PARTNERSHIP without
PARTNERS
Where is the
much-vaunted democracy in the collective West when it is only one (the White
House) that decides for the rest?
By Sidney Hey
It's impossible to
ignore how the Australian navy has been very busy of late. You may not see it
if you walk along Sydney's waterfront but if you go out on the open sea and
casually cruise along the coast you will see how the Eastern Fleet naval base
HMAS Kuttabul is a hive of ships coming and going, some of them British,
nuclear powered “Vanguard” class.
In Australia we know
that when a cup of tea is broken at 10 Downing Street Canberra will bend over
to mop the floor. My point is that our politicians are always dancing to the
tune of the music being played in London and that is rather disappointing.
It is true that for
many, even within the Big Island, the most danced to music for decades has been
American music but it is also true, that we have not yet cast off those old
moorings that right here in New South Wales where the Cook louts on Her
Majesty's orders created the largest overseas prison in the world.
But that is colonial
history. Now, given what is happening in the French dominions, perhaps the
British should not be so careless. Over here, devotion to the British crown
seems to have ended with the death of Queen Elizabeth. What strikes me about
this is where the country is going in pursuing the Atlanticist agenda in the
Indo-Pacific aimed at screwing mainland China. And no doubt the most dangerous
part of that is NATO's activation of atomic warfare protocols. What the hell
are they planning? Once again, under the
argument of "defending Taiwan", we will have to put ourselves under
the command of the Yankees and that is when this kind of madness begins to be
explained. I get the idea that in Washington they take the Australians as their
British extension in the South Pacific and it is possible that they believe
that our government will jump like Rishi Sunak and all his predecessors have
been doing.
Considering the way the
media around here deals with international realities and especially with what
is happening in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip, anyone who is not an Australian
would be more likely to think they are reading editorials written in Washington
or London. But there's a problem, it's Australians here who should be making
their own decisions.
Washington has realised
that despite its constant efforts, it has not succeeded in harvesting as many
friends in the Indo-Pacific as it would like to have, meaning "useful
idiots" of course. The fact is that the states of the region know that
friendship with the US brings with it requirements and commitments aimed at
annoying mainland China by putting them in the middle. In this sense, it is
understandable why the efforts of CIA chief Williams Burns and Pentagon chief
Lloyd Austin in Cambodia have failed.
But in Canberra, politicians should ask themselves: Are we better off getting entangled in the White House's power games with mainland China, will we sacrifice our trade relations with Beijing for the intrigues woven in Washington? This is a question PM Albanese and Co. should consider with the US moves in the region.
The government should
also consider the subtle but already warned escalation that has begun to be
seen in both Russian strategic forces and NATO's European bases (in Germany and
Italy) through preparations and testing for nuclear operations.
Washington finds
Cambodia's long-standing good relations with China unacceptable. But what
displeases US officials most is the defence cooperation, especially in the
naval area between the two nations, which hampers the movements of the Western
fleet in the China Sea.
The answer is more than
clear, but no one will tell the king that he is naked, so everyone will be
smiling and applauding.
As always, Washington
lends a hand and cuts off your arm. Nothing it grants comes for free and that
is something Washington reminds "Pnhom Penh" of with its position in
ASEAN.
Washington definitely
wants to control the foreign policy of each of these states, especially
Singapore, the most important country in the region to participate in the
deployment of Atlanticist plans in the South Sea, even more so than Australia.
Still, Washington would need more direct and committed political meddling from
Canberra in the face of these problems since, friends beware, NATO's (i.e.
Washington's) main objective is not in Ukraine but in the Pacific.
It seems that the
Americans are not satisfied with AUKUS and QUAD as their tactical toys to
intimidate the Chinese and would need greater investment and involvement of the
Big Island in the area, and who better than Australia.
According to reliable
sources, Washington expects London to take strategic control of Indo-Pacific
operations and to deploy them by involving the Aussies even more in what could
end in a nuclear catastrophe.