At Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego California, a bizarre press conference took place on the 13^th of March. US President Joe Biden, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a supposed breakthrough deal for the building of nuclear powered submarines in Australia…in the 2040s !! The Australian government will reportedly spend $368 billion over 30 years, for three second-hand Virginia class US submarines which may arrive in the 2030s, with five “SSN-AUKUS” boats to arrive….in the 2050s.[1] Before this announcement, Albanese had claimed that the deal for nuclear powered submarines will create “20 000 jobs”[2] over the next 30 years. This is little more than hogwash, and it is unlikely that either the manufacture of submarines or the arrival of US submarines will ever happen. Former Australian Labor Party Prime Minister Paul Keating savaged the compact, labelling it the “worst deal in all history”. He stated that it was “deeply pathetic” for PM Albanese to rely on UK PM Rishi Sunak for protection, and rubbished claims that China has ever threatened or will threaten Australia.[3]

The drums of war

The Kafkaesque press conference at San Diego was a living metaphor for a senile and declining Anglo/US Empire, but an ageing ruling class which does not wish to leave the stage of history can still be eminently dangerous. Joe Biden claimed that AUKUS has “one overriding objective, to enhance the stability of the Indo-Pacific amid rapidly shifting global dynamics.”[4] In reality, the one overriding objective of AUKUS (Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States of America) is to wage war against the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Australia will likely be the “forward operating base” for the US and may be transferred into a rotating repository for US military ships, battalions of troops, long range fighter-bombers and more. The US cannot wage war against China without even being geographically in the region, so Australia, Japan and the Philippines are likely to be the launching pads. AUKUS is an imperialist war alliance, a NATO of the so-called Indo-Pacific.

Working people of Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States must demand the immediate abolition of AUKUS, the withdrawal of all sanctions against individuals and entities in China, and the full restoration of all trade and commerce with the world’s largest manufacturing base. A nuclear war against China is insane, and even a conventional war will only end in disaster for the workers of the West even aside from tragically needless casualties that may result. Any Western sanctions applied on China in the midst of a hot war will only have the result of a near collapse of their own economies, with working people in the West suffering even more than they are currently. NATO is losing its proxy war on Russia via Ukraine, and the widely acknowledged ultimate target is China, as much as the ruling elite would like to Balkanise Russia. That is not going to happen, and neither can the West break up or overthrow the PRC. Nevertheless, war may be the only option for a decaying Western dominion.

No to War – Abolish AUKUS! — Red Fire