Angela Merkel’s clarion call on May 28 reverberated, much like the megaphone diplomacy that Australian leaders are often cautioned against using in our region. She sounded it in Europe, in NATO. Having had her phone hacked under one US president and her views on refugees and climate change derided by another, she said what was previously unsayable: Europe can no longer rely on the US alliance, and “really must take our fate into our own hands”. Diplomatically, the German Chancellor added that Europe’s need to go it alone should be “of course in friendship with the United States of America, in friendship with Great Britain and as good neighbours wherever that works”. But Stephan Bierling, at Germany’s University of Regensburg, declared: “The belief in shared values has been shattered by the Trump administration.”
Without implying anything about our part of the world, Merkel laid bare the decision with which Australia, Japan, South Korea and others in our region have been confronted by the Trump administration. Gratitude to the US for World War II and friendship with Americans are important to many of us, but the value of the alliance in her words, “wherever that works” now supersedes the past. Many of our American friends are as appalled as we are about the disastrous tracks down which our alliance is leading us. “Shared values” have ever since the Cold War been cited as if they constitute a safe, underground carpark, even when there’s a flaming inferno above us. But when Americans in the tower above tell us that we should spend more on defence, while offering us no unconditional guarantee of security, the unsayable but obvious has to be said. The US won’t defend us, whatever the terms of our alliance, unless it is in their interests. Merkel and Trump have provided us with a moment of truth, a new world order. Even if it is only the latest of many, it is now more urgent.
[If we can’t rely on the US (and Trump), what then?]
At such a moment, it would be like getting out of the basement and free of smoke inhalation to hear our leaders announce that we will no longer accept having our enemies identified for us by Washington. A new world order could arrive for Australia if Washington would take a deep breath and say why we must contribute to a worldwide war on terror, with no end in sight, even if perpetuating it means wreaking havoc on places and people with whom we have no quarrel and inviting their hatred and vengeance against us. If only the Americans would say which of a melee of Islamic radical groups threatens Australia, and how we might deter them. If only they would come clean on who proposed, or offered, Australia’s participation in this war, why, and with what legality. The Merkel moment offers such an opportunity for Australia’s leaders, of both major parties. If they rose democratically to the occasion, we could possibly understand the limitless sums they want to spend on fighting terror, and the danger to which they expose ADF personnel.
Whenever “shared values” of mateship, tradition, freedom and “indispensability” are cited, you can be sure how dubious the other frequently cited benefits of the US alliance have become –intelligence, military equipment, access in Washington. It’s hard to detect what “shared values” count for when Japan and South Korea have refrained from committing troops to Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen or Syria. Unlike them, Australia pressed to be invited to go to Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. We offered President Barack Obama bases in Darwin and the “pivot to Asia” in the hope that if the US would defend nothing else, it would defend a base. The Darwin and Pine Gap bases we gave them make Australia a nuclear target and prove how fearful and how lacking in independence Australian foreign and defence policy have become. The title of Allan Gyngell’s 2017 book Fear of Abandonment prompts Australians to reconsider our national myth of wartime heroism and ask if we are not in fact a timorous lot who should take our destiny into our own hands. The Prime Minister’s recent slavering exchange with Trump revived the myth when (as Blair did with Bush in July 2002) he offered to join the US in “whatever war it chose to pursue”. The Foreign Minister, calling the US alliance “indispensable” endorsed the myth.
[The US has been at war for 93% of its existence. Is it too dangerous an ally?]
Until now, we have been able to avoid the Merkel moment. But we now have a threat and an opportunity. The threat is that we are already so committed and embedded with the US military that if there were a war in the South or East China Sea, or against North Korea, Australia could not act in our own interests and stay out of it. The opportunity is for Australia to recognise that the US “pivot to Asia” is worthless and that our security relies upon the long-delayed engagement with our neighbours, not upon gearing ourselves up to fight whichever of them the Pentagon decides is the enemy du jour. The US Studies Centre declined my acceptance of their earlier invitation to hear Senator John McCain today. If I had been able to ask him a question, it would have been this: “If Chancellor Merkel and NATO cannot rely on the US alliance, what assurance does ANZUS give Australia?”
* Dr Alison Broinowski FAIIA, formerly an Australian diplomat, is vice-President of Honest History and of Australians for War Powers Reform.
* This article was originally published at John Menadue’s blog, Pearls and Irritations
A most timely and considered comment. An opportunity? The American people in free and open elections installed Trump and as President he has begun the rewriting of American priorities. He does not consult in so doing, or consider Australia; any more than as Merkel identified, does he consult Europe or Asian allies. Nor is he required to.
The Australian/American relationship emerged from common interest due to WW11. Over decades, friendship, trade, mutual advantage underwrote much common interest.
As Trump has emerged, so has our world, and our nation. Australia and Australians grapple with changed priorities. We are seen as a regional power but, uncertainty pervades our self view of whether we are part of, or apart from, surrounding regional nations.
We clearly are no longer part of UK/Europe. Or as Canada regionally relates to the Americas. Australia’s future however, in whatever form, is partnered to SE Asia; and thus an opportunity, necessity, to seize what the Trump event invites.
In the simplest form, rearrange common interest relations with both current and future nations. It is always difficult to take on new, best friends whilst reassuring older best friends. As individuals we all do it. As national entities we must do it. To remain as a nation, ambivalent about identity and proximity to neighbours reinforces insecurity and denies necessity.
Thank you, Dr Broinowski. No comfort to be found in your words, but thank you, nonetheless.
When I talk to people about the need for Australia to back away from ANZUS, I invariably hear ” Well, yeah, the US isn’t perfect, but the alternative is much worse.” When I ask “What alternative is that?” the answer is “China.” The idea of Australia being independent is met with either astonishment or scepticism. Australians have been conditioned to see themselves as someone’s bitch for such a long time…
No, no, no. You want to discard the amazing relationship we have because of one administration? What a short sighted view of world conflict. History repeats itself.
Australia committed hundreds of thousands of troops to the wars in Europe and during our time of need only the US came to our rescue.
It’s not a matter of owing the US. We have a united front against the tyranny of invasion and against domination against our sovereignty.
Australia cannot defend itself against a powerful enemy. Despite our commendable armed forces we are limited in manpower and military resources. Under 300 armoured vehicles, 59 Abrams tanks (made in USA), under 100 fighter planes (made in USA) and a handful of submarines. 60,000 troops and 20,000 reserves. Its strong and well equipped but a deterrent force.
Have a look at the website ‘Nukemap’ and you will see that 2 of China’s Dong Feng 5 standard 5 Mt ICBM’s would each obliterate Sydney and Melbourne. And they have 260 of them! Do we have a missile shield or nuclear deterrent? No. Our ally does.
So, do you propose an alternative ally? The China suggestion from Charlie Chaplin is laughable. The country that bans FB and won’t tolerate dissent from Taiwan or Tibet? Let’s not mention the appropriation of the islands in the South China Sea.
According to The NY Times Australia is America’s number 1 ally (amongst Republicans, 4th with Democrats).
And you want to walk away from the 800 lb gorilla standing at our shoulders? Please, no.
Australia has backed America in every war, rightly or wrongly, since WWI. Why? They were there for us in our darkest time, when the Japanese were at our door. No one else came to our rescue and no one will.
We are their greatest ally and they ours. Support them in their battles against real or even believed evils and they will be there for us.
Don’t throw away what we have… an incredible ally and common freedom belief system because you feel slighted by one administration. Short sighted. Think about the next 100 and 1000 years for our great nation.
The world is a street brawl. If you get set upon by a thug, do you want the unarmed NZ monkey on your side or the US gorilla with a Glock? Sure, the monkey will fight hard, but the gorilla is a game changer.
Stand tall by the USA and give them the support they sorely need on the world stage. And sleep soundly at night knowing the gorilla has got your back.
No, No, No; Not proposing divorce. Are proposing re-arrangement of the terms of an existing relationship . . . for it is not a true and equal relationship. Nor can it be. For many real, pragmatic reasons. Change, adaptation demands an acknowledgement of geography, identity and opportunity. America knows this . . . and is on the cusp of determining future posture. Australia is half a world away. It is absurd to believe a future whereby we exist fully dependent upon another nation’s perceived priorities.
We are spending $89 mill. a day for Australian defence: how much of that will go to the US? Would it benefit Oz more than an effective pre-school education system would? We can pay Americans with corporate tax cuts. Let’s not get sucked into their military-industrial complex, that Eisenhower warned against! Build peace with good education, housing and healthcare. Much more productive!