Big country a defence against suicidal ideologies?

Big country is a defence priority
Paul Cleary

BY the middle of this century, an Australia with today's population of 22 million would have an increasingly precarious hold on a vast continent.

It would be the envy of others.

China, India and possibly Indonesia would have become wealthier and even more populous, each of them having the latest military hardware that would dwarf Australia's capability.

More ominous would be the relative decline of the US as our protector in the Asia-Pacific region, the result of catch-up by these new powers and its own economic malaise that began with the financial crisis of 2008...

It seems hardly plausible that a tiny population of 22 million would be able to hang on to such an enormous natural resource bounty in the face of inexorably rising demand and increasingly muscular military might.

Without a substantially bigger economy and population, Australians could well lose the lot...

The call by Dick Smith and others for a policy of zero population growth is incredibly reckless when thought of in strategic terms...

Gee. And not a word of criticism for the self-harming ideologies that are causing our economic and military decline i.e. free trade, globalisation, diversity. No acknowledgement that we were safer when we were protectionist, or trading only with our allies. No acknowledgement that our alliances were more secure when we shared a common identity. No, those ideologies are beyond criticism, and that part of Paul Cleary's brain is compartmentalised and suppressed with every morning coffee. No, his left hand never sees what his right hand does. He doesn't deal with cause and effect, only effects. He doesn't deal with action and reaction, just reaction. Fatalism is the new drug, man. Nope, it's full steam ahead to finance the rise of China, India and Indonesia who are (apparently) inherently antagonistic towards us. Well then, goose stepping along with the globalisation cult to our own demise it is then. I'm inclined to call such stupidity "incredibly reckless when thought of in strategic terms" but that would be a tad cruel. The poor journalist would lose his job if he dared question the "great" ideologies of our time. Not to worry, a big country can fix a suicidal ideology, eh? Yeah, sure.