A day after the US, UK, and Australia announced a new military pact to counter China, Australia’s defense minister said more US military aircraft and troops will deploy to the country.
Australian Defence Minister Peter Dutton said Canberra made the comments in Washington after a meeting with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. Dutton said the US and Australia agreed to enhance “our force posture cooperation.”
“This will include greater air cooperation through rotational deployments of all types of US military aircraft to Australia,” he said.
When asked about more US troops deploying to Australia, Dutton said, “So I do have an aspiration to make sure that we can increase the numbers of troops through the rotations. “
He also hinted that Australia might host US medium-range missiles that were previously banned under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which the Trump administration withdrew from in 2019. Dutton signaled Australia is open to basing “different ordinances,” which he said was in “Australia’s best interest.”
With the Pentagon focused on China, Australia will play a significant role in Washington’s strategy in the Pacific. The nuclear-powered submarines Canberra gains from this new pact will give Australia more abilities to patrol sensitive areas like the South China Sea.
Australia is a member of the Quad, a security dialogue that also includes the US, India, and Japan, and is seen as a foundation for a possible anti-China NATO-style alliance in Asia. Biden is trying to strengthen the group and will host the first in-person summit between Quad leaders later this month.
No more wars! Bring all the troops home!
Thanks to the lockdowns, Australia is one of the few countries in the world with political systems more repressive than China.
Make that North Korea, we joke in Melbourne that they have more freedom in Pyongyang than here
Again, the lead goes to the stupid and stupidly corrupt Pentagon over the brainy foreign service. Why does anyone bother with elections and politicians when it’s so clearly Wall St. rules?
Our troops need a change of scenery as well as a mission to keep them occupied…..
That the US never returned to the INF Treaty was always ominous. Australia possibly hosting such weapons confirms that suspicion. Blindly world leaders are following the pattern of history – to another world war.
https://www.ghostsofhistory.wordpress.com/
Australia is the only ‘democratic’ country without a bill of rights.
LOL. The Australians have the right to serve their Queen and not ask any questions.
Al Jazeera has a nice article: Infographic: US military presence around the world [Disqus sucks!]
750 U.S. bases and locations in 80 countries around the world. They probably missed some.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/10/infographic-us-military-presence-around-the-world-interactive?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=weekly&utm_campaign=09/15/2021
I kept saying that those troops leaving Afghanistan were not going home. It turns out that some are going to Australia. The blob will not die. In fact, it will probably gobble up more countries.
“This slide into military brinkmanship and authoritarian dystopia shows
no signs of stopping. The abuses of the powerful will continue to grow
more egregious until the people open their eyes to what’s going on and
begin taking action to steer us away from the existential dangers we are
hurtling toward on multiple fronts. If there is any good news to be had
here, it’s that if such a miracle ever occurs it will then be possible
to immediately course correct and start building a healthy society
together”–Caitlin Johnstone, Australian Journalist. Good articles from her at:
https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2021/09/16/australia-continues-its-plunge-into-authoritarianism-and-military-brinkmanship/
Good article. Good luck with the “miracle”.
At my age, I don’t believe in miracles. I believe there are evil people working relentlessly to start WWIII.