Contributed by Jim Hayes

If the talk ging on in Washington’s political circles is anything to go by, Australia should be really worried. There is a push to lift to a new and higher level the turning of our nation into a military base. A base used to launch attacks on other nations.

With the help of compliant governments, Australia has long been used to assist America’s aggressive wars. But the presence of United Sat6es military on Australian soil had been limited to communication facilities and occasional leave and recreation.  But recent years has seen the beginnings of a ground troops presence.

Then came the nuclear submarine deal, where Australia pretends to be given its own, when they are really under the command of the big brass in Washington. Australia gets the privilege of paying for them.

Now, the talk is of stationing a fleet of the new stealth nuclear capable B-21 bombers on Australian soil.

This was voiced by the influential U.S. Democrat congress member Adam Smith, who, as recent chair of the House Armed Services Committee has considerable pull. He revealed a study into placing these bombers in Australia, and is pushing for this to become a reality, as part of AUKUS. I resolution to affect this is expected to come before the Congress sometime this year, under the umbrella of the Défense Authorisation Act. This is being supported by the current U.S. Secretary of Défense Lloyd Austin. Senator Jack Reed, The Democrat chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee voiced his support just before Christmas, as did Republican Senator Jim Inhofe, who wrote a letter to President Joe Biden. Offering bipartisan support.

It seems this is now an almost done deal.

Video from Sandboxx

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is going to visit the United Sates next month. Military matters will feature highly, and every indication isa that the usual compliance will continue.  Rather than frank discussions, Australia will be given its orders.

The Americanisation of Australia’s armed forces and the stationing of troops and hardware here is being sold as boosting defensive capability.

If this was true, deployment would take the shape of what is needed to protect Australian land and coastal waters. What we have is hardware designed to be deployed thousands of kilometres away. This is the case with the nuclear submarines. It’s especially so with the intended B-21 bombers, which will be running off the production line soon. They are specifically designed for long range missions.

Stationing them in Australia will mean an escalation of Australia’s role in targeting other nations, and especially, being dragged into greater conflict with China. This is a highly dangerous direction to go.

Australia’s military relationship with the United States is not national defence. It is participation in empire building. Like all empire building, it is predatory. Australia should have nothing to do with it.

Participation brings no benefit. It imposes costs like loss of global reputation and respect from other nations and sets us up as a potential target.

Australia would be much better served by contributing to building better relationships in the family of nations, and through this, contributing to the forces against militarisation and war. It would be much more productive to invest resources in matters like overcoming global warming and fighting poverty.