Moscow vs Kyiv
Peter Jennings is a superb writer about wars, and at present this means Putin’s Russia and Zelensky’s Ukraine. Today’s article in the Oz is an excellent account of the Putin/Zelensky battle. Here is an account of an account.
I leave out the issue of the debate over the death of two people in Poland due to a missile from either a Russian attack vehicle that went astray or a Ukraine mistake.
Mr Jennings presents six results of the war between the Ukraine and Russia.
1. ‘it is remarkable how tightly the war has been confined inside Ukraine, an outcome that, for different reasons, Kyiv and Moscow have tried to achieve.’
2. ‘Second, notwithstanding rhetoric about using tactical nuclear weapons, Russia is carefully avoiding the risk of expanding the war.’
3. ‘A third conclusion is that Ukraine still has the momentum on the battlefield. Two very different wars are being fought. Ukraine is fighting and winning battlefield success against Russian military forces. In contrast, Russia’s ground forces seems to have to a complete halt to the east and south of Ukraine and continues to lose ground.’
4. ‘Conclusion number four is Russia is losing heart. A disastrous conscription campaign has brought home the reality that many, perhaps most, Russians of fighting age want no part in the fighting.’
‘Those caught by the press gangs lack training, equipment, leadership, purpose and motivation. They are being killed by Ukrainian precision on an industrial scale that can no longer be hidden in Russia.’
5. ‘Point five, Ukraine’s democratic backers are backing the course.’ The US is still supporting President Biden, Europeans show no real sign of lessening support, and Australia and other smaller nations are still helping.
6. ‘Finally, point six. The world is running out of weapons and ammunition. On an average day, Ukraine is probably is probably using more ammunition such as missiles, rockets, artillery shells and light ammunition that the Australian inventory of war stocks’.
‘I say ‘probably ‘ but Defence Minister Richard Marles would be well advised to ask his department to do a rapid stocktake in storage.
‘For Australia, the overwhelming lesson from the Ukraine conflict is that we are not remotely prepared to be drawn in to a high level conflict in the Indo-Pacific’.
Mr Jennings goes on by saying that ‘Australia’s plan is to prepare for conflict by not preparing’.
My recent proposal is that Australian defence spending needs quickly to build up to 5 %, not 2 %. This is why I urge Australia’s government to more quickly cut down program’s like NDIS and other perhaps desirable but not affordable spending. And our massive government debt needs great attention.
But, above all, Australia’s defence spending needs to build up all aspects of our defence so that we have serious ability to defend ourselves, although the toughest attackers will mean we will need serious help from the US and Europe.
KULTURE
Fiona Prior visits the toxic world of Hollywood's Weinstein era in 'She Said'. More here.