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05/03/18
10:40
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Originally posted by pintohoo
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You sound like a bright guy - so, I assume you know the history going back say 50 odd years pretty well.
so, what can we do about it?
We protested against Howard taking us to Iraq - but, he did it anyway - went with GW Bush - to an unjustified war.
(Even though the majority of Aussies didn't want it).
So, with that lesson from recent history - if we don't want a repeat - then, we need to do a lot more when the yanks want to go to war again.
We should look to the countries that weren't so gung ho like Howard was - countries that didn't go with the coalition of the willing -- and, see how they fared -there is plenty of them - including good friends of the USA -
lets consider not being the first in line for the stupidity again.
One thing history doesn't tell us about is that we now have a growing major power to our North - China -- which, only really is a problem (since they are a friend and trading partner) - because our Yank friends consider China a threat
So - what we must do is to be fully across as much as possible all the dynamics of 'what if's' -
ie. if the US power is dying - and, China is rising - then, it would be really dumb to take the side of the US and make China the opposition -
ditto - if per chance that China and the US went to war --- what would we do?
The obvious thing would be to stay neutral - but, that's impossible atm because of the ANZUS treaty.
If that war happened - and the US lost (which is their habit in the last 50 years) - and, we made an enemy of China - we would be stuffed - they have a long memory.
If China won (which it well might - particularly if it were China/Russia - V the USA) - then, if we were neutral - we may well be ok -- because China's history is not expansionary.
As far as your joke about immigrating to the USA --- na, nobody except the starving and war torn would want to go there -
but, it would probably be wise to start looking around the world for a second place to live if the poop hits the fan.
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The ANZUS treaty only requires us to be consulted if the US goes to war. We do not have to follow. The US refused our request when the heat was on Timor in the 90's. We could argue a similar case if the US wanted a "first mover"moment against China. (Not that I think the LNP would, but they certainly should. ALP would be a bit more conflicted if they were in charge.)