Free Republic

AUSTRALIA today is in a most powerful position, with the greatest influence, globally, that it has had, and the connection with the US is central to that. This connection will be demonstrated and enhanced at this week's Australia-US Ministerial Consultations in Adelaide. The view of Australian influence comes not from some redoubt of pro-Howard or pro-Bush neo-conservatism. Instead, it comes from the London School of Economics and Columbia University. Gwyn Prins, a Brit, holds chairs at both those institutions and is one of Europe's leading strategic thinkers. His work focuses especially on making strategic analysis more complex, making it take...

Despite a meeting last week with President Bush, Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski is stepping down after 10 years in office without something he and the Polish people wanted badly, and something that Bush could confer with relative ease - a visa waiver. A visa waiver allows residents of a favored country to visit the U.S. for up to 90 days on business or pleasure without going through the worsening hassle of obtaining a U.S. visa. There are 27 visa waiver nations: all of Western Europe, including Scandinavia; Iceland, Slovenia in the Balkans, and Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore and Brunei...

The United States Army has awarded commendation and achievement medals to three Darwin soldiers who served in Iraq. Sergeant Steven Attlier, Corporal Carl Connell and Corporal Damien Woolfe are among 61 personnel who are on their way back from Iraq and will arrive in Darwin tomorrow night. The three were members of the security detachment in Baghdad that provides protection for Australian Government personnel. Their mission was to clear unexploded ordinance and discarded ammunition found near the Australian Representative Office in Baghdad and transit routes used by diplomats. US Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Baker awarded the medals for clearing large amounts...