Home > Australia dumps the United States: A Revolution in the Making

Australia dumps the United States: A Revolution in the Making

by Open-Publishing - Saturday 1 December 2007

Wars and conflicts Governments Australia

http://www.chycho.com/?q=node/1348

Before even taking office, Australia’s new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is distancing himself, and the country, from the Bush administration and the “Anglo-American War of Terror”. Until now, UK and Australia have been two of the staunchest allies of the Bush administrations and its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, however, the situation has seriously changed, marking what seems to be the beginning of things to come for the US.

Rudd has promised to immediately sign the Kyoto Protocol on global warming and “says the country’s 550 combat troops will leave Iraq by the middle of 2008… He has previously described the decision to go to war in Iraq as the ‘single greatest error’ of Australian national security and foreign policy decision-making since the Vietnam war.”

But there is more. Joel Fitzgibbon, the new Australian Minister for Defence, has announced that he will be reviewing Australia’s air capabilities “after raising questions about the $7 billion purchase of F/A-18 Super Hornet jet fighters. The former Coalition Government was accused of putting Australia’s defence at risk after it bought 24 jet fighters as a stop-gap measure to replace the ageing F-111 aircraft. The accusations were aired in a recent ABC Four Corners program, which said the purchasing decision was based on a critical mistake during wing tests on an F-111 aircraft.”

And to put icing on the peace cake, Peter Garrett, the frontman of Midnight Oil, an “Australian rock band known for its raucously loud music and protest songs about social and environmental issues”, has been named the new Australian Environment Minister. Now that is a revolution.

http://www.chycho.com/?q=node/1348