Tony 💉x10 🇦🇺

This episode of The #Guardian's #Australian #Politics podcast goes completely off the rails.

The first guest is Jennifer Parker, a #defence expert with three tours of the Gulf region to her name. She's here to argue that the Iran War is going well but her case is far from convincing. Her main points are:

1. The military is led by a highly competent four-star general, and therefore Trump's erratic public comments have no bearing on how the campaign is being executed.
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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/audio/2026/mar/20/iran-war-national-security-australian-politics-podcast

How the war on Iran is disrupting Australia’s national security and politics – Australian Politics podcast

With the US and Israel’s war on Iran continuing to send waves of disruption around the world, political editor Tom McIlroy speaks to two guests about the impact of the conflict on Australia

The Guardian
Mar 22 at 4:34amWeb
Show threadTony 💉x10 🇦🇺1d ago

2. #Iran's reaction has come as no surprise to anyone in the #USNavy.

3. The campaign carries the added strategic benefit of demonstrating to #China that the US has the resolve to use military force to achieve its objectives. Therefore it deters China's ambition to invade #Taiwan.

The arguments feel muddled and unconvincing. The whole piece comes across more like PR damage control.

Refresher: the Afghanistan and second Iraq War were led by competent generals too.

#JenniferParker

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Show threadTony 💉x10 🇦🇺1d ago

The remaining segment is an interview with AFR's Phillip Coorey.

Of course from his PoV, Labor is an incompetent economic manager. He literally tried out an attack line on the home battery subsidy program, ignoring how it helps Australia to become less reliant on fossil fuels and foreign energy sources. 🙄

He described the opposition Angus Taylor as old-school "live within your means" leader. Basically he argued for "austerity" budgetary measures, like it works out well for other countries.

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