As a quick study in the psychology of Australia-US relations, last week had it all. There was the sound of cash registers ringing in Washington as Canberra handed over the first cheque for the US nuclear submarine production base. There was the self-aggrandisement of Richard Marles at the Pentagon, chuffed at being the first defence Continue reading »
Australian foreign policy
I am not suffering from what some of President Donald Trump’s more fervent supporters — both in the US and in Australia — like to call “Trump derangement syndrome”. That is, I’m not disputing that he won the presidential election held last November “fair and square”, as did the Republican Party in both the House Continue reading »
February 7 saw the first AUKUS meeting held between officials of the Trump administration and their Australian servitors since the changing of the guard in the White House. In attendance was the US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and his unbearably compliant Australian counterpart Richard Marles. From all general appearances, the sense was that a change Continue reading »
Never has there been a greater need for Australia to turn away from its military alliance with the United States and forge an independent and peaceful foreign policy. This would necessarily mean an alternative self-reliant defence policy and the forging of friendly and mutually beneficial relations with the fraternity of non-aligned/neutral nations. Even before the Continue reading »
In the period since 7 October 2023, serious questions have arisen as to whether the Australian Government is properly discharging its obligations under international law in light of Israel’s devastation of Gaza, invasion of Lebanon and the escalation of settler violence in the illegally occupied West Bank. In November 2024, Senators Lidia Thorpe and Fatima Continue reading »
The foundation of Australia’s alliance with the US is that there is a shared commitment to the rule of law and constitutional democratic government. We are faced with the choice of waiting until there cannot be a shred of doubt that the US is committed to a dictatorship or beginning the process of cutting our Continue reading »
The deliberate extermination of a large population group or nation, aiming to eradicate their future, is genocide. According to the International Court of Justice, Israel’s war amounted to genocide resulting in the deaths of 48,156 Palestinians including 17,841 children. Both major parties have supported Israel’s war and the supply of intelligence and arms. It’s time Continue reading »
For more than 40 years Hugh White has been an important analyst of Australian defence and foreign policy. After working in the Office of National Assessments he became an adviser to Defence Minister Beazley and Prime Minister Hawke, He was a deputy secretary in the Department of Defence and the first head of the Australian Continue reading »
Australia needs to try and persuade the Trump Administration that no country can expect to dominate our region and the benefits of cooperation. But if, as is likely, Trump refuses to accept a multipolar region then Australia must be prepared to act on its own and seek its security within Asia. Australia’s strategic dilemma For Continue reading »
The law and politics can be callous. And it certainly has been in the case of 56-year-old Dan Duggan, a former US Marines pilot, now an Australian citizen. Five days before Christmas the federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus announced Mr Duggan would be extradited to the United States to face charges relating to allegations, vehemently denied Continue reading »