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- We look like fools!
Here are two seemingly separate news items that are very much connected and very much embarrassing for Australia.
Australia makes first $800m payment to US for AUKUS
Since the two-syllable acronym was first uttered on national news, the AUKUS submarine deal (if you need a refresher, it’s here) has been a very unpopular policy with the public – support has been declining since 2021, even though the nuclear subs program is backed by both Labor and the Coalition. The main issue? It’s very expensive, expected to cost Australia at least $368 billion (that’s before you even into the risk that we may never get a submarine out of it, and how it will impact our relationship with China).
After Donald Trump was elected president, a Guardian Essential poll found that almost half (48%) of people wanted the government to review the deal. Trump’s new Secretary of Defense is Pete Hegseth, a former Fox News commentator and member of the National Guard (a military body) who was removed from postings (and ultimately resigned) over tattoos that indicated links to Christian extremist groups. He has been removed from two separate lobby organisations over misconduct and mismanagement concerns. He paid off a woman who accused him of drugging and raping her in 2017. He is a far-right Christian nationalist who does not believe in democracy.
Anyway, the Australian government just paid the first “downpayment” for AUKUS on Saturday. We sent the US $798m dollars of taxpayer money.
Defense Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles was in the US and met with Hegseth in person to mark the occasion. Marles said this: “[AUKUS] represents a very significant increase of the American footprint on the Australian continent, something we very much welcome. It represents an increase in Australian capability, through the acquisition of a nuclear‑powered submarine capability, but what comes with that is it also represents an increase in Australian defence spending. And we really understand the importance of building our capability, but in paying our way.”
Question to the group: Do you very much welcome that? Is this feeling like a comfy lil friendship, or something more sinister?
Countries sign open letter supporting the ICC
Elsewhere… Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister (and Wanted War Criminal) Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House this week. Amongst other things, Trump signed an executive order imposing sanctions against the staff of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and their families. This is because in November, the ICC issued warrants for the arrest of Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The sanctions include travel bans and asset freezes.
This is, obviously, fucked.
In response, 79 countries (out of a total 125 ICC members) signed an open letter in support of the ICC and its role in maintaining international justice and peace. You can read the letter here. The signatories include some of Australia’s ‘friends’, like: the UK, France, Canada, Germany and China (although perhaps they’re more of a frenemy?) I bet you can tell what I’m going to write next…
Australia did not sign this letter of support.
Some relevant details: Neither the US or Israel are members of the ICC. The open letter was published the day before Marles’ meeting with Pete Hegseth in the US.
This is beyond cringe
Australia’s relationship with the US is often talked about as a friendship. Well, our ‘friend’ is making us look like a fucking fool on the global stage. AUKUS was being doubted by experts even before Trump took office; now our Deputy Prime Minister is smiling for the photo-op, shaking the hand of an (alleged) scammer and abuser in Hegseth – who is representing an administration of known scammers, grifters and abusers – as he gives those scammers, grifters and abusers $800m of Australian taxpayer money. All for submarines that we’ll (probably) never get. Hello?!?!1?
In contrast to the much more stern, powerful statements by Canada, Mexico, Greenland, and the principled stand taken by the 79 ICC member states, Australia looks pathetic. The AU-US allyship is based on shared values fought for in World War II. In 2025, do we still share the same values?
I don’t think the Australian public wants to remain so closely tied to America as we watch it become a rogue state. I hope there are conversations happening behind closed doors about how to untangle Australia from this toxic friendship… but after Marles’ groveling statements in Washington, that seems unlikely.
Smart stuff on the Internet 💭
All the stuff I found on the web that made me think, smile, or have an ‘aha!’ moment. Spend your Sunday reading them – you'll be better off for it:
You Can’t Post Your Way Out of Fascism on 404 Media
PLEASE READ & SHARE WITH YOUR FRIENDS! "Thinkers like Jean-Paul Sartre and Hannah Arendt warned us that the point of this deluge is not to persuade, but to overwhelm and paralyze our capacity to act. More recently, researchers have found that the viral outrage disseminated on social media in response to these ridiculous claims actually reduces the effectiveness of collective action. The result is a media environment that keeps us in a state of debilitating fear and anger, endlessly reacting to our oppressors instead of organizing against them.”
Can Characters Come Alive Without People? on New York Times
I don’t often share NYT here but this is a fun, interactive piece by Hank Azaria about how he created the distinctive voices behind his Simpson characters, and why he believes AI won’t be able to do it as well. “I’ve laughed as Moe in dozens of ways by now. I’ve probably sighed as Moe 100 times. In terms of training A.I., that’s a lot to work with. But a voice is not just a sound. And I’d like to think that no matter how much an A.I. version of Moe or Snake or Chief Wiggum will sound like my voice, something will still be missing — the humanness. There’s so much of who I am that goes into creating a voice. How can the computer conjure all that?”
Opinion: An empathy crisis is ravaging the housing crisis conversation on Missing Perspectives
This is a powerful piece by longtime Zee Feed supporter Em Readman about what the housing discourse is lacking: empathy. “As the housing crisis exacerbates, so does the emerging empathy crisis. This is a pervasive insinuation; that people ‘deserve’ to be in the housing crisis because of their work ethic or situation. It is troubling to hear the multi-faceted, nuanced discussion about the housing crisis be drowned out by the drone of people who already own property, telling people who do not, to ‘work harder.’ People work hard, but it is not enough.”
A club where you pay thousands to make 'old money' content on User Mag
This is soooo lame and truly terrifying! I am simultaneously laughing and crying! “Over the weekend, a video went viral on X showing a bunch of 20 somethings dressed in black tie dining and dancing in what looks to be an old European villa with the caption ‘Casual parties at Lake Como.’ Like most things on the internet, the video was staged. The people in the video are all part of an ‘Instagram club’ where you pay to dress up and make ‘old money’ content with a bunch of aspiring ‘old money’ influencers.”