Obama and danger of World War - Plans for a Permanent Military Base in Australia

[C. Flower]

http://www.theatlantic.com/internati...tralia/248266/


The announcement of a permanent US base in Australia has received suprisingly little reaction. It has followed on from the US/Far East trade summit that has just taken place in Hawaii.

This article in the Atlantic sees it as part of an historic US shift towards focus on the Far East.

Rivalry with China for regional influence is clearly a central issue. The Atlantic also thinks that the US "wants out" of the troublesome Middle East. I'm not convinced that the US, with its long term vision of "Multi-theater war" capabilities, is abandoning the vast Middle East oil reserves, or anything else, in the Middle East.

The U.S. has arranged with Australia to install a permanent military presence near the northern Australian town of Darwin, a move that signals shifts in President Obama's foreign policy and the U.S. vision for its role in the world. Obama will formally announce the new base with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard during his visit to Australia next week, the Sydney Morning Herald reported this morning.

Why is the U.S., at time of economic trouble and declining military deployments abroad, creating an all-new marine base in the land that Australians call Oz? Australia is a small-ish country by any measurement except for acreage, which is actually a poor way to understand the relative strength of nations. The World Bank ranks it 15th by GDP, between South Korea and the Netherlands. It's ranked 52nd by population, less than one tenth the size of its northern neighbor, Indonesia. Its military spending is about on par with Spain.

So this is probably not about protecting Australia itself. But repositioning U.S. forces in this way reveals how Obama sees the world -- and America's place in it -- as changing.

Reuters I think has a clearer take on this, and is clear that China will see it as part of a strategy of encirclement by the US.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...7AE0B420111115

The world economic crisis, and the "rebalancing" of wealth globally, and the political awakening of populations around the world, represent big threats to US dominance globally and the response is predictable.

[antiestablishmentarian]

Interesting move indeed. It has kind of gone under the radar here to an extent. At the very least the Socialist Alliance (a ULA type of organisation) and the SP's sister party, Socialist Alternative, have nothing on their websites about it. South-east Asia is rapidly assuming importance as it has alot of resources in the area- there are, for instance, tensions over the Spratly Islands, contested by China and Vietnam, but controlled by Vietnam, which has large untapped offshore oil reserves. This US base is also well placed to command the Pilbara region, which is where most of our resources are, including liquefied natural gas, coal and iron, and is also close enough to be an a base for aviation over Indonesia, something China doesn't have yet. This is sabre-rattling to the Chinese, as there are dozens of Chinese state-companies processing ore in the areas around Darwin and the northwest, so this will be a reminder to the Chinese who's the boss in South-East Asia. Also worth noting that the Federal Government in Australia is the Labour Party.

[C. Flower]

Interesting move indeed. It has kind of gone under the radar here to an extent. At the very least the Socialist Alliance (a ULA type of organisation) and the SP's sister party, Socialist Alternative, have nothing on their websites about it. South-east Asia is rapidly assuming importance as it has alot of resources in the area- there are, for instance, tensions over the Spratly Islands, contested by China and Vietnam, but controlled by Vietnam, which has large untapped offshore oil reserves. This US base is also well placed to command the Pilbara region, which is where most of our resources are, including liquefied natural gas, coal and iron, and is also close enough to be an a base for aviation over Indonesia, something China doesn't have yet. This is sabre-rattling to the Chinese, as there are dozens of Chinese state-companies processing ore in the areas around Darwin and the northwest, so this will be a reminder to the Chinese who's the boss in South-East Asia. Also worth noting that the Federal Government in Australia is the Labour Party.

Quite extraordinary. There are issues of sovereignty for Australia as well the obvious war danger from this kind of move.

[antiestablishmentarian]

Quite extraordinary. There are issues of sovereignty for Australia as well the obvious war danger from this kind of move.

Australia has always been a laboratory and military base for imperialism in this part of the world. Britain tested its atomic bomb here in the Woomera base in South Australia (in an area deemed 'uninhabited' - except of course for the local Aborigines, who were not yet deemed human by the state at that time), the US is taking on that mantle now.

[rebellin]

The plans for military basing in Australia does dangerously build up the danger for World War

On November 11 LaRouchepac announced that President Barack Obama wouldl announce an accord for a new and permanent U.S. military presence in Australia when he visits next week, as a step aimed at countering China's influence and reasserting U.S. interest in the region, according to people familiar with his plans. Australian press indicate that the White House has refused to confirm whether a deal has been reached to expand American access to Australian army bases, but they believe it will be announced in a speech before the Australian Parliament.

The agreement will lead to an increase in U.S. naval operations off the coast of Australia and give American troops and ships "permanent and constant" access to Australian facilities, the unnamed sources said. While no new American bases will be built under the plan, the arrangement will allow U.S. forces to place equipment in Australia and set up more joint exercises, they said. One base slated for the stepped-up American presence is in Darwin, on the country's north coast. Other locations are possible, including one near Perth, on the west coast.

The full range of U.S. naval ships is expected to rotate through the joint facilities, stopping for exercises as well as repairs and other shore work. Naval aircraft also will have access to a base in Darwin.

This "permanent military presence without fixed bases" is already the policy in the Philippines, where permanent foreign bases are forbidden by the Philippine Constitution. The "Ring Around China" is in play.

[antiestablishmentarian]

They plan to make military use of naval facilities near Fremantle (the port of Perth) according to my understanding of the new arrangements.

[rebellin]

HERE IS THE US MILITARY'S NEWSPAPER STARS & STRIPES report today on the coming Obama announcement on US basing in Australia

http://www.stripes.com/news/obama-ex...ralia-1.160759

[Count Bobulescu]

CF, you mustn’t have got THE MEMO! I’ll make sure your name is added to the list. This Australian base caper is all part of a “top secret” plan by the US to kick the Aussies out of Oz, grab their mineral wealth, and flog it to the Chinese at extortionate prices, in order to generate sufficient revenue to buy the required quantities of cocaine. It’s that simple.


WORLD WAR seems a bit hyperbolic!

[rebellin]

CF, you mustn’t have got THE MEMO! I’ll make sure your name is added to the list. This Australian base caper is all part of a “top secret” plan by the US to kick the Aussies out of Oz, grab their mineral wealth, and flog it to the Chinese at extortionate prices, in order to generate sufficient revenue to buy t the required quantities of cocaine. It’s that simple.

WORLD WAR seems a bit hyperbolic!

, C Flowers is absolutely right to call this war build up in Asia World War. There is nothing Hyperbolic about it,
At Obama's Hawaii APEC Summit, heblamed China as the primary cause of the Western financialcollapse Obama is travelling to Australia to announce a new U.S. military basing agreement downunder, to expand the U.S. "Ring Around China." From there he
will attend an East Asia Summit (EAS) and an ASEAN Summit, both in Bali, where he is planning to force the meetings' agenda to be an attack on China's role in the South China Sea as a threat to the region and to the U.S.
Building up military alliances to face down China in the Soith China Sea is playing with fire.
Read your "Guns of August" again. This IS how world wars start. Bit that one wasn't playing nuclear chicken games.

[TotalMayhem]

That Australian navy officer comes to mind who has recently revealed on TV that they're running maneuvers with a focus on the preparation for war with China. I think I've posted the story somewhere in the currency wars thread a while ago.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

We should offer the Chinese deepwater facilities for subs and destroyers out on to the Atlantic. Why give it to the Americans for nothing when the Chinese and/or Russians will pay handsomely for such an outlet on the US's eastern seaboard?

No reason why, if the Americans are going to play sillybuggers, we can't introduce something which would give us a serious income from Shannon, Bantry, Cork or at least panic the NATO countries into paying us not to.

We aren't members of NATO and we have a great strategic location on the Atlantic. We owe Timothy Geithner and co sweet fupp all.

[rebellin]

From Chinese Global Times:

"If Australia uses its military bases to help the U.S. harm Chinese interests, then Australia itself will be caught in the crossfire. ...Australia should make endeavors to defuse, rather than increase, misgivings between China and the U.S.

http://www.globaltimes.cn/NEWS/tabid...crossfire.aspx

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

The Americans seem hellbent on recreating the stand off with the USSR that was the high point of earnings capacity for its military-industrial complex. When the USSR collapsed that was bad for business so in the meantime we've had some nice juicy middle east adventures which ramps up demand for 'ass and trash' (the US army informal titles for 'soldiers and equipment').

Now the US military industrial complex requires another tense stand off and militarisation of new spheres because the US political scene is nervous of Iran and the consequences of getting into a new situation there they could easily lose if the Russians and Chinese decided to fund a war against American facilities there and in Iraq.

Hence the opening up of a ring around China so we can have another nice juicy set of military contracts from Washington.

Interesting target, Australia. Because its major population centres are all around the coast the Chinese could effectively wipe out 99% of the Australian population with attacks on perhaps six cities in a war situation.

That wouldn't help the susequent Ashes campaign.

[rebellin]

The Americans seem hellbent on recreating the stand off with the USSR that was the high point of earnings capacity for its military-industrial complex. When the USSR collapsed that was bad for business so in the meantime we've had some nice juicy middle east adventures which ramps up demand for 'ass and trash' (the US army informal titles for 'soldiers and equipment').

Now the US military industrial complex requires another tense stand off and militarisation of new spheres because the US political scene is nervous of Iran and the consequences of getting into a new situation there they could easily lose if the Russians and Chinese decided to fund a war against American facilities there and in Iraq.

Hence the opening up of a ring around China so we can have another nice juicy set of military contracts from Washington.

Interesting target, Australia. Because its major population centres are all around the coast the Chinese could effectively wipe out 99% of the Australian population with attacks on perhaps six cities in a war situation.

That wouldn't help the susequent Ashes campaign.

In Eisenhower's final speech as President he warned against the power of the "military-industrial complex"

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y06NSBBRtY"]Eisenhower warns us of the military industrial complex. - YouTube[/ame]

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

And I wouldn't mind but he was a US five star general, Commander of SHAEF and Nato's first Supreme Commander so its not as if he wasn't a military man ...