Australians Losing Faith In the United States.

Their is also a growing belief among Australians that if a foreign power (China? Indonesia?) decided to attack Australia, America would not take action anyway because there is no overriding reason to. (read economic and/or strategic reason).

I'm not sure thats true but many people seem to believe it. I believe this is one of the reasons Howard has been so stalwart in his support of Bush in Afghanistan, ie getting the brownie point up.

Australia has 1/3 of the worlds uranium supplies Should the government decide not to sell uranium to China I believe they would just come and take it.

Would The US assist in stopping them?

and then dlowan would be waiting at the docks in fish nets and hot pants.... hoping for an Ameican sailor wih chocolates and nylons... at the ready to show her appreciation....

Bi-Polar Bear wrote:

and then dlowan would be waiting at the docks in fish nets and hot pants.... hoping for an Ameican sailor wih chocolates and nylons... at the ready to show her appreciation....

I don't DO uniforms.

dlowan wrote:

Bi-Polar Bear wrote:

and then dlowan would be waiting at the docks in fish nets and hot pants.... hoping for an Ameican sailor wih chocolates and nylons... at the ready to show her appreciation....

I don't DO uniforms.

Thats ok,every time we went to Australia for liberty, we didnt wear our uniforms off the ship.
We didnt need to.

I spent a christmas/new year holiday there on liberty once.
I had a great time.
I met a young lady, and spent the whole time with her.

I'm frightened of Australia.

Just as the UK is not about to throw away the advantage of it's special relationship with the US, neither will Australia.

Wise UK leaders who appreciate the value of this relationship with the US have a much harder time of things than their Aussie counter-parts. Australians have never ruled the world and don't have a "sour grapes" sense of America. They may or may not be in tune with the current US administration, but they are in tune with America.

If Howard is thrown out of office, it will hardly be because of his ties with the Bush Administration. Local politics trump national, and national trump global. If the majority of Aussies are relatively content with their current lot in life, they will not risk rocking the boat because of Howard's relationship with America.

If, on the other hand, the Howard government has failed the average Australian at home, his global politics will only be used against him.

Australia is an Anglo-Saxon nation situated in a non-Western part of the world. Why would it cease to exploit it's cultural ties with the greatest power on earth?

(Note to Roxxie --- At least this is what my "wealthy" Australian friends tell me.)

Finn dAbuzz wrote:

Just as the UK is not about to throw away the advantage of it's special relationship with the US, neither will Australia.

Wise UK leaders who appreciate the value of this relationship with the US have a much harder time of things than their Aussie counter-parts. Australians have never ruled the world and don't have a "sour grapes" sense of America. They may or may not be in tune with the current US administration, but they are in tune with America.

If Howard is thrown out of office, it will hardly be because of his ties with the Bush Administration. Local politics trump national, and national trump global. If the majority of Aussies are relatively content with their current lot in life, they will not risk rocking the boat because of Howard's relationship with America.

If, on the other hand, the Howard government has failed the average Australian at home, his global politics will only be used against him.

Australia is an Anglo-Saxon nation situated in a non-Western part of the world. Why would it cease to exploit it's cultural ties with the greatest power on earth?

(Note to Roxxie --- At least this is what my "wealthy" Australian friends tell me.)

Hmmm...I actually think Howard's uncritical support of the Iraq war has eroded his base quite a lot, as has his puffery of Bush.


Without more casualties, I agree that this alone would not lose him power, but I think it more significant than you believe.

Perhaps, but if life is pretty much OK for the average Aussie, I doubt they will say" "Life has been pretty good in Australia under Howard, but I just don't like his close ties to Bush," and vote against him.


I am interested in the views expressed here by some Americans that the US would definitely take action if Oz were attacked.


I do not think this is by any means taken for granted any more here.....I suspect the general view is more like "You guys will jump in if it suits your strategy at the time."


I don't say this in an anti American way.....I just think it's normal real politik.

Churchill, for instance, tried to persuade the Australian government not to move any of our troops back to defend Oz when Japan attacked. There was a real politik point to this (go back and get Oz when the Germans were defeated, but don't take away troops before that.)


I can imagine that it would likely suit American strategic desires not to lose an ally, and that the US would see that enemies NOT seeing them help Oz would be seen as a sign of American weakness, but I truly do not think too many Ozzians would think to see the US act except in its own interests.


I don't know, though.....I think we do care a lot about England and you guys, and mebbe you do in return?

The fiercest politically anti US people I kmow were walking around in just as much horror after September 11 as anyone else in Oz. I guess you're kind of family.

It would utterly astound me if the US did not come to the aid of an Australia under attack. The only scenario in which I could imagine such a happenstance is one, some time from now, when America might become something less than a minor power, struggling for survival.

Real time --- it will never happen, most importantly because any nation contemplating attacking Australia knows it will have to contend with America.

This is not to suggest that the US is fully motivated by altruism (although I am a firm believer that the American Empire has been the most altruistic in history), but it is hard to imagine a scenario where the security of an anglo-saxon Australian is not directly within the interests of America.

As long as Aussies don't allow their nation to become The Islamic Republic of Oz, they can, without any hesitation, rely upon America to have their back.

The fiercest politically anti US people I kmow were walking around in just as much horror after September 11 as anyone else in Oz. I guess you're kind of family.

On the positive side, the US did intervene in two world wars, ensuring victory for the Allied side (though if one were cynical one would say they waited until the old colonial powers were drained of resources before they stepped in)

Wilso
I don't think we have to be worried about Indonesia at all. Every brave act I've seen from Indonesian soldiers is when they're attacking unarmed civilians. Faced with a trained enemy they have a tendency to piss themselves and run away. And even Indonesia would require a naval capability that I don't believe they have.

anton
Don't make the mistake of believing that the US came into the Second World War to save the world,

they came in because they had no choice after Adolf Hitler declared war on America at the end of '41,

the same time Japan attacked Pearl Harbour.

The US was the only country to make money out of that war, Britain only recently finished paying the interest on American loans...

Sure, America had the finance and technology but Britain and her commonwealth just about had the war won; they held out against the might of the Third Reich for two years before America was dragged in!

Vikoor...."subject" is what cjhsa calls anyone without a gun.