AUKUS AS A PROBLEM?
“The problem with this approach is that if deterrence fails the next step is war. It invites war. Following this doctrine puts us on a war footing and in a state of heightened readiness. Everyone is deterring one another at huge expense and no benefit to the societies involved, enriching weapons manufacturers and politicians while the people live in constant danger…”
And the problem with that approach is that it is an argument for total unilateral disarmament. Deterrence is achieved only when a potential aggressor or invader becomes convinced that the cost to themselves of any action they take will be greater than any benefit.
AUKUS involves nuclear-powered submarines, not nuclear-armed ones. Conventional diesel-electric subs are hopelessly inadequate without a large number of bases for refuelling etc. Sure, there is still the ongoing problem of nuclear waste disposal, but what we potentially confront is the ruthless regime which gave us the Tienanmen Massacre of 1989, and far removed ideologically from the Communist revolutionaries who overthrew the rotten Chaing Kai Shek regime in 1949, and immortalised in such classics as Edgar Snow’s ‘Red Star Over China.’
“The problem with this approach is that if deterrence fails the next step is war.”
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