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AlbertC

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Six million residents in Australia brace for catastrophic bushfires

By Giovanni Torre
12 NOVEMBER 2019 • 12:37AM



Australia bushfires: New South Wales braces for 'catastrophic' day

11 November 2019

A vast area of Australia's east coast - including Sydney - is bracing itself for one the nation's worst ever bushfire threats.

More than 60 blazes are burning across the state of New South Wales (NSW) ahead of predicted "catastrophic" conditions on Tuesday.

 
Six million residents in Australia brace for catastrophic bushfires

By Giovanni Torre
12 NOVEMBER 2019 • 12:37AM



Australia bushfires: New South Wales braces for 'catastrophic' day

11 November 2019

A vast area of Australia's east coast - including Sydney - is bracing itself for one the nation's worst ever bushfire threats.

More than 60 blazes are burning across the state of New South Wales (NSW) ahead of predicted "catastrophic" conditions on Tuesday.

It's not Australian summer yet, but it will be in just over a month.
 
Australia fires will not be contained for 'many weeks'

The bushfires that are raging across eastern Australia destroyed more than 50 homes and injured 13 firefighters on Wednesday. Without rain, officials warn there is little chance of the fires abating any time soon.

 
NSW and Queensland fires: fourth person confirmed dead in bushfires near Kempsey

A man’s body has been found in bushland at Willawarrin on the New South Wales mid-north coast, as Australia’s bushfire crisis continues to grip Queensland

Australian Associated Press
Wed 13 Nov 2019 22.39 GMT Last modified on Thu 14 Nov 2019 00.57 GMT

 
"Hey look over there, nothing to see here, this is not a time to talk about climate change when this fire season started unusually early and is really big" - Australian Liberal/National Federal Government.
 
By the way, unusually early start / size of fires notwithstanding.... November/December (late spring, early summer) is broadly fire season in New South Wales and Queensland, January/February (mid and late summer) is broadly fire season in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.

Late spring = driest time before the wetter summer season in the north - NSW is temperate for the most part but it, broadly, has higher humidity than Victoria/South Australia in summer (Queensland is tropical and sub-tropical). Heat in Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria is broadly drier because it will be whipped up from central Australia [where most of the deserts are] are pushed out to the southern coast of the continent.

Much of NSW has been in drought for years and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that during or near the end of a drought bushfires go up in intensity because there's so much dry fuel / lack of clearing (because... of the drought) - Black Staurday ib Vic in 2009 came at the end of the Millennium drought. The real issue here is preparing for it - and preparing for frequency and intensity increases.
 
By the way, unusually early start / size of fires notwithstanding.... November/December (late spring, early summer) is broadly fire season in New South Wales and Queensland, January/February (mid and late summer) is broadly fire season in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.

Late spring = driest time before the wetter summer season in the north - NSW is temperate for the most part but it, broadly, has higher humidity than Victoria/South Australia in summer (Queensland is tropical and sub-tropical). Heat in Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria is broadly drier because it will be whipped up from central Australia [where most of the deserts are] are pushed out to the southern coast of the continent.

Much of NSW has been in drought for years and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that during or near the end of a drought bushfires go up in intensity because there's so much dry fuel / lack of clearing (because... of the drought) - Black Staurday ib Vic in 2009 came at the end of the Millennium drought. The real issue here is preparing for it - and preparing for frequency and intensity increases.
What about the Northern Territory?
 
Food for thought, terrifying how multiculturalism and political correctness can be turned against a host country:

Pro-Beijing groups linked to the Chinese consulate in Sydney were mobilised to support embattled Ryde deputy mayor Simon Zhou, who has been condemned for playing the "race card" after being referred to the NSW corruption watchdog.

Mr Zhou used a council meeting on Tuesday night to call on Chinese-Australians to "fight back and stand up" amid cheers from the public gallery packed with his placard-wielding supporters.

The Australian Financial Review has discovered these supporters were not a local community group as their signs suggested, but mostly from the Hubei Homeland Association, which has links through its convener to the Chinese consulate in Sydney.
Feng Chongyi, an associate professor of Chinese studies at UTS, said the show of support for Mr Zhou had the Communist Party's fingerprints all over it.

"Whenever these issues emerge they rally to put on a show," he said.

"But you can easily see that the Chinese consulate and so-called patriotic leaders are behind it."

Professor Feng said the Chinese consulate in Sydney had changed tactics in recent years and now preferred to use "homeland associations" or cultural groups for pro-Beijing causes, rather than patriotic organisations, which had become too high profile.
Mr Zhou has been referred to the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption after failing to declare a $4 million connection to disgraced property developer Huang Xiangmo.

And of course:

I'm slowly starting to think that the Americans had it right with their old melting-pot policy.
 
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Not sure I see how melting pot vs mosaic is all that key here.

There could be a return to a debate on dual citizenships I suppose...........

But truthfully I have no real issue with that either.

What we're talking about here is some combination of actively planting foreign national agents into another state; or co opting someone with ties or who desires ties to a different state and is willing to advance said state's national interests in their current country.

That's really not about enjoying some familiar/traditional foods, or speaking a second or third language.

Its about being (or seeming to be) on the payroll of a foreign government.
 
Unless I'm not aware of any US laws that specifically ban all foreign-backed organisations in the US, I dare say what's been uncovered in Australia / what's starting to get a sharper MSM focus could happen in any western democracy regardless of multi-culturalism versus melting pot.

Actually, there's been some trouble with Transport Secretary Chao and links to Chinese companies. Something about her father as well.

I mean, that's the only one I'm aware of.
 

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