Contributed by Adam Carlton

Right now a massive military exercise is taking place in north Queensland, involving 30,000 American and Australian troops. Contingents from New Zealand, Japan and Canada have been invited to take part

Some 10,000 troops have been already involved in the biggest beach landing since World War Two.

The army, navy and air force are involved in a series of mock battles at a number of sites on land and the Timor, Coral and Arafura seas. A number of cities are also involved.

This is a continuation of a regular series of exercises since 2005, known as Talisman Sabre, under American command and aimed to prepare Australia for involvement in American instigated war against other countries.

It is the reason why there is a growing call in Australia to pull out and for Australia to act as an independent nation, favouring the promotion of peaceful relations between nations that is based on mutual respect.  There is a call for rejection of the bullying and sabre rattling that is characteristic of the gunboat colonialism of the nineteenth century.

All the more so, at a time when north Korea is being targeted for continuing with its nuclear program, in the face of ongoing American presence and military provocation in the region of the Korean Peninsula.

There is also the tension over the South China Sea that involves an effort to encircle and contain China, as well as secure a key shipping lane. This is a matter for the nations in the region to resolve and others have no business interfering.

Both scenarios have the potential of plunging the world into a major conflict. The american led strategy is dangerous and even more so under the loose cannon Donald Trump administration in Washington.

An important aspect of the Queensland exercise is to show the perceived enemies that the US led group means business. This puts Australia at greater risk.

Australia is being put at risk by this.