Paul Keating is right, page-81

I quite agree, we are intrinsically linked with China far more than the US. The US see us as a staging post and nothing more. The world is about to change, I don't believe that Trumps isolationism will fail, in parts it will - like obtaining raw materials or cheaper goods that make up infrastructure, but the fact that he will utilise American labour to develop American projects is not altogether a bad thing.

To be honest we should look at that more carefully in developing ourselves. We have so much more potential and in house resource to help ourselves get out of a debt hole.

However the biggest industry in the US by a mile is he $600+ Bn defence industry. That means you need constant aggravation to keep it going. China, Russia? You takes your pick but some form of conflict by the US is inevitable as it has been for the last 70 years. And it gets worse as time goes by. To do what Trump wants to do to enlarge this and that and put even more into defence needs more war, it doesn't pay to have stagnating missiles and bombs. You need turnaround. We will have a problem here if we blithely follow he norm, we don't need the US. But if we war with China for the US we are finished for a good while. Silk Road development and our garden for Asia? Forget it. In that respect Keating is correct. V