Menadue, John: We are in denial about the risks in our relationship with the United States. Part 1 of 2

John Menadue

We are in denial about the risks in our relationship with the United States. Part 1 of 2′, Pearls and Irritations, 8 February 2018 updated

We are a nation in denial that we are “joined at the hip” to a dangerous ally. Apart from brief isolationist periods, the US has been almost perpetually at war; wars that we have often foolishly been drawn into. The US has subverted and overthrown numerous governments over two centuries. It has a military and business complex, almost a ‘hidden state’, that depends on war for influence and enrichment. It believes in its ‘manifest destiny’ which brings with it an assumed moral superiority which it denies to others. As the US goes into relative economic decline, it will be asking allies such as Australia for more help and support. We are running great risks in committing so much of our future to the US. We must build our security in our own region and not depend so exclusively on a foreign protector.

Part 2 tomorrow is about how the risks in our alliance with the US predate Trump and the role of the media and others that keep us in denial about those risks.

John Menadue, former senior public servant and businessman, is one of Honest History’s distinguished supporters. Earlier articles by him and others on foreign and defence policy post-Trump can be found in our tagged list ‘Getting on with the world‘. Alison Broinowski, Honest History’s vice president, has a chapter in The Honest History Book. The chapter is entitled ‘Australia’s tug of war: Militarism versus independence’.

Update 12 February 2018: also in Pearls and Irritations, see former diplomat Andrew Farran on the surveillance legislation.

From the back-reaches of the “hidden state” has come this latest batch of suppressive legislation ostensibly to protect our secrets and to counter surreptitious foreign influences. Instead it will facilitate yet again the tendency of Australian governments to commit to overseas military adventures, sometimes illegally, without proper Parliamentary consideration and public approval.

Update 19 February 2018: former Australian diplomat, Richard Butler, in Pearls and Irritations, with links to his related articles.

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