“Nero fiddled while Rome was burning.” – The old expression with respect to the utter indifference of decadent Roman emperor Nero (37-68 AD) to the engulfing Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD seems to have resurfaced in the wake of the recently unfolded geopolitical event in the Indo-Pacific region, with repercussions across the world.
The insight of this old articulation – doing something irresponsible or indulging in one’s own obsession to “habitual tendency” in the face of something more pressing – appears to have echoed with the emergence of an irrational defence pact, Aukus as it is nicknamed, among the United States, the UK and Australia.