger_during_an_exercise.jpg, RAAF_base_Tindal_proposed_aircraft_apron_for_US_bombers.jpg, A_map_from_the_2020_21_Defence_Annual_report_showing_the_locations_of_Australia_s_defence_bases.jpg, US_Indo_Pacific_Command_s_Director_for_Logistics_and_Engineering_Brigadier_General_Jered_Helwig_visiting_the_Australian_War_Memorial_ahead_of_base_tours.jpg, Personnel_from_the_3rd_Battalion_Royal_Australian_Regiment_conduct_a_practice_beach_assault_on_Forrest_Beach_Queensland_during_Exercise_Talisman_Sabre_21.jpg

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Military air bases fast tracked for upgrade as Australia joins US Pacific push

Australian military bases and airstrips are to be upgraded as US forces look for more part-time homes for their combat aircraft, troops and ships.

Charles Miranda - February 16, 2022

Military airstrips and bases providing a chain-link defence to Australia’s north are in for a multi-billion upgrade under a fast-tracked Australia-US drive to secure the Pacific region.

Strategic fuel and war-fighting ordinance storages, defence missile systems and base upgrade plans have been brought forward, with a Defence department review identifying security shortfalls.

China’s rapid expansionist ambitions in the region and supply chain challenges exposed by Covid-19 flagged vulnerabilities for both Australia’s national security and America’s war-fighting capabilities in the region.

That has now sparked a sense of urgency with a “credible chance” of armed conflict before the end of the decade, according to the latest Defence review.

A delegation led by US Indo-Pacific Command’s director for logistics and engineering Brigadier General Jered Helwig is currently inspecting military infrastructure in the Northern Territory and Queensland for “logistic opportunities”.

The US has already identified vulnerabilities around its major base in Guam, which is within missile range of China.

It is now looking at closer base-share arrangements in Australia, to park and service military hardware and, if needed, use as a forward operating base, as well as having a troop rotation above the current 2500 Marines here at any one time.

That’s more ships, aircraft and troops to visit.

The upgrades plan goes beyond those already known to be approved at RAAF Tindal and RAAF Darwin, where the US military is funding expansions, and Cocos Keeling Islands airport, which has also been approved for upgrade.

But also now the “bare bases” currently only in ad hoc use are being looked at to help form a chain-link defence effect to Australia’s north, including RAAF Scherger on Cape York Peninsula, RAAF Curtin in northwest WA and RAAF Learmonth on the North West Cape.

Even runway assets rarely used since World War II, such as Batchelor, 100km south of Darwin, have been reviewed by Defence, as have, more broadly, vehicle highways that could be used in the event of a conflict where an air base runway is damaged.

The ADF’s acting commander joint logistics command Brigadier Jason Walk said the US delegation visit would progress a commitment to establish “cooperative logistics, sustainment, and maintenance enterprises’’ in Australia.

“The Indo-Pacific Region is the priority theatre for the United States and working alongside Australia is critically important in this long-term partnership to achieve our collective goals of maintaining peace and stability in the region,” Brigadier General Helwig said.

Defence joint standing committee chair Senator David Fawcett welcomed the commitment to spend on the bases and the increased military interoperability with the US.

“The need has been recognised, funding has been allocated and Defence is working to making sure we have resilience capability,” he said.

“I am really pleased they are now talking about bare base resilience and looking at whether the bases are fit for purpose, I am pleased to see that development.”

Former Army major general turned senator Jim Molan has also long agitated for bare base upgrades.

“We have an obligation in this strategic environment to protect our major assets, which really are aircraft, ships and infrastructure such as communications and fuel,” he said.

“I think the fact the federal government’s allocating money to this and secondly receiving a US facilities and infrastructure group reflects how serious the government is taking the strategic future.”

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/military-air-bases-fast-tracked-for-upgrade-as-australia-joins-us-pacific-push/news-story/17f2466a23f6c0b6b5f37566b9e2cb48

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15648202 (170751ZFEB22) Notable: U.S. reassured of Australian alliance regardless of election outcome - Daniel Kritenbrink, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: U_S_Secretary_of_State_Antony_Blinken_Australian_Foreign_Minister_Marise_Payne_Indian_Foreign_Minister_Subrahmanyam_Jaishankar_and_Japanese_Foreign_Minister_Yoshimasa_Hayashi.jpg

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U.S. reassured of Australian alliance regardless of election outcome - U.S. official

Kirsty Needham - FEBRUARY 17, 2022

SYDNEY (Reuters) - The United States is confident its alliance with Australia “transcends politics” and would remain strong regardless of which party won the Australian election, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday.

With an election due by May, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has launched a political attack on opposition Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese over national security, claiming the ruling Liberal party will take a tougher stance than Labor on China. Security analysts have said there was no difference in the two parties’ policy on China.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Melbourne last week for a meeting of the Quad group of the United States, Australia, India and Japan. He also met separately with PM Morrison and Labor’s Albanese.

Daniel Kritenbrink, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said in a call with reporters that Blinken came away from the Australian meetings reassured.

“We came away reassured that these principles that we hold dear and our vitally important alliance transcends politics and any one party,” he said, in response to a question.

“We came away absolutely confident that whomever the Australian people select as their next leadership in the upcoming election, we are confident that the U.S.-Australia alliance will endure and remain as strong as ever.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-australia-politics-usa/u-s-reassured-of-australian-alliance-regardless-of-election-outcome-u-s-official-idUSKBN2KM09X

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15648206 (170755ZFEB22) Notable: UK pledges $34 mln to enhance security in Indo-Pacific as part of a pact with Australia, and leaders of both countries expressed "grave concerns" about China's policies in its far western region of Xinjiang, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Britain_s_Prime_Minister_Boris_Johnson_and_Australia_s_Prime_Minister_Scott_Morrison_walk_in_the_garden_of_10_Downing_Street_in_London_Britain_June_15_2021.jpg

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UK pledges $34 mln to enhance security in Indo-Pacific

Jahnavi Nidumolu - February 17, 2022

SYDNEY, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Britain committed 25 million pounds ($34 million) to strengthen security in the Indo-Pacific as part of a pact with Australia, and leaders of both countries expressed "grave concerns" about China's policies in its far western region of Xinjiang.

In a video call on Thursday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison also called for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and warned Russia against invading Ukraine.

"They agreed the need for de-escalation and underscored that any further Russian incursion in Ukraine would be a massive strategic mistake and have a stark humanitarian cost," the leaders said in a joint statement after their meeting.

The funds pledged to the Indo-Pacific security agreement would strengthen regional resilience in areas including cyberspace, state threats and maritime security, Morrison and Johnson said.

The bilateral talks come just a week after the so-called Quad group of Australia, the United States, Japan and India pledged to deepen cooperation to ensure the Indo-Pacific region was free from "coercion", a thinly veiled swipe at China's economic and military expansion.

Johnson and Morrison expressed "grave concerns about credible reports of human rights violations in Xinjiang, and called on China to protect the rights, freedoms and high degree of autonomy for Hong Kong."

The United States accuses China of genocide in its treatment of minority Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang and abuse including forced and prison labour. China denies the accusations.

China imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong in 2020, a move critics said undercut the greater freedoms promised under the "one country, two systems" framework agreed when the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

Morrison and Johnson also stressed "the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and expressed support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organisations."

China claims Taiwan as its own territory. Taiwan has complained about frequent incursions by China's air force into its air defence zone, part of what Taipei says is a pattern of harassment by Beijing.

The British and Australian leaders also stressed the importance of maritime rights and freedoms in the South China Sea, saying they were strongly opposed "to any unilateral actions that could escalate tensions and undermine regional stability and the international rules-based order, including militarisation, coercion, and intimidation."

($1 = 0.7364 pounds)

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk-sign-25-mln-stg-security-deal-with-australia-2022-02-16/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15648219 (170759ZFEB22) Notable: Visiting US General Charles Flynn, younger brother of President Donald Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, endorses Australia's new multi-billion-dollar American tanks, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Chief_of_Army_Rick_Burr_left_met_with_General_Charles_Flynn_right_during_his_visit_to_Australia.jpg, The_government_is_spending_billions_of_dollars_to_upgrade_Australia_s_tanks.jpg

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Visiting US General Charles Flynn endorses Australia's new multi-billion-dollar American tanks

Andrew Greene - 17 February 2022

One of America's most senior generals is strongly backing Australia's decision to spend billions of dollars on new army fighting vehicles and tanks, saying they will be crucial for any major future conflicts.

Commander of US Army Pacific General Charles Flynn has flown to Canberra, where he is promoting closer cooperation with like-minded nations such as Australia to provide a "powerful counterweight" to any threats posed by China in the region.

Last month, Defence Minister Peter Dutton confirmed $3.5 billion would be spent on more than 120 tanks and other armoured vehicles from the US, to upgrade Army's existing Abrams.

The federal government is soon also expected to unveil the winning design for the Australian Army's new Infantry fighting vehicles, worth between $18 billion and $27 billion.

As concerns grow over China's growing military might, some defence experts have questioned the need for such large spending programs on armoured vehicles, arguing the money could be better spent on more missiles, fighter aircraft and submarines.

Speaking alongside Australia's Army Chief, Lieutenant General Rick Burr, the visiting US General, argued strongly in favour of armoured land forces.

"I believe that in the future for a peer, or near-peer fight, that the impact of combined arms manoeuvre, particularly in dense urban areas, you're gonna want armour forces, you're gonna need tanks," General Flynn said.

He continued: "And so I think that combined arms manoeuvre of both over-the-shoulder attack aviation, light infantry, motorised infantry and armour forces are absolutely critical today, and they're going to be that way into the future."

The Australian Army Chief agreed modernisation of his armoured forces was crucial and interoperability with the United States was constantly improving.

"Armies operate on the land where people are aware — it's a complex environment, urban terrain, all sorts of terrain, and our troops need to be protected and our troops operate as part of a combined arms system," General Burr said.

"And the most protected and most lethal part of that system is the tank. So it's organic to that system so that you can operate in the most difficult areas and make sure our troops can achieve their mission."

As part of everything that we're doing there is an eye to what we call human-machine teaming — so robotics and autonomous systems working in conjunction with our manned systems to give us more scale, more mass, more effects over a broader area."

General Flynn, the younger brother of former president Donald Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, said he wanted to see closer cooperation with Australia and others in training exercises such as the biennial Talisman Sabre.

"Create opportunities for multiple countries to come together to again deepen our relationships, seek opportunities for interoperability and I think that that is a powerful counterweight to some of the destabilising activities that do happen in the region," he said.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-17/us-general-charles-flynn-endorse-new-tanks/100838958

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15648230 (170804ZFEB22) Notable: Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial told of ‘bullet in the head’ threat to ex-SAS soldier, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: An_ex_SAS_soldier_has_made_explosive_claims_at_Ben_Robert_Smith_s_defamation_trial.jpg, Ben_Roberts_Smith_subjected_the_soldier_to_poor_treatment_the_court_was_told.jpg

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>>121195

Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial told of ‘bullet in the head’ threat

RYAN YOUNG - FEBRUARY 17, 2022

1/2

Decorated Australian war hero Ben Roberts-Smith told a soldier if his performance did not improve he would “get a bullet in the back of the head”, a court has been told.

The ex-SAS soldier, who can only be referred to as Person 1 for legal reasons, made the claims at Mr Robert-Smith’s defamation trial, which continued in the Federal Court on Thursday.

A distinguished Victoria Cross recipient, Mr Roberts-Smith, 43, is suing Nine and its journalists over reports that he claims were defamatory because they alleged he committed war crimes and murders in Afghanistan between 2006 and 2012.

When questioned by Nine’s barrister Nicholas Owens SC, Person 1 said Mr Roberts-Smith was among a group of soldiers who subjected him to poor treatment.

“Members of the team would make disparaging remarks to me about my lack of experience,” Person 1 told the court.

“There certainly was a negative attitude towards me … I was from a reserve background and the rest of the members were from an army background with significantly more experience than me.”

When Person 1 and Mr Roberts-Smith were undertaking training at Lancelin, north of Perth, before being deployed to Afghanistan, the court was told of multiple alleged slapping incidents.

“I was driving … on a regular basis, as we would drive over the rocky off-road terrain. If I hit something, a rather large bump, the applicant (Mr Roberts-Smith) would reach down and slap me across the back of the head,” Person 1 said.

“The applicant said to me that he didn’t think I had the required skills or ability to deploy to Afghanistan with the task group.

“He also said that he was gonna (sic) do everything he could within his power to have me removed from the team and to get one of his colleagues to replace me.”

Mr Roberts-Smith’s barrister, Bruce McClintock SC, objected to numerous questions Mr Owens put to Person 1, claiming they were not previously put to Mr Roberts-Smith when he was in the witness box last year.

Despite the objections, Justice Anthony Besanko allowed most of the questions to be asked.

Person 1 recalled an incident while serving alongside Mr Roberts-Smith in Afghanistan’s Chora Valley in 2006.

Person 1 said while manning an observation post involving secret surveillance, a man aged about 15 to 20 was spotted coming out from behind nearby rocks.

“He was a male, he had facial hair and he was wearing the traditional Afghan dress,” Person 1 said.

“He was just walking. I observed he had a satchel bag … I didn’t observe it the first time he walked across, I only observed it the second time.”

Person 1 said the Afghani man did not appear to have a weapon and because an observation post (OP) was being manned, “the idea was to not compromise yourself” by engaging in unnecessary conflict that could expose the OP.

Afterwards, the court was told that Sergeant Matthew Locke, who was second in command of the mission and died while serving in 2007, and Mr Roberts-Smith “engaged” the individual.

“I heard the shots from their engagement,” Person 1 said.

“He (Sergeant Locke) mentioned that when they engaged the individual he had some sort of device on him … they didn’t know whether it was a flair or smoke.”

No smoke or flair was observed by Person 1, the court was told.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15648246 (170812ZFEB22) Notable: British Home Secretary Priti Patel hires Australia's Alexander Downer, ex-minister for Foreign Affairs, in bid to help solve UK Border crisis, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Priti_Patel_pictured_will_announce_today_that_Alexander_Downer_ex_minister_for_foreign_affairs_Down_Under_will_carry_out_a_thorough_review_of_the_UK_Border_Force.jpg, Mr_Downer_pictured_who_played_a_key_role_in_Australia_s_controversial_asylum_seeker_pushback_policy_will_look_at_the_influence_of_unions_over_the_agency_s_effectiveness.jpg, Migrants_land_in_RNLI_lifeboat_in_Dungeness_Kent_last_year.jpg

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Priti Patel hires Australia's migrant guru in bid to help solve Channel crisis

DAVID BARRETT - 17 February 2022

A former minister who played a key role in Australia's controversial asylum seeker 'pushback' policy has been hired to shake up Britain's border measures.

Priti Patel will announce today that Alexander Downer, ex-minister for foreign affairs Down Under, will carry out a thorough review of the UK Border Force.

His remit will include looking at the influence of unions over the agency's effectiveness.

It comes after the union that represents the majority of Border Force staff joined forces with a migrant charity to launch a legal challenge against Miss Patel's plans to turn Channel boats back to France.

It is understood that Mr Downer will cover all of Border Force's work – including immigration checks at ports and airports, counter-smuggling operations as well as dealing with asylum claims.

His report will be due within months, and is expected to influence ministers' decisions on the next stages of immigration reform. It opens the possibility of a complete overhaul of Border Force.

Proposals could include a merger with a separate Home Office agency – Immigration Enforcement – which deals with foreign criminals, visa-breakers and organised crime gangs.

The Home Secretary's appointment of Mr Downer will be controversial because he has been a leading advocate of Australia's long-standing policy of blocking asylum seekers' boats off its coastline.

Introduced in 2001, it sees boats from Indonesia and other Pacific islands stopped at sea, refuelled and redirected away from Australian shores.

Last September Mr Downer, writing in the Daily Mail, said: 'Priti Patel has been widely ridiculed on both sides of the Channel for suggesting that boats carrying migrants be physically 'pushed back' towards the French coast.

'Yet, from my experience as Australia's former minister for foreign affairs, I know that a 'pushback' policy can work.'

He set out how Australia took 'direct action' during its own migrant crisis, intercepting vessels and deploying naval forces to turn them away.

'As word spread around Indonesia that we were determined to stamp out the trafficking, it soon stemmed the numbers,' he wrote.

'I see no reason why this cannot be done in the Channel.

'My advice to Miss Patel would be to introduce the 'pushback' policy without fanfare, and to keep the French informed on a need-to-know basis only.'

Australia has conducted its turn-back policy for most of the last two decades.

Initially called the Pacific Solution, it was dropped by the country's Labour government in 2008 but later re-introduced after a series of migrant boat disasters.

Since 2013 it has been codenamed Operation Sovereign Borders.

Mr Downer, 70, was the Liberal Party's minister for foreign affairs – Australia's equivalent of the Foreign Secretary – under Australian prime minister John Howard from 1996 to 2007.

He was also Australia's High Commissioner to the UK from 2014 to 2018.

Concern over trade union opposition to Miss Patel's immigration plans came to a head last month when the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) joined forces with migrant charity Care4Calais to launch a judicial review of her Channel pushback proposals.

The PCS described the powers, which are currently going through Parliament, as 'morally reprehensible'.

Its general secretary Mark Serwotka said at the time that his organisation 'strongly opposes this policy, on moral and humanitarian grounds, and we will not rule out industrial action to prevent it being carried out'.

The legal challenge is yet to be heard. Last year more than 28,300 migrants reached Britain from northern France – triple the total in 2020.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10520925/Priti-Patel-hires-Australias-migrant-guru-bid-help-solve-Channel-crisis.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15656287 (181027ZFEB22) Notable: Australia intends to list Hamas as terrorist organisation - Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Australian_Minister_for_Home_Affairs_Karen_Andrews_and_U_S_Attorney_General_Merrick_Garland_not_pictured_announce_a_landmark_new_law_enforcement_partnership_at_the_U_S_Department_of_Justice_in_Washington.jpg

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Australia intends to list Hamas as terrorist organisation

John Mair, Ari Rabinovitch and Nidal al-Mughrabi - February 17, 2022

SYDNEY, Feb 17 (Reuters) - The Australian government intends to list the entirety of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas as a terrorist organisation under the country's criminal code, Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said on Thursday.

A listing by Australia of the whole group, rather than just its military wing as at present, would bring Canberra's stance in line with the United States, the European Union and Britain.

"The views of Hamas and the violent extremist groups listed today are deeply disturbing and there is no place in Australia for their hateful ideologies," Andrews said in a statement.

Andrews said she had written to Australia's state and territory leaders to consult with them on listing the whole of Hamas, "and will finalise the listing as soon as possible".

Hamas has political and military wings. It has ruled the Gaza Strip since a brief civil war in 2007 when it expelled forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas remains dominant in Palestinian self-ruled areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem condemned the Australian decision as biased in favour of Israel.

"The occupation, which deliberately targets Palestinians everywhere, and violates international and humanitarian laws, is the party that must be classified as a terrorist entity,” he said.

Hamas was founded in 1987 and opposes the existence of Israel and peace talks, instead advocating "armed resistance" against Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

"I welcome the news that Australia will list Hamas as a terrorist organization in its entirety," Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a statement, thanking Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison for the move.

Currently the military wing of Hamas, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, is on Australia's list of terrorist organisations.

Andrews said Australia had newly listed three other groups as terrorist organisations - Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham and Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, which are based in Syria, and the Nationalist Socialist Order, a group based in the United States.

Another four Islamist militant groups - the Abu Sayyaf Group, al Qaeda, al Qaeda in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb, and Jemaah Islamiyah -have been relisted under the code, she said.

https://www.reuters.com/world/australia-intends-list-hamas-terrorist-organisation-2022-02-17/

https://www.nationalsecurity.gov.au/what-australia-is-doing/terrorist-organisations/listed-terrorist-organisations

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15656298 (181033ZFEB22) Notable: Soldier tells court he didn't 'fabricate' Ben Roberts-Smith death threats, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: A_former_colleague_of_soldier_Ben_Roberts_Smith_has_denied_fabricating_threats_and_bullying_claims.jpg, Victoria_Cross_recipient_Ben_Roberts_Smith_was_accused_of_war_crimes_in_the_news_articles.jpg, Ben_Robert_Smith_s_barrister_Bruce_McClintock_SC.jpg

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>>121195

Soldier tells court he didn't 'fabricate' Ben Roberts-Smith death threats

Jamie McKinnell - 18 February 2022

An elite soldier who's told a Sydney court decorated war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith bullied him for years has denied blaming others to avoid confronting his own failings.

Codenamed Person 1, the witness was called by publisher Nine Entertainment in its defence of Mr Roberts-Smith's Federal Court defamation case over 2018 newspaper articles.

The Victoria Cross recipient claims the articles included false allegations of bullying of his Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) colleagues, unlawful killings in Afghanistan and domestic violence.

Person 1 has claimed Mr Roberts-Smith twice threatened to kill him, including during a 2006 deployment where he said words to the effect of: "If your performance doesn't improve on the next patrol, you're gonna get a bullet in the back of the head."

The soldier accepted the "elementary" and "basic" mistake of forgetting machine gun oil during a June 2006 mission in the Chora Valley put the lives of his entire team at risk due to weapon stoppages while under enemy attack.

Under cross-examination, Mr Roberts-Smith's barrister Bruce McClintock SC today highlighted assessments from three of Person 1's senior colleagues in 2006 that suggested he be removed from the patrol for his own safety and that of others.

Those criticisms "must have had a devastating effect", Mr McClintock suggested.

"I don't recall my feelings after reading these reports," Person 1 replied.

Mr McClintock said those colleagues, including the late Sergeant Matt Locke, had "justifiable doubts" about going on patrol with him after the Chora Valley mission.

Person 1 agreed, further accepting Mr Roberts-Smith might not have wanted to be in a position where the witness would put his life at risk again.

But he denied he'd come up with bullying allegations against Mr Roberts-Smith and two others to deal with the assessments.

"You couldn't confront the reality of your failings and you tried to blame them on other people," Mr McClintock said.

"That's incorrect," Person 1 replied, adding that he had taken accountability.

Mr McClintock showed the witness a 2013 statement he wrote raising the bullying allegations about Mr Roberts-Smith, which did not record the specific "bullet in your head" phrase Person 1 has attributed to the veteran.

"The encounter is listed, but the words specifically used weren't," Person 1 said.

The document recorded that Mr Roberts-Smith had "burst" into a team room one day and accused Person 1 of not being up to his standard for the SAS.

It recorded Mr Roberts-Smith as saying "on the next job I may get shot if my performance doesn't improve".

Mr McClintock put it to Person 1 that Mr Roberts-Smith's comment was consistent with a warning that Person 1 may be shot by the enemy.

"My client never said anything to you beyond 'if you don't improve you're going to be in trouble out there and you'll be in danger'," he said.

Person 1 disagreed and denied "fabricating" the alleged death threat.

Mr McClintock suggested things Mr Roberts-Smith said to the witness in 2006 were no more than expressions of professional opinion that Person 1 had failings as a soldier at that time.

"It's absurd to characterise any of the things my client said as genuine death threats," the barrister said.

"That's incorrect," Person 1 replied.

The trial, before Justice Anthony Besanko, will continue on Monday.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-18/ben-roberts-smith-sas-soldier-denies-fabricating-bullying-claims/100843002

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15656325 (181047ZFEB22) Notable: GT Voice: UK, Australia geopolitical gimmicks for Indo-Pacific unwelcome - Global Times - globaltimes.cn, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: US_President_Joe_Biden_participates_in_a_virtual_press_conference_on_national_security_in_the_White_House_in_Washington_DC.jpg

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>>121221

GT Voice: UK, Australia geopolitical gimmicks for Indo-Pacific unwelcome

Global Times - Feb 17, 2022

In a joint statement issued on Thursday after a video call between British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison, the UK announced plans to commit 25 million pounds ($34 million) to strengthen regional resilience in areas including cyberspace, state threats and maritime security in the Indo-Pacific.

It remains vague as to what exactly the UK and Australia intend to do in the Indo-Pacific region with such a plan. If they are interested in participating in the development of network infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific, the funds the UK announced is clearly far from sufficient to support any major project. More importantly, Australia and the UK do not have much of an advantage in the development of network technology, particularly 5G, and they cannot provide any hardware support. That makes it untenable that they are actually aiming to help develop network infrastructure in the region.

A more plausible motive behind such a move is their ill-advised intention to blindly follow the US in the latter's containment strategy against China, which is in line with the two countries' previous attempts with the US. Both the UK and Australia are members of the US-led trilateral security partnership called AUKUS, which supports Australia's stated goal of acquiring nuclear-powered submarines, among other things.

The UK's $34 million pledge might be another step related to the trilateral partnership; however, the figure is completely overshadowed by Australia's commitment under AUKUS, and the future of the AUKUS may depend on how long Australia is willing to pay for the geopolitical confrontation game.

It is increasingly annoying to see the UK and Australia constantly roll out ideological gimmicks in the Indo-Pacific region. While they can do no harm to China's development and the vast majority of regional countries know clearly that it is in their best interests to strengthen cooperation with China and avoid US-led confrontation, this kind of geopolitical tensions hyped by the West is still detrimental to the peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.

From the UK's point of view, if the British government really sees the Indo-Pacific as a focal point of its Global Britain vision, its Brexit development strategy, it should take the role they play in the region carefully and seriously. Serving as a potential partner or a pawn for the US to trigger regional conflicts will only lead to undesirable results and will certainly not bring any development opportunities to the UK.

In terms of regional network infrastructure, which is still in the stage of construction, if developed countries like the UK and Australia have an interest in supporting such construction in the Indo-Pacific, regional countries will certainly welcome the investment. Of course, the premises are that their participation in network infrastructure construction is aimed at promoting regional cooperation, not instigating confrontation.

As for China, it is important to point out that there is no way that the UK and Australia can completely separate China from the development of Indo-Pacific internet network infrastructure and cybersecurity, given that the Chinese economy is already inextricably linked to other Indo-Pacific economies.

In this sense, if the UK and Australia want to use cybersecurity as a pretext to create a split in network construction in the Indo-Pacific region, they will only become unwelcome players that threaten regional stability and economic development.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202202/1252537.shtml

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15656336 (181055ZFEB22) Notable: AFP uncovers suspected Chinese spy’s alleged plot to smuggle military equipment - Chinese-born Gold Coast accountant Kim Bowei Lee and Russian-born Brisbane entrepreneur Alexander Cher charged with contraventions of Australia’s Defence Trade Control Act, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Alleged_Chinese_intelligence_operative_Brian_Chen.jpg, Alexander_Cher_outside_court_on_Friday.jpg

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>>121172

>>121208

AFP uncovers suspected Chinese spy’s alleged plot to smuggle military equipment

Nick McKenzie and Cloe Read - February 18, 2022

1/2

Australian police have disrupted an alleged plot by two Queensland-based businessmen to traffic military hardware from Russia to China, a small part of what sources have revealed is a broader investigation into a suspected Chinese Communist Party spy network with ties to a relative of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The Australian parliament was this week roiled by disputed allegations of Chinese influence, and on Friday the Queensland Magistrates Court heard that Chinese-born Gold Coast accountant Kim Bowei Lee, 64, and Russian-born Brisbane entrepreneur Alexander Cher, 63, had been charged with contraventions of Australia’s Defence Trade Control Act.

Multiple official sources, who are not authorised to speak publicly, say the charges had spun out of a broader ASIO investigation into an alleged Chinese spy network operating in Australia. Members of that alleged network were detected as early as August 2016 when Australian officials intercepted an unusual private jet flight, organised by an Australian casino, from the Gold Coast to New Zealand.

Mr Lee was one of six passengers on the flight. Among the others were president Xi’s cousin, Ming Chai, a Melbourne organised crime boss and casino junket operator Tom “Mr Chinatown” Zhou, and another figure suspected to be linked to Chinese intelligence.

The Magistrates Court in Brisbane heard on Friday that Mr Lee and Mr Cher were accused of partnering with another Chinese national and former Melbourne businessman Brian Chen, who is now in hiding overseas and subject of an Interpol red notice.

One official source, who has been briefed by ASIO, described Mr Chen as a Chinese military intelligence operative “who travels the world as a spy”. An ASIO informant claimed two years ago that Mr Chen had sought to plant an operative, Nick Zhao, a member of the Victorian Liberal Party, in a seat in Federal Parliament.

ASIO officers quizzed Mr Chen in March 2019 at Melbourne Airport but he was then allowed to depart Australia.

The charges Mr Lee and Mr Cher face are simply that they are accused of illegally brokering the supply of defence goods. There is no suggestion they are involved in espionage activity or any other criminality and the charges are yet to be tested in court.

Court documents allege that between January 9, 2018, and July 27, 2018, the two men “arranged for another person to supply goods which were listed in part 1 of the Defence and Strategic Goods list from the Russian Federation to the People’s Republic of China”.

Mr Cher, a Russian émigré who has run a string of companies in Queensland and NSW, was charged last week by detectives and released on bail after a short court appearance. He must not leave Australia and must report to authorities twice a week. When called for comment on Friday morning, Mr Cher said : “I can’t talk now. Call me later,” before hanging up.

According to business and property records, Mr Cher’s first venture in Australia was an agriculture company he founded in Bronte in 1996. In the late 1990s, he moved to Queensland, shortened his name from Alexander Tcherkezov to Alex Cher and launched a string of companies in the property, construction and maritime sector part-financed by businessmen from Russia and Ukraine. Mr Cher also worked as a federal government-licensed migration agent, running a business called Nita International that helped Russians get visas or residency in Australia.

According to court documents, Mr Lee was released last week on bail in connection to the alleged military equipment smuggling plot.

In a statement, the federal police confirmed that a “64-year-old Gold Coast man and a 63-year-old Brisbane man have been charged with arranging to supply [military] goods.”

The AFP statement didn’t name Mr Chen, but referred instead to an unnamed “59-year-old Chinese national, currently believed to be residing overseas” and who was the subject of an arrest warrant.

This masthead has confirmed that the case against the pair and Mr Chen grew out of a much broader probe by ASIO into Chinese intelligence operations and Chinese organised crime activities in Australia. That broader probe does not involve Mr Cher or Mr Lee.

Multiple federal and state sources with knowledge of the intelligence investigations said that by 2019, ASIO had begun mapping an overlapping and opaque network of Chinese Communist Party linked businessmen, money launderers and intelligence operatives.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15664466 (190840ZFEB22) Notable: Video: Victoria set to open purpose-built quarantine hub - 9 News Australia

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>>121233

Victoria set to open purpose-built quarantine hub

9 News Australia

Feb 19, 2022

Victoria's purpose-built COVID-19 quarantine facility in Melbourne’s north will accept unvaccinated international travellers from Monday. Offering guests access to fresh air, the new isolation hub will mitigate many of the challenges posed by the trouble-plagued hotel system.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WenUo0YBshE

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15665139 (191351ZFEB22) Notable: Chinese navy ship accused of ‘unsafe’ act after pointing laser at Australian defence aircraft, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: A_Chinese_vessel_has_directed_pointed_a_laser_at_an_Australian_defence_aircraft_the_Australian_Defence_Force_says.jpg, A_RAAF_reconnaissance_photo_of_a_People_s_Liberation_Army_Navy_Luyang_class_guided_missile_destroyer_involved_in_a_lasing_incident_with_an_RAAF_P_8A_Poseidon_maritime_patrol_aircraft.jpg, A_PLA_N_Yuzhao_class_amphibious_transport_dock_vessel_in_the_Torres_Strait_on_Friday.jpg

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Chinese navy ship accused of ‘unsafe’ act after pointing laser at Australian defence aircraft

MELISSA IARIA - FEBRUARY 19, 2022

A Chinese navy ship has used a laser on an Australian defence aircraft in flight, in what has been described as a “serious safety incident” that vindicates concern about the increased military presence close to Australia.

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) said the Australian aircraft detected the laser coming from a Chinese vessel on Thursday while it was flying along Australia’s northern approaches.

“Acts like this have the potential to endanger lives,” the ADF said in a statement on Saturday night.

The Chinese vessel, in company with another People’s Liberation Army – Navy (PLA-N) ship, was sailing east through the Arafura Sea, located between northern Australia and Western New Guinea, at the time of the incident.

The Luyang-class guided missile destroyer, which is armed with surface-to-air missiles, was travelling with a Yuzhao-class amphibious transport dock.

The ADF said its P-8A Poseidon detected a laser illuminating the aircraft while in flight over Australia’s northern approaches on February 17.

“The laser was detected as emanating from a People’s Liberation Army – Navy (PLA-N) vessel,” the ADF said in a statement.

“Illumination of the aircraft by the Chinese vessel is a serious safety incident.”

The head of Australian National University’s National Security College, Professor Rory Medcalf said that the incident raised “ important international security questions and vindicates concern about increasing presence of Chinese military close to Australia”.

“Would Chinese forces have reacted with such restraint if a foreign navy had committed this dangerous act in China’s maritime approaches?” he tweeted.

ABC defence correspondent Andrew Greene noted in a tweet that ADF assets had been increasingly targeted like this in recent years, but “this incident occurred very close to the Australian coast (inside EEZ) and involved a military vessel and military grade laser which had capability to take out aircraft sensors”.

The ADF condemned the actions as “unprofessional and unsafe” military conduct.

“These actions could have endangered the safety and lives of the ADF personnel,” it said.

“Such actions are not in keeping with the standards we expect of professional militaries.

“We strongly condemn unprofessional and unsafe military conduct.”

The vessel and the other PLA-N ship it was travelling in company with have since transited through the Torres Strait and are in the Coral Sea, the ADF said.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/breaking-news/chinese-navy-ship-accused-of-unsafe-act-over-lasing-of-adf-plane/news-story/57db190ed8495acf78a977c487df1f32

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15665146 (191353ZFEB22) Notable: Australian Government Department of Defence - Chinese vessel lasing ADF aircraft - "Defence can confirm that on 17 February 2022, a P-8A Poseidon detected a laser illuminating the aircraft while in flight over Australia’s northern approaches.", MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Chinese_vessel_lasing_ADF_a.jpg, A_Headquarters_Joint_Operations_Command_storyboard_depicting_the_movements_of_a_PLA_N_Luyang_class_guided_missile_destroyer_and_a_PLA_N_Yuzhao_class_amphibious_transport_dock_vessel.jpg, A_PLA_N_Luyang_class_guided_missile_destroyer_left_and_a_PLA_N_Yuzhao_class_amphibious_transport_dock_vessel_leave_the_Torres_Strait_and_enter_the_Coral_Sea_on_18_February_2022.jpg, A_PLA_N_Luyang_class_guided_missile_destroyer_leaves_the_Torres_Strait_and_enters_the_Coral_Sea_on_18_February_2022.jpg, A_PLA_N_Yuzhao_class_amphibious_transport_dock_vessel_transits_the_Torres_Strait_on_18_February_2022.jpg

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>>121235

Australian Government Department of Defence

Chinese vessel lasing ADF aircraft

19 February 2022

Defence can confirm that on 17 February 2022, a P-8A Poseidon detected a laser illuminating the aircraft while in flight over Australia’s northern approaches.

The laser was detected as emanating from a People’s Liberation Army – Navy (PLA-N) vessel. Illumination of the aircraft by the Chinese vessel is a serious safety incident.

Acts like this have the potential to endanger lives.

We strongly condemn unprofessional and unsafe military conduct.

These actions could have endangered the safety and lives of the ADF personnel.

Such actions are not in keeping with the standards we expect of professional militaries.

The vessel, in company with another PLA-N ship, was sailing east through the Arafura Sea at the time of the incident. Both ships have since transited through the Torres Strait and are in the Coral Sea.

Media Note

Imagery is available here: https://images.defence.gov.au/S20220361

https://news.defence.gov.au/media/media-releases/chinese-vessel-lasing-adf-aircraft

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15671368 (200345ZFEB22) Notable: Australia accuses China of 'act of intimidation' after laser aimed at aircraft, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Australian_Prime_Minister_Scott_Morrison_speaks_to_the_media_at_Melbourne_Commonwealth_Parliament_Office_in_Melbourne_Australia_February_11_2022.jpg

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>>121235

Australia accuses China of 'act of intimidation' after laser aimed at aircraft

Lidia Kelly - February 20, 2022

MELBOURNE, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison accused Beijing of an 'act of intimidation' after a Chinese navy vessel directed a laser at an Australian military surveillance aircraft last week.

A P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft was illuminated on Thursday while flying over Australia's northern approaches by a laser from a People's Liberation Army–Navy (PLA-N) vessel, potentially endangering lives, the defence department said.

Morrison said his government will demand answers from Beijing.

"I can see it no other way than an act of intimidation, one (...) unprovoked, unwarranted," Morrison said at a briefing. "And Australia will never accept such acts of intimidation."

Defence Minister Peter Dutton called the incident "a very aggressive act" that took place in Australia's exclusive economic zone.

"I think the Chinese government is hoping that nobody talks about these aggressive bullying acts," Dutton told Sky News television. "We're seeing different forms of it right across the region and in many parts of the world."

The Chinese vessel was sailing east with another PLA-N ship through the Arafura Sea at the time of the incident, the department said. The sea lies between the north coast of Australia and the south coast of New Guinea.

Relations between Australia and China, its top trade partner, soured after Canberra banned Huawei Technologies Co Ltd from its 5G broadband network in 2018, toughened laws against foreign political interference, and urged an independent investigation into the origins of COVID-19.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/australia-accuses-china-act-intimidation-after-laser-aimed-aircraft-2022-02-19/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15671396 (200348ZFEB22) Notable: 'Very aggressive act': Defence Minister Peter Dutton calls out Chinese warship targeting RAAF aircraft - Sky News Australia

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>>121235

'Very aggressive act': Dutton calls out Chinese warship targeting RAAF aircraft

Sky News Australia

Feb 20, 2022

China's "very aggressive act" needs to be explained after one of its warships sailing within Australia's exclusive economic zone shone a military-grade laser at a RAAF aircraft, says Defence Minister Peter Dutton.

The Australian Defence Force accused a Chinese warship sailing in Northern waters of firing a military-grade laser at a RAAF P-8 Poseidon aircraft – which had been monitoring it from above.

The incident reportedly happened on Thursday morning as the Chinese destroyer was sailing through the Arafura Sea – which is within international waters – but inside Australia’s exclusive economic zone.

"It's a very aggressive act and that's why it's right that we call it out," Mr Dutton said.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxjk3jiuR10

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15672473 (200850ZFEB22) Notable: Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw vows to ramp up enforcement action against protesters inciting violence, even if not committing it themselves, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Police_are_concerned_about_the_calls_for_violence_that_have_occurred_during_the_Convoy_to_Canberra_protests.jpg, AFP_Commissioner_Reece_Kershaw_says_those_who_incite_violence_could_face_prosecution.jpg, Riccardo_Bosi_has_come_to_authorities_attention.jpg

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Australian police cracking down on protesters who try to incite violence

STEPHEN RICE - FEBRUARY 20, 2022

Protest leaders who have called for the execution of politicians and other public officials will be targeted for prosecution as federal and state police forces change tactics and crack down on incitements to violence, in a bid to avert a feared “lone wolf” terror attack.

Police are expected to charge high-profile leaders of the “freedom” movement with incitement to commit offences of violence and deprivation of liberty, following explicit death threats to MPs, state premiers and other officials.

In one recent case, a prominent leader of the Convoy to Canberra protests publicly called for Foreign Minister Marise Payne to be hanged by a wire cable.

In Western Australia, police have already charged a leader of the so-called Sovereign Citizen movement who threatened Premier Mark McGowan, under rarely used incitement provisions.

Counter-terrorism authorities have been reluctant to use incitement laws for fear of provoking further violence from extremists but now believe that risk is outweighed by the threat of an attack by an unbalanced individual spurred on by others.

ASIO boss Mike Burgess last week warned that the greatest ­security threat facing the nation was from conspiracy theory ­extremists and anti-government “sovereign citizens” who did not fit on the traditional left-right spectrum.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw last week vowed to ramp up enforcement action against those inciting violence, even if not committing it themselves.

“Where disinformation reaches a criminal threshold – particularly where it urges or advocates violence – the AFP will be exercising the full force of its powers,” he said. Mr Kershaw told a parliamentary inquiry the AFP was very concerned about the risks to MPs and their staff, noting the murder of British MP Sir David Amess four months ago.

Risk assessments for MPs would be “a growth part of our business”, he said, pointing to more than 20 arrests at the Canberra protests, including that of a Sovereign Citizen leader found with what police allege was a loaded sawn-off rifle and plans of Parliament House in his truck.

Sovereign Citizens believe they – not politicians, judges or police – should decide which laws to obey and which to ignore.

Among those being monitored is an ex-SAS officer, Riccardo Bosi, who has figured prominently in the Convoy to Canberra ­protests, often dressed in military fatigues.

Mr Bosi, who leads the unregistered AustraliaOne Party and has more than 40,000 followers on Telegram, has called several times for politicians and others to be charged with treason and hanged.

In one recent video, he made vile remarks about Senator Payne.

“That bloated cow … if we hang her … we’re going to have to get an arrestor cable off an aircraft ­carrier to suspend the weight,” he said.

Mr Bosi has openly called for the execution of media figures ranging from Sky’s Peta Credlin and Andrew Bolt to the ABC’s Ita Buttrose for their alleged roles in protecting pedophiles.

“Watch them hang by their necks till they’re dead … we’ll draw a lottery to see who gets to pull the lever,” he said in one obscenity-filled rant.

State Security Investigation Group officers in Western Australia last week charged Sovereign Citizen and former policeman Wayne Glew after he allegedly posted videos inciting others to ­arrest government ministers including Mr McGowan.

The videos also allegedly threatened those who “guard” Mr McGowan.

Two other people have been charged with impersonating commonwealth public officials after they allegedly sent “arrest warrants” to government ministers.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/australian-police-cracking-down-on-protesters-who-try-to-incite-violence/news-story/0f3daeacbcb9917ade7aadfafc63acb0

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15680374 (210617ZFEB22) Notable: Beijing claims RAAF plane ‘flew’ too close to laser ship, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: A_People_s_Liberation_Army_Navy_Luyang_class_guided_missile_destroyer_which_was_involved_in_a_lasing_incident_with_an_RAAF_P_8A_Poseidon_maritime_patrol_aircraft.jpg

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>>121235

Beijing claims RAAF plane ‘flew’ too close to laser ship

BEN PACKHAM - FEBRUARY 21, 2022

China has accused Australia of “throwing mud” over its targeting of an RAAF surveillance plane with a laser rangefinder, accusing the aircraft of flying too close to its navy ships.

Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece, The Global Times, quoted military expert Song Zhongping, who claimed it was “almost certain” that the Australian P-8A aircraft was too close to the Chinese warships.

He told the paper that Australia failed to tell the public how close its aircraft flew near the Chinese vessels, “so people could not tell if the Chinese vessels were forced to take defensive countermeasures”.

The action, which occurred in Australia’s exclusive economic zone last Thursday while the aircraft was carrying out surveillance duties in the Arafura Sea, put the lives of up to 10 defence force members in danger and has sparked concern about China’s rising influence in the region.

The Global Times also played down the use of the laser, saying almost all modern warships were equipped with similar rangefinder devices.

“They are also used for civilian purposes and are of little danger,” the paper said, quoting an unnamed expert.

Scott Morrison condemned the incident in the Torres Strait, demanding answers from Beijing.

“This is completely unacceptable and so we have demanded there be an investigation on the behaviour of what occurred on the vessel,” he said on Monday.

“It was dangerous, it was reckless and it was unprofessional for what should be a sophisticated navy.”

The Global Times said the reaction was “an attempt to throw mud at China when the PLA has been sending assistance to other countries in the region like Tonga and the Solomon Islands”.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/defence/beijing-claims-raaf-plane-flew-too-close-to-laser-ship/news-story/670a96f18528e4ddc575aa8198b0c131

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15680380 (210618ZFEB22) Notable: Australia's accusation of PLA vessel's laser deployment 'false mud-throwing at China' - Liu Xuanzun and Guo Yuandan - globaltimes.cn, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: The_amphibious_dock_landing_ships_Wuzhishan_Hull_987_Kunlunshan_Hull_998_and_Changbaishan_Hull_989_.jpg

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>>121240

Australia's accusation of PLA vessel's laser deployment 'false mud-throwing at China'

Liu Xuanzun and Guo Yuandan - Feb 21, 2022

Australia on Saturday accused a Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy flotilla of aiming at laser at an Australian patrol aircraft, calling the move "unsafe," but this only exposes the Australian aircraft's unsafe, provocative close-in reconnaissance on the Chinese ships in the first place, and it is an attempt to throw mud at China when the PLA has been sending assistance to other countries in the region like Tonga and the Solomon Islands, helping them overcome disaster and epidemic, experts said on Sunday.

An Australian P-8A maritime patrol aircraft detected a laser emanating from one of the two PLA Navy vessels, illuminating the aircraft while in flight over Australia's northern approaches on Thursday, Australia's Department of Defense said in a press release on Saturday.

The Australian press release accused the illumination as a serious safety incident, saying the move was "unprofessional and unsafe," and "could have endangered the safety and lives of the Australian personnel."

The two PLA Navy vessels are the Type 052D destroyer Hefei and the Type 071 amphibious landing ship the Jinggangshan, according to images released by the Australian Defense Department, which also shows that the ships were sailing in international waters.

They were sailing east through the Arafura Sea at the time of the incident, and have since transited through the Torres Strait and are in the Coral Sea, the press release said.

It is almost certain that it was the Australian patrol aircraft that conducted a close-in reconnaissance on the Chinese warships first, Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Australia failed to tell the public how close its aircraft flew near the Chinese vessels, so people could not tell if the Chinese vessels were forced to take defensive countermeasures, Song said.

Almost all modern warships are equipped with laser rangefinders, which are a type of measurement tool used to tell distances between objects, an analyst close to the PLA who requested anonymity told the Global Times on Sunday.

They are also used for civilian purposes and are of little danger, the anonymous analyst said, noting that the Australian military knowingly hyped this with the aim of throwing mud at China.

PLA aircraft and vessels have been frequent visitors to the South Pacific recently, as they sent supplies to Tonga for disaster relief and to the Solomon Islands for anti-epidemic efforts.

On January 28, two Y-20 large transport aircraft of the PLA Air Force arrived in Tonga, delivering 33 tons of supplies including food, fresh water, water purifiers and tents to the South Pacific nation, helping it overcome the devastating volcanic eruption and subsequent tsunami.

On Tuesday, the second batch of disaster relief weighing 1,400 tons arrived in Tonga via the Type 071 amphibious landing ship Wuzhishan and the Type 901 comprehensive supply ship Chaganhu.

A PLA Air Force Y-20 transport aircraft on Friday arrived in the Solomon Islands, bringing Chinese anti-epidemic supplies including test kits and oxygen generators weighing over 20 tons, as the country faces a growing number of COVID-19 cases.

Australia does not like China providing concrete benefits to other countries near Australia, so it is finding all ways to discredit China, analysts said.

In the meantime, Australia's largest warship, the HMAS Adelaide, suffered significant power failures when conducting humanitarian operations to Tonga.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202202/1252720.shtml

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15680385 (210620ZFEB22) Notable: video: Global Times torches Australia for trying to ‘throw mud’ at China - Sky News Australia

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>>121240

Global Times torches Australia for trying to ‘throw mud’ at China

Sky News Australia

Feb 21, 2022

China’s mouthpiece ‘The Global Times’ has accused Australia of attempting to “throw mud” at the country following Canberra’s anger over a Chinese warship pointing a laser at an Australian military plane.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HxOE3Ho-tI

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15680454 (210632ZFEB22) Notable: US military asset to be linked to controversial Port of Darwin via fuel pipeline - Northern Territory East Arm fuel storage facility, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: The_former_Country_Liberal_Party_government_leased_the_port_in_2015.jpg, Kimberley_Kitching_flagged_strategic_concerns_with_the_US_pipeline_into_the_Port_of_Darwin.jpg

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US military asset to be linked to controversial Port of Darwin via fuel pipeline

Henry Belot - 21 February 2022

A US military asset currently under construction will be linked via a fuel pipeline to the controversial Port of Darwin, raising more national security concerns about the wharf controlled by Chinese company Landbridge.

Work on the $270 million East Arm fuel storage facility began last month and, by late next year, it is expected to be able to hold 300 million litres of fuel, supporting the expansion of American military presence in the Northern Territory and Indo-Pacific.

The previously unreported link comes amid heightened tensions between Beijing and Canberra, and as the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader openly criticise the port's $506 million lease and consider whether it should be cancelled.

Construction of the fuel farm is being managed by the Florida-based company Crowley Solutions.

Its vice-president, Sean Thomas, said that military fuel would be dispensed and collected through the Port of Darwin.

"We will have a pipeline connecting our facility to the petroleum, oils and lubricants berth at the port, at which ships employed by the US government will either take receipt of fuel or issue fuel into the facility," Mr Thomas said.

Labor senator Kimberley Kitching said that was a concern, as it could give a Beijing-linked company access to sensitive military activity, such as the storage of military fuel.

There is no publicly available evidence so far that operations could be observed by foreign officials at the port nor that sensitive information could be passed back to the Chinese government, but there are bipartisan concerns that that is possible.

"If Landbridge remains in ownership of the Port of Darwin, then there [will be] fuel pipelines that are necessary for the refuelling of US and allied ships," said Senator Kitching, who chairs the Senate's Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee.

"Obviously, they would have access to them. That is a problem. If you are going to be pumping fuel and a situation develops, there might be a strategic issue.

"No one expected a Chinese navy ship in recent days to use a military laser to target and Australian defence plane. We just don't know what is going to happen."

Landbridge has previously insisted its interests are purely commercial and has been contacted for comment.

Port ownership review ongoing

In October, Defence completed a national security review of the Port of Darwin and is now consulting with other agencies, including the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, before a final recommendation is made to government.

On Friday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he opposed the sale of the port and that he would not hesitate to cancel the contract if advised to do so by Defence and intelligence agencies.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said there was a case "for strategic assets in the national interest to remain in Australian hands".

Defence and security analyst Alan Dupont said the 99-year lease of a strategic port to a Chinese subsidiary company was controversial, but manageable.

"It's essentially a political risk, rather than security risk," he said.

"There's no doubt there's a perception problem, particularly outside Australia, that the Chinese own Darwin Harbour or the Port of Darwin and that's clearly not correct."

Mr Dupont does not expect an announcement from the federal government any time soon.

"The government itself is divided on the merits, or otherwise, of taking the lease back and, therefore, the last thing that probably the Prime Minister wants is an internal ruckus within his cabinet before an election," Mr Dupont said.

A spokesman for the Northern Territory government said it played a role in the leasing of land for the fuel farm and that it had not been advised of national security concerns.

The ABC has approached the Defence Department, asking how it judges the risk of having a Chinese-owned company responsible for handling fuel destined for the US military.

The Defence Minister Peter Dutton's office was also approached for comment.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-21/us-military-asset-link-port-of-darwin-landbridge/100847070

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15680632 (210719ZFEB22) Notable: 'Welcome back world!': Australia fully reopens borders after two years - 2 February 2022, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: A_Singapore_Airlines_plane_arriving_from_Singapore_lands_at_the_international_terminal_at_Sydney_Airport.jpg, Charlotte_Roempke_8_welcomes_her_grandfather_Bernie_Edmonds_as_he_arrives_at_Sydney_International_Airport.jpg, International_passengers_arrive_at_Melbourne_Airport_after_Australia_reopened_its_international_borders_to_travelers_vaccinated_against_the_coronavirus_disease.jpg, Julianna_and_Rudolf_Nemeth_from_Hungary_are_reunited_with_their_daughter_and_son_in_law_Zsofi_and_David_Kaityafter_as_they_arrive_on_the_first_international_flight_to_Brisbane_Airport.jpg, A_mascot_welcomes_passengers_upon_arrival_at_the_Sydney_International_Airport_on_February_21_2022_as_Australia_reopened_its_borders_for_fully_vaccinated_visa_holders_tourists_and_business_travellers.jpg

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>>121226

'Welcome back world!': Australia fully reopens borders after two years

Renju Jose - FEBRUARY 21, 2022

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia on Monday fully reopened its international borders to travellers vaccinated against the coronavirus after nearly two years of pandemic-related closings as tourists returned and hundreds of people were reunited with family and friends.

More than 50 international flights will reach the country through the day, including 27 touching down in Sydney, its largest city, as the tourism and hospitality sectors look to rebuild after getting hammered by COVID-19 restrictions.

“It is a very exciting day, one that I have been looking forward to for a long time, from the day that I first shut that border right at the start of the pandemic,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters in the island state of Tasmania, which relies heavily on tourism.

After being away from loved ones for months there were many emotional reunions, including for Cindy Moss who travelled from the U.S. state of Kentucky to see her daughter.

“I just haven’t seen her in so long and it was such a big thing to be able to get over here. So I’m so excited,” she said after hugging her daughter, her voice cracking with emotion.

Tourism is one of Australia’s biggest industries, worth more than A$60 billion ($43 billion) and employing about 5% of the country’s workforce. But the sector was crippled after the country shut its borders in March 2020.

Once a champion of COVID-suppression strategy, Australia shifted away from its fortress-style controls and relentless lockdowns since late last year and began living with the virus after reaching higher vaccination levels. Skilled migrants, international students and backpackers have been allowed to fly into Australia since November in a staggered reopening exercise.

“IT’S A PARTY OUT HERE”

Passengers flying to Sydney were greeted from the air with “Welcome Back World!” painted on a sign near the runways while people in kangaroo costumes welcomed travellers and a DJ played music from a van festooned with a banner saying “You were worth the wait”.

“It is a party out here, music playing, smiles on people’s faces, they will be dancing soon, I’m sure,” Tourism Minister Dan Tehan told broadcaster ABC from Sydney airport as he gave travellers gift jars of Vegemite, an iconic Australian food spread, and stuffed koala toys.

Tehan said he was hopeful for a “very strong” rebound in the tourism market, with Qantas looking to fly more than 14,000 passengers into Australia this week. Virgin Australia said it was seeing positive trends in domestic bookings and continued to assess demand for international flights.

All trains in Sydney, meanwhile, were cancelled on Monday after pay disputes between the union and the state government, taking some shine off the reopening.

As borders fully reopen, Australia’s outbreak of the Omicron coronavirus variant appears to have passed its peak with hospital admissions steadily falling over the past three weeks. The bulk of Australia’s pandemic total of about 2.7 million confirmed cases has been detected since the emergence of Omicron in late November. Total deaths stood at 4,929.

Just over 17,000 new cases and 17 deaths were registered by midday on Monday with the Northern Territory due to report later.

($1 = 1.3959 Australian dollars)

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-australia/welcome-back-world-australia-fully-reopens-borders-after-two-years-idUSKBN2KP0LZ

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15680825 (210813ZFEB22) Notable: Army officer tells Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial VC recipient threatened to 'smash his face in', MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Ben_Roberts_Smith_has_denied_all_the_allegations_against_him.jpg

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>>121195

Army officer tells Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial VC recipient threatened to 'smash his face in'

Jamie McKinnell - 21 February 2022

A senior army officer has told a Sydney court he was left "in shock" when his subordinate, Ben Roberts-Smith, threatened to "smash his face in" at an unofficial soldiers' bar in Afghanistan.

Mr Roberts-Smith, a Victoria Cross recipient, is suing three newspapers and three journalists for defamation, claiming 2018 articles contained false allegations of unlawful killings, bullying and domestic violence.

A witness known as Person 69 today told the Federal Court of his 2006 deployment to Afghanistan where he worked in an operational support role.

Person 69 recalled his understanding of a difficult mission where Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) operators in Mr Roberts-Smith's patrol were "surrounded" by Taliban fighters in the Chora Valley.

The witness, at that time a captain, later attended the Fat Ladies Arms bar with two warrant officers and overheard SAS operators discussing the mission.

He told the court he heard Mr Roberts-Smith say words to the effect of: "I was watching the expression on the guy's face as the bullets crept closer."

Person 69 said he looked over his shoulder towards Mr Roberts-Smith, then a lance corporal, who was sitting about a metre away.

"He saw me, turned to me, and said 'what the f*ck are you doing here ... I should smash your face in'," Person 69 told the court.

"I was in shock because I had never been spoken to that way by a subordinate.

"I didn't really know what to say."

Person 69 said one of the warrant officers warned Mr Roberts-Smith to "pull your f*cking head in", while the other gave a "menacing stare".

"I decided it would be best I left and I never returned."

Person 69 said he had only ever been threatened three times during his career by his own team and remembered each occasion.

"It has a profound impact on me that my own team would threaten me," he said.

Under cross-examination by Bruce McClintock SC, Person 69 said he didn't report the matter because he believed it had been dealt with by the warrant officers.

He rejected Mr McClintock's suggestions the conversation never happened.

"It's ludicrous to think of a lance corporal saying that to a captain, isn't it?" Mr McClintock said.

"That's why I remember it," the witness replied.

The alleged conversation was put to Mr Roberts-Smith in the witness box last year, where he rejected that he made the comments or was reprimanded.

Person 69 also claimed earlier that day, in his accommodation, he overheard a junior trooper who was "upset and emotional" complaining of being "ostracised" by his patrol after his weapon jammed on the battlefield.

The court has previously heard that solider, Person 1, forgot oil for his machine gun on the mission.

"I'd never worked with the Australian SAS before and I was shocked they weren't a collegiate team," Person 69 told the court.

"I had worked with other special forces and they seemed to help people who were making mistakes."

The trial, before Justice Anthony Besanko, will resume on Tuesday.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-21/ben-roberts-smith-trial-hears-from-army-officer/100848750

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15683946 (211909ZFEB22) Notable: Aussie entertainment giant Neil Balnaves dies in boating accident, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: ClipboardImage.png

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Aussie entertainment giant Neil Balnaves dies in boating accident

An Australian entertainment giant Neil Balnaves, who brought Big Brother and Bananas in Pyjamas to TV screens, has died in a boat accident.

Neil Balnaves — whose companies brought shows like Big Brother and Bananas in Pyjamas to TV screens — has died at the age of 77, after a boating accident in Tahiti.

The Daily Telegraphreported on Monday that Balnaves was holidaying on board the Oneworld mega-motor yacht off the Polynesian island.

The millionaire from Mosman on Sydney’s north shore was aboard a tender – a small boat – alongside the yacht when it flipped over in the waves, throwing him under.

It is understood he could not be revived after the accident.

He is survived by his wife, Diane Balnaves, who he married in 1971, and his children, son Hamish and daughters Alexandra and Victoria.

He produced a series of shows, including Big Brother, Bananas in Pyjamas, Water Rats and McLeod’s Daughters.

The millionaire also suffered a near-fatal boating accident on the Gold Coast in 2002, which changed his outlook on life.

“As you can imagine, I had a lot of time to think throughout this period,” he told The Advertiserin 2011.

“And what I came to was this: How many more houses do I need? Do I want the jet plane? Do I want another yacht? Not really.

“There comes a time when those things stop meaning so much to you.”

He went on to become a noted philanthropist, with his Balnaves Foundation giving away $20 million.

According to the website, the foundation, which was established in 2006, disperses over $3 million annually.

That money is given to eligible organisations that aim “to create a better Australia through education, medicine and the arts with a focus on young people, the disadvantaged and Indigenous Australia”.

https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/aussie-entertainment-giant-neil-balnaves-dies-in-boating-accident/news-story/9fb05bd7bc9f2b1e2f7737f9e101a1c3

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15688601 (220546ZFEB22) Notable: ‘Malicious, provocative’: RAAF ‘dropped sonar buoy’ claims China, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: China_has_released_a_picture_of_an_anti_submarine_sonar_buoy_allegedly_dropped_by_the_RAAF_P_8A_Poseidon.jpg, An_image_released_by_the_Chinese_PLA_Navy_regarding_an_Australian_anti_submarine_patrol_aircraft_that_placed_sonar_buoys_in_the_waters_near_their_ship.jpg

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>>121240

‘Malicious, provocative’: RAAF ‘dropped sonar buoy’ claims China

BEN PACKHAM and WILL GLASGOW - FEBRUARY 22, 2022

China has released a picture of an anti-submarine sonar buoy allegedly dropped by an RAAF P-8A Poseidon in what it said was a “malicious and provocative” action.

The statement confirmed the nearest the aircraft came to two Chinese ships during their encounter in the Arafura Sea last Thursday was about 4km, which Defence had previously disclosed to The Australian.

However, the Chinese Defence Ministry said this was “very close”, demanding Australia “immediately stop such provocative and dangerous actions”.

“From the photos taken by our ship, it can be seen that the Australian aircraft is very close to our ship, and sonar buoys are also placed around our ship,” China’s Ministry of Defence said in a statement released on WeChat.

“Such malicious and provocative actions can easily lead to misunderstandings and misjudgements, posing a threat to the safety of ships, aircraft and personnel of both sides.”

It was revealed at the weekend that a Chinese naval vessel targeted the aircraft with a laser. But in a key omission, Beijing’s statement failed to mention the Chinese ship’s use of a laser to target the P-8, accusing Australia of “spreading “false information”.

Scott Morrison has condemned the use of the laser as a “reckless and irresponsible act” that endangered the P-8’s crew of ten.

The Australian has contacted Defence to confirm whether the P-8 dropped any sonar buoys.

If it did, it would suggest the aircraft believed a Chinese submarine could have been in the area, accompanying the Luyang-class guided missile destroyer and Yuzhao-class amphibious transport dock vessel during their passage of Australia’s exclusive economic zone.

Defence earlier refuted Chinese claims the RAAF aircraft was flying too close to its warships when it was targeted with a military-grade laser.

In a rare disclosure of operational details, Defence told The Australian that the P-8 was “approximately 7700m” from the People’s Liberation Army’s Navy vessel operating the laser, flying at an altitude of 457m.

It said the closest the P-8 flew to the PLA-N vessel was about 3900m.

“This is a standard flight profile for Royal Australian Air Force maritime patrol aircraft for a visual inspection of a surface vessel,” Defence said in a statement.

Beijing on Monday evening denied its ships acted inappropriately in the Arafura Sea last week, when the P-8 was hit by the laser.

“We urge the Australian side to … stop maliciously spreading false information related to China,” said China’s foreign ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin.

Mr Wang said the Chinese ships had followed “relevant international law and inter­national practice, and (were) completely legitimate”.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/defence/malicious-provocative-raaf-dropped-sonar-buoy-claims-china/news-story/abbbd2e8f45e2e6ea15a9f5a0a9f7336

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15688613 (220548ZFEB22) Notable: China slams Australia's groundless accusations on PLA Navy's operations against ADF aircraft's approach - Li Wei, Ministry of National Defense - eng.mod.gov.cn, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: A_P_8A_anti_submarine_patrol_aircraft_attached_to_the_Australian_Defence_Force_approaches_the_PLA_naval_vessel_for_tracking_monitoring_and_nuisance_on_February_17_2022.jpg, A_P_8A_anti_submarine_patrol_aircraft_attached_to_the_Australian_Defence_Force_casts_sonar_buoy_in_the_waters_around_the_PLA_naval_vessel_on_February_17_2022.jpg, Spokesperson_Senior_Colonel_Tan_Kefei_of_the_Chinese_Ministry_of_National_Defense_MND_.jpg

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>>121240

China slams Australia's groundless accusations on PLA Navy's operations against ADF aircraft's approach

Li Wei, Ministry of National Defense - 2022-02-21

BEIJING, Feb. 21 – The Chinese PLA naval vessel maintained safe, normative and professional operations all along in the whole process when encountering the aircraft attached to the Australian Defence Force (ADF), which conforms to the International Law and related international practices, said Spokesperson Senior Colonel Tan Kefei of the Chinese Ministry of National Defense (MND) on Monday.

The spokesperson made the remarks in a response to the claim made by the Australian Department of Defense that a Chinese PLA naval vessel illuminated an ADF's P-8A anti-submarine patrol aircraft with the laser on February 17. The ADF condemned that the Chinese vessel made unprofessional and unsafe military conduct which endangered the safety and lives of the ADF personnel.

The Chinese defense spokesperson declared that the claim of the Australian side completely goes against the facts. He introduced that on February 17, an Australian P-8A anti-submarine patrol aircraft approached the airspace over the PLA naval fleet with the nearest distance of only 4 kilometers.

The spokesperson provided two pictures taken from the Chinese naval vessel, which clearly showed that the ADF aircraft was very close to the PLA naval vessel and even cast sonar buoy around the vessel.

Such spiteful and provocative actions by the ADF will undoubtedly result in misunderstanding and threaten the safety of aircraft, vessel and personnel of both sides, said the Chinese defense spokesperson. He also pointed out that the Australian side then deliberately spread false information and made irresponsible claim.

"China is firmly opposed to these actions by the Australia," stressed the spokesperson, adding that China urges the Australia side to stop such provocative and risky actions and groundless slander toward China, and avoid negative effects on the relationship of the two countries and two militaries.

http://eng.mod.gov.cn/news/2022-02/21/content_4905451.htm

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15688620 (220549ZFEB22) Notable: Video: China responds to RAAF allegations - Sky News Australia

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>>121240

China responds to RAAF allegations

Sky News Australia

Feb 22, 2022

Beijing has responded to accusations made by the Australian government after a Chinese naval vessel pointed a laser at a local surveillance aircraft.

Defence has rejected Beijing's claims the Australian P-8A aircraft was flying too close to the ship and said it was more than 7 kilometres away.

A spokesperson for China's Foreign Affairs said those claims are untrue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w-2m3iGJAk

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15688632 (220551ZFEB22) Notable: Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin’s Regular Press Conference on February 21, 2022, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Foreign_Ministry_Spokesperson_Wang_Wenbin_s_Regular_Press_Conference_on_February_21_2022.jpg

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>>121247

Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin’s Regular Press Conference on February 21, 2022

NHK: The Australian government claims that a Chinese navy vessel pointed a laser at an Australian surveillance aircraft on February 17. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he will protest to China about this. Does the Chinese side have any comment?

Wang Wenbin: According to what we have checked and verified with relevant department on the Chinese side, the information released by the Australian side is untrue. The normal navigation of Chinese vessels on the high seas is in line with relevant international law and international practice and is completely legal and legitimate. We urge Australia to respect the lawful rights that China’s vessels are entitled to in relevant waters under international law and stop maliciously disseminating China-related disinformation.

.....

The Paper: According to reports, on February 19, US Secretary of State, UK Foreign Secretary and Australian Foreign Minister held a trilateral meeting on the margins of the Munich Security Conference, where they discussed progress made in implementing initiatives within the AUKUS trilateral security partnership, including Australia’s acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines. Do you have any comment?

Wang Wenbin: The US, the UK and Australia have been blatantly advancing nuclear submarine cooperation in disregard of their non-proliferation obligations and the shared concerns and opposition of regional countries and the international community. This is provocation against regional security and defiance of international rules. The AUKUS trilateral security partnership is further evidence that the rules-based international order championed by the three countries is based on the interests of a small clique and does not represent the the will of the majority of the international community. The three countries’ willful behavior of doing whatever they want to serve their needs guided by the doctrine of “might makes right” is nothing short of the law of the jungle in the 21st century.

Once again China urges the three countries to treat the concerns of regional countries and the international community with a responsible attitude, earnestly respect regional countries’ efforts to establish a Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon Free Zone and a South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone, conscientiously fulfill their nuclear non-proliferation obligations, and stop the dangerous moves that undermine regional peace and stability.

https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/2511_665403/202202/t20220221_10644075.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15688643 (220552ZFEB22) Notable: Japan 'fully behind' Australia over laser incident involving China in Arafura Sea, says ambassador Yamagami Shingo, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Shingo_Yamagami_says_it_s_important_to_respond_firmly_to_China_s_provocations.jpg, Mr_Morrison_says_Australia_deserves_an_answer_from_China_about_the_laser_incident.jpg, A_RAAF_P_8A_Poseidon_detected_a_military_grade_laser_while_in_flight_just_north_of_Australia_last_Thursday_morning.jpg, China_has_not_denied_that_one_of_its_ships_lasered_an_Australian_surveillance_plane_off_Northern_Territory_last_week.jpg

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>>121247

Japan 'fully behind' Australia over laser incident involving China in Arafura Sea, says ambassador Yamagami Shingo

Stephen Dziedzic - 22 February 2022

Japan's Ambassador to Canberra has backed Australia's demand that China's navy explains why it shined a laser at an Australian Defence force plane in the Arafura Sea, labelling it a "very dangerous" provocation.

The incident has sparked a fresh bout of recriminations between Australia and China, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison labelling it an "act of intimidation" which put the lives of the Australian air crew at risk.

Beijing has not denied that its ship lasered the Australian surveillance plane, but China's Foreign Ministry accused Australia of "maliciously spreading disinformation" about the event.

China's Defence Ministry weighed in as well, saying that the Australian aircraft dropped portable sonar systems called sonobuoys into the water near its ships in a "provocative" move.

The Defence Ministry also said the plane had come within four kilometres of the Chinese ships. But independent military analysts told the ABC that is not unusually close for surveillance planes, and could not be cast as an aggressive act.

An Australian Defence spokesperson said at the time of the incident, the closest the RAAF plane flew to the ship was 3,900 metres.

"This is a standard flight profile for Royal Australian Air Force maritime patrol aircraft for a visual inspection of a surface vessel," they said.

Japanese ambassador Yamagami Shingo said Tokyo shared Australia's concerns about what happened off the coast of the Northern Territory and said his country was "fully behind Australia on this matter".

"I think anyone who has been involved in defence or national security issues will easily agree … that this is a provocation [and] very dangerous," Ambassador Yamagami told the Australian Institute of International Affairs in Melbourne.

The ambassador said China had also targeted Japanese ships with lasers in the disputed waters of the East China Sea, where Beijing is intent on challenging Tokyo's hold on the uninhabited Senkaku island chain.

"This is the kind of experience we have gone through before – our Self Defence Forces vessels have also been laser-targeted by [China]" the Ambassador said.

But he also stressed that while it was important to respond "firmly" to provocations, the Japanese Self Defence Force navy was also very careful not to "react in an emotional manner."

For example, if Chinese coastguard ships approached into contested waters claimed by Japan, then Tokyo would be careful not to ratchet up tensions by sending in heavily-armed naval vessels into the same area.

"This is our way of handling the matter in a professional manner without escalating the matter," he said.

The ambassador's comments are one of the first public expressions of support that Australia has received from other countries in the region since the confrontation.

On Monday, the Prime Minister said Australia was demanding an explanation from China on behalf of several other countries in the region who were also worried about aggressive behaviour by China's navy.

"We expect, and not just Australia, [but] all countries in the region demand an answer to this because it's an Australian surveillance aircraft this time — [but] who's next?" Mr Morrison told reporters.

But so far most major countries in the immediate region – including Indonesia and Papua New Guinea – have steered well clear of the controversy and have made no public remark about what happened.

Ambassador Yamagami said he believed the behaviour of China's navy was "constantly discussed" by the four Quad countries – Australia, India, the United States and Japan – and was likely to be a focus of the AUKUS defence agreement as well.

He also predicted that a "number of like-minded" countries would support Australia in any dispute with China over the matter, although he didn't predict what form that support might take.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-22/japanese-ambassador-slams-china-over-raaf-laser-incident/100849886

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15688927 (220644ZFEB22) Notable: Australia's 'laser attack' fault-finding farce copies the US: Global Times editorial - Global Times - globaltimes.cn, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Australia_s_laser_attack_fault_finding_farce_copies_the_US_Global_Times_editorial.jpg

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>>121247

Australia's 'laser attack' fault-finding farce copies the US: Global Times editorial

Global Times - Feb 22, 2022

In regard to Australia's hype of a Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy vessel pointing a laser at an Australian patrol aircraft, here comes the truth. It was the villain - Australia - sued its victims. An Australian defense plane made dangerous moves toward a Chinese naval vessel, but Australia turned around and blamed China. However, such a move is consistent with Australia's "character."

On Monday, the spokesman of China's Ministry of National Defense said that the Australian P-8 anti-submarine patrol aircraft operated near the Chinese vessel flotilla with a minimal distance of only four kilometers. The Chinese vessels were sailing normally in international waters, which conform to the relevant international laws and international practices. Against this backdrop, the fact that an Australian P-8 anti-submarine patrol aircraft came within only four kilometers from Chinese ships for surveillance was highly provocative.

Worse still, the Australian plane also dropped sonobuoys around Chinese ships. Such a move means it was preparing to detect if there were Chinese submarine activities and possibly force PLA submarines, if there were any, to surface. This went far beyond the scope of "unprofessional," and became a practice of military hostility. Such a malicious and provocative behavior could easily lead to a misunderstanding and misjudgment, threatening the vessels, the aircraft and the safety of the personnel on both sides.

In the face of such malicious provocations, China maintained safe, standard and professional actions throughout the process, and did not take the initiative to announce the ugly actions of the Australian patrol aircraft to the international community. Instead, China chose to keep a low profile and remain restraint. This is China's goodwill toward regional stability as a responsible major country. However, Australia has been slandering China without telling the full story. Australia has played the trick of a thief crying to stop a thief to the utmost.

The key information China released was missing from the statement of the Australian defense department or from the remarks of Prime Minister Scott Morrison or Defense Minister Peter Dutton.

They just repeatedly claimed that "a Chinese navy ship fired a laser at an Australian surveillance aircraft" and that the Australian government "would always stand up to China's coercion, bullying and intimidation." These remarks show their persecutory delusions.

Morrison, in particular, seemed extremely frantic. He spoke out on the matter for two days in a row, each time more vehemently, demanding a "full investigation" from Beijing. He also put forward an inconceivable hypothesis that if an Australian frigate points a laser at a Chinese surveillance aircraft in the Taiwan Straits, "Could you imagine their reaction to that in Beijing?"

This provocative analogy was in fact a sensational campaign stunt designed to play the "anti-China card" with the opposition Labor Party, and to compete with his opponent Dutton over who is better at political hype as the general election is approaching, completely disregarding the truth, let alone justice.

Australia has shown such a high profile without much self-awareness in recent years, as if it is no longer a good US lackey if it does not do so. Australia established an AUKUS alliance with the US and the UK last year, preparing to build and deploy a fleet of nuclear submarines with long-range capability. It also touted that Australia must be prepared to "send off, yet again, our warriors to fight." Its warships have also frequently swaggered in the South China Sea from time to time, and they claimed to attempt to break into waters within 12 nautical miles around Chinese islands and reefs. Australia's military ambitions are expanding like never before. As a result, the farce of bullying others by flaunting his powerful connections often appears.

It is now clear that Australia's claim that its patrol plane was fired at with laser light by a Chinese naval vessel is nothing but a fault-finding farce directed and performed by Australia itself. Of course, this is not Australia's own creation. The US had been embarrassed by China several times in this regard. Australia even copied the US on how to find fault with China. Australia deserves its title as an "anti-China vanguard of the US." Meanwhile, it showed the international community who is the destabilizing factor in the region.

As for Morrison's so-called "intimidation" from the Chinese side, what he needs to do now is not to seize the microphone of the media, but to tell his defense minister that only by following the rules can there be safety.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202202/1252823.shtml

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15689241 (220759ZFEB22) Notable: Victorian Labor braces for Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) report into dealings between the Andrews government and the United Firefighters Union, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Premier_Daniel_Andrews_has_declined_to_comment_on_whether_he_was_a_subject_of_the_investigation.jpg

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Labor braces for report into dealings with fire union

DAMON JOHNSTON - FEBRUARY 22, 2022

A marathon anti-corruption investigation into dealings between the Andrews government and the United Firefighters Union is nearing a potentially dramatic climax.

The Australian can reveal the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission is putting the finishing touches to the top-secret investigation codenamed Operation Richmond.

IBAC has written to multiple witnesses called before the investigation this week informing them its probe is almost complete and it was preparing a draft report into the investigation which opened in mid-2018.

The preparation of a draft report suggests the anti-corruption agency will also release a public report into the four-year probe, which could be explosive for the Andrews government.

Operation Richmond has been one of the most secretive operations in the history of IBAC and has involved scores of witnesses being called before secret hearings.

The investigation’s original focus was into the dealings between the UFU and its state secretary Peter Marshall and Labor, but it’s terms are believed to have widened over the course of the probe.

“We gave them (IBAC) everything on a platter,” one witness told The Australian.

Among the issues believed central to the IBAC probe are the events surrounding the controversial merging of the Country Fire Authority and the Metropolitan Fire Brigade and industrial agreements, allowances and pay claims between the government and the union. Premier Daniel Andrews has previously declined to comment on whether he was a subject of the investigation.

The Australian believes that among the issues witnesses raised with IBAC was the alleged hacking of emails from MFB chiefs.

It’s also believed that senior Labor ministers have emerged as figures of interest to the secret anti-corruption investigation as it probed dealings between the government and the UFU.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/labor-braces-for-report-into-dealings-with-fire-union/news-story/e393819d2dd2932bf2f321f50a5262b6

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15697791 (230702ZFEB22) Notable: Scott Morrison urges China to join the west in condemning Russia over Ukraine invasion

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>>121256

Scott Morrison urges China to join the west in condemning Russia over Ukraine invasion

After two years of diplomatic tit-for-tats, Scott Morrison has extended an olive-branch to China urging Beijing to join the west in condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Tyrone Clarke - February 23, 2022

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has made an embattled plea to China for cooperation to prevent any further destruction in Ukraine at the hands of a thuggish Russia.

Mr Morrison said he hoped China would join Australia in coming out against Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

“I hope they (China) join us,” the Prime Minister said in a bid to mend two years of extended hostilities between Canberra and Beijing.

“That is the message that I am sending and have been sending for some time. China's language in the course of the past week has improved.

“We welcome them going the full distance and joining ourselves and the United States and the UK and EU and Canada and so many other countries, in the denouncing what is occurring there.”

The Prime Minister has been in the middle of a heated diplomatic and trade row with China since he called for an independent inquiry into the origins of COVID-19 in Wuhan in April 2020.

Beijing swiftly responded in what would be the first of many trade actions against Australian exporters, slapping a massive 80.5 per cent tariff on Aussie barley.

Shortly after, China’s Education Ministry warned its students they could face “racist incidents” in Australia with similar warnings spreading from its Culture and Tourism Ministry.

China rapidly began scaling back purchases of Australian coal, cotton, lobster and beef as well as wine on which it later placed a tariff of up to 200 per cent.

In November, 2020 the embassy in Canberra released a list of 14 grievances which it demanded Australia address to mend the relationship including retracting the call for a COVID inquiry, reversing a ban on Huawei and overturning foreign interference legislation.

The relationship continued to sour throughout 2021 when Australia launched action against China at the World Trade Organisation.

Beijing also began a diplomatic communication freeze with all senior ministers in Canberra.

While Russia and China recently launched a broad new alliance, Beijing has urged restraint over the Kremlin’s recent moves in eastern Ukraine.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said all parties needed to de-escalate the situation and “resolve differences through dialogue and negotiation”.

It comes after President Putin quickly deployed troops on “peacekeeping operations" in eastern Ukraine hours after recognising the independence of the separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/politics/scott-morrison-urges-china-to-join-the-west-in-condemning-russia-over-ukraine-invasion/news-story/4736f821db37003e24cacfd7c77a957c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCLaIPXYnCk

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15697830 (230711ZFEB22) Notable: It’s time to put Putin’s useful idiots on notice - Craig Kelly and Simeon Boikov / Aussie Cossack, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Pro_Russian_protest_leader_Simeon_Boikov_centre_demonstrates_in_Brisbane_during_the_G20_summit_Boikov_a_Cossack_is_accused_of_travelling_to_Ukraine_to_recruit_support_for_pro_Russian_rebels.jpg, Liberal_turned_independent_MP_Craig_Kelly_at_the_Canberra_Freedom_rally_this_month.jpg

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It’s time to put Putin’s useful idiots on notice

JACK THE INSIDER (Peter Hoysted) - FEBRUARY 23, 2022

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The term ‘useful idiots’, often attributed to Vladimir Lenin for non-communists who propagandised communism, is now a catch-all for those who ignore a regime’s excesses and outrages, preferring to clamber up onto a soap box to extol its virtues.

Putin has so many useful idiots, it’s hard to know where to begin. Some from the left, others from the right. Many are academics obsessed with dubious neo-Marxist constructs about western imperialism.

NYU’s Professor of Russian Studies, Stephen F. Cohen who died in September 2020, maintained the leftist fiction that Putin’s hand was forced when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.

Cohen wrote that “media malpractice” had resulted in the “relentless demonisation of Putin” who was “not an autocrat.” It was all the West’s fault. The West had humiliated Russians in the post-Soviet era, wantonly threatening the Federation by extending invitations to Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic to join NATO. Ukraine, Cohen argued, was the point in which Putin was obliged to say, thus far and no further.

Since the start of the century, populists on the left and the right have clamoured around Putin. Those on the right have done so because they see Putin as standing up to the European Union. Those on the left are drawn to the despot because they see anybody who opposes the West as a kindred ideological spirit.

In 2020, when the Russian Federation held its constitutional referendum which would allow Putin to remain as President for 16 more years, 60 foreigners from 29 countries were flown into Russia to act as Putin appointed election “observers.” Some were members of the European parliament, including Thierry Mariani from the French far-right party National Rally (National Front) and Prussian separatist, Volker Chapke.

The informal observers were wined and dined across Russia before declaring the vote was free and fair. Save a few minor administrative mistakes, the votes when counted were a fair expression of the people’s will, they reported.

Genuine independent observers were far from impressed. Senior associate at the German Institute for Security and International Affairs, Janis Kluge, tweeted that “the dimension of fraud in the 2020 constitutional vote” was “simply staggering.” A physicist and data expert who has monitored Russian elections for the past two decades, Sergei Shpilkin, published statistical evidence that up to 22 million votes were fraudulent.

Perth man Anthony Maslin had lost his three children when flight MH17 was downed over Ukraine. In 2018, Maslin condemned Donald Trump as “kissing the arse of Vladimir Putin”, after an awful performance at a summit in Helsinki where the 45th POTUS sided with Putin ahead of his own security services over the issue of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. On Sky News, Craig Kelly responded to Maslin’s comment published on Facebook, lapsing if not into apologism then a sort of amoral realpolitik.

“I’m sure that any father that’s lost three kids would be absolutely devastated but the reality is nothing is going to bring those three kids back,” the then Liberal MP, now independent, said.

“So, what is best for the continued future of the world? And it is best, in my opinion, that the leader of the USA and the leader of Russia at least have a good talking relationship.

“And if that means some of the things that Russia have gotten away with in the past have to be slightly looked over, well, I’m sorry, that’s the price that we have to pay sometimes to have good relations going forward.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15697917 (230745ZFEB22) Notable: ‘Weak dog’: Private eye and former policeman John McLeod denies leaking to the media, turns on Ben Roberts-Smith in court, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Private_eye_John_McLeod_became_a_fixer_for_Mr_Roberts_Smith_running_errands_and_organising_mundane_elements_of_their_lives.jpg, Mr_Roberts_Smith_feared_he_was_being_manipulated_by_a_woman_who_claimed_she_was_prengant_to_him_so_he_sent_Mr_McLeod_to_follow_her.jpg

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>>121195

‘Weak dog’: Private eye turns on Ben Roberts-Smith in court

PERRY DUFFIN - FEBRUARY 23, 2022

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Ben Roberts-Smith’s former private eye has told a court he triggered a police investigation into an “unhinged” SAS soldier, surveilled a woman as she allegedly faked an abortion and dressed as a bartender to spy on network Seven employees all on behalf of Mr Roberts-Smith.

The relationship came to an end, the private investigator told the court, after he called Mr Roberts-Smith a “weak dog” for compromising him in an alleged plot to threaten former SAS soldiers.

Private eye and former policeman John McLeod has denied leaking to the media after the court heard he was closely communicating with Mr Roberts-Smith’s detractors who are accused of feeding private information to journalists.

Mr Roberts-Smith is suing Nine and its journalists over a series of articles claiming he committed war crimes in Afghanistan, bullied his squadmates and abused his “mistress”.

Mr Roberts-Smith has denied every allegation, saying he only killed enemy combatants within the rules of war, did not cheat on his wife and he abhors domestic violence.

THE PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR

High profile private investigator John McLeod, a former fixer for Mr Roberts-Smith, was called to give evidence in the defamation trial on Wednesday.

Mr McLeod told the court he met Mr Roberts-Smith and his wife, Emma Roberts, while working security for a five-star hotel in Brisbane.

Mr McLeod became a fixer for Mr Roberts-Smith, running errands and organising mundane elements of their lives like concert tickets and repairs to their new home in Queensland.

In recent years Mr McLeod has turned against Mr Roberts-Smith and was in recent contact with the SAS veteran’s ex wife - and had been accused of leaking to Nine.

GREENSLOPES SURVEILLANCE

By the start of 2018, Mr Roberts-Smith has told the court, his marriage was on the rocks and he was dating a woman known as Person 17.

Nine claims Mr Roberts-Smith was still with his wife at the time and punched Person 17 after they had gone to a ritzy VIP party in Canberra and the woman drunkenly embarrassed herself.

The court has heard Person 17 had travelled to Brisbane for an abortion after telling Mr Roberts-Smith she was carrying his child.

Mr McLeod told the court Mr Roberts-Smith sent him to surveille the woman as she went to Greenslopes clinic for the termination.

Person 17 did not show up at the airport or the clinic but Mr McLeod said he eventually found her at the nearby Greenslopes hospital - which he said does not perform abortions.

Mr McLeod told the court he filmed Person 17, who looked like “a normal woman”, coming out of the hospital and sent the video to Mr Roberts-Smith.

Mr Roberts-Smith, in his evidence last year, told the court Person 17 met him in a hotel room minutes later and confessed she did not have an abortion at Greenslopes.

She had the abortion earlier, she allegedly told Mr Roberts-Smith, and he ended the volatile relationship.

“She started to cry and said ‘I didn‘t have the procedure, I had the procedure up in Townsville’,” Mr Roberts-Smith told the court in June 2021.

“I said Townville doesn’t have a clinic. She said ‘I had a miscarriage’ so now I had three stories as to what was going on.”

“(It) gave me great concern that I was being manipulated so I’d stay in the relationship.”

Mr McLeod told the court he invoiced Mr Roberts-Smith $1500 for the job.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15708019 (240829ZFEB22) Notable: Scott Morrison has condemned Vladimir Putin after Russia invaded Ukraine, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Prime_Minister_Scott_Morrison_addresses_the_media_about_the_escalating_crisis_in_Ukraine.jpg, An_image_from_the_Ukrainian_President_s_office_sent_to_CNN_s_Matthew_Chance_following_loud_explosions_heard_in_Kyiv.jpg

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>>121256

Scott Morrison has condemned Vladimir Putin after Russia invaded Ukraine

Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison has condemned Russia and Vladimir Putin for waging war on Ukraine.

Samantha Maiden - February 24, 2022

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Australia has denounced Russia’s “brutal, unprovoked and unacceptable” invasion of Ukraine as a flagrant breach of international law.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison emerged tonight after briefings from intelligence and security officials warning officials were working to monitor potential cyber security threats at home.

“About 2:00pm this afternoon, the Russian government declared that they had commenced a so-called ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine,’’ he said.

“And they said this after months of aggression and intimidation. But I’ll call it what it is - the Russian government launched a brutal invasion, unprovoked, on Ukraine, and should be condemned for doing so - and Australia does.

“Together with the international community, we are banding together in strong terms to condemn these outrageous acts in the strongest possible terms.”

The Prime Minister said Australia was working to provide assistance to an estimated 1,400 Australians who are trapped in the country.

“My message to those Australians who continue to be in Ukraine is to - where safe to do so - leave,’’ he said.

“We have been saying this for some time now. Australians in Ukraine who are unable to leave should shelter in place until it is safe to depart, to monitor the Smartraveller travel advice for updates, and register their whereabouts on the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s online portal. It’s important that they do this.

“We believe there are up to around an estimated 1,400 Australians in Ukraine. But that is not the number that we currently have registered formally through those processes.”

Australia’s ‘hit list’ grows as PM sanctions 25 more Putin-linked Russians

Mr Morrison warned sanctions against Russia would continue to ramp up.

“We are now moving to place restrictions on Australians investing in a further four financial institutions,’’ he said.

“There will be further waves of sanctions as we identify those responsible for these egregious acts, including - as I discussed this afternoon with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade - moving on around over 300 members of the Russian Parliament.

“We must ensure there is a cost for this violent, unacceptable, and egregious behaviour. There must be a cost. It sends a very clear message. You sanction, support, benefit from this type of violence, then you will be isolated, you will be targeted, your assets will be frozen, you will not be able to go about your life freely - you will be tracked down and you will have your livelihoods completely disrupted in the same way that they are seeking to disrupt the lives of others.

Mr Morrison confirmed the sanctions will now be expanded to a “second phase” to target army commanders, deputy defence ministers and Russian mercenaries.

“Yesterday, I announced travel bans on eight members of Russia’s Security Council,’’ he said.

“They will come into effect at midnight this evening. I’ve also announced financial sanctions which mean Australian individuals and entities cannot do business with five Russian banks.

“We are now progressing in the second phase of those financial sanctions. The acting minister of financial affairs, Senator Birmingham, has completed the process of applying sanctions to an additional 25 persons. This includes army commanders, deputy defence ministers and Russian mercenaries who have been responsible for the unprovoked and unacceptable regression, and four entities involved in the development and sale of military technology and weapons.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15708027 (240830ZFEB22) Notable: Embassy of Russia in Australia - Comment on the introduction of a new package of anti-Russian sanctions by Australia, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Embassy_of_Russia_in_Australia.jpg

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>>121260

2/3

The Prime Minister confirmed Australia will not be providing direct military assistance.

“The latter is not something the Australian government has requested, working with our military partners in the region. We work closely with Nato and their member states. What we are doing is working with them in other ways, which I cannot go into a lot of detail about,’’ he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced he has authorised a “military operation” in the Donbas region in Ukraine — a move seen by Ukraine and the west as the beginning of Russia’s invasion.

Explosions have been heard in as many as five cities including Kyiv and Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, as well as the key Black Sea port city of Odessa.

Ukraine’s interior ministry has already declared “hundreds of casualties as a result of Russian missile attacks” around the country, according to CNN.

Ukraine’s ambassador to the UN, Sergiy Kyslytsya condemned Russia for launching a military operation against his country warning the aggressors would go “straight to hell.”

In comments directed to the Russian ambassador, Vasily Nebenzya, at an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting, Kyslytsya said, “About 48 minutes ago, your president declared war on Ukraine.”

“There is no purgatory for war criminals,” Kyslytsya said to the Russian ambassador. “They go straight to hell”

Earlier, Russia hit back at Australia, accusing the Prime Minister of siding with “xenophobic bullies” in Ukraine.

In response to Australia’s strong support for sanctions, Russia has claimed Prime Minister Scott Morrison has turned a blind eye to discrimination by “the radical nationalistic regimen in Ukraine”.

“In alignment with its key partners, Canberra has played its part in supporting and encouraging the xenophobic bullies based in Kyiv” the Russian embassy in Australia said.

“Russia will from now on guarantee the right of (Donetsk and Luhansk) residents to live in peace and preserve their language and cultural identity.”

It comes as concern brews over Russian hackers potentially targeting Australia in a new wave of cyber attacks to retaliate over Scott Morrison’s “unwavering” support for Ukrainian sovereignty.

President Vladimir Putin’s “hybrid warfare” tactics have combined cyber-attacks with traditional military activity for years.

And while Russia is unlikely to respond in any direct way to Australia’s support for sanctions, companies and small business owners are now being urged to check their cyber security amid major cyber attacks overnight in Europe.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said today that Australia was “ready” for Russian cyber attack retaliation after a wave of attacks overnight after a state of emergency was declared by the Ukraine parliament.

“Cyber attacks are a real threat and they’re a present threat and that is the most likely response from Russia in terms of what we’ve done,’’ Mr Morrison told the Today Show.

“That’s why already for some time now we’ve been working, privately, with many of our big companies looking at our critical infrastructure to ensure that we can have them as best stepped up in their defences as you can.

“But in addition to that now we’re making those warnings very public. And so I’d be encouraging people to go to the Australian Signals Directorate website and making sure that everything from the smallest business, to the largest, you’re doing a good check on your cyber security.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15708057 (240836ZFEB22) Notable: Scott Morrison fires warning over China and Taiwan amid Russia-Ukraine crisis, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Prime_Minister_Scott_Morrison_has_cautioned_China_not_to_think_about_invading_Taiwan_as_Russia_invades_Ukraine.jpg

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>>121256

>>121257

Scott Morrison fires warning over China and Taiwan amid Russia-Ukraine crisis

Amid an escalating crisis in Ukraine, Scott Morrison has issued a huge warning to China about the future of Taiwan.

Ellen Ransley - February 24, 2022

Scott Morrison says China is watching the unfolding Russian invasion of Ukraine “very carefully” amid concerns Taiwan could be targeted next.

In the wake of Vladimir Putin’s decree to send Russian troops into eastern Ukraine on “peacekeeping missions” – which the West has broadly seen as the first move of a Russian invasion – concerns have mounted about what it could mean in the Asia-Pacific.

China has not followed the US, UK, European Union nations, Australia and others in imposing sanctions on Russia.

That’s despite world leaders calling on Chinese President Xi Jinping to do so.

There are fears Taiwan’s territorial integrity could be undermined by China in a similar way to that of the Ukraine by Russia.

Despite Mr Morrison cautioning against drawing parallels, he said China should “not even think” about invading Taiwan.

“I believe China is of course watching this very carefully, and that is why I have been at pains to say that China needs to take as strong as a position as other countries in denouncing what Russia is doing,” Mr Morrison told Seven.

“I welcome the fact that China has so far said that tensions should be de-escalated, but they need to go further and denounce threats of violence and any suggestion that there is any provocation for this.

“Bullying, wherever it is occurring and particularly in our own region, is something that I and my government have stood up against.”

Mr Morrison said China had an “important role” to play in denouncing bullying and threats of violence.

“The point I would make is countries that seek to bully and threaten and don’t call out those countries, that is concerning,” Mr Morrison told the Nine Network.

“Silence on that issue is very concerning in our part of the world. But all countries in our region want to know that those who are a lot bigger than us are going to act in a responsible way and denounce bullying and intimidation.”

Speaking with 2GB, Defence Minister Peter Dutton expressed his frustration that China had not intervened to stop the invasion.

“If there is one (person) who could stop President Putin from going into Ukraine it’s President Xi,” Mr Dutton said.

“The Chinese government ... has the ability to stop Putin in his tracks, but of course they’ve done the complete opposite.

“They’ve provided words of encouragement and I think that really is a huge concern to every observer of the track China is on at the moment.”

Earlier, Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie said while the whole world was concentrating on the crisis unfolding in eastern Europe, it shouldn’t take its eye off China and Taiwan.

“Because my goodness, if you have got both of them going, China going after Taiwan over the next month or so, we will be in a great deal of hurt,” she told the Nine Network.

“Stop sitting on your butts, stop talking the talk and start walking the walk.

“I tell you what, you better get over there. You had better do something because right now he’s running amok and you are allowing him to do that.”

https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/scott-morrison-fires-warning-over-china-and-taiwan-amid-russiaukraine-crisis/news-story/2c1b35b8cc64d3f820745bf60fdf72cc

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15708071 (240839ZFEB22) Notable: Chinese police begin work in Solomon Islands to maintain law and order, as Australian officials watch closely, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: A_Chinese_police_advisory_group_meets_with_ambassador_Li_Ming_in_Solomon_Islands_after_riots_rocked_its_capital.jpg, Chinese_and_Solomon_Islands_police_forces_meet_to_discuss_security_in_the_Pacific_nation_a_month_on_from_riots_there.jpg

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Chinese police begin work in Solomon Islands to maintain law and order, as Australian officials watch closely

Andrew Greene - 24 February 2022

A team of Chinese police officers has begun work in Solomon Islands, two months after the tiny Pacific nation accepted Beijing's offer to help restore law and order following recent anti-government demonstrations.

The unit, known as the People's Republic of China Public Security Bureau's Solomon Islands Policing Advisory Group, consists of about nine officers who will train local police to improve their "anti-riot capabilities".

Late last year Beijing announced the Solomon Islands government had agreed to accept its offer of anti-riot equipment and training, in a move which appeared to catch Australian officials off guard and cause some anxiety in Canberra.

In November Australia was among the first countries to provide assistance to the troubled government of Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, dispatching 73 Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers and 43 defence force personnel to the Solomons' capital Honiara.

The Australian deployment followed days of unrest which saw buildings, including a police station, set on fire as protesters vented their fury over government services and corruption, as well as moves to align the Solomon Islands more closely with China.

China's embassy in Solomon Islands says it will work with its new advisory group to "continuously strengthen communication with the police, steadily promote the training and assistance to the police under the epidemic situation and further deepen bilateral police cooperation".

In a statement, it added the unit would also "cooperate with the embassy to conduct visits, and safety training for overseas Chinese and Chinese-funded enterprises, so as to effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens and overseas Chinese".

The head of the public security bureau team is Zhang Guangbao, who is currently the peacekeeping police captain in Beijing's Ministry of Public Security, and who previously served in Liberia.

This week members of the Chinese police advisory group were released from a lengthy mandatory quarantine stay in Solomon Islands and met Royal Solomon Islands Police Force Commissioner Mostyn Mangau.

Diplomatic figures, who spoke to the ABC on the condition of anonymity, said Australian officials were closely watching the Chinese police deployment, with some officials expressing concern it could even pave the way for military cooperation.

Earlier this month during a visit to Fiji, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced plans to open an American embassy in Solomon Islands.

The US closed its embassy in Honiara in 1993. It is now represented by a consulate there, with an embassy in the Papua New Guinea capital of Port Moresby.

In 2019 Mr Sogavare's government decided to formally cease diplomatic recognition of Taiwan, a move that angered many opposition supporters in Solomon Islands.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-24/chinese-police-land-in-solomon-islands-month-after-riots/100855948

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15708079 (240842ZFEB22) Notable: China's new ambassador says Beijing willing to go 'halfway' to repair diplomatic relations with Australia, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Chinese_ambassador_Xiao_Qian_says_his_appointment_is_a_symbol_that_Beijing_wants_to_open_communication_channels_with_Australia.jpg, Chinese_ambassador_to_Australia_Xiao_Qian_centre_arrived_in_Australia_on_January_26_to_assume_the_role.jpg

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China's new ambassador says Beijing willing to go 'halfway' to repair diplomatic relations with Australia

Andrew Probyn - 24 February 2022

China's new ambassador says Beijing is willing to go "halfway" in establishing better ties with Australia.

Xiao Qian, who took up his post a month ago, said his appointment was a "symbol" from the Chinese government that it wants to open communication channels with the federal government.

"This relationship is very important and this is good for both sides, and now we're in a difficult situation," Mr Xiao said.

"But from the Chinese side, we're ready to work together with our Australian counterparts to move towards the same direction [with] joint efforts, so we can move this relationship back on the right track, back to the right direction."

Mr Xiao was speaking after a ceremony at the Chinese embassy to honour NSW senior constable Kelly Foster, who died in January last year attempting to rescue a Chinese student, Jennifer Qi, when they were both part of a canyoning tour group in the Blue Mountains.

Both women died in the incident.

Senior constable Foster's parents, Terry and Marilyn Foster, were presented with the Great Wall Commemorative Medal in recognition of their daughter's courage.

The presentation ceremony was the first public event held at the Chinese embassy since the start of the COVID pandemic.

Mr Xiao said it was not about politics.

"Today's event is more of a humanitarian event, it's not about politics, not about diplomacy.

"It's about people to people friendship, humanitarian spirit, about our admiration for Kelly Foster and our respect for the Australian police, their dedication and professionalism."

'The diplomatic channel is open': ambassador

Relations between China and Australia have been strained ever since Chinese company Huawei was excluded from Australia's 5G network.

Beijing has blamed the Morrison government for antagonistic reports in the media and has slapped tariffs or export bans on Australian barley, beef, wine and live rock lobster.

The Chinese embassy handed a dossier of 14 grievances to Australian media in 2020, including Australia's demands for an independent investigation into the origins of COVID-19, Australia's "spearheading a crusade" on China's affairs in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Xinjiang, banning Huawei from the 5G network and blocking 10 Chinese foreign investment deals across infrastructure, agriculture and animal husbandry sectors.

There have been no high-level diplomatic exchanges between China and Australia for quite some time.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison last week claimed that Beijing's preferred candidate at the next election is Labor leader Anthony Albanese.

Asked by the ABC if it concerned him that the two nations did not currently have diplomatic channels at the moment, Mr Xiao said "the diplomatic channel is open".

"It was open, it is open today and I think it'll remain open. Being the ambassador newly appointed is a symbol from the Chinese side that I'm here to communicate with our Australian counterparts [but] the channel is open.

"And I would rather prefer to continue to communicate with our Australian government officials through diplomatic channels. There are many things we have in mind, there are many things we can discuss.

"And we've just sort of just started engagement myself with various sectors of the Australian government. I'm looking forward to future opportunities."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-24/chinese-ambassador-says-beijing-wants-to-repair-relations/100857142

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15708130 (240858ZFEB22) Notable: Ben Roberts-Smith told another soldier in Afghanistan ‘I just want to kill’, showed photos of dead insurgents on his iPod, court hears, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: The_Ben_Roberts_Smith_defamation_trial_has_heard_evidence_from_a_former_SAS_soldier_now_an_officer_still_serving_in_the_Australian_Defence_Force.jpg

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>>121195

Ben Roberts-Smith told another soldier in Afghanistan ‘I just want to kill’, court hears

Serving officer in Australian Defence Force tells defamation trial Roberts-Smith showed photos of dead insurgents on his iPod

Ben Doherty - 24 Feb 2022

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Ben Roberts-Smith told another soldier “I just want to kill cunts” while on deployment in Afghanistan, and had pictures of slain insurgents on an iPod during training, the federal court has heard.

A former SAS soldier, now an officer still serving in the Australian Defence Force, was subpoenaed to give evidence to Roberts-Smith’s defamation hearing this week. He was anonymised before the court as Person Two.

Roberts-Smith is suing the Age, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Canberra Times over reports he alleges are defamatory and portray him as committing war crimes, including murder, as well as acts of bullying and domestic violence.

The newspapers are pleading a defence of truth. Roberts-Smith denies any wrongdoing.

Person Two was a witness for the newspapers.

He told the court he was posted alongside Roberts-Smith on “picket duty” in a big bunker area during deployment in Afghanistan in 2006.

Person Two said Roberts-Smith told him: “I just want to kill cunts. I don’t give a fuck, I just want to kill cunts.”

Person Two also testified that sitting on a bus following a parachute training course in Australia, Roberts-Smith pulled out an iPod, leaned over the seat of another soldier, and said “hey check this out”.

He then allegedly showed the other soldiers photographs of “dead insurgents” on the device.

Person Two was a member of Roberts-Smith’s patrol in 2006, including for a mission on a mountain called Koran Ghar above the Chora Pass in Afghanistan’s Uruzgan province.

The five-man patrol had carried 60kg packs to the top of the mountain during a 10-hour overnight climb to set up an observation post, watching over the valley, which was to be the scene of an allied assault.

On the second day of the observation mission, Person Two and another soldier spotted a young Afghan male – “about 14 or 15 years old”, Person Two told the court – walking on a goat-track, near to the observation post.

He said the teenager was not armed with a weapon, nor carrying a radio or wearing webbing. Person Two said he did not believe the young man had seen the Australian soldiers and so did not open fire on him.

Person Two told the court Roberts-Smith and another soldier, Sergeant Matt Locke, came down to the observation post from another position and berated the soldiers on lookout duty, saying “‘why the fuck didn’t you shoot him?”.

“I said ‘because we’re in an observation post’.”

Person Two explained to the court: “The task for the mission was to observe and surveil … not to become decisively engaged. That was to be avoided at all costs, because it then affects your ability to complete your larger mission.”

The court heard Roberts-Smith and Locke ran off after the teenager. Person Two said “about a minute later, two minutes later, I heard four or five shots, a suppressed M4 and a suppressed SR 25”. Those were the two weapons carried by Roberts-Smith and Locke, Person Two told the court.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15718066 (250958ZFEB22) Notable: China slammed over Moscow trade ‘lifeline’ - Australia’s political leaders lash Beijing’s decision to throw a trade “lifeline” to Russia by ending restrictions on Russian wheat imports just hours after its brutal invasion of Ukraine, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Scott_Morrison_has_criticised_China_s_decision_to_throw_China_a_trade_lifeline_.jpg

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>>121256

China slammed over Moscow trade ‘lifeline’

BEN PACKHAM - FEBRUARY 25, 2022

Australia’s political leaders have lashed Beijing’s decision to throw a trade “lifeline” to Russia by ending restrictions on Russian wheat imports just hours after its brutal invasion of Ukraine.

Scott Morrison, who announced fresh sanctions targeting Russian oligarchs and parliamentarians, said China’s decision was “simply unacceptable”.

“At a time when Australia, together with the United Kingdom, together with the United States and Europe and Japan, are acting to cut off Russia, the Chinese government is following through on easing trade restrictions with Russia,” the Prime Minister said.

“You don’t go and throw a lifeline to Russia in the middle of a ­period when they are invading ­another country.”

Anthony Albanese backed the assessment, saying China needed to join the global community in condemning Russian aggression.

“China should demonstrate it is serious about global peace and ­security, and China is doing the exact opposite by actually lifting some of the restrictions that are there, on the wheat trade,” the ­Opposition Leader said.

As Russian forces pushed deep into Ukraine, Mr Morrison said Australia’s sanctions would target Russian billionaires “whose economic weight is of strategic significance to Moscow”, together with more than 300 members of Russia’s parliament “who voted to authorise the use of Russian troops in Ukraine”.

He said Australia also planned to extend sanctions to individuals and entities in Belarus who were “complicit in the aggressions”.

Mr Morrison confirmed Australia was preparing to send nonlethal military equipment and medical supplies to Ukraine via NATO, and called for major sporting events including Formula 1 to boycott planned events in Russia.

The latest announcements follow previously announced Australian sanctions on eight members of Russia’s Security Council, together with 25 individuals and four entities associated with the country’s military.

Mr Morrison also called for Russia to be denied access to the SWIFT global payments system – a step that is favoured by Britain but is being blocked so far by the US and Germany.

“Australia would strongly support denying Russia access to the SWIFT international payment system, because this is all about ensuring they get cut off, and that is the price that is paid. But for that to occur, it has to occur with countries all around the world,” he said.

The South China Morning Post reported China had announced “it is fully open to Russian wheat imports”, overturning previous restrictions based on phytosanitary concerns.

The announcement by China’s General Administration of Customs was made public on Thursday, shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine.

Mr Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping declared a new “no limits” partnership just over three weeks ago, vowing to back each other on Ukraine and Taiwan and collaborate more against the West.

Defence Minister Peter Dutton said Mr Xi was the only world leader who “could pick up the phone to President Putin” to urge him to ­de-escalate the conflict.

“President Xi and President Putin have announced this special relationship,” Mr Dutton told ABC radio. “President Xi has this power, probably uniquely compared to any other world leader, to work with Russia, to encourage them to pull back.

“Of course, it is on President Putin, but it’s clear China has a special relationship with Russia.”

Mr Dutton also urged Australian businesses to exercise “extra protection” due to the possibility of Russian and Chinese state-­sanctioned cyber attacks.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/china-slammed-over-moscow-trade-lifeline/news-story/a8065672720c305da77f56018026ce38

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15718085 (251005ZFEB22) Notable: Putin’s paramilitary proxies in Australia - Simeon ‘The Aussie Cossack’ Boikov - Jack the Insider (Peter Hoysted) - theaustralian.com.au, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: The_Aussie_Cossack_Simeon_Boikov.jpg, Simeon_Boikov_a_Russian_nationalist_activist_from_Cabramatta_in_Sydney_who_publishes_a_monthly_newspaper_in_Australia_printed_in_Russian_called_the_Russian_Frontier.jpg

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>>121258

Putin’s paramilitary proxies in Australia

JACK THE INSIDER (Peter Hoysted) - FEBRUARY 25, 2022

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There are a great number of Russian community-based organisations in Australia. Some are benign and harmless, raising money for various charities and providing cultural support for Russian migrants. Other groups aggressively push the Putin ultranationalist line and get about in Russian military uniforms tailored for them in Australia.

Our national security agencies are well across the most potent pro-Putin agitators, but the Australian people have little or no knowledge as to how dangerous these groups might become now that the Russian military has invaded Ukraine and brought it to its knees.

Australian laws are not especially suited to dealing with this type of influence from abroad.

A successful multicultural nation encourages external cultural influences and the organisations that promote them. The problem is these groups can be infiltrated by foreign intelligence agencies and individuals acting on behalf of foreign powers to destabilise our political institutions. We have seen it in the dark hand of CCP influence in Australia across the political divide.

Many people would be unaware that similar influences in Australia are at work that once examined, go all the way back to the Kremlin.

In August last year in the US, the FBI jumped on a group known as the Co-ordinating Council of Russian Compatriots which goes by the Cyrillic acronym of KSORS. The Council announced its closure after reporting that some members had been spoken to by the FBI and reminded of US laws in respect of undeclared foreign agency known as the Foreign Agents Registration (FARA) Act.

It’s clear that the group’s focus had changed from a support group for the Russian diaspora in the US to one espousing and propagating pro-Putin, ultra-nationalist Russian propaganda.

A former chair of KSORS was dumped from the position because he reportedly refused to sign a statement supporting Russia’s annexure of Crimea.

“In the year 2014 when I left this organization, the Russian embassy took over and put in other people who had agreed to support Russia like a fifth column,” Baboshkin told a US media network. “They organised a fifth column from the people who are ready to work with the embassy.”

The ‘Aussie Cossack’

Simeon ‘The Aussie Cossack’ Boikov took to YouTube last night to speak to the 150,000 followers on his channel. He regurgitated the nonsense that Putin had ordered the invasion of Ukraine to bring about ‘demilitarisation and de-Nazification’ in the second-largest country in land area beside Russia.

It was textbook pro-Putin cheering with a little consolation thrown in of the “don’t worry, this will soon be over” type.

Boikov is Sydney born but received education in Russia. Now known as Ataman (Chieftain), Boikov is a fifth generation Australian of Russian heritage. His father was a Russian orthodox priest who sought to preserve Russian language and culture within the household.

Boikov studied at the Sretensky Monastery in Moscow when he was 18. The Monastery has close ties with the KGB agency successors, the FSB and the foreign intelligence service, SVR. Boikov now leads a group known as the Aussie Cossacks. Estimates in their numbers vary, perhaps 150 or 200 ‘cossacks’ cosplay in Russian military uniforms.

According to a Russian website, Boikov said of his time at the monastery, “One might say that while I was studying there I was, well, we must not say recruited, right? Basically, I fell under the influence of right thinking pro-Russian elements. They began to fashion a pro-Russian adult from a young Australian.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15724965 (260257ZFEB22) Notable: Scott Morrison warns the invasion of Ukraine has sent an “earthquake” through the international rules-based order, calls on China to back a crucial UN Security Council vote condemning Vladimir Putin, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Scott_Morrison_says_China_has_not_closed_the_gap_between_where_the_Western_world_is_on_Ukraine_and_where_they_are_.jpg, Russian_President_Vladimir_Putin_and_Chinese_President_Xi_Jinping_pose_for_a_photograph_during_a_meeting_in_Beijing_this_year.jpg

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>>121256

Morrison urges China to take stand on UN resolution

SIMON BENSON - FEBRUARY 25, 2022

Scott Morrison has warned that the invasion of Ukraine has sent an “earthquake” through the international rules-based order and called on China to back a ­crucial UN Security Council vote on Saturday morning condemning Vladimir Putin and demanding Russia withdraw its troops immediately.

The Prime Minister has also backed British calls for expanded sanctions against Russia in the ­absence of a military response from NATO, as Europe’s failure to ban Russia from the SWIFT international payment system drew cries of appeasement.

In an interview with The Weekend Australian, Mr Morrison said he would not lecture ­Europe on its regional security but added Russia should be dealt a heavy blow for its actions and that meant isolating it from SWIFT.

“There is a necessity, given the view about any direct military ­involvement, then sanctions should be complete and comprehensive and go as far as they can. And that includes SWIFT,” Mr Morrison said.

“That can come at some cost obviously to countries that have a lot of trade that goes through that.”

Mr Morrison said Australia faced coercion every day. “We have had to absorb quite a lot of economic pain,” he said. “We have done it because we believe in it.

“We have to do everything we possibly can. Wherever there are other things that can be done we should do them. The whole point is to impose a heavy cost, as heavy as we can make it. That means we look at every opportunity and SWIFT is an obvious one.”

SWIFT connects more than 11,000 financial institutions across the globe. Removing Russia is seen one of the most severe ­options available that could be included in a sanctions package.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has pushed hard for Russia to be kicked off the system, but US President Joe Biden has argued that Europe is not supportive of the measure. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has signalled his reservations at including SWIFT in a sanctions package given it could also impose costs on other nations reliant on Russian energy and commodities.

Mr Morrison said China would be judged on whether it voted in favour of the UN Security Council resolution condemning the invasion as a violation of international peace and security and demand the immediate cessation of the use of force.

“It will either facilitate this invasion or it can end it,” Mr Morrison said.

In a direct reference to China, he said the international rules-based order was under threat and there was no excuse for any member of the UN Security Council – with the obvious exception of Russia – not to back the resolution. As a permanent member of the council, Russia, can exercise a veto on UNSC resolutions. This is also a power shared by Beijing.

“How the UN defines this is very important,” Mr Morrison said. “There is no reason why the resolution shouldn’t be supported. I can’t see any excuse for any nation sitting on the Security Council not to support that resolution.

“I think (the invasion) is a direct challenge to the international rules-based order. It’s an earthquake for it. What it also does is flush everybody out as to what their views are on the rules-based order.”

Mr Morrison said China had not “closed the gap between where the Western world is on Ukraine and where they are”.

“At a time when China is putting sanctions on barley from Australia, they are opening up wheat trade with Russia while they are invading Ukraine,” he said. “They should be looking at imposing sanctions, not freeing up trade restrictions. When I look at what happens in our region, how China is reacting to this and how they see the rules- based order and what the obligations are on nation states, the silence is concerning and the gap should be closed.”

Mr Morrison said there was a “growing demarcation between authoritarian and liberal states”.

“These are things I’ve been warning about for years,” he said. “This is why I am making the point about China. The world is looking very rightly at what’s happening in Europe, but from our point of view I am keeping an eye on what it is revealing in our region … A county has invaded its neighbour in direct violation of international law, the liberal states have quickly and forcibly imposed sanctions. The difference in views is something that needs to be understood.”

Mr Morrison said the direct impacts on Australia from Russia’s invasion would be seen through short-term spikes in petrol prices but the economy more broadly was not exposed. He said that, so far, there had been no cyber-related Russian retaliation detected in Australia.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/pm-urges-china-to-take-stand-at-un-morrison-urges-china-to-take-stand-on-un-resolution/news-story/9d259973b24031186a2766cb655022a8

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15724982 (260259ZFEB22) Notable: Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin’s Regular Press Conference on February 25, 2022, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Foreign_Ministry_Spokesperson_Wang_Wenbin_s_Regular_Press_Conference_on_February_25_2022.jpg

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>>121268

>>121264

Transcript - Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin’s Regular Press Conference on February 25, 2022

AFP: Australia has criticized what it calls China’s lack of a strong response to the invasion of Ukraine. It’s also said that Beijing is offering Russia a lifeline by easing restrictions on imports of Russian wheat. What is the foreign ministry’s reaction to that?

Wang Wenbin: For some time, the Australian side, entrenched in the Cold War mentality and ideological bias, has time and again spread disinformation to smear and criticize China. Such irresponsible behavior is despicable.

China’s position on the Ukraine issue is consistent. At the same time, we conduct normal trade cooperation with Russia in the spirit of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit.

.....

CCTV: The Chinese Embassy in Australia held a presentation ceremony of the Great Wall Commemorative Medal of the Ministry of Public Security of China yesterday. Ambassador Xiao Qian, who assumed his new post not long ago, awarded the gold medal and a commemorative certificate on behalf of the Government of China to the late NSWPF Senior Constable Kelly Foster who sadly lost her life trying to rescue a Chinese citizen in 2021. Do you have any comment?

Wang Wenbin: On February 24, the Chinese Embassy in Australia held a solemn presentation ceremony of the Great Wall Commemorative Medal of the Ministry of Public Security of China in honor and remembrance of the late NSWPF Senior Constable Kelly Foster who sadly lost her life trying to rescue a Chinese citizen in early 2021. The Great Wall Commemorative Medal was established by the Ministry of Public Security of China in December 2020, to be awarded especially to law enforcement officers from foreign countries who have made outstanding contributions towards protecting the safety of Chinese citizens. The Gold Great Wall Commemorative Medal for Senior Constable Kelly Foster, with the serial number of 0001, is the first one awarded globally.

The light of humanity transcends race, culture and nationality. Ms. Kelly and the Chinese citizen in danger didn’t know each other, but at the critical moment of life or death, Ms. Kelly made every effort to rescue the Chinese citizen until the very last moment. The Chinese people attach great importance to acts of friendship and kindness. Ms. Foster’s heroic act will not be forgotten.

What has happened is further proof of the unquestionable friendly sentiment between the two peoples. The two peoples’ shared wish is our command. I recall our remarks on the heroic act of Ms. Foster last year: the kindness and compassion of humanity shines brilliantly even in the harshest winter. It is China’s hope that the light will continue to warm the two peoples and nourish the tree of friendship between China and Australia.

https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/2511_665403/202202/t20220225_10645705.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15727103 (260950ZFEB22) Notable: Australia reports 35 more COVID-19 deaths as masks come off in eastern states - 26 February 2022, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Masks_are_no_longer_required_in_NSW_and_Victorian_shops_but_will_remain_compulsory_in_key_areas_including_public_transport_and_hospitals.jpg

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>>121226

Australia reports 35 more COVID-19 deaths as masks come off in eastern states

States and territories have further eased COVID-19 restrictions, with mask-wearing requirements easing as the Omicron wave subsides.

SBS / AAP - 26 February 2022

Australia has reported 35 new COVID-19 deaths at the start of a weekend when mask mandates have lifted and dance floors reopened across the eastern states.

Several jurisdictions announced an easing to restrictions from Friday.

In NSW, Victoria and the ACT mask-wearing is still required in high-risk settings such as public transport, aged care facilities, airports and hospitals.

There are exceptions for some school students in Victoria and the ACT, who will still have to keep their masks on for now.

Queensland is set to ease its mask rules and density limits next week.

Mask mandates remain in WA, Tasmania, SA and the NT.

The eased restrictions come as a new vaccine is approved for use in Australia, specifically for people who haven't been able to have a dose of existing vaccines.

Evusheld has been granted approval for immunocompromised people who aren't likely to have an adequate immune response to a COVID-19 vaccine.

It can also be used for people who currently can't get a COVID-19 vaccine due to a history of severe reactions to immunisation.

People aged 12 and over and who weigh more than 40 kilograms can access the vaccine.

NSW reported 7,017 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday morning while Victoria recorded 5,874 and Queensland 4,838. The ACT added 478 new infections to its caseload.

There were 1,688 cases announced in South Australia, 792 in Tasmania, 632 in the Northern Territory and 1,105 in WA, its highest one-day total since the beginning of the pandemic.

There are 1,130 people in hospital with COVID-19 in NSW, with 59 in intensive care, while Victoria has 281 people hospitalised, with 43 in ICU. In Queensland, hospital patients number 341, 24 of them in ICU.

Of the 35 deaths reported, 15 were in Victoria, 11 in NSW, eight in Queensland and one in the NT.

Indigenous health services are also getting an immediate funding boost which federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said was a result of lessons learned from the pandemic.

Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services will get a $54.7 million cash boost, but a 3 per cent funding increase per year over four years won't kick in until July 2023.

"The ongoing pandemic has once again shown how critical the ACCHS sector is in delivering health services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people," Mr Hunt said.

Australia reported 28 new COVID-19 deaths on Friday, the bulk in Victoria, while the country recorded 24,739 new cases with NSW marking the most.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/another-26-covid-19-deaths-in-australia-masks-off-across-nsw-and-victoria/50phimhma

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15727122 (260956ZFEB22) Notable: A vigilant Commonwealth government keeps watchful eyes on the Roberts-Smith case - Afghanistan war crimes investigations ongoing, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Private_investigator_John_McLeod_told_the_Federal_Court_about_the_collapse_of_his_longstanding_friendship_with_Ben_Roberts_Smith.jpg, Justice_Paul_Brereton_s_war_crimes_report_was_issued_in_November_2020_after_a_four_and_a_half_year_inquiry.jpg

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>>121195

A vigilant Commonwealth keeps watchful eyes on the Roberts-Smith case

Deborah Snow - February 26, 2022

1/2

There’s an elephant in the courtroom in the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation case, rarely alluded to in the media coverage.

It’s the Commonwealth government, which has been keeping a vigilant eye on proceedings from day one.

It has its own team of two, sometimes three barristers, sitting every day behind the front row reserved for Roberts-Smith’s senior counsel and the barristers for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

And every so often, the court is reminded of the elephant’s presence, when the quietly spoken lead barrister for the Commonwealth, Kristina Stern, SC, gets to her feet, asking presiding Justice Anthony Besanko to suppress the accidentally mentioned name of a soldier (whose identities are meant to be kept secret), or to steer the evidence away from sensitive national security information.

There’s a third topic the Commonwealth has declared off-limits: any question to military witnesses about what they might or might not have told the government’s secretive war crimes investigation teams.

Those investigations are being conducted well out of public view, by a little-known body called the Office of the Special Investigator, of which more shortly.

The media outlets have chosen to mount a defence of truth in the case, alleging Roberts-Smith committed or was party to six unlawful killings of Afghan males who were unarmed or “persons under control” (that is, not posing a threat) at the time of their deaths.

Roberts-Smith has strongly denied this, saying the deaths occurred in combat and were lawful under Australian army rules of engagement. Such are the basic dynamics that have led to a defamation case, conducted in a civil court, morphing into what many consider to be a de facto war crimes trial.

It’s an unprecedented spectacle, says Dr Melanie O’Brien, an international law specialist from the University of Western Australia.

“This has made news around the world” she tells this masthead. “It’s absolutely extraordinary to see this playing out in a defamation trial. Those of us in this field in academia are just watching it with our mouths agape because we just can’t believe that so much is being said so openly in this kind of [civil] case.”

There are, of course, other dimensions to the Roberts-Smith trial that have nothing to do with the fate of Afghan detainees. There are the accusations of bullying and intimidation against some other SAS soldiers, and Roberts-Smith’s alleged striking of his former lover, all of which he has forcefully denied.

Another facet of the case was drawn into the light on Wednesday, as the court heard evidence from private investigator, John McLeod, once a trusted gofer for Roberts-Smith, about envelopes he says the Victoria Cross recipient asked him to post. Unbeknown to McLeod (he says), the envelopes contained threatening letters to at least one other SAS member. Roberts-Smith has denied any knowledge of the missives.

But it’s the alleged events in Afghanistan that have generated the most headlines.

Thus far, the court has heard from half-a-dozen soldiers, called as witnesses by the media outlets. There are a dozen more to come. Soldiers giving evidence for Roberts-Smith will start to be heard from mid-March.

There have been vivid descriptions of battles, SAS operating procedures, tactics and feats of endurance, and the laying bare of rivalries and grievances between soldiers.

The federal agencies keeping closest watch are the Defence Department, the Australian Federal Police, the Attorney-General and the new body, the Office of the Special Investigator.

The Office of the Special Investigator had its roots in the report of Justice Paul Brereton, released after a four-and-a-half year inquiry in November 2020 conducted under the auspices of the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force.

The Brereton report rocked the country with its conclusion that there was “credible information” of serious war crimes having been committed by up to 25 current or former ADF personnel, though none of the suspects were named.

But because Brereton’s findings were the result of an inquiry conducted as part of the military justice system, not a criminal investigation, there was a limit on how they could be used.

Specifically, some information had been compelled from soldiers who were given protection from self-incrimination, meaning portions of it were never going to be admissible in criminal proceedings.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15727210 (261020ZFEB22) Notable: Foreign Minister Marise Payne Tweet: Important call with @SecBlinken today, discussing the vital, united (global) response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. (Australia) has announced further sanctions including preparing sanctions against President Putin & FM Sergei Lavrov. Russia’s egregious aggression on Ukraine must stop., MISSING MEDIA/FILES: USSSAB_7.jpg, FMMP_31.jpg, FMfIJ00aMAACMmp.jpg

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>>121256

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken Tweet

I spoke today with Foreign Minister @MarisePayne to discuss our mutual efforts to hold the Russian government accountable for its premeditated and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

https://twitter.com/SecBlinken/status/1497406071975067649

—

Foreign Minister Marise Payne Tweet

Important call with @SecBlinken today, discussing the vital, united (global) response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. (Australia) has announced further sanctions including preparing sanctions against President Putin & FM Sergei Lavrov. Russia’s egregious aggression on Ukraine must stop.

https://twitter.com/MarisePayne/status/1497385478626344962

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15735495 (270641ZFEB22) Notable: ‘Lethal aid’: Australia’s vow to help Ukraine - Australia will provide funding through NATO for weapons and offensive capability rather than sending its own weaponry, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Scott_Morrison_has_declared_nothing_is_off_the_table.jpg, SJM_1.jpg

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>>121256

‘Lethal aid’: Australia’s vow to help Ukraine

Australia could soon be providing ‘lethal aid’ to Ukraine after the Prime Minister made a surprising admission.

Courtney Gould - February 27, 2022

Scott Morrison has left the door open to providing lethal aid to Ukraine to assist in its fight against Russia.

“I've just spoken to the Defence Minister and we’ll be seeking to provide whatever support we can for lethal aid through our NATO partners, particularly the US and the UK,” he said.

“We‘ll be working through those channels because that’s the most effective way to do it.”

It means Australia will provide funding through NATO for weapons and offensive capability rather than sending its own weaponry.

Australia has previously committed to sending non-lethal aid but had categorically ruled out sending troops.

The Prime Minister joined hundreds of Ukrainian Australians attending a solemn church service in Sydney to pray for their homeland.

Speaking after the service, Mr Morrison said Russia must pay for its actions.

“Russia must pay a heavy price, they must pay a heavy price,” he said.

“We will continue to add to that price as we consider every single option that is in front of us.

“I've taken nothing off the table.”

Earlier, Opposition foreign spokeswoman Penny Wong indicated Labor would be willing to support further sanctions on Russia.

“I’ve said we will give bipartisan support to the most comprehensive and heaviest sanctions that Australia can and should take, so I extend that invitation to the Government again,” she told the ABC.

Queensland Liberal National Senator James McGrath also posted on social media that Australia should be “sending weapons” rather than thoughts and prayers.

“Instead of sending thoughts and prayers to Ukraine we should be sending weapons,” he tweeted on Saturday night.

“Instead of sanctions we should be confiscating the assets of Putin’s regime and giving them to Ukraine.

“The Russian Ambassador should be expelled and put on a plane today.”

Australia on Sunday slapped Russian President Vladimir Putin with sanctions directly, but stopped short of kicking diplomats out of the country.

“I confirm that we are taking action against President Putin and his Foreign Minister and we will continue to add names to these lists,” Mr Morrison said.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne indicated it was a live option but at this stage the government wanted to keep lines of communication open.

Mr Morrison repeated his intention to give visa applications from Ukrainians the highest priority but could not confirm how many would be on offer for those fleeing the region.

It comes after NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet declared he is “more than willing” to help Ukrainians fleeing the war zone.

In an open letter to Mr Morrison, Mr Perrottet said NSW is “ready to assist the Commonwealth in whatever way necessary”.

“My government is more than willing to facilitate the resettlement of Ukrainians seeking to make Australia their new home,” Mr Perrottet wrote.

“We have a strong Ukrainian community here in Sydney and I am confident any new arrivals will be welcomed with open arms.”

https://www.news.com.au/world/asia/penny-wong-hits-out-an-inconsistent-china/news-story/2d776a265ccb34e86c3b18c0ac15c552

https://twitter.com/SenatorMcGrath/status/1497488611335622656

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15743123 (280613ZFEB22) Notable: Video: Bill Gates: ‘If every country does what Australia did,’ the world could prevent the next pandemic

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>>121274

Bill Gates: ‘If every country does what Australia did,’ the world could prevent the next pandemic

Megan Sauer - Feb 24 2022

For months, Bill Gates has warned of a new pandemic looming on the horizon. And according to the Microsoft co-founder, one country has already laid out a blueprint for successfully mitigating it.

“If every country does what Australia did, then you wouldn’t be calling [the next outbreak] a pandemic,” Gates, a health philanthropist who has dedicated billions of dollars to vaccine research, said at the annual Munich Security Conference earlier this month.

Keeping a new outbreak from becoming a pandemic would almost certainly prevent many of the global consequences caused by Covid-19. But, Gates noted, it’ll likely require much stricter policies in a future outbreak’s early days than how most of the world enacted against Covid.

And countries will need to maintain those policies for a sustained period of time, even potentially against public pressure.

Gates cited Australia’s Covid response as the gold standard to follow. The country reopened its international borders this week for the first time since March 2020. Over the course of the pandemic, returning citizens and approved international travelers have been required to quarantine in hotels guarded by police and military members. Australia’s states even periodically locked down their respective borders.

Thousands of Australians protested those lockdowns, but the measures seem to have worked: Since the beginning of the pandemic, only 20 per 100,000 Australians have died from Covid, according to a New York Times analysis of John Hopkins University data. That’s a significantly lower figure than the 283 per 100,000 Americans who have died from Covid, according to the same analysis.

Vaccine rates in Australia are also relatively high: 81% of the country’s population is fully vaccinated against Covid, according to John Hopkins University data. For comparison, less than 65% of the U.S. is currently fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Australia did struggle to contain Covid’s omicron variant. According to John Hopkins University data, 155 people died during omicron’s Australian peak on January 28. But omicron has similarly swept through the rest of the world, largely unimpeded — and it appears that Australia’s death rate is already stabilizing, with a 7-day average of 38 daily Covid-related deaths, as of Feb. 23.

There’s reason to believe Australia’s blueprint may have been less successful elsewhere: Its population of nearly 26 million is relatively small, and it’s an island without any land borders. But Gates still called it a “true outlier.”

“They orchestrated diagnostics, they executed quarantine policies, and they have a death rate in a different league than other rich countries,” Gates said. “And everybody had the capability to do that.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/24/bill-gates-australia-covid-blueprint-could-help-prevent-next-pandemic.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMOxiKDKz8I

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15743221 (280633ZFEB22) Notable: Ben Roberts-Smith kicked an unarmed and handcuffed man off a cliff, says witness, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: SAS_Corporal_Ben_Roberts_Smith_VC_MG_left_of_centre_with_the_Australian_Special_Operations_Task_Group.jpg, High_resolution_photos_of_the_Afghan_village_of_Darwan_which_was_raided_in_2012_by_the_SAS.jpg

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>>121195

Ben Roberts-Smith kicked an unarmed and handcuffed man off a cliff, says witness

Michaela Whitbourn - February 28, 2022

1/2

Warning: This report contains graphic content.

A former elite soldier has told the Federal Court that war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith kicked an unarmed and handcuffed man off a cliff before coaching him on the story he should tell about the man’s death.

Person 4, a former Special Air Service soldier, gave evidence in Mr Roberts-Smith’s defamation case on Monday that he witnessed the decorated soldier kick the cuffed man off a cliff in Darwan, Afghanistan, in 2012, causing the man to sustain a “serious facial injury” when his face hit a rock.

The man’s collision with the rock “knocked out a number of his teeth including his front teeth”, Person 4 said. The man had then attempted to sit up with his hands still tied but “fell back down again”. Person 4 said Mr Roberts-Smith, who was then a patrol commander, instructed him and another soldier, Person 11, to drag the man’s body across a dry creek bed towards a large tree.

“At that point the individual was placed down. I moved off a distance. Ben Roberts-Smith and Person 11 had a quick conversation,” Person 4 said. “As I moved off and the conversation had started, I quickly turned around and the individual was standing.”

Person 4, who cannot be identified for national security reasons, said the man was still handcuffed. “A number of shots rang out ... two to three rounds,” he said.

He said that he saw Person 11 “still” had his rifle raised in a firing position after he heard shots fired. The shots sounded like they came from an M4 assault rifle, he said, and he was “fairly certain” Person 11 had an M4. He told the court that Mr Roberts-Smith, standing nearby, had an M4.

Under the rules of engagement under which Australian troops operated in Afghanistan, which are consistent with the Geneva Conventions, a person under the control (PUC) of Australian troops cannot be killed, and to kill a person in these circumstances is murder.

Person 4 said Person 11 took photographs of the Afghan man’s body, and he saw that a radio known as an ICOM was positioned next to him. He said that to his knowledge the man had not had an ICOM.

The ICOM was “slightly wet” with a “fogged-up” screen, Person 4 said, and it “dawned on” him that he believed the radio came from another Afghan man Mr Roberts-Smith had pursued across the Helmand River before the alleged incident.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15751354 (010807ZMAR22) Notable: Lethal aid to Ukraine will make major difference in fight against Russian invasion: Volodymyr Shalkivskyi, top Ukrainian diplomat in Australia, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Australian_Parliament_House_lit_up_in_the_colours_of_Ukraine_s_flag_on_Monday_night.jpg, British_high_commissioner_to_Australia_Vicki_Treadell_with_Ukrainian_embassy_head_of_mission_Volodymyr_Shalkivskyi.jpg, The_British_high_commission_was_also_illuminated_in_Ukraine_s_flag_colours_on_Monday.jpg

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>>121256

>>121273

Lethal aid to Ukraine will make major difference in fight against Russian invasion: top Ukrainian diplomat in Australia

Doug Dingwall - FEBRUARY 28 2022

Ukraine's top diplomat in Australia says the supply of lethal aid from nations including Australia will make a major difference as Ukrainian forces fight back Russian advances into the country.

Volodymyr Shalkivskyi, the head of mission at Ukraine's embassy in Canberra, has also urged Australians considering travelling to help defend Ukraine against the Russian invasion to carefully check Australia's laws.

Ukrainians and their military have put up fierce resistance and denied Russia's attempts to take control of the capital Kyiv, Ukraine's second-largest city Kharkiv, and other targets.

Mr Shalkivskyi on Monday evening said the supply of lethal aid to Ukraine from nations including Australia would be crucial in the resistance against the Russian invasion.

"Thanks to the international community and our partners, we are confident that we will not run out of bullets and weapons in order to defend our country," he said.

"Russians were preparing the invasion for months. So they carefully studied everything in terms of the positions of our military depots.

"During those initial missile strikes, a significant number of military depots and military units were destroyed. Along with civilian infrastructure. Everyone saw those just terrible pictures of devastation.

"That is why it is crucial for us to have reliable support."

Australia has pledged $4 million in military assistance that will go to NATO's Trust Fund for Ukraine to support the purchase of non-lethal military equipment and medical supplies. The federal cabinet's national security committee will meet on Tuesday to finalise its decision as to what lethal military equipment Australia will provide to Ukraine.

Mr Shalkivskyi said many people in Australia had called - including about 20 in the first couple of hours the embassy was taking calls - asking whether they could travel to Ukraine and help defend the country.

He said Ukraine appreciated the willingness of Australians to help.

"We believe that there are different ways to support our military and different [ways] to protect our civilians, provide financial assistance, humanitarian aid," he said.

"At the same time, I'd like to avoid discrepancies in terms of legislation of Australia, and I urge those brave men who would like to go, to check carefully the relevant provisions of the legislation.

"For sure we would welcome them. But we for sure would like to avoid a situation that they help us and get back and have troubles."

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced the creation of a foreign legion, and Mr Shalkivskyi said people from Poland and other neighbouring countries had already arrived in Ukraine to defend the country.

"They are eager to help. And they have sufficient military experience," Mr Shalkivskyi said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has urged Ukrainians in Australia not to travel to Ukraine to fight in the conflict.

"At this time, the legality of such actions are uncertain under Australian law," he said.

British high commissioner Vicki Treadell, standing with Mr Shalkivskyi at the high commission in Canberra, said equipping Ukraine with aid for its defence would be an international effort.

"We utterly condemn the actions of Russia. Their aggression is completely unjustified. We, with our international partners, will do all we can to support Ukraine, and the Ukrainian people, and the incredible courage and resilience that they are showing," she said.

The British high commission was illuminated in the blue and yellow colours of Ukraine's flag on Monday night as a symbol of solidarity. Australian Parliament House was also lit up in Ukraine's colours.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has spoken to President Zelensky on several occasions in the lead-up to and after the invasion.

Mr Shalkivskyi said the United Kingdom played a crucial role in uniting the international community in supporting Ukraine.

"We have strong morale among our soldiers and officers. We have also a very supportive population of Ukraine, who support our military in their actions," he said.

The territorial defence force of citizens supporting the Ukrainian military already numbered more than 100,000 people.

"There were, in our history, a number of invasions. But eventually, all of them failed," Mr Shalkivskyi said.

Blasts were heard before dawn on Monday in Kyiv and Kharkiv, but Russian ground forces' attempts to capture major urban centres were repelled, Ukrainian authorities said.

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7639153/lethal-aid-to-ukraine-will-make-major-difference-in-fight-again-invasion-top-diplomat/

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15751375 (010816ZMAR22) Notable: PM warns Australians wanting to fight in Ukraine against entering into ‘suicide missions’, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Prime_Minister_Scott_Morrison_will_convene_a_national_security_committee_meeting_on_Tuesday_to_discuss_the_Ukraine_situation.jpg, Australians_have_been_warned_they_could_be_a_liability_if_they_volunteer_without_military_training_to_fight_for_Ukraine.jpg

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>>121256

>>121278

PM warns Australians wanting to fight in Ukraine against entering into ‘suicide missions’

ELLEN RANSLEY - MARCH 1, 2022

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Australians wanting to fight against Russian forces in Ukraine are being warned against entering into “suicide missions” as the conflict becomes “more and more difficult”.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Defence Minister Peter Dutton have warned those seeking to fly to Ukraine to consider whether they want to find themselves on the wrong end of some “very, very violent attacks”.

Earlier this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for foreign fighters to join the resistance and said the Ukrainian armed forces were in the process of setting up a foreign legion unit for international volunteers.

United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Liz Truss voiced her support for citizens to go to Ukraine and join the international force.

But questions about the legal status of any Australian who does volunteer to fight in Ukraine are being raised. Some have postured that parts of Ukraine should become “declared areas”, which would make it an offence for an Australian to enter other than for a legitimate purpose.

When asked about it again on Tuesday, Mr Morrison said the legal position of those who seek to travel to Ukraine to fight “remains very unclear”.

“Particularly as the formation of what would be informal militias and the extent to which they are actually part of any sovereign and defined force is Ukraine is very unclear,” Mr Morrison said.

“I’d also argue that anyone seeking to do that would find themselves on the wrong end of some very, very violent attacks.

“Those disorganised civilian militias would effectively be putting people in the most extreme of situations, so we will not encourage anybody to go there and we would advise against it because largely you would be joining something, the status of which is completely unclear, and how it would be supported and how it would sit in any command structure with Ukraine’s forces I think is totally unknown.

“Others have described those sorts of things as suicide missions, and that’s not an unreasonable assessment.”

Earlier, a leading Ukrainian community leader in Australia didn’t describe such actions as a “suicide mission” but warned Australians without any military training from becoming a liability for the Ukrainian defensive.

Instead, he said those wanting to help Ukraine should consider donating money to go towards humanitarian aid, as the number of refugees fleeing the nation approaches one million.

Stefan Romaniw, vice-president of the Ukrainian World Congress, and co-chair of the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations, said Australians who wanted to volunteer to fight needed to do their own risk assessment but ultimately consider whether they would be a “liability”.

“Our position is clear – it’s a decision that people have to make. But our one bit of advice, if you have no military training, if you are wanting to fight because of emotions, you might be a liability rather than an asset,” Mr Romaniw told NCA NewsWire.

“I know for our American and Canada colleagues, where people have had a lot of military training … that’s the sort of person who would be of benefit.

“But if you’re talking about going and helping, I think it’s important what we do now is factor in what’s important.

“Otherwise we’ll end up with good-hearted people with no military experience wanting to fight. It’s a liability.

“If you have an inkling that you want to go and fight, you need to risk assess … We can’t tell people to go or not go.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15751401 (010829ZMAR22) Notable: Former soldier objects to answering questions on alleged murder in Ben Roberts-Smith case, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Ben_Roberts_Smith_outside_the_Federal_Court_in_Sydney_earlier_this_month.jpg

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>>121195

Former soldier objects to answering questions on alleged murder in Ben Roberts-Smith case

Michaela Whitbourn - March 1, 2022

A former elite soldier who was allegedly told by war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith to execute an unarmed Afghan man has objected to giving evidence about the incident in the Federal Court on the grounds he might incriminate himself.

Person 4, who was medically discharged from the SAS last year, started giving evidence on Monday in Mr Roberts-Smith’s defamation case against The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times.

He has already told the court he witnessed Mr Roberts-Smith kick an unarmed and handcuffed Afghan man off a cliff in Darwan in late 2012, before the man was shot dead.

But Person 4, whose name cannot be revealed for national security reasons, objected to answering a question on Monday by the newspapers’ barrister, Nicholas Owens, SC, about his recollection of events during a separate mission in Afghanistan on Easter Sunday, 2009. Justice Anthony Besanko did not compel him to answer the question.

The court has previously heard evidence from a serving SAS soldier that Mr Roberts-Smith told Person 4 during the 2009 mission to shoot a captive Afghan man who had been discovered in a tunnel in a compound known as Whiskey 108.

“RS ... walked down and grabbed the Afghan male by the scruff of the shirt, picked him up, marched him a couple of metres forward [until] he was in front of Person 4,” the serving soldier, dubbed Person 41, said in early February.

“He then kicked him in the back of the legs behind the knees until he was kneeling down in front of Person 4. He pointed to the [Afghan man] ... and said to Person 4, ‘Shoot him.’”

Person 41 said he heard but did not see the shots being fired, because he did not want to look. Shortly after he heard the shots, he saw a “dead Afghan male” at the feet of Person 4, Person 41 said.

On Monday, Mr Owens asked Person 4 if he would tell the court what he recalled happened at Whiskey 108.

“Your honour, I object on the grounds that I may incriminate myself,” Person 4 said.

On Tuesday, one of Mr Roberts-Smith’s barristers, Arthur Moses, SC, returned to the subject in cross-examination.

“You’re aware, are you not, that the respondents in this case have alleged that you murdered an unarmed Afghan male on 12 April, 2009, correct?” Mr Moses said.

Justice Besanko compelled him to answer the question, and Person 4 agreed he was aware of that allegation. However, he objected to giving any evidence about the alleged incident.

Mr Roberts-Smith launched defamation proceedings in 2018 over a series of articles that he says accuse him of being a war criminal, among other claims.

He denies all wrongdoing. The media outlets are seeking to rely on a defence of truth and allege Mr Roberts-Smith committed or was involved in six murders of Afghans under the control of Australian troops, when they cannot be killed under the rules of engagement.

Another serving SAS soldier, Person 14, told the court earlier this month that he heard Person 5, the commander of Person 4’s patrol, say in front of SAS troops at their Tarin Kowt base before the Whiskey 108 mission that he was going to “blood the rookie”.

Asked what he understood that to mean, Person 14 said it referred to a new member of the troop getting a “kill”. He believed the “rookie” was Person 4.

Mr Owens asked: “Was Mr Roberts-Smith present on that occasion?”

“Yes,” Person 14 replied. The court has heard Mr Roberts-Smith was second-in-charge of the patrol led by Person 5.

Person 14 said he heard Person 5 say after the Easter Sunday mission: “I finally blooded the rookie.”

The trial continues.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/former-soldier-objects-to-answering-questions-on-alleged-murder-in-ben-roberts-smith-case-20220301-p5a0kl.html

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15761198 (020700ZMAR22) Notable: Prime Minister Scott Morrison tests positive to Covid-19 - 1 March 2022, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Prime_Minister_Scott_Morrison_right_holds_a_press_conferecne_with_Defence_Minister_Peter_Dutton_on_Tuesday_in_Canberra_Mr_Morrison_tested_postive_to_Covid_on_Tuesday_night.jpg, ScoMo_32.jpg

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Prime Minister Scott Morrison tests positive to Covid-19

JOE KELLY and DEBBIE SCHIPP - MARCH 2, 2022

Scott Morrison has tested positive for Covid-19, revealing he is experiencing “flu-like symptoms” and will spend the next week recovering at home in Sydney.

The Prime Minister made the announcement at 11.30pm in a series of tweets.

“I had tested myself daily since Sunday, including this morning, with all tests returning a negative result,” he wrote.

But after developing a fever late on Tuesday, Mr Morrison took another test.

When it was inconclusive, he elected for a PCR test, which came back positive late on Tuesday night.

“I am continuing to follow health guidelines and am isolating at home in Sydney,” he said.

“Jenny and the girls have thankfully tested negative, but will isolate for seven days at home as close contacts.

“While in isolation I will continue to discharge all my responsibilities as Prime Minister.”

Mr Morrison plans to “virtually” chair meetings of the National Security & Expenditure Review Committees of Cabinet, “focusing on our emergency response to the devastating floods in Qld and NSW, and ensuring we stand with each and every one of the affected communities”.

“I will also be focused on our urgent response to the tragedy unfolding in Ukraine and Russia’s senseless aggression, staying in regular contact with our security and intelligence officials & our international partners, as well as working with the Treasurer to finalise the Budget.”

Defence Minster Peter Dutton has tested negative for Covid after completing a Rapid Antigen Test on Wednesday morning.

Mr Dutton speaking on Sky News reassured Australians that the Prime Minister was going to work from home and he was “determined to help everyone recover from the floods.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/prime-minister-scott-morrison-tests-positive-to-covid19/news-story/d428557e4732391a7c3580c485b831fd

https://twitter.com/ScottMorrisonMP/status/1498637160265977856

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15761244 (020710ZMAR22) Notable: Peter Dutton calls on China to put pressure on Russia to end Ukraine conflict, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Defence_Minister_Peter_Dutton_said_China_needed_to_offer_words_of_direction_to_Russia_immediately_as_the_conflict_escalates.jpg, Prime_Minister_Scott_Morrison_says_he_is_concerned_about_the_relationship_between_Russia_and_China_and_the_implications_it_might_have_in_the_Pacific.jpg, Russian_President_Vladimir_Putin_and_Chinese_President_Xi_Jinping_reaffirmed_their_countries_friendship_in_early_February.jpg

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>>121256

Peter Dutton calls on China to put pressure on Russia to end Ukraine conflict

ELLEN RANSLEY - MARCH 2, 2022

Chinese President Xi Jinping is the “only one” who can stop Russia from the intense carnage unfolding across Ukraine, according to Peter Dutton.

The Defence Minister, who on Tuesday joined the Prime Minister in pledging $105m for lethal and non-lethal aid to help Ukrainian forces and NATO allies fight back against Russian invasion, said the situation was worsening.

Western nations have strongly condemned President Vladimir Putin over the invasion and imposed tough sanctions.

But China has failed to follow their lead, instead strengthening the trading relationship between the two countries.

China and Russia have long held strong diplomatic and financial ties, with many western leaders calling on President Xi to take a stronger hand in relation to the current conflict.

Mr Dutton said President Xi was the only world leader President Putin might listen to.

“The carnage that we’re seeing right across Ukraine at the moment is very confronting and I think it’s going to intensify,” Mr Dutton told Sky News.

“I want it to go away, but we have to be realistic about the intent of somebody with Putin’s mindset.

“It’s only China, really, now that can stop Putin from progressing the way that he is, and the pressure really should be on President Xi to pick up that phone and instead of offering comfort, offering words of direction to President Putin that he should withdraw from Ukraine as quickly as possible.”

Mr Morrison on Tuesday said he was “concerned” about ties between Russia and China.

“I’ve been calling this out now for many, many years. When you get the close co-operation of autocratic or authoritarian states of that scale, and with that capability, of course that presents real risks to global stability in the Indo-Pacific region,” Mr Morrison said on Tuesday.

“This is why I’ve been so forward leaning in insisting that countries in our own region, particularly China, would not be offering a lifeline to Russia, but to be shutting them off.

“The impact of the world’s response to impose a price on President Putin needs to be reinforced by countries like China because if they extend a lifeline to them, as they have in taking their wheat exports by easing trade restrictions on Russian wheat into China that only serves to undermine, I think, the principled stance that has been taken by so many other countries around the world.

“I would encourage (China) to join the global efforts and send a very clear message to President Putin that this sort of behaviour is unacceptable.”

There are also concerns China could seek to invade Taiwan.

Last week, before the war began, Mr Morrison cautioned against drawing parallels, but said China should “not even think” about invading Taiwan.

“I believe China is … watching this very carefully, and that is why I have been at pains to say that China needs to take as strong as a position as other countries in denouncing what Russia is doing,” Mr Morrisons aid last week.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/breaking-news/peter-dutton-calls-on-china-to-put-pressure-on-russia-to-end-ukraine-conflict/news-story/c3dec2d854350145f1c4ab2f8fe2f983

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15761426 (020810ZMAR22) Notable: Ben Roberts-Smith’s accuser risked his life in Taliban battle but ‘politics’ robbed him of top medal, court hears, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Chief_of_the_Defence_Force_Air_Chief_Marshal_Angus_Houston_salutes_Ben_Roberts_Smith_during_the_VC_award_ceremony_in_January_2011.jpg

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>>121195

Ben Roberts-Smith’s accuser risked his life in Taliban battle but ‘politics’ robbed him of top medal, court hears

PERRY DUFFIN - MARCH 2, 2022

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The SAS soldier, who accused Ben Roberts-Smith of kicking an unarmed Afghan off a cliff, has testified he risked his life in the ferocious moments that earned the decorated soldier a Victoria Cross, but never received the same award.

The unnamed SAS soldier said he was passed over for the military’s top accolade because Mr Roberts-Smith’s role in the battle had been “politicised”.

Mr Roberts-Smith is suing Nine newspapers and journalists over a series of articles claiming he killed six unarmed Afghans while deployed.

The SAS veteran denies every allegation — including Nine’s centrepiece claim that he kicked unarmed farmer Ali Jan down a sandy cliff in the village of Darwan in 2012.

Person 4, an anonymised SAS soldier, told the court this week that he saw Mr Roberts-Smith kick Mr Jan in the chest, catapulting him down the slope into a rock which “exploded” the teeth from the farmer’s head.

The unnamed SAS soldier told the court he and a third soldier dragged the injured farmer across a dry creek bed before the third soldier shot Mr Jan dead in front of Mr Roberts-Smith.

He denies being a source for Nine and now suffers from a range of mental health issues, including flashbacks about his time in Afghanistan.

The Federal Court, on Wednesday, heard emotional testimony from Person 4 about a mission in the town of Tizak in 2010.

Person 4 told the court his SAS patrol was pinned down by “sustained and accurate” two Taliban machine guns.

“I remember laying there and looking toward Roberts-Smith — he was ashen in face — and I looked toward Person 18 and he was ashen faced,” Person 4 said, his voice breaking.

“I remember distinctly I would have looked the same — I had a feeling of absolute dread and fear.”

Person 4 told the court he and Mr Roberts-Smith advanced toward the machine guns, flanking the Taliban while covering each other.

“I identified two muzzles from machine guns firing directly at us. A signature of gases, exhaust gases coming out of the barrels,” Person 4 said.

“As Roberts-Smith cleared the window he screamed at me ‘one dead enemy!’”

Person 4 said he exposed himself as Mr Roberts-Smith threw a grenade, and again when Mr Roberts-Smith downed the second gunner.

The soldier was seconds behind Mr Roberts-Smith, he told the court, and “100 per cent” believed he shot one of the gunners dead.

Two machine gunners would normally warrant an attack from 100 soldiers, Person 4 told the court, but it was only himself, Mr Roberts-Smith and later a third SAS soldier facing the muzzles.

“That action, for me, was the highlight of my professional career purely because — excuse me,” he said as his words caught in his throat.

“I didn’t let them down. We both supported each other. We overcame overwhelming odds together … There were only two of us that day, plus Person 32, that were able to overcome those odds.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15770041 (030716ZMAR22) Notable: Tensions boil in Ben Roberts-Smith trial as soldier says he was ‘manipulated’, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Tensions_have_boiled_over_in_the_Ben_Roberts_Smith_trial.jpg, Ben_Roberts_Smith_receiving_his_Victoria_Cross_in_2011_which_he_said_painted_a_target_on_his_back_for_his_critics_in_the_SAS.jpg

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>>121195

Tensions boil in Ben Roberts-Smith trial as soldier says he was ‘manipulated’

PERRY DUFFIN - MARCH 3, 2022

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An SAS soldier, who testified Ben Roberts-Smith kicked an unarmed Afghan off a cliff, says he was “manipulated” by Mr Roberts-Smith’s enemies under questioning so heated the judge intervened.

Mr Roberts-Smith is suing Nine and its journalists over allegations he was involved in the unlawful killing of six unarmed Afghans while deployed.

Among Nine’s allegations against Mr Roberts-Smith is that he kicked a handcuffed shepherd down a cliff before another soldier executed the injured Afghan.

He denies every allegation - Nine maintains they are true.

A decorated SAS soldier known as Person 4 told the court, this week, he witnessed Mr Roberts-Smith kick Mr Jan in the chest during the Darwan raid.

Person 4 claimed he helped drag Mr Jan across a dry creek bed and was standing just metres away as another SAS soldier, Person 11, shot Mr Jan dead in front of Mr Roberts-Smith.

Back at the SAS base, Person 4 told the Federal Court on Thursday, he watched Mr Roberts-Smith tell a group of soldiers “I kicked that c*** off the cliff”.

“What you told the court is a fantasy by you,” Mr Roberts-Smith’s barrister Arthur Moses SC said to Person 4.

“That is not correct,” the soldier responded.

Mr Roberts-Smith has told the court other soldiers within the ranks of the SAS regiment wanted to bring him down - partly because he had been awarded Australia‘s top military honour for his actions in the 2011 battle of Tizak.

Person 4 told the court he fought alongside Mr Roberts-Smith in the crucial moments of the battle of Tizak overcoming the overwhelming odds pitted against the SAS by two Taliban machine guns.

Mr Roberts-Smith, in his Victoria Cross citation, is credited with killing both gunners but Person 4 claims he felled one gunner with rifle fire.

Despite Person 4’s bravery during Tizak, the court has heard, he did not get a Victoria Cross - it took two years for him to be awarded the Medal For Gallantry for his actions at Tizak and that upset him greatly.

“The regiment doesn’t deserve lies and cowardice and, Your Honour, I’m not a liar or a coward,” Person 4 told Justice Anthony Besanko on Thursday.

Mr Moses asked Person 4 if he was suggesting Mr Roberts-Smith was a liar or a coward.

“Absolutely not, I’ve seen that individual perform heroic feats on the battlefield,” Person 4 said.

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15772763 (031744ZMAR22) Notable: Joe Biden’s bid to unite Quad on Russia - Joe Biden calls a snap Quad security bloc meeting after India declined to condemn Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Police_remove_the_body_of_a_passer_by_who_was_killed_in_the_Russian_air_strike_that_hit_Kyiv_s_main_television_tower.jpg, US_President_Joe_Biden.jpg, Prime_Minister_Scott_Morrison_will_take_in_the_Quad_summit_early_on_Friday.jpg

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Joe Biden’s bid to unite Quad on Russia

BEN PACKHAM and AMANDA HODGE - MARCH 3, 2022

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Joe Biden called a snap Quad security bloc meeting after India declined to condemn Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, as Russian forces captured their first major Ukrainian city and intensified attacks on civilian areas.

Scott Morrison said the virtual Quad leaders’ meeting with his US, Indian and Japanese counterparts – which was scheduled for 1am on Friday (AEDT) – would discuss developments “in the Indo-Pacific region and globally”.

India, which maintains close security ties with Moscow, abstained on Wednesday from demanding the “immediate” withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine in an overwhelming vote at the UN General Assemvbly.

Australia joined 140 other UN members to vote for the resolution. Just five nations – Russia, Eritrea, North Korea, Syria, Belarus and Russia – voted against the motion, while India joined China among 35 abstentions.

The Quad talks, which had not been flagged, follow a face-to-face meeting in Washington last September between Mr Morrison, the US President, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

The Quad is aimed at countering Chinese military and diplomatic expansionism in the Indo-Pacific. The US has been calling on New Delhi to use its “leverage” with Moscow to help end the increasingly bloody war in Ukraine.

US Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu said the White House had “spared no effort to convince India both to vote in UN sessions but also to show support for Ukraine at this critical moment”.

Russia’s invasion force captured the strategically located southern port of Kherson on Thursday, as attackers laid siege to Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and second largest city Kharkiv.

After a three-day siege, Kherson mayor Igor Kolykhayev said the city of 250,000 people on the Black Sea and Dnieper River had been overrun, with Russian forces in the streets and entering the council building. “There were armed visitors in the city executive committee today,” Mr Kolykhayev said. “I didn’t make any promises to them … I just asked them not to shoot people.”

Kharkiv, encircled by Russian forces, came under heavy bombardment that destroyed civilian areas and sparked widespread reports of casualties.

Another key Ukrainian port, Berdiansk, had already been seized by Russian troops, while the southern coastal city of Mariupol had repelled attacks “with dignity”, according to its mayor, Vadym Boychenko.

“Today was the hardest and cruellest day of the seven-day war. Today they just wanted to destroy us all,” Mr Boychenko said in a video on Telegram.

He accused Russian forces of shooting at residential buildings.

Kyiv was again rocked by explosions, including a massive blast at the main railway station that was reportedly caused by the downing of a Russian cruise missile. But a 65km-long convoy of Russian tanks, armoured vehicles and logistics trucks remained stalled north of the city, amid reported attacks by Ukrainian forces, low morale among Russian troops and botched planning, Western defence officials said.

As Ukrainian officials prepared for a second round of diplomatic talks with Russian counterparts in Belarus, warning they would accept “no ultimatums”, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky urged his nation to continue to resist the invaders.

“We are a people who broke the enemy’s plans in a week,” he said in a video address.

“They will have no peace here. They will have no food. They will have here not one quiet moment.”

(continued)

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15778970 (040823ZMAR22) Notable: Quad leaders hold talks on Ukraine conflict, warn against similar shows of force in Indo-Pacific, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Leaders_from_Australia_Japan_India_and_the_US_spoke_overnight_about_the_Ukraine_crisis_in_a_virtual_Quad_meeting.jpg

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>>121288

Quad leaders hold talks on Ukraine conflict, warn against similar shows of force in Indo-Pacific

Reuters/ABC - 4 March 2022

The leaders of the Quad grouping of countries the United States, India, Australia and Japan have agreed that what is happening to Ukraine should not be allowed to happen in the Indo-Pacific, the Japanese prime minister says.

A virtual meeting of the four-country grouping was held at a time of increased concern about Taiwan, a self-ruled island claimed by China, which has stepped up its alert level, wary of China taking advantage of a distracted West to move against it.

"We've agreed that unilateral changes to the status quo with force like this should not be allowed in the Indo-Pacific region," Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said, referring to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"We've also agreed this development makes it even more important to work toward realising a free and open Indo-Pacific," Mr Kishida told reporters after the meeting with US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Kurt Campbell, the White House coordinator for Indo-Pacific, said on Monday the United States would keep its focus on the Indo-Pacific despite the Ukraine crisis, although this would be difficult and expensive.

He said Washington has been deeply engaged in two theatres simultaneously before, including during World War II and the Cold War.

Mr Morrison said the invasion of Ukraine had made the Quad's purpose clear.

"This is what the Quad is all about: four leaders of liberal democratic nations who uphold the values and principles of our rules based international order," he said in a statement.

"Together we are committed to supporting a region where the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states is respected, the status quo cannot be changed by force, and coercion is not tolerated."

India the odd one out

The United States sees the Quad and its growing relations with India as essential to its efforts to push back against China in the Pacific, but it is in a delicate balancing act with New Delhi, given the latter’s long-standing ties with Russia.

Of the four Quad countries, only India has not condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Russia is the main supplier of arms to the Indian military and India faces the possibility of US sanctions for its purchase of the Russian S-400 air defence system.

Analysts say any moves by Russia hawks in the Biden administration to impose sanctions on India for working with Moscow could backfire and set back cooperation in the Quad.

Mr Campbell said on Monday that Washington remained "bullish" about its relationship with India.

"We have a deep dialogue with them on issues underway now,” he told a Washington think tank.

"We understand... India's historic, long-standing relationship with Russia, but at the same time, ultimately, we believe that India will be moving in our direction."

India's foreign ministry said before Thursday's meeting that it would follow a September summit of the Quad leaders in Washington and they would "exchange views and assessments about important developments in the Indo-Pacific."

It was not immediately clear on whose request the meeting was called. None of the Quad countries had flagged it earlier.

Quad foreign ministers met in Australia early last month and pledged to deepen cooperation to ensure the Indo-Pacific region was free from "coercion," a veiled reference to China's economic and military activities, and their leaders are set to hold a summit in Japan in May.

China has denounced the Quad as a Cold War construct and a clique "targeting other countries."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-04/quad-leaders-meet-for-virtual-talks-on-ukraine-crisis/100880886

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15778992 (040827ZMAR22) Notable: Pine Gap - jointly run US and Australian defence intelligence facility in Alice Springs likely gathering intelligence about Russia's next moves in Ukraine, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Signals_intelligence_gathered_at_Pine_Gap_are_used_by_Australia_and_the_United_States.jpg, Joint_Defence_Facility_Pine_Gap_as_seen_on_Google_Maps.jpg, This_satellite_image_shows_part_of_a_military_convoy_and_burning_homes_near_Invankiv_Ukraine_on_Monday.jpg, Vladimir_Putin_put_nuclear_deterrence_forces_on_high_alert_this_week.jpg

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Pine Gap in Alice Springs likely gathering intelligence about Russia's next moves in Ukraine

Stewart Brash and Emma Haskin - 4 March 2022

A highly secretive defence intelligence facility, on the outskirts of Alice Springs, is likely gathering information about the escalating situation in Ukraine.

The work of the jointly run US and Australian base known as Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap is vital after Russian President Vladimir Putin put his country's nuclear deterrent forces on "high alert".

Political expert Richard Tanter said the base would be playing a crucial role in gathering intelligence through covert communications from the Ukraine and border regions.

"Pine Gap collects two main sources of intelligence," Professor Tanter, from Melbourne University, said.

"One is telephone transmissions, radar transmissions, any kind of electronic transmissions, communications or otherwise.

"It also collects the thermal imagery, that heat bloom, of missiles launching."

Professor Tanter said Pine Gap worked in conjunction with Menwith Hill, a similar base in Yorkshire in the United Kingdom.

"Between the two of ... those satellites, the footprint of them covers everything from the edge of the Pacific, China and Japan, in this case, right through to Russia and Ukraine.

"They'll be listening to Russian military activity nationwide, precisely because that nuclear alert, they'll be watching all nuclear facilities," he said.

Professor Tanter said the bases would also be collecting information about Russian military movement in Belarus, communication from politicians and the military's high command.

"All those Russian tanks, those armoured cars, those aircraft — they have to communicate one way or another," he said.

"These, of course, are often encrypted, but the job of the National Security Agency is to break that encryption."

He said the teams would be working to build a "full order of battle".

"What that tells them [is] where the Russian forces are and then how they're moving and what they're planning to do."

Professor Tanter said infrared satellites also provide the United States with valuable data about the early warning satellite systems.

"That will give the US firstly assurance that Putin is not launching those nuclear missiles, but more relevantly to the war, tracking the locations of these missiles that the Russians are firing," he said.

Becoming a nuclear target

Professor Tanter said Putin's threat of nuclear weapons had catapulted world politics back to the Cold War.

"There was very little chance of Putin using those nuclear weapons in war," he said.

"What he was using them for was politics and it was a way of trying to push back against the United States, which is clearly embarked on a very serious campaign of economic punishment and destabilisation," he said.

Professor Tanter said Pine Gap would certainly be a nuclear target in the unlikely case of a war between Russia and the United States.

"There's a very high chance that Pine Gap would be attacked quite simply because it provides critical targeting information for the United States in a nuclear war.

"That I'm afraid still makes Pine Gap vulnerable.

"One of the questions for Alice Springs citizens is always: 'What is Pine Gap doing and how do I feel about it?' That's a really important question," he said.

World safer with Pine Gap

Security and intelligence expert John Blaxland said Pine Gap's work was vital.

"[It is] the consistent view of successive Australian governments for more than half a century is that it makes Australia safer," Professor Blaxland, the head of International Security and Intelligence Studies at Australian National University, said.

He said the work at Pine Gap had received bilaterally support since the facility's establishment.

"Successive governments on both political persuasions have consistently endorsed, once they have been briefed on the capability and that is what Pine Gap delivers in terms of bolstered defence capabilities more than offsets the remote risk of vulnerability," he said.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-03/pine-gap-base-gathering-information-russia-ukraine-conflict/100878478

Originally posted at >>>/qresearch/15779131 (040914ZMAR22) Notable: Ben Roberts-Smith checked whether drone recorded events on day of alleged murders, court told, MISSING MEDIA/FILES: Ben_Roberts_Smith_arrives_at_the_Federal_Court_in_Sydney_last_month.jpg

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>>121195

Ben Roberts-Smith checked whether drone recorded events on day of alleged murders, court told

Michaela Whitbourn - March 4, 2022

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War veteran Ben Roberts-Smith checked whether a defence force drone had captured specific events on camera on the same day that he was allegedly involved in two unlawful killings in Afghanistan, a Special Air Service soldier has told the Federal Court.

Person 18, a serving SAS soldier whose identity cannot be revealed for national security reasons, gave evidence in Mr Roberts-Smith’s defamation case on Friday that he overheard a soldier dubbed Person 5 telling Mr Roberts-Smith during a mission on Easter Sunday, 2009, that “you’ve just done this” while a drone was “still flying above”.

The court has heard evidence that camera-equipped drones, known as Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance devices, were used to film some missions from the air. Person 5 told Mr Roberts-Smith on the day of the so-called Whiskey 108 mission that the drone “may have recorded” him, Person 18 said.

Mr Roberts-Smith replied to Person that “we need to find out if the ISR was still above us”, Person 18 said, and Person 5 sent a message on a troop internal chat asking where the drone was and if it was recording.

Defence personnel replied that the drone had been “pushed into another threat area” in a compound dubbed Whiskey 108, Person 18 said.

A former SAS soldier known as Person 19 has previously given evidence that Mr Roberts-Smith said during a training exercise in Australia that drones, “which can see what’s going on”, should be pushed off “to observe another area” during a “sensitive site exploitation”.

Person 19 said that Mr Roberts-Smith went on to say: “That’s when any people that we suspected of being enemy combatants, we’d take them into a room and shoot the c-nts.”

Person 18 told the court on Friday that he found and searched the bodies of three Afghan men during the Whiskey 108 mission. He said he found one body, an Afghan man dressed in white, inside the compound “roughly near” a tunnel entrance. Person 18 told the court that he had seen two to three SAS soldiers earlier that day around an Afghan man in white near the tunnel, and the man had plastic flexicuffs on his wrists.

The court has previously heard evidence from another serving SAS soldier that Mr Roberts-Smith told a soldier dubbed Person 4 to shoot a captive Afghan man who had been discovered in the tunnel at Whiskey 108.

Person 18 said he heard Person 5 tell Mr Roberts-Smith after the mission that they had “blooded the rookie”. He didn’t know what they were talking about at the time, Person 18 said, but it was a “running joke” that Person 4 was the “rookie”.

(continued)