Recently I bookmarked an SMH press release about our former Prime Minister, Malcolm Frazer, advocating independence from the US, at least in its global military ambitions. In particular with the US harassment of China to the extent that a serious conflict might result.
I had little admiration for Malcolm Frazer when he first came into power, destroying our democratic system when he effected the ousting of the elected PM Gough Whitlam. Nothing he has done since has raised my interest, UNTIL NOW.
Suddenly, this morning, listening to our present Treasurer, Joe Hockey, tell us that we are going to spend money to provide a base for the US marines in the Northern Territory.
This is madness, for two reasons – firstly our security becomes threatened by the logical responses from our Eastern trading and social partners; secondly, even if there was indeed some sensible justification for a US military presence in Australia, for God’s sake why should we pay for it? Surely they should pay us for providing them facilities for with their continually expanding interference in other countries.
Now, on the news, what am I hearing? Abbot, the current PM is discussing with Obama, Australian involvement in quelling the new latest unrest in Iraq!!! Are we are so idiotic as to join in again with the psychopathic warmongering US.
As Malcolm Frazer points out, there is little reason to support our military alliance with the US, especially when it has nothing to do with the defence of our country and everything to do with US aggression. Therefore, we should be strongly against having US military in Australia and should certainly not be paying for it!
[As an aside, but adding to the considerable concern I have, and believe all Australians should have, about our allowing outside influences to control our destiny, I notice this:
NEW YORK: Tony Abbott is considering an unprecedented Americanisation of the school education system with radical changes that could see HECS-style fees introduced into new continuous school-and post school diplomas, and private industry playing a heavy role in course design and production.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbott-considers-importing-usstyle-school-program-with-private-industry-involvement-20140612-39y5y.html#ixzz34TMqCXCU ]
Back to the main issue:
It appears that we actually have a politician who is capable of grasping reality and not believing what is offered by the press, or what other politicians are saying. If there are others who are capable of this, they fail to stand up and be counted, much to their discredit.
Here is the relevant information: (some emphasis from me)
Australia risks being pulled into a disastrous war against China because successive Australian governments have surrendered the nation’s strategic independence to Washington, former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser has warned.
With tensions rising in the East China Sea between China and Japan, Mr Fraser said there was a real danger of conflict and that he had become “very uneasy” at the level of Australia’s compliance with the US’s strategic interests.
“Our armed forces are so closely intertwined with theirs and we really have lost the capacity to make our own strategic decisions,” Mr Fraser said.
He said the high level of military integration, including through bases such as Pine Gap, meant Australia would have difficulty convincing the world that it was not taking part in a US-led conflict even if, formally, Canberra tried to stay out of it.
The comments represent the most serious questioning by a current or past government leader of the dominant assumption in Australia’s foreign policy since World War II – namely, that an ever closer US alliance is inherently in Australia’s security interests.
With US President Barack Obama visiting north Asia (although not China) and confirming the US would back Japan in any conflict over disputed islands in the East China Sea, Mr Fraser has called for a more basic interpretation of the ANZUS treaty, restricting its scope to consultation initially – rather than the assumption of automatic military involvement.
He has also called for a new debate about Australian-American military-to-military ties, warning that the secretive Pine Gap facility would become a military target as it would likely be pivotal to the US capability to identify and neutralise Chinese nuclear weapons sites.
Mr Fraser described the American “pivot” into the western Pacific, announced by Mr Obama in the Australian Parliament in 2011, and which relies heavily on Australia in an operational sense, as another strategic error that commits Australia to a wrong-headed US strategy of containment of China.
“Military encirclement was necessary in relation to the Soviet Union but China is quite a different story,” Mr Fraser said.
His answer is to pull back by closing down the US training bases in the Northern Territory and advising Washington that Pine Gap will also be shut down.
Hugh White, a strategic policy expert at the Australian National University, described Mr Fraser’s position, which is set out extensively in a new book by the former Liberal called Dangerous Allies, as “the most radical position argued by a former Australian prime minister on a strategic question since Billy Hughes in the 1930s”.
On Thursday, Mr Obama clarified the US position on the rocky outcrops that the Japanese call the Senkaku Islands and the Chinese call the Diaoyu.
“Our commitment to Japan’s security is absolute and article five [of the defence treaty between the two nations] covers all territories under Japan’s administration, including the Senkaku Islands,” he said in Tokyo, flanked by Shinzo Abe, the strongly nationalist Prime Minister.
Professor White said the islands were being used by Japan and China as a symbol of their competing power in the region.
Defence and strategic experts acknowledge that armed conflict over the islands cannot be ruled out.
Mr Obama’s comments drew an angry response from Beijing, which, despite qualifications, viewed the intervention as provocative and highly partisan.
In an attack on the Labor-Coalition consensus, Mr Fraser said Australia’s military was now so entwined with the giant US war machine that, functionally, the country had ceded decisions about what conflicts we eventually become entangled in.
Mr Fraser said the US had a record of embarking on disastrous military adventures, from Vietnam (which he originally supported) to Iraq and Afghanistan, and it was increasingly likely that its next military folly would drag in Australia.
He said a progressive blurring of the lines of sovereign independence could be traced back to the collapse of the Soviet Union, which should have been the moment when Australia marked out its own strategic persona.
“That was the time when we should have reassessed our policies and decided that we should exercise greater independence,” Mr Fraser said.
“An Australia which was seen to be independent working closely with ASEAN [the Association of Southeast Asian Nations], which is a remarkable diplomatic success story, would contribute more to peace and security in [its] own part of the world than the close surrogate alliance with the United States.”
Mr Fraser left politics in 1983 after losing the election that year to Bob Hawke. He has since become estranged from his own party but revealed he had spoken about his new book and his assessment of the issues with Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
He was minister for the army and minister for defence under Liberal prime ministers Harold Holt and John Gorton, meaning he presided over conscription and Australia’s war effort in Vietnam in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
He said it was now clear that US president Lyndon Johnson had lied to the US and its allies by not revealing critical CIA assessments concluding that the North Vietnamese would never concede.
This is a very good description of Malcolm Frazer’s video presentation but to hear the video is more directly and comprehensively, an appreciation of his thinking. His wisdom is clear and impressive.
Click here to see the video interview by Robert Manne, and the complete article.
The GOLDEN RULE 
There will likely be more to come on this subject but, for starters – a comment on the ‘new’ American education program, financed by Bill Gates, apparently of interest to Tony Abbott.:
“I have written on various occasions (see here and here) that I could not support the Common Core standards because they were developed and imposed without regard to democratic process. The writers of the standards included no early childhood educators, no educators of children with disabilities, no experienced classroom teachers; indeed, the largest contingent of the drafting committee were representatives of the testing industry. No attempt was made to have pilot testing of the standards in real classrooms with real teachers and students.. The standards do not permit any means to challenge, correct, or revise them.”
Smacks of collusion and ‘big brother’ influence.
As long as there is profit in killing people, there shall be no peace. And the profit for killing people is enormous here in the United States. It’s sad. The only other two things that prevent peace are religion and patriotism.
In agreeing with your views 99.99% I find it fascinating how intelligent people are blinded by idealism and the fight for justice possibly even my own are jaded to some extent.
Our outlook as a country able to stand on it’s own two feet toe to toe with larger nations is a myth told by many a news agency and politician alike. I totally agree with you that America is the bully on the block, they have started more wars than are recorder in history and can’t be trusted. However, to flatly state that we should stand tall and tell them to go to hell is a death sentence to Australia and it people.
Sometimes we need one bully to keep all the other bullies from taking over the play ground. Pine Gap has and always will be a target. If Australia owned and ran Pine Gap, others would still say its use is for spying and we would still be a target, we have things others want and will take if needed without asking.
China has proved within in its first steps onto the world stage that they a bullies. You can not say to the world with a smile, We Come In Peace all the while standing on top of the the worlds largest aircraft carrier and hacking in the back doors of the worlds infrastructure. Sweaty palms and forked tongues.
As I said I am under no illusion as to who is who in the disgusting place we call life but I would rather have the wolf that I know and can partially control than the wolf I can’t. As for the rest, if Australia (its people) ever grew a backbone we could possibly have the garden of Eden it once was some 40yrs ago back again.
Keep up the good work, just be careful not to get too caught in your own beliefs as this is when we become blind.There are many shades of grey to this world.
Thank you so much for your comments.
I will respond further but will say, initially, sure I am an idealist (in an un-ideal world) and there are a multitude of factors and ramifications involved in this particular huge issue about Australia’s independence or otherwise.
This particular post was inspired by Malcolm Frazer, a worthy source, even though nobody is perfect, including him.
Of course, I believe what he says here is valid and agree with his coming out with his views.
To believe that any changes might (ever) come about would be naive but these ideas need to be published and thought about.
Otherwise we simply drift along with the ungodly world controllers going deeper into “uncivilization” without a whimper or taking a stand.
Once again, thanks, please be a regular commenter.
Now we, Australia, are following the “bullies” into Syria.
Basically committing war crimes. For what reason?
Nothing to do with democracy, in fact the reverse, nothing to do with terrorism except now we are the terrorists, everything to do with taking control in the Middle East.
There is ample evidence to show that the pretext of saving the world from ISIS is exactly that, and not a genuine justification for involvement.
Another overseas aggression based on lies.
We do not need to support the US, for reasons of our own security, if it means destroying our own country’s reputation of christian-aligned moral standards and humanitarianism.
This re-entry into the Middle East conflict will almost certainly incite terrorist activity directly against us. Perhaps justifying our current enthusiasm for high security and low personal freedoms in Australia, shifts that are otherwise unjustifiable.
A sad time for Australians. Absolutely not necessary and absolutely retrograde!
Well, Australia has a pretty big problem due to the fact that Tony Abbott and his team decided to use coal as the main source of energy for more decades since now and this way we can say that the dreams to reduce CO2 emissions is quite far.
http://www.alternative-energies.net/for-more-decades-since-now-australias-main-energy-source-remain-the-coal/
Predictions show that in the next twenty years countries like China, India and Australia will increase the use of coal instead of reducing it.
The same predictions show that North America, the EU and Eurasia will slowly stop using coal to produce energy and will develop the renewable energy sector to cover the energy demand.
Thanks Jane, but there is much more to Australia’s problems than that.
I don’t believe that we are following the US in the global warming arena. Regardless of the driving force for coal burning to continue, which is our economy, (internal and external), Australia’s contribution to the global CO2 atmospheric level is miniscule and arguably purely academic. The only valid reason for reducing our CO2 emissions, is to be counted as a supporter of the supposed fight against “catastrophic climate change”.
And that is an absolute farce because the atmospheric CO2 level, globally, is itself a miniscule component of global temperature trends.
There is sufficient information within this blog alone to validate that statement. If you then follow all the linked blog sites you should find the evidence overwhelming.
Our real problems lie in our acceptance of, and our participation in, the other related disaster, the global warfare being spear-headed by the US in order to satisfy the world’s oligarchs’ domination dreams.
I hope this contributes some understanding.
Regards, Ken.