26 February

Two diagrams that illustrate the geopolitics in play. The entire rationale for NATO (blue) is driven by the US, to suppress Russia. That’s fine, countries make strategic decisions. But you can see how much Russia could feel picked on. Imagine if Russia or China started setting up partnerships with the countries surrounding Australia, for example, how we would feel about that. In fact we have seen how we feel about it, with the Chinese courting Pacific countries. We didn’t like it at all. The second image shows the way NATO has been deliberately expanding over the years.