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The US-Australia Military Alliance Serves Washington’s Interests, Not Ours
27/01/2023 BY PAUL GREGOIRE
This nation’s alliance with the US is often considered to guarantee Australian security. But the foundation of this strategic relationship, the 1951 ANZUS (Australia, New Zealand, United States) Treaty, provides no such assurance that Washington would step in to support us when under attack.
In the event of a foreign military assault on Australia, the US is only obliged to consult with our government on the matter, and then America will act in its own best interests.
Indeed, when it comes to a nuclear threat, ANZUS specifically provides no military backup in this regard.
International relations academic Dr Vince Scappatura raises these points in the chapter on military and defence that he authored in the 2022 IPAN Charting Our Own Course report, which weighs up the viability of the US-Australia alliance and our nation’s involvement in US-led wars.
Based on the submissions of 283 civil society groups and individuals, the Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN) report, released last November, considers the prospect for change in regard to the US alliance and the possibility of “a truly independent foreign policy for Australia”.
The report is the result of the IPAN people’s inquiry, and, as Scappatura points out, the most common complaint made in its submissions was that our nation’s alliance with the US is undermining security and leading to “unnecessary and costly wars”.
US national interests
The report lists eight foreign theatres of war that Australia has followed the US into since World War II, which include the Korean War, Vietnam, the Gulf War, the War in Afghanistan, the Iraqi War, the war on the Islamic State in Iraq, Syria, as well as the fighting in Yemen, in a naval capacity.
The document further underscores that none of these military ventures were in the national interests of Australia, but in “one way or another” they were all “wars of empire”.
And whilst questions surrounding the US-Australia alliance are always pertinent, right now they hold extra weight, as, since the Obama administration’s 2011 Pivot to Asia, Washington has been building up its presence in Australia and throughout the Indo-Pacific region in response to a rising China.
This includes the establishment of the 2014 Force Posture Agreement between this country and the US, which has gifted US forces with unimpeded access to and at times complete control of specific Australian military facilities, as well as enhancing air force interoperability between nations.
The US Force Posture Initiatives in Australia have led to the annual rotation of over 2,500 US troops through military bases in the north of our country, and it’s only recently been announced that US upgrades to RAAF Base Tindal have included a storage space for six nuclear-capable B-52 bombers.
So, this broad US access to dozens of Australian military facilities, coupled with the key joint facilities at Pine Gap and North West Cape, hardwires our nation into automatic military involvement in any major US war, especially the one currently brewing with Beijing.
Blindly backing empire
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