Again well written. However, being an Australian I must comment.
Political ideology on both sides will be a major sore point in this whole deal. It took Australia a long time to find a suitable place to put domestic medical Nuclear waste material because of the environment ect…. A submarine dry dock, housing Nuclear submarines, will not be an easy find. Another very, very sore point will be the whole attitude the US will bring to the alliance. Australia is not a republic but we are our own, we follow nobody. The Aus defence force will boast some of the most sophisticated weapons (yes there American, yes there expensive) however, as the war in The Ukraine has shown Autonomous vehicles is the way forward, this brings Australia to the same level as anyone else. We can quadruple our operational capacity without putting a single life on the line. We are an island nation, deep sea autonomous mines, fast-attack submarines, autonomous under-sea kamikaze drones (maybe)- no help needed. In my opinion, yes Australia needs the US alliance but it should not be taken for granted by the US. Australia is of very-high strategic value for the US in any major conflict against China, as you stated, however, the Australian public also knows this.
Australia is not taken for granted in the US. Not by the general public (very pro-AUS), not by Administrations of both kinds, and not by serious members of Congress. The problem is American politics is changing more rapidly than most people realize. Where once passing legislation was prized, politicians of all stripes were responsible citizens, and domestic disputes "stopped at the waters edge"... meaning the parties would not use international affairs to attack one another... that has all disappeared. Now, being the loudest, most ridiculous, inane, division and hate monger - using all issues foreign and domestic to constantly attack the other side - is the politics of today. All the current high profile Members of Congress, who make millions out of shouting down a President at a State of the Union Speech, have not introduced any legislation that has gone anywhere, let alone been made into a law. They are not in Congress to do that. They have been incentivized to screech at the moon. They are very good at that and famous and rich because of it. These are the people behind the coup attempt - they were willing to sell American democracy down the river so they could illegally take power. They continue to push for the next coup. There is a better than even chance they will get back into real power (they hold the House hostage right now, but they could take the Senate and White House in 2024 or after). These are the people who will sell Australia (or Ukraine or Finland) down the river without a moments hesitation.
I wonder if the Australian government has a deep appreciation for this situation? Kevin Rudd will become Ambassador to the US shortly, he is a very bight and able guy. He's spent a lot of time here and will get the issues Im mentioning above.
The problem is these destructive forces in US politics continue to be on the march and they could still take over. Hopefully, they will be vanquished in a major way and things will return to normal. BUT... if that does not happen, then this huge submarine deal that is vital to Australia's future as a free country, could be terminated without notice and on a whim by these fanatics.
Spot on Adam. I’m not that educated in US politics, Australia seems to be the same to a degree however. I’m interested in your wording, “Coup”, is it really seen as that in the US? Or just a protest, turned riot? Australians will never have a deep understanding of Defence. Under the US umbrella, the Commonwealth realm, we have had it easy.
Attempted coup. See the Jan 6 commission. All of the former presidents political allies and staff knew it was a coup and said so. See for example https://youtu.be/3niEyjCp2R4
Again well written. However, being an Australian I must comment.
Political ideology on both sides will be a major sore point in this whole deal. It took Australia a long time to find a suitable place to put domestic medical Nuclear waste material because of the environment ect…. A submarine dry dock, housing Nuclear submarines, will not be an easy find. Another very, very sore point will be the whole attitude the US will bring to the alliance. Australia is not a republic but we are our own, we follow nobody. The Aus defence force will boast some of the most sophisticated weapons (yes there American, yes there expensive) however, as the war in The Ukraine has shown Autonomous vehicles is the way forward, this brings Australia to the same level as anyone else. We can quadruple our operational capacity without putting a single life on the line. We are an island nation, deep sea autonomous mines, fast-attack submarines, autonomous under-sea kamikaze drones (maybe)- no help needed. In my opinion, yes Australia needs the US alliance but it should not be taken for granted by the US. Australia is of very-high strategic value for the US in any major conflict against China, as you stated, however, the Australian public also knows this.
Australia is not taken for granted in the US. Not by the general public (very pro-AUS), not by Administrations of both kinds, and not by serious members of Congress. The problem is American politics is changing more rapidly than most people realize. Where once passing legislation was prized, politicians of all stripes were responsible citizens, and domestic disputes "stopped at the waters edge"... meaning the parties would not use international affairs to attack one another... that has all disappeared. Now, being the loudest, most ridiculous, inane, division and hate monger - using all issues foreign and domestic to constantly attack the other side - is the politics of today. All the current high profile Members of Congress, who make millions out of shouting down a President at a State of the Union Speech, have not introduced any legislation that has gone anywhere, let alone been made into a law. They are not in Congress to do that. They have been incentivized to screech at the moon. They are very good at that and famous and rich because of it. These are the people behind the coup attempt - they were willing to sell American democracy down the river so they could illegally take power. They continue to push for the next coup. There is a better than even chance they will get back into real power (they hold the House hostage right now, but they could take the Senate and White House in 2024 or after). These are the people who will sell Australia (or Ukraine or Finland) down the river without a moments hesitation.
I wonder if the Australian government has a deep appreciation for this situation? Kevin Rudd will become Ambassador to the US shortly, he is a very bight and able guy. He's spent a lot of time here and will get the issues Im mentioning above.
The problem is these destructive forces in US politics continue to be on the march and they could still take over. Hopefully, they will be vanquished in a major way and things will return to normal. BUT... if that does not happen, then this huge submarine deal that is vital to Australia's future as a free country, could be terminated without notice and on a whim by these fanatics.
Spot on Adam. I’m not that educated in US politics, Australia seems to be the same to a degree however. I’m interested in your wording, “Coup”, is it really seen as that in the US? Or just a protest, turned riot? Australians will never have a deep understanding of Defence. Under the US umbrella, the Commonwealth realm, we have had it easy.
Attempted coup. See the Jan 6 commission. All of the former presidents political allies and staff knew it was a coup and said so. See for example https://youtu.be/3niEyjCp2R4