The United States is (currently) a very unreliable partner. China is quite reliable--you can rely on it to assert its Monroe Doctrine over the entire region, including Australia. It would be nice if Australia+Japan+Korea+Indonesia+India+New Zealand+other ASEAN could collectively resist Chinese suzerainty. But none of these countries could do it on their own, and probably not in pairs or triplets, either. But is close military cooperation possible without a guiding hegemon?
Paragraphs 6 to 10 are literally repetitions of paragraphs 1 to 5, John; paragraphs 20 to 28 are also repetitions of paragraphs 11 to 19. It seems to be a buggy Stack issue.
"The re-elected Albanese government needs to accept the fact that the United States, as Australians have imagined it since Curtin’s famous speech, is gone for good.".... Time for Australian independence? YES, absolutely. Will it ever happen? NO, the Conroy /Marles / AWU factions of ALP will never allow it. Albanese would be removed in a blink of an eye. Anything other than total allegiance and probably servitude is not tolerated.
It would be MOST PRUDENT for PM Albanese to heed what Professor Jeffrey Sachs says about being a 'friend' or 'ally' of USA!! It is a choice between extremely dangerous OR fatal..
The United States is (currently) a very unreliable partner. China is quite reliable--you can rely on it to assert its Monroe Doctrine over the entire region, including Australia. It would be nice if Australia+Japan+Korea+Indonesia+India+New Zealand+other ASEAN could collectively resist Chinese suzerainty. But none of these countries could do it on their own, and probably not in pairs or triplets, either. But is close military cooperation possible without a guiding hegemon?
Commentators, journalists etc take so long to state the obvious.
John, there’s quite a bit of repetition in this post. It badly needs editing.
I’m always keen to improve. Can you point to examples of repetition that I can tighten up?
Paragraphs 6 to 10 are literally repetitions of paragraphs 1 to 5, John; paragraphs 20 to 28 are also repetitions of paragraphs 11 to 19. It seems to be a buggy Stack issue.
Apart from that, the argument is great.
The first few paragraphs - down to the picture of Trump - are repeared below the picture. Then the second half of the article is repeated again too.
"The re-elected Albanese government needs to accept the fact that the United States, as Australians have imagined it since Curtin’s famous speech, is gone for good.".... Time for Australian independence? YES, absolutely. Will it ever happen? NO, the Conroy /Marles / AWU factions of ALP will never allow it. Albanese would be removed in a blink of an eye. Anything other than total allegiance and probably servitude is not tolerated.
It would be MOST PRUDENT for PM Albanese to heed what Professor Jeffrey Sachs says about being a 'friend' or 'ally' of USA!! It is a choice between extremely dangerous OR fatal..
Hugh White has an article in the forthcoming issue of the Quarterly Review. I'll be interested in his take.
I saw this too late!