David Llewellyn-Smith, writing at the mighty Macrobusiness.com.au,draws our attention to an issue which has had a limited discussion in the mainstream Australian press, but not to the extent it deserves given the existential threats examined. The story is about Russia accessing the Manuhua Air Force Base in Indonesia. The Indonesian Defence Minister denies that this is going to occur. Ok Aussies, go back to sleep?

Well, no, in international affairs, telling lies is probably more common than telling the truth, and Indonesia and Russia have deep military ties already. We are sure in the event of a major war, Russia will surround Australia with missiles. After all, Australia does nothing about Chinese spy ships entering its waters, so what will it do about that? One big hypersonic missile fired at each of Australia's cities will end the country. But wait, multicultural diversity, our "greatest strength," the path taken in the post WW II period instead of nuclear missiles, will surely save us!

https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2025/04/china-seeks-to-surround-australia-with-missiles/

"This report from Crikey, which has no idea about international relations, is so alarming that all Australians need to take pause.

The story led in places such as The Australian Financial Review and the ABC overnight after Defence Minister Richard Marles came out and said he'd spoken to Indonesia's defence minister, who rejected the reports. "I have spoken to my counterpart, Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, the minister for defence, and he has said to me in the clearest possible terms, reports of the prospect of Russian aircraft operating from Indonesia are simply not true," Marles said.

The ABC reports Sjamsoeddin told Marles he had not received any Russian request to access the Manuhua Air Force Base, although the broadcaster was keen to highlight "that doesn't rule out the possibility it was raised at a more junior level".

The broadcaster also highlights that "deepening military ties between Indonesia and Russia are not new: in fact, diplomats from both countries have been speaking about them for years". The two countries held naval exercises together last year, and Moscow's ambassador to Jakarta, Sergei Tolchenov, has said military cooperation was "integral" to the countries' relations, the ABC recalls.

Always remember that the first, second and third rules of diplomacy are to lie, lie and lie for your country.

The gormless and naive Crikey never seems to appreciate this, so it makes all of the wrong judgments about international relations.

Putin's "no limits relationship with China is the context for this story and it is downright alarming as such.

Indonesia and Russia go way back to the early years of the Cold War when President Sukarno maintained strategic neutrality but, all along, purchased Russian-made weapons and continues to do so today.

The coup that installed General Suharto swung the country back towards Western allies and suppressed communists, but the relationship with Russia was not frozen out, and it remained a substantial supplier of arms.

It is not at all beyond the realm of possibility that Indonesia would consider basing Russian aircraft today, and it would almost certainly not tell us that if it was under consideration.

Indonesia has no love lost for Australia.

If this is the case, then the Sino/Russian bloc is making a significant effort to build a military cordon to Australia's north that includes the purpose of isolating sea routes from the US, and establishing a short-notice force projection capability directly into the Australian continent, including, likely, nuclear-armed Russian aircraft that have previously patrolled as close to Australia as Papua.

Pacific Islands are building blue-water Chinese ports. Bougainville is an open Chinese proxy. Chinese money is sloshing around the Pacific as US cash withdraws. The Chinese navy is doing city destruction missile drills all around Australia.

China has already claimed all maritime areas with the "nine dash line".

Next up, it is building a Sino-Russian cordon of the twenty-nine-dash line (my dashes).

Canberra appears to have no idea how far behind these plans the national interest is.

Meanwhile, we're about to re-elect the local Chinese proxy, Albo the Groveller.

House prices to the moon!