Trump is right on one score, that being US allies relying too much on Uncle Sam to set an agenda and then fund it.
Post Trump, the US will not IMO go entirely back to the way it was. The economic impacts of the change process here may be ruinous to all and Trump's replacement may remove the silly tariffs and avoid tantrums at the US BUT the future US will mind its own affairs in the first instance.
Our Russian friends will need to tread carefully in this brave new world. Australia will not be the only country looking for defence self sufficiency. The rise of populist politicians (globally) will accelerate the rearmament process IMHO.
The F35s. In truth I hadn't been tracking it because I have actual work to do. The planes are useful for certain applications and I can vision 2 of the short take-off versions on each of Australia's aircraft carrier (landing docks) and a few more on-shore. They are useful planes for countries like Israel and Turkey because they can remain undetected for a tad longer than say an F16 but that's it. Seconds count. For Australia's own purposes the F15 Silent Eagle (stealthy version of the F15) would have been a far far better choice IMHO.
Turkey? We can but see what happens. Erdogan will in truth fall short of the 50% he needs on Sunday but post-ballot adjustments will predictably confirm his President for Life status . I don't know whether Turkey will continue to build components for an aircraft they are not going to get any time soon. The only person threatening Turkey IMO is Erdogan himself. I'll give him credit for being able to variously dupe the US, the EU and Russia but the big loosers in this crazy game are the Turkish people along with the cultures of both Europe and the ME. The grief of Erdogan's military spending sprees and debt funded give aways will soon spread to any bank that has lent money to Turkish interests.
