But he said it was not just soldiers and the military to blame.
“It is also being supported by well-to-do [individuals] with networks and money,” he said.
New research sponsored by the UN suggests dangerous weapons are often trafficked and purchased with the backing of politicians and powerful elites.
A draft report, co-authored by Mr Singirok, said these elites — often distanced from direct conflict — buy illegal guns to be used in tribal wars to protect land, mining interests and political seats.
This article touches on a very important point that will be lost by the Warmongers such as Murdoch propagandists.
As Australia builds a deeper defense partnership with our neighbouring nations in the Oceania and South East Asia regions, we need to invest broadly in these countries overall success. That doesn’t mean some top down nation building shit like the US in Afghanistan. People in these countries need to know that Australia is there for them as mich as we are there for our own security and defense purposes, it needs to be genuine and braod based societal support. Which will include healthcare, education, mediation and governance, business investment, climate resilience and decarbonisation support policies.
An ally in ongoing civil strife, conflicts or war isn’t going to be a very effective or focused ally.
We have high power rifles?
Well they’re only high on the weekends…
Yeah the article kinda glosses over that part. I’d’ve been interested in an explainer there. High power I naturally associate with certain sniper rifles, not assault rifles, but I don’t know shit about guns.
Standard in PNG for a long time has been 12ga shotguns shells with 3/4" galvanized steel pipe and a nail. Pretty much anything that isn’t a .22LR is as good as “high power” in that context.
Last week, the special envoy for defence and veterans’ affairs and Northern Australia, Luke Gosling, announced Thales as the contractor chosen to manufacture the Australian Combat Assault Rifles.
“These rifles are an excellent example of sovereign industrial defence capability and our ability to make high-quality manufactured export goods right here in Australia,” he said in a social media post.
Okay mate, now do the missiles, jets, submarines, and drones. Building a few guns and armoured vehicles is great, but its becoming abundantly clear that we’d get smoked in a modern conflict without unshakeable US support in these and many other areas. Least of which is the warfighting capability of the population en-masse.
The strategy of US reliance cannot go on, we can’t keep building a deeper reliance on another nation. Our survival dictates we diverge from near sole reliance to an ability to act as indepently operating allies.
