Saturday 8th of February 2025

to endure another four years of Donald trump........

Despite the decades both major parties have spent ingratiating themselves with the leaders of the United States, Australia is unlikely to receive any favours from the Trump administration.

For once the clichés about turning points and game changers seem appropriate, even understated. Just when you might have been forgiven for thinking the international situation couldn’t get much worse, even in the privileged heartlands of liberal democracy we are about to endure another four years of Donald Trump.

 

With friends like these…    By Mark Beeson

 

To be fair, it’s not impossible that the wars in Ukraine and Gaza might actually be ended, and however that happens it has to be a good thing. True, the Ukrainians will likely be forced to give up a sizable chunk of their country to Donald’s pal Putin, but if the death and destruction stops that would be something.

Speaking of war criminals and corrupt despots, Benjamin Netanyahu seems to be flirting with the idea of a ceasefire in Gaza. If nothing else, it may provide an opportunity to retrieve some of the thousands of uncounted corpses from under the mountains of rubble. No doubt Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus will use Australia’s immense soft power to persuade the Israelis to stop committing genocide when he visits.

Australia’s political leaders really like to think that they have unparalleled opportunities to influence American foreign policy because of their access through regular get-togethers like the AUSMIN meetings and the Australian American Leadership Dialogue. Whatever the merits of such claims the price in blood and treasure has been immense: utterly needless and ineffective participation in wars in Asia and, even more improbably, the Middle East.

Former prime ministers have been queuing up to highlight the folly of such behaviour, especially when it comes with a $368 billion price tag, as the stupendously ill-conceived and unlikely AUKUS submarine project does. Even Malcolm Fraser eventually saw the dangers of an uncritical and subservient alliance with the US, but only long after he was out of office and in a position to do something about it, of course.

With the possible exception of Mark Latham, who famously and not inaccurately described Australia’s more enthusiastic alliance supporters as a ‘conga line of suck holes’, deviations from the mantra of all the way with the USA have been confined to retired members of the ruling class.

The great benefit of have a bipartisan position on the alliance, despite its notoriously flimsy and ambiguous foundations, is that it has become an incontrovertible belief that requires no thought, much less public debate. The only danger of being wedged by political opponents is by not appearing sufficiently enthusiastic, no matter what the cost.

This politically convenient arrangement is about to be subjected to a searching stress test. While it is unlikely to overturn the alliance as the centerpiece of Australia’s ‘strategic posture’, explaining away some of the likely consequences of a Trump administration may take some doing, even in a country in which foreign affairs are usually not politically consequential.

It’s entirely possible that our great and powerful friend may cease to be a democracy, in anything but name, at least. Some of the norms, institutions and celebrated guard rails that supposedly protect democratic practices are being systematically undermined by Trump’s lackeys, including those he appointed to the Supreme Court. Given that the rule of law may also be compromised by the forced expulsion of illegal migrants, for example, things could become very unpleasant.

Indeed, the possibility of widespread social unrest, possibly involving defenders of America’s democratic principles, may be all too real; an especially alarming prospect given the high levels of gun ownership (and violence) in the US. In such circumstances and with public opinion possibly turning against Trump as he presides over escalating economic and political crises who would bet against the next midterm elections being ‘postponed’?

And that’s just our ally’s possible domestic problems. No one knows, including Trump, no doubt, what foreign policy will look like. One thing is certain though: it will be transactional, based on Trump’s vision of America’s national interest, and absolutely unsentimental. What Penny Wong describes as ‘100 years of mateship’, ‘shared values’ and the ‘dynamism and fortitude’ of the alliance is likely to be revealed as the wishful thinking it has always been.

Indeed, it’s difficult to know which is worse: that Wong genuinely believes this or is just going through the rhetorical motions because that’s what foreign ministers in this country have always done. We know that one of her predecessors wasn’t impressed with the president-elect, but only said so after he was out of office, of course. Kevin Rudd’scharacterisation of Trump as ‘the most destructive president in history’ may well be vindicated though.

Despite this, Wong and ambassador Rudd will attend Trump’s inauguration and bend the knee as Australia’s representatives always have done, no matter who is in the White House or what sort of war they start or support. We can even work with a convicted felon and a fascist, it seems. That’s what friends are for, after all...

https://johnmenadue.com/with-friends-like-these/

 

GUSNOTE: TRUMP MIGHT BE FAR LESS FASCIST THAN JOE BIDEN....

 

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

 

HYPOCRISY ISN’T ONE OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS SINS.

HENCE ITS POPULARITY IN THE ABRAHAMIC TRADITIONS…

 

 

PLEASE DO NOT BLAME RUSSIA IF WW3 STARTS. BLAME AMERICA.

 

closing diversity.....

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has confirmed the closure of its Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in a statement to Fox News. The sudden announcement prompted President-elect Donald Trump to call for transparency regarding the office’s activities and funding.

The FBI did not specify the exact reason for the closure, but the move aligns with Trump’s campaign pledge to reduce DEI initiatives across federal agencies as soon as he is sworn in as the 47th US President on Monday.

“In recent weeks, the FBI took steps to close the Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI), effective by December 2024,” the agency said in a statement first cited by Fox News on Thursday.

“We demand that the FBI preserve and retain all records, documents, and information on the now-closing DEI Office — Never should have been opened, and, if it was, should have closed long ago,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Thursday night.

“Why is it that they’re closing one day before the Inauguration of a new Administration? The reason is, CORRUPTION!” he added.

The FBI’s decision follows criticism from Republican lawmakers who argue that the agency’s focus on DEI has compromised national security, and comes amid a broader national debate over the role of DEI programs in government and the private sector. Critics argue that such initiatives detract from core missions and reduce operational effectiveness.

During his campaign, Trump promised to combat what his supporters, including billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk, have called the “woke virus.” Since Trump’s election victory, multiple US corporations – including Meta, Amazon, McDonald’s, Ford, and Walmart – have scaled back or abandoned their DEI measures.

Earlier this month, Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) voiced concerns about the FBI’s DEI efforts in a letter to outgoing Director Christopher Wray. Blackburn claimed that prioritizing diversity over competence could endanger public safety.

Put simply, your focus on woke DEI initiatives at the FBI has endangered our national security and the lives of all Americans,” Blackburn wrote. “Americans now feel increasingly unsafe because of incidents like the January 1 terror attack, and the FBI’s prioritization of diversity over competence shows that their concerns are well-founded.”

FBI Director Christopher Wray announced in December that he would step down from his position. Wray, originally nominated by Trump in 2017 after the firing of then-Director James Comey during the ‘Russiagate’ scandal, will be succeeded by a new appointee. The incoming administration has signaled plans to nominate Kash Patel, a former White House national security official, to replace Wray, pending Senate confirmation.

 

https://www.rt.com/news/611046-fbi-closes-diversity-dei-office/

 

READ FROM TOP.

 

SEE ALSO: 

the YD continuum since 2005....

 

PLEASE DO NOT BLAME RUSSIA IF WW3 STARTS. BLAME AMERICA.

 

conflicted.....

 

President Trump and Australia’s National Security    By Michael Keating

 

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 a very long time Australia has depended upon China for its economic security and the US for its international security.

China is our most important export market, accounting for 32.3 per cent of our total exports of goods and service in 2023-24; that is more than the combined value of the four next most important markets. Indeed, our exports to a relatively buoyant Chinese market was a major reason why Australia was one of the few countries to avoid a recession at the time of the global financial crisis back in 2008.

But equally important, ever since the fall of Singapore during the Second World War, Australia has turned to America for its international protection. As the late Allan Gyngell, eloquently put it, as a European settlement on the fringe of Asia, Australia has a long-standing fear of abandonment and having to stand on its own.

During the years of the Hawke-Keating governments, Australia did try to develop an independent defence capability, while still maintaining the American alliance through ANZUS. Furthermore, John Howard when he was Prime Minister, memorably said that we should avoid having to choose between China and America, the two major powers in our region.

From the early 1980s onwards, following the reforms to the Chinese economy initiated by Deng Xiaoping, the developed capitalist economies generally welcomed the advance of China, assisting its membership of key international organisations, such as the WTO. But that changed after the Chinese economy grew to the point where by 2016 it was as big as the American economy. Early on in his first Presidency Trump increased tariffs in an attempt to limit Chinese economic growth and power.

Later Australia’s Prime Minister, Morrison, presumably trying to ingratiate himself with the first Trump Administration, needlessly called China out alleging that the initiation and spread of the Covid virus was all China’s fault. In effect, Australia did then choose between America and China, and not surprisingly China retaliated and cut its imports from Australia substantially.

While the Albanese Government can claim considerable credit for restoring our relations and thus our exports to China, the Government has yet to face up to the contradiction between our foreign policy and our defence policy. The Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, clearly recognises that we are living in a multipolar world where no country dominates, but the defence policy ties us to an alliance partner that doesn’t and instead is seeking to resist a multipolar world.

As the former Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Peter Varghese, has observed our defence policy “is increasingly fixed around doing what we can to ensure the retention of US strategic primacy. That includes, it would seem, aligning our force posture to fit into the overarching US strategic objective, which is to deny China primacy by doubling down on US primacy.”

This is the antithesis of Paul Keating’s dictum that we should seek to find our security in Asia rather than from Asia. But how best can we secure Australia’s future in Asia?

A secure future for Australia within Asia

There is widespread agreement among the member states of the Indo-Pacific region that both the future economic security and strategic security of all members will depend upon acceptance that while China and the US will be the most powerful countries, neither should be able to dominate.

That in turn means that we want the US to remain and not withdraw back into its own hemisphere. There is general acceptance by all the countries in the region that we need US leadership to help balance China’s power and assertiveness. As Varghese puts it: “Without the US there can be no effective balancing of China”, but as Varghese also points out “There is a difference between US leadership and US primacy”.

In this context, Australia can play a positive role in securing the necessary future regional architecture.

First, we should not try to form any alliance against China, not least because our Asian neighbours will not agree, and we would further damage our credibility. Australia (and the US) needs to understand that attempts to contain China are likely to be rejected by China and produce a negative reaction, just like the US would equally react negatively if it were subject to hostile containment measures. In addition, it is likely that any such containment initiative would come at considerable economic cost to Australia in particular.

Instead, we should work with other neighbouring countries to try and secure a new set of protocols governing how all countries in the region can live together in the region in future. Australia should support and try to influence, in its own interests, the rules and norms that will determine the standards of behaviour that states generally find acceptable.

This is critical if we are to secure our future in Asia and not from it. Furthermore, Australia is quite well positioned and has the ability to make a significant contribution. In particular, Australia is best placed to engage with the US and seek its acceptance of this rules-based order for our region.

Furthermore, if we do not take the lead in improving the protocols governing future relations in the region and their supporting institutions we may find that they occur anyway and that we are by-passed. For example, at present, both the IMF and the World Bank do not reflect China’s importance in their governance and decision making. Now China is encouraging the development of alternative arrangements, such as BRICS and our neighbours are starting to join these alternatives.

Our ambition must be to preserve a multipolar system of international governance for the region. Our best chance is to influence America’s approach to the region. But as Hugh White has said, “we cannot do that so long as our unconditional support sends the unmistakable message that we are perfectly happy as it is.”

The return of Donald Trump

But of course, achieving acceptance of a set of protocols to support a multipolar region where no country dominates, and no country is dominated, will not be easy, especially getting the agreement of the US now that Trump is President.

Trump was elected on the promise that he will pursue the primacy of the US more than ever. Indeed, he has recently asserted the right of the US to take over by force if necessary the Panama Canal and Greenland and suggested that Canada should become the 51st state of the US; all in the pursuit of US supremacy.

In addition, Trump’s instincts are to be confrontational in dealing with the rest of the world, and consistent with MAGA, he is determined to maintain America’s primacy, and tariffs are the most beautiful word in the dictionary.

But if necessary, Australia must stand up to Trump in the interests of its own security which cannot be fundamentally dependent on America anymore. Australia should do its best to persuade the Trump Administration that it is in America’s interests to accept that China is an equally powerful neighbour that isn’t going to go away, and that there are major benefits from restoring the necessary protocols that allow peaceful cooperation in our region and where America would continue to have a major leadership role.

However, while the region is better served by America’s engagement, if it proves impossible to get Trump’s support, then really Australia has no choice but to pursue its own security by cooperation with our Asian neighbours. Fortunately, Albanese seems inclined to agree. He recently made it clear that he will not change Australia’s policy on China and that “we believe in free trade, not protectionism.”

Nevertheless, some will no doubt argue that Australia cannot afford to detach itself from America because of our dependence on the US for our future defence capability, and especially the AUKUS nuclear submarines. While I agree that Australia does need its own nuclear submarine capability, as the former commander of Australia’s submarine fleet, Peter Briggs, has pointed out in an article in The Strategist (5 Dec 2024)the difficulties that are emerging with the present AUKUS SSN plan are such that Australia would be better off commencing “a joint Franco-Australian construction program for a greater number of submarines of the Suffren class, a design that is already in service with the French navy.”

Furthermore, we need to recognise that if Trump refuses to agree to a cooperative regional architecture, then the most probable outcome would be American withdrawal back into its own region, and Australia’s alliance with America would be of dubious value anyway.

In sum, Australia should engage with all countries in the region with a view go improving the governing architecture and relationships. However, if America refuses to thus engage under Trump then Australia’s priority must be to engage positively with our region.

https://johnmenadue.com/president-trump-and-australias-national-security/

 

READ FROM TOP.

 

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

 

HYPOCRISY ISN’T ONE OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS SINS.

HENCE ITS POPULARITY IN THE ABRAHAMIC TRADITIONS…

 

PLEASE DO NOT BLAME RUSSIA IF WW3 STARTS. BLAME AMERICA.

 

SEE ALSO: 

the YD continuum since 2005....