Working Dog Productions
4 HN mentions · mentioned in 4 months, 2023–2026
1:41 · 729K views · Mar 15, 2023
A short sketch from the Australian satirical series Utopia in which Jim and Rhonda seek Tony's help ahead of a major defence white paper, lampooning submarine and defence procurement policy.
Shared as a joke skit that HN says captures the absurdity of real-world defence and geopolitical situations.
4 comments from Hacker News
What the article didn't mention was that the US has pirated (ahem) "commandeered" Iranian oil tankers as well. This is an ongoing dispute between these two countries. Iran violates US sanctions, but technically they are merely US sanctions which have the legal weight of say Togo's sanctions on the high seas. (Togo doesn't enforce their domestic law on the high seas, nor can they.) The simplest way to get Iran to stop compandeering tankers is for the US to do the same. They don't want our "peace", it is true. "Peace with Piracy" is just not compelling to the Iranians. Can you blame them? Likewise, China benefits from trade near her borders but the US and allies want the ability to turn off the spigot when they wish to force China into concessions, as has been noted in US geopolitical articles for decades now. Note the Australian nuclear submarines deal: They don't really want to protect their trade with China...from China, they want the ability to control trade between China and her allies. These subs would do part of the job, with the bulk of it done by the USN. Enjoy a comedy skit on that subject: this video
Re Australia vs China this video basically explains the situation. While having data/code stolen isn't ideal, there is a certain point where you need to assume it's already out there. There's actually more probability of harm from shady US companies imo, because people are less suspicious about data sovereignty
Australia's naval strategy is to defend our sea lanes that we rely on for trade, primarily our trade with our largest customer, which is China. Conveniently, they need what we have, and we want what they make. On the other hand, the primary strategic threat is apparently also China. this video
Australia is spending close to $30 billion a year to protect our trade routes to China from China. Comedy is becoming reality: this video