After some time in South Korea and then China it's time to focus on international and domestic events, leaving the 7th World Media Day in Beijing for a separate podcast in the near future. The US Congressional midterm elections saw numerous heavy losses for the Republicans, for which Donald Trump can be blamed. Of course he won't accept that and already firings have started. The implications for defence and AUKUS are unknown, though some vanity projects such as the Trump class battleships might get the chop.
In Australia, the Garrett-Barrie report into AUKUS has been released and it calls the undertaking a disaster that needs to be scrapped. A Royal Commission is needed to understand how we got into this mess in the first place - which sounds like a good idea to APDR. Of course the government has instantly dismissed the criticism - as they instantly dismiss anything that does not suit their preferred narrative. They didn't even bother putting in a submission, in the certain knowledge that if they did it would merely expose how weak the case for acquiring nuclear-powered submarines actually is.
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