US military men would appear to be singing from the same song sheet as Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith. Senior Defence Department official Robert Scher told Congress overnight that “we are not looking to establish a US base in Australia”. Smith was emphasising that on radio this morning: “We don’t have United States military bases in Australia and we are not proposing to”.
The influential Center for Strategic and International Studies has other ideas. It has proposed a base of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and manned and unmanned drones in Perth.
As Smith notes, this is not a US government document — merely the recommendations of an independent think tank. But congressional Republicans like the idea. As Harley Dennett reports for Crikey today, the idea of redeploying nuclear armoury to the Asia-Pacific has found solid support. Including among Tea Party members, who have a firm grip on Republican policy and could be even more powerful after the November election.
The CSIS says the US needn’t worry about the natives because there’s only “non-mainstream anti-Americanism prevalent among some elite circles”. Republicans may well put that to the test next year. And hand Smith a complex domestic and diplomatic challenge.
This is wrong to refer to ‘manned and unmanned drones’, for 2 reasons.
First, Crikey should eschew such obviously sexist language: an aircraft may be unpiloted, pilotless or unstaffed.
Secondly, a drone is ‘a pilotless radio-controlled aircraft’ so it is oxymoronic to contemplate a piloted unpiloted aircraft.
This is just so wrong. Having another country (no matter how friendly or close an ally) is inviting and assisting them to OWN our country. They (whoever) will implement their own rules, laws and systems, and we become a subjective people.
Willingly allowing another country to set up THEIR defence force in OUR country is plain stupidity. We are (were) a free people, so what has gone so…so…wrong?
More importantly, how can we tell such a good friend that they have overstepped the bounds of friendship and need to go home?
Or have we already become the drones? Pilotless, ‘Rudd’-erless and oxymoronic?
Google Pine Gap, and you find a lot of sites that regard Pine Gap as a military installation. malcolm
The US makes it clear that Australia ranks low in their vision of things. Look at the (so-called) US-Australia Free Trade Agreement. Look at the price of US goods on the net for Australia – the same things in the US are half the price. Look at the pressures to bring US law into effect in Australia (patent, internet copyright etc).
It really is time we tried to look like a sovereign country!
And, re drones, I suspect they meant “armed and unarmed” which doesn’t reassure me.