What an unholy mess the submarine replacement program has become. In a matter of days, we have managed to alienate the French, cause concern in Jakarta and KL, confirm the worst suspicions in Beijing, and for what? The difference between diesel electric boats and nuclear powered boats is mainly one of distance and capacity (also speed) but I don't think that we are getting markedly better defence by buying 8 from the Americans rather than 12 from the French. After all, the nuclear version really is all about long-distance missions, not the defence of  Australia proper. What I mean to say is, they are serving a more strategic goal and that goal is the containment of China.

It strikes me, yet again, that the Anglo powers are showing the kind of arrogance that gave them a bad rap in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Britain of all nations should realise how sensitive the issue of European power is in East Asia, having subjected the then Qing Dynasty to all manner of humiliations, including a war to sell opium to the Chinese. I have no idea why the UK, having lost its imperial possessions, has any business in Asia. Isn't there enough to do in the Atlantic?

As for Australia, I have been hoping in vain for decades that we would develop into an independent nation with a foreign policy to match. How long are we to be the lapdog of whatever power we see as a potential saviour. Is is asking too much to genuinely engage with our region to create enduring defence and economic ties?

In as much as Trump was a second-rate political leader, for different reasons, we have our own set of arrogant, untalented, know-nothings who should be not be in positions of power and influence. I am not "just saying", by the way. It's what I think and it's a damn shame. This nation deserves better.