US/UK/Australia sign defence alliance against China

Nothing in your posting history has hinted at that so far.

 

Perhaps I didn't make my point succinctly. I didn't feel that there has been much of a debate on AUKUS within official ranks. Opinion pieces that you have shared seem to reinforce that, if anything. It appears to be x-so and sos writing something to the paper. What they think seems to carry no official weight. Whether I stumbled across them during my holidays is neither here nor there.

Notably the government actually responded to Keating, but not the rest. It reinforces that perhaps he's a bit more important than you think (for whatever reason). And perhaps it means some of his points did hit home. I certainly thought that some of what he said about Labour's foreign policy approach was an eye opener and I appreciate that.

 

It was just a joke. Take it easy...

 

~ Interesting ...

~ I often think the way things are going Australia should indeed have nuclear weapons. Perhaps a few other nations as well ...

 

What? A mere 20000 workers? Lol. I think it should be a nice boost to our tech industry.

I think the real question is could we have spent that money better? I'm torn. On the one hand there will be a spinoff that we develop a nuclear industry. On the other hand do we need a nuclear industry with so many renewables? Admittedly I've got a bit more reading to do.

 

In a confrontation with a modern attack submarine, those "noisy old Collins class Subs" are merely group coffins.

 

Why do you think we a buying new ones?

 

A pity that our small country dollars will only buy 3 or so (on active duty at any time).

 

The beauty of the US-UK-AUS arrangement is that each benefits from all. Given your proximity to China I'm confident you'll have friends nearby.

 

Keating is an idiot and always was, our Aussie (and Kiwi) brothers have to stop pretending the rest of the world doesn't exist. SSNs are definitely the way to go, able to cause great destruction at low risk and excellent survivability. Welcome to the nuclear sub club, .

Yeah, you can't rely on your geographical isolation any more, you're just as vulnerable as the rest of us.

 

You have to factor in the difficulties of running and crewing them, next to the space shuttle these are some of the most sophisticated machines in the world.

 

On the one hand, I am torn. I do respect national sovereignty and the independence of nations. And at the same time, the American Empire exists and for so long, in our foreign(and domestic) policy, we've been pretending to the contrary. In truth, we are the successors to the United Kingdom. We are now the ones who rule the oceans. Given this, our Atlantic is vastly protected more or less. However, with our coastal states in California and Hawaii(as well as territories such as Guam), we have a Pacific Front, and though that Pacific Front has less Americans then our other areas in the main land US, we are no less obligated to protect it.

And has the Pacific come under threat? Mainly from China's proxy state North Korea and therefore in turn, China has her eyes on the Pacific. It remains the only place where a successful foreign military attack was carried out against America. Because of this, our Pacific is our sore spot. If anyone were to successfully invade, it would be from the Pacific.

And the Australians themselves(via your post) understands the threat of a rising China. You are not subservient, you are a key player for your own independence and national sovereignty against the Chinese.

I am a believer in the Monroe Doctrine, but even in our infancy we learned we have to enforce our strategic value defense points. And that is why we are building up in the Pacific, for you and for us as well.