The more the US depends on Australia, the more likely it will defend it, runs the logic. But if Trump returns to the White House, a rethink will be required.
Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.We very rarely talk about it, but Australia has lived under the protection of the US “nuclear umbrella” since the 1960s. The umbrella, however, has developed big holes. Behind the scenes, Australian and US officials quietly have started talking about the problem, and should again next week when Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong and Defence Minister Richard Marles meet their US counterparts for the annual Ausmin consultations.
It was pretty cosy. And we didn’t like to talk about it. “Australia is unique among US allies in that it has largely preferred not to discuss US extended nuclear deterrence commitments publicly,” observes Kelsey Hartigan of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.Others have been more sceptical. The original doubter was French president Charles de Gaulle. He challenged John F.
This observation has a commonsense quality. No US city is preparing for possible nuclear attack. So the US is not contemplating taking the risk involved in defending its allies. Could it be because there is no real risk of nuclear strike on any US ally? It’s actually a time of greater risk than at any since the end of the Cold War. Vladimir Putin repeatedly threatens nuclear attack against the US and its NATO allies in Europe. Russia has “weapons that can hit targets on their territory”, saidFurther, China has built 300 new nuclear silos in the past few years and the Pentagon estimates that, at its current rate, it could have 1000 nuclear weapons by 2030.
“I don’t think there’s any way that the American president would actually risk losing, like five American cities, because of something that North Korea did, because the stakes are too low for Americans,” says Colby. Australian governments, Coalition and Labor, welcome all and any US facilities. The more the US depends on Australia, the more likely it will defend it, runs the logic. The vaunted ANZUS treaty contains no security guarantee whatsoever. And the US enjoys the options that Australia presents. As China’s military reach expands, the US seeks to disperse its forces to make them harder for Beijing to obliterate. Australia, to the Pentagon, looks like an unsinkable, continent-sized aircraft carrier.
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