REMARKABLY WELL TIMED
Just a quick bit of commentary. The TV news last night had a report
on a laser attack against an Australian RAAF P-8A Maritime Patrol
Aircraft last Thursday by a Chinese destroyer sailing just outside
of Australian waters. The aircraft was attacked with a
military-grade laser, and although no damage was done, it's a
significant act of intimidation by China occurring right on our
doorstep.
But more than that, the timing is facinating. This of course is
happening at the same time as Putin's making headlines in the
Western international news with the apparant build up to something
akin to a Cuban Missile Crisis in reverse that's happening in
Ukraine. With all that going on, it seems the incident hasn't been
very widely reported outside of Australia.
At the same time it's actually very surprising that the incident
has been reported in Australia just a few days after it happened.
Usually these national security incidents are bottled up for months
under the excuse of slow intelligence clearance proceedures, only
to be let out when they serve a political goal. As it happens
though, while national security is playing a big part in the
campaigning for the upcoming (though nevertheless still
unannounced) federal election, the domestic political needs of the
government to emphasise the threat from China (a country that
they've recently been trying to hint has influence in the Labor
opposition party) obviously encouraged the release of this
information straight away. The cost of course being that China gets
away with intimmidation of Australia without any consequence from
Australia's more powerful Western allies who are all busy watching
events in Ukraine. The timing, on China's part, is perfect.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-19/defence-accuses-chinese-warship-of-dangerous-act-laser-shone/100845702
https://theaviationist.com/2022/02/19/chinese-guided-missile-destroyer-aims-laser-at-raaf-p-8a-maritime-patrol-aircraft/
- The Free Thinker
