Posted on 11/30/2016 7:44:22 PM PST by naturalman1975
Defence experts have weighed in on what a Trump presidency will mean for the Australian Defence Force.
For 100 years, the Australian military has fought alongside or followed the United States into major conflict zones around the world.
Australian and American servicemen and women have fought and died together in the two world wars, Korea, Vietnam, East Timor, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Former US President George Bush famously called Australia America’s sheriff in south-east Asia.
But Donald Trump has put US military allies on notice, particularly if they’re not dedicating near enough to 2 per cent of their GDP on defence spending.
Mr Trump has called out Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia and indicated he would renegotiate defence deals with them.
So does Australia have anything to worry about?
“The Americans aren't accusing us of being a strategic bludger, they're unlikely to accuse us of being a strategic bludger and as long as we don't bludge on them, we're not going to have a problem,” the Australia Defence Association’s Neil James said.
“The GDP mark is a NATO benchmark and a majority of the NATO partners aren’t reaching it.
"We’re just reaching it now. As long as we spend enough on our own defence rather than bludge on the Americans all the time, we shouldn’t have too many worries.”
(Excerpt) Read more at sbs.com.au ...
I can’t see it. Australia is the best friend America ever had. My late Father fought side by side with Aussies in WWII and said they were the best.
Every Australia I have ever met or worked with (and there has been a few), were top notch, friendly, people.
The NATO requirement for defense spending by members is 2% of their GRP. If they won’t do it then they just have other priorities and can therefor go pack sand like the free-riding SOBs that they are.
The Aussies don’t have anything to worry about. Some others do. A bunch of freeloaders are wising up. Heard today that a big batch of countries agree with Trump.
“The Americans aren’t accusing us of being a strategic bludger, they’re unlikely to accuse us of being a strategic bludger and as long as we don’t bludge on them, we’re not going to have a problem,” the Australia Defence Association’s Neil James said.
He gets it :) :) :)
I think that is really the point of the article. Australia does not need to have major concerns. We’ve (Australia) been a loyal ally to the US, we’ve fought alongside the US repeatedly. We’ve been there when the US has asked.
So we’ve got little to worry about. Nations (particularly some of those in Europe) who have been less reliable are in a bit of a different situation.
Just after 9/11, Australia’s then-Prime Minister John Howard made a statement “This is no time to be an 80% ally.” There are different levels of commitment - Australia has generally committed very fully.
It may be tis the season but America is tired of being Santa Claus to the world.
Your definition of a Bludger describes a democrat.
Fewer wars
I think a lot of that depends on which parts of the Australian media you saw.
Most of the anti-Trump criticism was mostly the Herald Sun, News Sidney NSW, Melbourne and Sidney News 7 (c/o Yahoo).<br.
While I am unfamiliar with their political leanings , I saw much too much criticism of Trump and the electoral process.
Part of the problem is that the major conservative news organ in Australia - the only national daily paper, ‘The Australian’ doesn’t make its articles available for free. The Herald Sun (Melbourne based) and Daily Telegraph (Sydney based) are reasonably conservative in their news coverage, but go for ‘balance’ with a lot of progressive commentators - but again, charge for access to most articles (their paywall isn’t that hard to get around compared to ‘The Australian’.
The left wing media tends to be much more likely to be ‘free to access’ in Australia - largely because few people would be willing to pay for it in my opinion - but it does make things seem less balanced than they are. I’d agree that there was more bias against Trump than is normal, but it’s not as bad as it probably looked to somebody outside looking in, who couldn’t easily access the more conservative sources.
I think that is exactly the issue - the mentioned websites were "free access", and leftist leaning.
Thank you for the clarification ! Fair Dinkum (?)
Trump is going to be a very good friend to our allies.
He may be a Dutch Uncle at times ( be gruff but fair ), but he realizes our allies are a global asset.
Trump is not a one dimensional individual. He’s complex and smart.
Obama was simple and dumb as a brick.
This is going to take some getting used to. (again)
Bludger = Obama
His greatest strength is his insistence on following common sense, being led by simple logic. He's like the Occam's Razor Czar. It is possible to overthink challenging situations—missing the forest for the trees, as it were. Trump immediately identifies any challenge's weakest point and attacks it without mercy or emotion.
The compassionate heart of an angel in the body of a cold-blooded assassin. What a perfect Prez!!!
Last thing in the world Australia or New Zealand has to worry about.............
I agree with your comments and I would add only this.
Some people have book smarts and don’t have the common sense of a child.
Other folks have common sense, but don’t have the book smarts to convert the common sense into major accomplishments.
Trump has both. It is that rare person who received a great education, and has retained his common sense, something that seems to be educated out of so many people by the time they get their degrees.
He thinks like a common man, and yet he has an uncommon ability to convert the common sense into major accomplishments.
Very cool for us, he’s on our side.
It still seems unreal... I'm stunned that the voters came through in numbers sufficient to swamp all of Hillary's and the DNC's busing of voters, dead people voting, and illegals voting.
Beating back everything they could hammer him with, "they" being the DNC, Hillary, Team Hillary/Surrogates, Print Media, broadcast and Cable Media, the GOP, all the experts, prognosticators and pollsters...
...WTeffingF!!!!!!!???????
Unquestionably the most remarkable feat in history.
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