The mind absolutely boggles at what kind of military commander-in-chief the great waffler would make but it appears he’d like to add that notch to his shiny little belt:
Malcolm Turnbull says China must step up and contain North Korea economically, including by cutting off the regime’s oil supply.
Ratcheting up the diplomatic jawboning of Beijing, the Australian prime minister told the John Laws radio program in Sydney the best chance of resolving the crisis on the Korean peninsula without conflict was to make sure the regime in Pyongyang was completely economically isolated.
Turnbull said China needed to be resolute in turning the economic screws against its neighbour, and if it took tough action, the regime “would struggle to survive”.
“China has by far the greatest leverage,” Turnbull said on Thursday. “China really has to step up now and bring this regime to its senses.
“They are committed to stop buying coal, iron ore, seafood and other products from North Korea. They can go further – they can cut off their oil supply for example”.
It is a quantitative leap from sanctions on DPRK exports to cutting off its oil supply. That is threatening the lifeblood of the state and would, in all likelihood, precipitate war. After all, at that stage Kim Jong Un has absolutely nothing to lose and he would very likely invade South Korea to secure energy supplies.
That would immediately draw the US into a new Korean war, run by, God help us, Donald Trump. China would have to either put up with that on its border or come in behind the DPRK. It would probably choose the latter, immediately delivering the Australian nightmare scenario.
Clearly China is not stupid enough to go down this path even if Do-nothing Malcolm is.
Do-nothing Malcolm’s politics is marked by indecision, deception, a tin-ear and a total lack of strategic ability. That he has decided to unload that deep ineptitude upon a circumstance of such grave consequence is its own proof of idiocy.
We can only hope that other regional leaders look on with amusement rather that pique.
