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https://theconversation.com/goodbye-to-all-that-rethinking-australias-alliance-with-trumps-america-258066>
"
Review: After America: Australia and the new world order – Emma Shortis
(Australia Institute Press), Hard New World: Our Post-American Future;
Quarterly Essay 98 – Hugh White (Black Inc)
Even the most ardent supporters of the alliance with the United States – the
notional foundation of Australian security for more than 70 years – must be
having some misgivings about the second coming of Donald Trump.
If they’re not, they ought to read the two essays under review here. They offer
a host of compelling reasons why a reassessment of the costs, benefits and
possible future trajectory of the alliance is long overdue.
And yet, notwithstanding the cogency and timeliness of the critiques offered by
Emma Shortis and Hugh White, it seems unlikely either of these will be read,
much less acted upon, by those Shortis describes as the “mostly men in suits or
uniforms, with no democratic accountability” who make security policy on our
behalf.
White, emeritus professor of strategic studies at the ANU, was the principal
author of Australia’s
Defence White Paper in 2000. Despite having been a
prominent member of the defence establishment, it is unlikely even his
observations will prove any more palatable to its current incumbents.
Shortis, an historian and writer, is director of the Australia Institute’s
International & Security Affairs Program. She is also a young woman, and while
this shouldn’t matter, I suspect it does; at least to the “mostly men” who
guard the nation from a host of improbable threats while ignoring what is
arguably the most likely and important one: climate change."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
