Wednesday 2nd of April 2025

our closest ally is now screwing us on tariffs.......

Despite 80 years of Australian unwavering loyalty, as expected the US, “our closest ally”, is now screwing us on tariffs, with a hefty 25% tariff placed on Australian steel and aluminium exports. 

 

John Queripel

Time to call it. The US doesn't give a stuff for us

 

It’s not the first time they’ve done us in regards trade in recent times. Just a few years ago, when we did their dirty work with regards to China, causing us to lose lots of access to, by far, our largest export market, following their sanctioning of our goods, the US was quick to cut in, taking the Chinese markets we lost for themselves. That’s loyalty back for you!

Australian loyalty to the US extends to the many wars we have fought for them. As the most reliable US lapdog, Australia has gone running off to all their wars, from Korea, Vietnam and Indo-China, Iraq (1991), Afghanistan, and again Iraq (2003). We have even been there for them them in their devious overthrow of multiple governments, most clearly in the case of Salvador Allende in Chile (1973). There, no doubt, has been plenty more collaboration in such illegalities; if only we could eavesdrop on the US spy base (let’s drop the duplicitous Joint Defence Facility facade) at Pine Gap.

And for all our loyalty what have we got in return? Twice we have asked our “great and powerful friend” for military help, first in the 1960s with the Indonesian Konfrontasi, and then again in the late 1990s with Timor Leste, where not even John Howard, George W. Bush’s “man of steel”, was able to obtain any favours. That, however, didn’t stop “little Johnnie” rushing to volunteer Australia’s support in the US’ Iraq adventurism a few years later. Loyalty, it seems, stretches one way only.

Of course, the US has long been resident on our shores with its military bases from the forenamed Pine Gap, to N.W. Cape and Nurrungar, among numerous others, less known. 

In recent times, we have gone further with the Force Posture Agreement, allowing ever more US military facilities and personnel on our soil, essentially turning northern Australia into a giant US military facility. This involves the stationing of nuclear capable B-52s (a fair assumption, I reckon, they sometimes have them, but we are “too kind” to ask), refuelling facilities, rotational, but permanent, troop presence, numbering some 2500 along with further ancillary staff.

And, of course, we must not forget the latest paradigm of Australian blind devotion, AUKUS. $800 million just given to US shipyards to build submarines, which it is becoming ever more clear, we will never get. Still, what is an eventual $368 billion between friends for a pipe dream? 

Successive Australian Governments have spared no effort to prove our loyalty. Maybe that’s because the treaty in which we place so much trust, ANZUS, actually gives us naught but “consultation”. “Well, we will talk to you if anyone invades.” Because of its essentially meaningless nature, Australia strives mightily to show its loyalty to Uncle Sam in the hope it may be reciprocated if needed. No one can match our lockstep participation in US wars. Canada, New Zealand and the UK have all gone missing in action on occasions, but never Australia. 

Compare that threadbare treaty with that which the US has given NATO, Japan, South Korea, and even the Philippines, nations all guaranteed, not consultation, but US military assistance if attacked. Australia asked for such guarantee, but was bluntly told “no”.

Australia’s bending over backwards to serve the US is a manifestation of a deep part of the Australian psyche, one which feels threatened by the country’s location in a part of the world which is not “ours”. How unfortunate to be located near all those “yellow hordes”, some of whom are also “red”, forever threatening to roll on down to us like treacle. This makes Australians easy prey to US geopolitical plays.

You would think all this blind loyalty and servitude would win us a cracker with the Yanks. But no, none at all. They have gone and done “the rat” on us yet again. Seemingly Pavlov’s dog learns faster than us Aussies. The US has never given us a “brass razoo” or a “dime” as they would say. And remember it isn’t just Donald Trump. He is just a continuation (in a more vulgar way) of long established US policy, doled out to “John” Fraser, and “that fellow from Down Under”. 

Despite this, Australia continues to be a willing participant in being “set up” by its “closest ally”. 

Our current role is to be the attack dog directed toward our, by far, largest trading partner, China. All we get from “our great ally” is, “come on, you mighty little terrier. Go for that Great Dane”. And if that Great Dane turns on us, we will get nauseating words to the effect, “our hearts are with our friends Down Under today. Our prayers and thoughts go out to them”.

It’s surely time to call the game. Trump has only served to make it clearer, but it’s been the same for “yonks”. A one-way street, loyalty one way, and “sweet bugger all” the other.

https://johnmenadue.com/post/2025/03/time-to-call-it-the-us-doesnt-give-a-stuff-for-us/

 

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

 

SEE ALSO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd0oiwdqtJk

panic!....

THE MURDOCH MEDIA IS PANICKING !

With all guns blazing and slashing swords of the EMPIRE, the Murdock camp is 100 per cent against ALBO and 100 per cent for DUTTON... For those who don't believe in 100 per cent cleaning/destructors of bacteria products, we will say 99.9....

This reminds us of a quote — and old one from Vladimir Lenin in 1901:

The role of a newspaper, however, is not limited solely to the dissemination of ideas, to political education, and to the enlistment of political allies. A newspaper is not only a collective propagandist and a collective agitator, it is also a collective organiser. In this last respect it may be likened to the scaffolding round a building under construction, which marks the contours of the structure and facilitates communication between the builders, enabling them to distribute the work and to view the common results achieved by their organised labour. With the aid of the newspaper, and through it, a permanent organisation will naturally take shape that will engage, not only in local activities, but in regular general work, and will train its members to follow political events carefully, appraise their significance and their effect on the various strata of the population, and develop effective means for the revolutionary party to influence those events.'

HERE, INSTEAD OF NEWS PAPER READ MEDIA AND INSTEAD OF "REVOLUTIONARY" ONE NEEDS TO READ "REACTIONARY" OR FULL CANE-TOAD MAD TRUMPISM IN REGARD TO DUTTON AND HIS GANG OF BACKWARDS CONSERVATIVES (MISNAMED DECEITFULLY AS "LIBERALS").

SO, IN SYDNEY, THE MAIN BATTLE FOR THE DAILY MIRROR — ER, SORRY, THE DAILY TELEGRAPH — IS IN THE WEST, WHERE THE VOTERS ARE MORE FICKLE THAN THIS SUMMER (ENDED) WEATHER PATTERN... PLEASE VOTE FOR THE BLAND... 

AND THE MURDOCH MEDIA IS ALSO GUNNING FOR ROBIN HOOD — THE GREENS... THEY HATE THE FOREST AND LOVE DIGING YOUR GRAVES WITH MORE HOLES FOR GAS AND COAL... FOR THEM, EVEN DUTTON LACKS COURAGE TO BE A FULL-ON BASTARD THAT GIVES YOU POISON LOLLIES (PROMISES)....

 

PLEASE VOTE FOR THE LABOR BLAND...

 

READ FROM TOP.

 

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

other side....

 

Mark Beeson

The voice of America

 

Donald Trump’s decision to eviscerate the Voice of America has alarmed allies and delighted notional foes. America’s supporters in Australia needn’t worry, though, there are still enthusiastic institutionalised defenders of the alliance.

Even before the invasion of Iraq in 2003, many people in Australia and elsewhere were convinced it was it was a disastrously ill-conceived and unnecessary folly that was certain to end badly. It wasn’t necessary to be a “security expert” to have reservations about the entire project. In fact, it may have been a distinct advantage not to be one of the specialists who shape American and Australian strategic policy given the uniformity of opinion that distinguishes such people. Needless to say, the Howard Government took no notice of the major protests that erupted in opposition to Australian participation.

America’s strategic policy during the presidency of George W. Bush was dominated by the so-called “neocons” who had long argued for a more muscular approach to foreign policy, but this doesn’t really explain why they were able to form a “coalition of the willing” with their more enthusiastic Anglosphere allies. Even the UK, which had wisely resisted being drawn into another equally unnecessary and unproductive conflict in Vietnam, was enlisted, on the basis of what we now know was very dubious, if not deliberately dishonest, “intelligence”.

In Australia’s case participation was inevitable. When has Australia not gone along with the US, no matter how irrelevant such a conflict was to this country’s uniquely favourable strategic circumstances? Such an outcome was even more likely, of course, when the prime minster of the time was John Howard. He had already used the attacks of 11 September to invoke the ANZUS treaty and justify Australia’s support of the US.

Embedding the alliance

And yet there was another, less obvious, but more enduring legacy of this period that continues to shape Australian perceptions of the US, which may be called upon to play a more prominent role given the increasingly destabilising presidency of Donald Trump. True, he hasn’t started a war thus far, but Australian public opinion has rapidly turned against him, to the point where Trump is seen as a greater threat to world peace than Xi Jinping or even Vladimir Putin.

The last time scepticism about the behaviour of our notional security guarantor plunged in this way, Howard stumped up $25 million to establish the United States Studies Centre, which one of its most influential supporters, the former Australian, Rupert Murdoch, said was designed to combat “anti-Americanism”. Given the unwavering support that the Murdoch press has offered to the alliance between the US and Australia, the USCC might seem redundant, but not only does the Sydney outpost continue its work, but it has been joined by another in Perth.

Indeed, the University of Western Australia also hosts its own champion of the alliance and militarism more generally, the Defence and Security Institute, which is designed to “build partnerships in defence and security research, policy, engagement, and education”. UWA is consolidating its unfortunate reputation for cozying up the defence industry (and the resource sector) while not welcoming critical thinking of a sort that would seem a prerequisite for those “seeking wisdom”, to quote its motto.

While the USCC has, at times, tried to present itself as a conventional centre of academic activity, and has been roundly criticised for its troubles by conservative critics, its loyalty to the alliance remains unchanged, no matter who is in the White House. Indeed, it proudly boasts that “solutions for the alliance” is one of its key goals. It even has a special initiative for “women in the alliance”, some of whom, like Geraldine Dooge, we might have hoped would know better. Still, it’s one in the eye for critics of the ABC’s alleged anti-Americanism.

Even the increasingly problematic, expensive and widely condemned AUKUS project enjoys enthusiastic support from the USCC, with one of its researchers assuring readers that it “will endure and continue to be Australia’s best bet”. More importantly, one of its most prominent staff members, Peter Dean, was the lead author on the influential 2023 Defence Strategic Review, which nominated AUKUS as a priority because “our Alliance with the United States will remain central to Australia’s security and strategy. The United States will become even more important in the coming decades”.

Some things never change

To be fair, the Review was written before Trump was re-elected, but this has not stopped the USSC from doubling down on its support for the alliance and spruiking the supposed economic benefits of the AUKUS project. Dean has even gone so far as to suggest that “AUKUS is better off under Donald Trump than it was under Joe Biden”. Given that Australia has just handed over a downpayment of $800 million with no guarantee that it will ever have anything to show for it, he may be right. After all, Trump can recognise a sucker when he sees one.

Trump may also be pleased about the continuing, largely uncritical support, the US receives from its influential supporters in Australia. And yet, as Binoy Kampmark argued in P&I, the USSC “should be treated for what it is: an agent of foreign interference and ideological meddling”. This is, after all, the way that the Confucius Institutes are treated, and they do nothing more than teach Mandarin and introduce people to Chinese culture. They have yet to produce a report that champions the strategic and business merits of closer ties with China, for example. That such a thing is literally unthinkable tells us much about how some ideas have become the incontestable conventional wisdom.

The limited nature of the policy debate in Australia leads to pointless and unnecessary participation in conflicts like Iraq and Afghanistan. Thankfully, arguing for a more independent Australian foreign policy is not such an eccentric and lonely business as it was 20-odd years ago. Indeed, while the Australia Institute is not dedicated exclusively to critiquing relations with the US, it provides a home for a new generation of analysts who are not wedded to the alliance. Likewise, a number of prominent politicians and even former military personnel have made major criticisms of AUKUS, albeit long after they are in a position to do anything about it or the alliance more generally.

Nevertheless, ingratiating themselves with the US remains the default setting for Australia’s major political parties and the strategic elites that advise them; even when the White House is occupied by someone who plainly unfit for the office, and who has little understanding of, or sympathy with, the alliance relationships that have underpinned American hegemony since World War II. While more people seem to realise that there are tangible disadvantages to being an anxious, over-enthusiastic ally, not many of them have any influence over policy. Until Australia finds its own voice, that is unlikely to change.

https://johnmenadue.com/post/2025/04/__trashed-91/

 

MEANWHILE THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD WALKS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE STREET...

 

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YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

 

are we insane?

ARE WE GOING TO FOLLOW AMERICA IF TRUMP ATTACKS (BOMBS) IRAN ON DUBIOUS REASONS THAT ARE MORE TRUMPED UP THAN THE "WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION" USED BY BUSHIT ON IRAQ? IS AUSTRALIA GOING TO HELP THIS INSANE DESIRE?

IS THIS THE PLAN COCKED UP BY THE PENTAGON, WHOEVER CAME IN THE WHITE HOUSE IN NOVEMBER 2024?.... DO THE AMERICANS LEARN ANYTHING? WHY DO THEY KEEP LOOKING AT THE WORLD THROUGH THEIR OWN ARSE?

WHY ARE WE "LENDING A HAND" THROUGH SECRET DEVIOUS AMERICAN BASES ON OUR SOIL?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JizDqVrX4Ko

INTERVIEW: 'It's actually insanity'

 

READ FROM TOP.

 

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

 

SEE ALSO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pztlz2Tb93I