Posted on 11/13/2014 7:43:40 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has accused Vladmir Putin of a "regrettable pattern" of military aggression which has culminated in warships off northern Australia.
At a joint press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron today, Mr Abbott linked the decline of Russia's economy with an increase in that nation's assertiveness.
"It is part of a regrettable pattern, whether it's the bullying of Ukraine, whether it’s the increasing Russian military aircraft flying into the airspace of Japan, European countries, or whether it’s the naval task group which is now in the South Pacific, Russia is being much more assertive now than it has been for a very long time," Mr Abbott said.
"Russia would be so much more attractive if it was aspiring to be a superpower for peace, for freedom and prosperity, if it was trying to be a superpower for ideas and for values, instead of trying to recreate the lost glories of tsarism or the old Soviet Union," he said.
"Interestingly, Russia’s economy is declining even as Russia’s assertiveness is increasing."
Mr Abbott and Mr Putin are expected to meet at this weekend's G20 summit, where the issue of the downing of flight MH17 will again be raised.
Mr Abbott said there was a heavy responsibility on Russia to "come clean and atone" for its involvement.
Mr Cameron said continuing sanctions against Russia would be required in response to Russian actions.
"I still hope the Russians will see sense… but if they don’t take that approach … they will be putting themselves in an awkward position in relation to the rest of the world," Mr Cameron said.
Third Australian ship sent to confront Russian naval convoy - November 14, 2014 - A third Australian ship has been sent to monitor the Russian naval force in the Coral Sea as tensions mount ahead of the G20 summit. The HMAS Sirius will join another two Australian frigates, the HMAS Parramatta and Stuart, which had been dispatched to flank and monitor a Russian naval convoy in the waters off northern Australia.
Didn't Argentina try that too ?
And then revisit history and see how that went !
And now , check out their current economic situation .
I think that is a given but he is appearing so desperate and needy that I wonder who his audience is supposed to be that makes it worth losing his dignity and image as a responsible, competent leader?
Who is he counting on fooling while he appears silly to others, there must be some sort of plan to all this North Korea type blustering.
Sailing a fleet to Australia is in very poor form.
It is nowhere near the Russian sphere of influence.
Respect of course is earned, and those who deserve it do not even need to demand it. People like Putin are always loudly shouting about how much they deserve everyone's respect, precisely because they do not deserve anyone's respect, and they know it. And it drives them crazy.
Australia’s gdp per capita is more than 4 times Russia’s.
Well said
Replace Putin with Obama and it’s also true...
Lol...the 'fleet' consists of four ships, only two of which have offensive capability.
LOL...they are still armed ships
LOL...they are still flying into several countries airspace’
LOL...they attacked and took over a country and are continuing to do so
Stop defending Soviet Russia’s actions.
Putin’s a fool for messing with the Australians, and he’s only motivating the West to keep oil prices too low for Russia to break even for the foreseeable future.
The Evil Empire is back! Do not deceive yourselves that it is not.
Like Dumbledore said to the Minister of Magic about Voldemort!
Will there be a parting of the ways?
I first thought it was TX GOV-elect Abbott calling out Putin, and I was like, oh, it’s on now.
Flotilla. I stand corrected.
And it is still in very bad form
And most of the crew planning to jump overboard and swim to Australia at the first opportunity!
Really?
I’d consider the Prime Minister of the country hosting an international conference threatening to ‘shirt-front’ one of the guests to be bad form.
Sending a couple of warships along to make sure things don’t get out of hand seems like an appropriate response.
So if Putin feels that the Australian PM is being mean with him, he can start shelling their coastline? Don’t you think your hero worship is getting a little out of hand?
Lol...is that you Henny-penny?
You think it's wrong for the Prime Minister of a country to say he will confront the leader of another that seems to share some of the responsibility for the murder of 38 of that first country's citizens, and demand answers, coooperation with the investigation, and if the investigation shows it to be necessary, provide compensation?
I don't. I expect no less of my Prime Minister.
Part of the problem in this case is people not understanding what the term 'shirt-front' means - and the Australian press hasn't helped with that. In Australian Rules Football, a shirtfront is a form of highly aggressive tackle, and newspapers in Melbourne, in particular immediately assumed that's what the Prime Minister was saying - because Melbourne is the capital of Victoria where Australian Rules Football is the dominant form of football.
But Australia is somewhat unusual in that because large scale sporting contests began here during the period where we were all independent colonies, different sports became popular in different places. Mr Abbott is from New South Wales, where Australian Rules football is a minor sport, and Rugby is the dominant form. Mr Abbott used to play rugby as a young man. In Rugby, shirt-front means something different - it means standing in front of somebody and confronting them verbally chest to chest, and that's what he meant by the term.
It's not as visually or verbally as spectacular though - so the world media picked up on the Victorian definition in their reports.
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