Ties to the US are worth cherishing

The Australian ^ | 9th November 2006 | Michael Fullilove

[naturalman1975]

The Australian Left has good cause to back the American alliance

YESTERDAY the US Left won an important victory. This is a good time, then, to examine the Australian Left's approach to the US and to our alliance with that country. Sometimes it seems the alliance does not need defending, except from a few on the Right who are in danger of loving it to death.

Generally, left-wing critics stop short of advocating its junking altogether. In his diary Mark Latham described the alliance as "the last manifestation of the White Australia mentality" (a conclusion that must have surprised Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice). However, Latham was an outlier: usually the alliance's opponents are too timid to follow their arguments through to their logical conclusion.

Usually they say, "I'm not opposed to the alliance, but ...", then they describe something that doesn't sound like an alliance at all but the kind of polite, arm's-length relationship that two states might have if they were not mixed up with each other: say, Switzerland and Solomon Islands.

An alliance denotes more than that. It requires that you support your ally on the hard cases, as Australia did by helping the Americans eject Saddam Hussein from Kuwait in 1991 and the Taliban from Afghanistan in 2002, over the opposition in both cases of much of the Australian Left. It does not require that we follow our ally reflexively, and indeed sometimes the best assistance we can provide is to counsel caution. Our alliance with Washington would certainly have survived had we opted out of the witless blunder of the Iraq war.

[Nathan Zachary]

All the left stands for will slip out as they gloat over this little victory, which to RATS I guess is a giant victory.

They can barely contain their true racist feelings.

Lets try to remember that it is only a marginal victory at best, that the left doesn't really 'control' anything, and at best will just become more effective obstructionists.

Republicans can control both houses, if they stand together and convince a few independants (such as Lieberman) and some of the old real Democrats to stand with them.
In short, the same pork barrel game as before, with the Pelosi democrats having to be seen as more accountable than before.

[Gay State Conservative]

There are fewer and fewer countries that are willing to go the extra mile in order to protect western civilization. In fact,it sometimes looks like the roster is down to the United States and the Commonwealth of Australia.

[Cicero]

It could be said that, geographically speaking, Australia is out on a limb. In former days, it was protected by the British Navy. Now, the only reliable friend it has in the world with power to really help it is the United States. For reasons of pure self interest Australia needs to keep this alliance strong.

I don't think self-interest is the only motivator. The Aussies are great allies. But it's something the Australian socialists should think about carefully. Otherwise, they find themselves subjecting their country to the benevolence of China.

I think the same thing is true of the U.K. I think Tony Blair was a lot happier attacking Yugoslavia with bill clinton than he ever was attacking Iraq with Bush. But he was a genuine patriot and knew that the U.K. needs the Special Relationship to avoid being swallowed up by Europe--even though he has been a Europhile himself. It's sad that the British Conservatives don't understand that dynamic, nor does the incoming Labour leadership.

[Raymann]

I liked that article, the author truly seems to understand America's disdain for the rest of the world, they're strategically useless to us. He was absolutely right that alliances are a two way street.

[kuma]

We need to start looking at not only winning the WH again, but if it's possible to regain the House and rebuild a majority in the Senate.

I hope the left in this country does take this "victory" too far. It can only help us at this point.