General Chat / Discussion, page-13762

It may be their reason but its neither practical nor logical.

One thing I agree with Trump about is the need for us to spend more on defence. However, where I part company with his view is that we shouldn't be buying more over-priced US hardware that comes with too many strings attached.

I understand the integrated warfare desire but that leaves us dependant. Integration can be achieved by other means as seem with NATO, who have many members with domestically created weapons systems throughout their various defence departments.

I find it interesting that several past Australian PMs of both sides of the aisle have cautioned about over-reliance on the US. The difference between these otherwise disparate group is that several Labour ones said it during office, with the Liberal ones post-office. And, yes, there have been obvious consequences of those views.

One quip often said in international diplomacy that always rings true in my analysis is that there are no friends in international relations, only aligned interests. We need to consider our interests better given the knowledge these PMs understand.