In which the pond does its best to honour the reptiles, send in a gunboat, while staggered yet again by the bromancer in celebration mode ...

 

Once again the pond must reluctantly rush to the defence of the lizards of Oz. 

This time it was Crikey who blamed it all on Captain Spud and his ilk ...

Dammit, the reptiles do all the hard yards, rouse passions, set hares running, and where's the credit? 

Have they forgotten already that it was intrepid court reporter Blake who was early on the scene of the thought crime?

Good on ya Blake, the pond will always pay homage to your effort ...

As for Crikey offering up blather about politicians blathering about the woke agenda, be fair ... as if the lizards of Oz weren't experts at spotting woke all over the place, and before this day is out, the cock will crow thrice and there will be at least one reference to woke weirdness by a reptile...

That said, the reptiles have grown strangely quiet these past few days, almost suspiciously so on the matter of Oz day, Woollies and the whole damn thing... though greenie activists did briefly take over the extreme far right edition of the lizard Oz early this morning...

Dammit, the bromance is out and about celebrating the mango Mussolini's triumph? Is there anything else?

Nah, not really. To be honest, the pond read Sussan's piece - don't forget the distinctive spelling - and gave it a pass. Just standard polly blather, and the pond can't imagine how the readership must feel, paying for the pleasure for what would once have been conssidered a ssuspiciously sstandard sstump sspeech...

As for Ran Porat, doing his best to justify ongoing genocide, the pond was reminded of a Wilcox cartoon ...

Thank the long absent lord for a reliable cartoon-led recovery, because the tree killer edition seemed to be designed around this day's reptile mantra ... everything is rooned, has been rooned, will be rooned, and Albo must go ...

Dammit the bro front and centre again ... but perhaps first a little gunboat diplomacy from the lizard Oz editorialist ...

At a challenging time in the Indo-Pacific region and amid dangerous conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, Australia needs to be a reliable ally and to be seen as one. In that regard, the Albanese government has not helped the nation’s standing with its tardiness in fulfilling its promise to triple Australian Defence Force personnel in Bahrain to help combat the rapidly growing crisis in the Red Sea. It is in Australia’s economic interest, like that of many nations, that Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists in Yemen be driven back from endangering commercial shipping.
It was embarrassing enough in December when the government declined a request from the US-led Combined Maritime Forces in Bahrain asking Australia to send a warship to join the Red Sea operation. The government’s decision delighted Chinese Communist Party’s mouthpiece the Global Times, which claimed Australia was “distancing itself” from its closest ally. Australia also was out of step with the US, Britain and Israel at the UN a month ago when it voted for a ceasefire in Gaza that made no sense.
In failing to send a warship to the Red Sea, where the Houthis’ campaign goes well beyond the Israel-Hamas conflict, Anthony Albanese and Defence Minister Richard Marles were carrying a small stick but talking a big game. They committed to triple the number of Australian defence personnel at the Combined Maritime Force headquarters in Bahrain. That contribution was “greatly appreciated by the United States”, Mr Marles said.
Be that as it may, even that small promise has yet to be fulfilled, chief international correspondent Cameron Stewart revealed on Tuesday. And when it is, the extra Australians will not play any role in supporting strikes against Houthi terrorists. The Prime Minister has conceded Australia has yet to fully deliver on its pledge to increase the number of ADF personnel in Bahrain to support multinational security efforts in the Red Sea. The complete tripling of personnel would occur by the end of the month, he said.
Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy also insisted the navy “has sufficient vessels to meet our operational requirements” despite “workforce challenges”. Defence is looking at mothballing up to two more of the navy’s frontline Anzac-class frigates as crippling crew shortages undermine the nation’s military capabilities. Senior leadership has ordered navy fleet command to provide advice on the impact of pulling a further one or two Anzac frigates out of the water indefinitely, foreign affairs and defence correspondent Ben Packham wrote on Tuesday. The move follows Defence’s decision in November, also revealed by The Australian, to put first-of-class frigate HMAS Anzac on hard stands at Western Australia’s Henderson shipyard. It is understood that shortages of navy-qualified marine and electrical engineers are acute, with the vessels unable to go to sea without sufficient personnel in the key roles.
The government has played down any suggestion that the navy’s depleted workforce, which is restricting its operational capacity, was the reason no warship was sent to join the multinational taskforce. “Our decision around … the nature of the contribution to the Middle East was a strategic decision based on what we thought was appropriate,” Mr Conroy said. “Our focus is on our immediate region.”
The Asia-Pacific must be the priority. But as former Defence Department deputy secretary Peter Jennings says, the personnel drain must be reversed if the government is to have any hope of rebuilding the nation’s defence capabilities. Regardless of whether not sending a warship to the Red Sea was a matter of “can’t” or “won’t”, the issue has drawn attention to the state of the navy.

The lizard Oz editorial's blind faith in sending in a gunboat reminds the pond that whenever it's reminded of gunboat diplomacy, it always runs a relevant cartoon ... take your pick ...

 

Better than that, the pond can't believe it's doing this, but there was Robbie Corey-Boulet back on 12th January 2024 in, of all places, The Times of Israel, explaining why Saudi Arabia was sitting it out, despite being a dab hand at slicing up journalists, and having waged war with the Houthis for years ...

Saudi Arabia has led an anti-Houthi coalition since 2015 — launching thousands of air strikes of its own against the Iran-backed rebels over the years — but is now angling for a ceasefire and military exit from the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest nation.
Even as the scale of the US and British strikes was still coming into focus before dawn on Friday, the Saudi Foreign Ministry published a statement expressing “great concern” and calling for “self-restraint and avoiding escalation.”
Anna Jacobs, senior Gulf analyst for the International Crisis Group think tank, said Saudi Arabia found itself “in a tight spot.”
“They are balancing record-low public opinion about the US and Israel with their security concerns about the Red Sea and their desire to deter further Houthi attacks,” she said.
The Red Sea coast is a linchpin of the vision, with developers eyeing a slew of resorts that could help transform the once closed-off kingdom into a tourism hot spot.
That makes ending military operations in Yemen a central foreign policy goal for Riyadh, one officials hoped would be more feasible in the wake of a surprise China-brokered rapprochement deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran announced in March.
Just last month, the UN special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, described progress towards a roadmap that would finally resolve outstanding issues such as paying public sector salaries and resuming oil exports.
The most important achievement would be a nationwide ceasefire, building on a truce that first took effect in April 2022 and has largely held despite officially expiring after six months.
But the spate of Houthi attacks — 27 in total, according to the White House — on ships passing through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the Red Sea’s southern gateway, has complicated that process.
Washington, Saudi Arabia’s most important security partner, announced last month a maritime security initiative, Operation Prosperity Guardian, to secure the Red Sea and which it says brings together 20 countries.
Saudi Arabia hosted about 2,700 US troops as of 2022, according to the White House, underscoring the danger, however remote, of retaliatory strikes on Saudi soil.
Riyadh has not signed on to Operation Prosperity Guardian, a decision vindicated by Friday’s strikes, said Ali Shihabi, a Saudi analyst close to the government.
“I think Saudi Arabia had no choice but to stay out of the operation given its peace talks with Yemen, but Saudi Arabia is concerned about navigation also, so it’s a difficult position to be in,” he said.
Though Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy, leaders pay close attention to public opinion, which could further influence Riyadh’s actions as both the Israel-Hamas war and the crisis in the Red Sea evolve.
A rare poll published last month by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy showed 96 percent of Saudis think Arab countries should sever all contacts with Israel “in protest against its military action in Gaza.”
Given Washington’s steadfast support for Israel, it is therefore hard to imagine Saudi Arabia would want to involve itself in specific American military operations in the months to come.
Riyadh also remembers well how the US resisted going after the Houthis in recent years when Saudi vessels were under attack.
“They now see the US going ahead with [strikes] at a very inopportune moment for regional stability,” said Cinzia Bianco of the European Council on Foreign Relations.
“They clearly can see the double standards when Israel is at stake, or when they are at stake — how the US reacts radically differently.”
In a statement on Friday, US President Joe Biden said he would “not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary” — raising the specter of more strikes and, potentially, more risk of Saudi entanglement.
“Everything really is coming together,” said Shihabi, the Saudi analyst.
“It’s a cause of concern, absolutely.”

So there you have it, they could slice and dice a journalist, but couldn't slice and dice the Houthis and now want to sit it out ...

Not to worry, send over a gunship personned by a squadron of reptiles from the lizard Oz and everything will be fixed in a trice, and that'll teach the Saudis about how to handle the middle east ...

And so inevitably to the bro, delighted beyond measure at current progress in the world ...

Sorry, sorry, the pond meant this discussion starter ...

The reptiles did their best to help the bro with a series of snaps ...

All stunningly predictable, so the pond decided to go text ...

 There was a triumphalist opening flourish

Watch out Joe Biden, Donald Trump and his MAGA movement are back in the saddle.
Trump’s victory in Iowa was staggering. 

What's staggering is that the bromancer is staggered by an entirely predictable result, which he didn't bother placing on the record, so here it is ...

Poor Chris Christie, but please note the total for the mango Mussolini ... 56,260 votes ... with just 110,298 bothering to brave the big chill ...

And how do those figures stack up against the general population? Here the pond found itself at the US Census ...

Staggering ...and who knows how staggering in 2024 ...

And who were the crazies who braved the big chill?

This is in Iowa, a state in which “94 of 99 counties moved toward Republicans between 2012 and 2020.” And this was a poll of likely caucus-goers, who are presumably the most avid Republicans. Most voters don’t show up for primaries and even fewer for caucuses. According to the Washington Post, in 2016, the year that broke turnout records, only 15.7 percent of voters showed up. This year, the brutal weather favored the fervid. In 2016, 187,000 turned out. Last night, only about 110,000 made it. We are evaluating results from one of the whitest, most Evangelical, most rural states in the nation.

Yep, a flock of barking mad whitebread Evangelical Xians, with Mona Charen desperate to find a silver lining in The Bulwark ... 

Not to worry, back to the bro in vibrant text form ...

Trump often claims records he doesn’t hold. But this is a record he does hold – the biggest victory in contested Iowa caucuses by a non-incumbent president ever, more votes than all his rivals combined.
Unless he suffers a catastrophic health crisis, or actually physically goes to jail (and maybe even if he does), Donald Trump is overwhelmingly likely to be the Republican presidential candidate in November, following his crushing electoral victory in Iowa.
At this stage, Trump looks a good deal stronger politically than he did in 2016.
These numbers should terrify Biden, for they show Trump stronger than he’s ever been with demographics – college educated voters, professional women, urban voters – that have been weak for him in the past. Trump has many faults and is a chronic liar. But the wild and frequently dishonest demonisation of Trump, the plainly politicised legal prosecutions against him and the Democratic misuse of ­institutions, has paradoxically convinced voters that Democrat noise about Trump is irrelevant blah. Trump’s worst enemies, as ever, are his best friends.
By telling so many lies about Trump, Democrats have immunised him against the truth.

In any sensible world, those numbers should terrify the bromancer, but he's clearly exultant ...

And as for that line about blaming Trump on his enemies, for telling so many lies?

It's a classic Trumpian ploy, undiluted essence of Trump university skills, which is why the bromancer is so infatuated with the mango Mussolini ...

Meanwhile, over at The Bulwark, Charlie was trying to put things in perspective ...

In the last few days, the former president — who faces more than 90 felony charges and is now standing trial for fraud and defamation — referred to the Capitol rioters as “hostages,” declared that illegal immigrants were “poisoning the blood” of the nation, hurled insults at Iowa’s Republican governor, and spread racist birther theories about one of his challengers.

Yep, the pond must help with the lie-telling ...

Pshaw, the poor old WSJ trying to put the Emeritus Chairman genie back into the bottle, but the bro was having none of it, spruiking the Donald's best routines, as if to the barking mad fundamentalist manor born ...

More important than that, Biden is a weak president grossly vulnerable on illegal immigration, cost of living, energy policy, the woke weirdness of so much of his party and his own plainly failing powers.

Woke weirdness?

Dammit, did not the cock crow trice as the pond predicted? Did the pond hit that damn woke ball too soon?

It is, it almost goes without saying, that the bromancer is deeply weird, and so sees the world in a weird way, and when he looks around all he sees is weirdness ...

After that weird flourish, the bro settled down a bit and allowed a billy goat butt, a modest one, dressed as an "of course" but a billy goat all the same, though it was immediately followed by another billy goat of a different stripe, again dressed up as an "of course' ...

 Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, who both did very badly in Iowa after spending many tens of millions of dollars, are running against Trump. Trump is running against Biden.
Of course, nothing about the actual general election is predictable, even though Trump is leading Biden in general election polls right now. At this stage in 1984, Walter Mondale looked strong against Ronald Reagan. For a ­period of the nominating process in 2008, John McCain was ahead of Barack Obama in the polls. Yet Reagan and Obama both won convincingly.
But of course, as a campaigner, Biden is no Reagan, he’s not even an Obama.
One of the absolutely unprecedented elements of this US electoral cycle is that, within their respective parties, both Trump and Biden are effectively incumbents. And it’s all but impossible for an incumbent to lose their party’s nomination.
Unless one of them bows out of their own accord, it looks almost certain to be a Trump/Biden ­contest.
DeSantis narrowly came second but was more than 30 points behind Trump and spent tens of millions of dollars on the effort. He has proven a mostly wooden ­campaigner, though he is certainly getting better at it.
Haley should be bitterly disappointed at coming third. She now needs a stellar performance in next week’s primary in New Hampshire, a strong second and no more than 10 points behind Trump, to have a chance of at least making it a two-person race. ­DeSantis barely troubles the pollsters in New Hampshire so, while the Republican field is much smaller than it was at this stage in 2016, the internal opposition to Trump within the Republican Party is still fragmented and feeble.
Nonetheless, the battle for ­second between DeSantis and Haley is still important, because Trump could conceivably fall over, legally or medically.
But even if Haley does well in New Hampshire she would not be guaranteed as Trump’s replacement. She does well with moderates, independents and liberals within the Republican coalition. She hasn’t caught fire with anything much of the conservative base, by far the majority in the ­Republican Party.
DeSantis, provided he remains minimally credible, would be better placed than Haley to replace Trump if necessary.
However, even if he goes to jail, even if he’s in hospital, Trump could probably decisively influence who his replacement might be.
But polls and prognostications matter much less than actual elections. In this actual election in Iowa, whether it makes you weep or rejoice, the result is Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump.
Even if Trump ends up losing to Biden, his perverse personality will dominate American politics this year, indeed global politics, as will his issues – illegal immigration, competition with China, nationalism of all kinds.
Watch out world, we’re in for a wild, wild ride.

Yep, classic bro,  just enjoy Luna park and the ride and never no mind if things fly off the rails, with the bizarre notion that the Donald will embark on policy matters, as opposed to binging on burgers, golf and the telly.

We've seen it all before. China? Apart from imposing heavy tariffs, paid for by US suckers, didn't the Donald love dictator Xi?

"Our relationship with China has now probably never, ever been better," Trump said, adding that he gets on well with President Xi Jinping. "He's for China, I'm for the U.S., but other than that, we love each other." (Politico)

There goes Taiwan, and the bro's war on China, cancelled before it gets started, and given the MM's love for Vlad the impaler,  there goes Ukraine, and given his penchant for drilling, there goes the planet, and yet how the bro deep down loves his soul brother. 

He's not quite up there with Dame Slap yet, donning the MAGA cap and slipping out into the New York night to celebrate the beast slouching towards Washington, but any QAnon reader could find comfort in some his lines ... they're in for a wild ride together, because it's the reptile way to love a mad, mad world ...

As for the pond? Such is the craziness cultivated by the Emeritus Chairman's empire for the sake of loot, with Faux Noise back to cosying up to the mango Mussolini after a brief falling out, the pond has always thought that he'd be the GOP nominee, and all that's standing between him and the Presidency is a frail old man ...

The long absent lord alone knows how it will play out, but if it all turns to hell in a handbasket,  the reptiles can take much of the credit ...