
The dangerous folly of Australia's come-what-may sycophancy towards Trump is on full display
The greatest absurdity in Australia's political discourse about the second Trump administration is the mantra that America perpetually remains a 'reliable ally''.
Trump's United States is no longer Australia's dependable big buddy as it was since the second world war. All those imperial conflicts Australia trailed Washington into (Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan) for 'alliance maintenance'' mean nothing to an expansionist Trump who treats far more geo-politically important supposed friends, like Canada, with blatant contempt.
And yet a cloak of major party bipartisanship ensures no mainstream political challenge to the sanctified US-Australia relationship, as embodied in the 1951 Anzus treaty and, more recently, the reckless $368bn Aukus submarine plan.
Asked on Radio National this week if the US remained a reliable ally, Coalition foreign affairs spokesperson, David Coleman, blithely parroted the increasingly risible Australian orthodoxy: 'Yes of course. The US is our most important ally … and has been for many decades and will continue to be.''
But Australians, perhaps never as heightened to global danger since the second world war, the Cuban missile crisis or US-Soviet nuclear tensions of the early 1980s, can decipher the precarious strategic realpolitik, even from way down here.
It's not that complicated, no matter how lacking some of our politicians might condescendingly think us.
In late February when the United Nations considered a resolution condemning dictatorial Russia's invasion of democratic Ukraine, the US voted against it. Their bedfellows? Russia naturally, but also pariah states Belarus and North Korea.
And, so, the US stands solidly with Russia over its invasion of a democratic neighbour, at the UN and for the TV cameras as Trump (with the help of vice president JD Vance) made clear in his White House meeting with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
What shape might Trump America's support of Putin's Russia ultimately take? Will it go beyond UN resolutions to access to satellite technology currently afforded Ukraine? To intelligence sharing, perhaps? In which case should Canberra simply cut another front door key for Putin to what is in all practical terms a fully American-controlled military base, Pine Gap, in Australia's midst? Might it go beyond Trump America's suspension of critical US military aid to Kyiv towards a shift of more profound military cooperation with – and support of – Russia?
Which, of course, would put America at odds with its other supposed best friend forever, the United Kingdom, as well as the European Union. It is, indeed, as George Monbiot pointed out, a 'troubling question''.
It's one being publicly canvased by some independents, and public figures associated with both major sides of politics who are, thankfully, beyond the reach of party strictures and their inane talking points.
As former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull recently observed with poignant understatement: 'He [Trump] appears to be at the point of facilitating a victory for Vladimir Putin over Ukraine. Now, just contemplate that. It is mind-blowing … we have to recognise the world has changed, America has changed. And we cannot assume that we can rely on America in the way we have in the past.''
America. Has. Changed.
We've got the memo. It seems like our leaders haven't, or won't.
Former Labor minister Peter Garrett recently pointed out Australia's political elites have long assumed Australia's only viable security option was to have a very powerful friend in the US even if they were an 'unlikeable bully''.
'There was a degree of subservience – that that was the price you had to pay. Now, that has been taken to a new dangerous, illogical and expensive extreme with the Aukus deal''.
These sentiments certainly reflect the deep private concerns of some major party politicians who are concerned by their parties' continued unerring sycophancy towards Trump's America amid its alignment with Russia. And, of course, the bipartisanship protecting Aukus, whose fundamental feature is dramatically enhanced, hand-in-glove, military interoperability with the US. In simple words: it locks Australia in as an unerring military ally at a time when it would be prudent to be anything but.
How? Look to a near future where the EU and Britain and most right-thinking nations, are at odds with an America aligning militarily, morally, strategically with Russia.
And where would Australia be? Despite the consistent major party condemnations of 'murderous dictator'' Putin's invasion of Ukraine, we will be militarily hocked for $368bn – and therefore tied – to the expansionist America of Trump (or perhaps Vance, should Trump not show further contempt for his own country's institutions and somehow engineer another term).
The dangerous folly of it all, Australia's come-what-may bipartisan obsequiousness, was on full cringe-making display when reliable buddy Trump seemed never to have heard of Aukus, despite it being the centrepiece of Australian defence and foreign policy since 2021.
Hearing our leading politicians from both major parties contort to defend him, to forgive his apparent ignorance because, you know, acronyms can be so damn tricky and he's a helluva busy guy, was an Olympic exercise in gaslighting the Australian public.
We – you – deserve better in these dangerous times.
Paul Daley is a Guardian Australia columnist

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Scottish Sun
25 minutes ago
- Scottish Sun
Russia using horror AI kamikaze drone that ‘chooses its own target' as Ukraine now faces blitz of over ‘500 every night'
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) VLADIMIR Putin has begun deploying kamikaze drones that select their own targets using AI in a fresh assault on Ukraine. The country now faces over 500 attacks every night, just days after Kharkiv was rocked overnight by a downpour of missiles. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 5 Fire and smoke rise in Ukraine following a Russian drone and missile strike Credit: Reuters 5 Kyiv is seen engulfed in flames following a Russian drone attack Credit: Reuters 5 Reports said the UAV-V2U is being used to close in on the northeastern city of Sumy, while Putin ramps up drone production and builds new launch sites. Some 70 units a day are now being made compared to just 21 last year, according to Ukraine's military intelligence. This is largely thanks to help from China, the agency has said, as the UAV is "mostly assembled from Chinese-manufactured components." Beijing has repeatedly denied supplying drones or weapon components to Russia, whilst Trump and Biden have both hit China with sanctions to stop it getting access to computer chips. Marking a new escalation in the war, the drones use camera images to navigate and AI to independently locate targets. The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine said: "The key feature of the drone is its ability to autonomously search for and select targets using artificial intelligence. "Its computing system is based on the Chinese Leetop A203 minicomputer, with a high-speed processor assembly built on the NVIDIA Jetson Orin module." This comes just hours after drones and missiles were launched at Kyiv as Russian Tu-22M3 strategic bombers were reportedly unleashed to rain hell on the infamous Snake Island in the Black Sea. Moscow launched a massive strike on Rivne using its Tu-22M3 and Tu-95MS strategic bombers to hit Dubny airbase. Squadrons of these fighter jets were targeted and destroyed last week in Kyiv's daring Operation Spiderweb. Russia bombs Kyiv killing 4 in blitz as Putin plots revenge for Op Spiderweb Another key Ukrainian military airport - Hostomel - was also attacked as Putin sought revenge for the humiliating attack. Polish armed forces command said Nato fighter jets were patrolling due to 'intensive air attack by the Russian Federation on Ukrainian territory'. Just days ago, Kharkiv was rocked overnight as 48 kamikaze drones, along with missiles and guided bombs, slammed into residential areas, according to the city's mayor. 'We have a lot of damage,' Ihor Terekhov said. More than 50 explosions rocked Kharkiv, with the mayor adding it was 'the most powerful attack' on the city of the 39-month war. In the latest terror strikes on civilians, 18 multi-story buildings and 13 private houses were hit and damaged. In Kyiv, a dramatic tower block video filmed by a resident showed the terror of another Putin strike on civilians as flames from the exploding drone shot some 80ft up the building. Three were killed and at least 21 wounded, including a six-weeks-old baby, and a 14-year-old girl. A woman, 26, trapped under a slab of concrete was eventually freed three hours after the strike, and was seen being stretchered to an ambulance. Ukraine's foreign minister Andrii Sybiha described how hundreds of drones and missiles "rained down" on his country overnight. He wrote in a social media post: "Kharkiv had a particularly terrible night. "People were injured and killed, and the energy infrastructure was also damaged." Sybiha added there were further strikes in the Donetsk, Dnipro, Ternopil and Odesa regions. 5 The Kursk region after being struck by a Russian drone attack Credit: Reuters


The Sun
25 minutes ago
- The Sun
Russia using horror AI kamikaze drone that ‘chooses its own target' as Ukraine now faces blitz of over ‘500 every night'
VLADIMIR Putin has begun deploying kamikaze drones that select their own targets using AI in a fresh assault on Ukraine. The country now faces over 500 attacks every night, just days after Kharkiv was rocked overnight by a downpour of missiles. 5 5 5 Reports said the UAV-V2U is being used to close in on the northeastern city of Sumy, while Putin ramps up drone production and builds new launch sites. Some 70 units a day are now being made compared to just 21 last year, according to Ukraine's military intelligence. This is largely thanks to help from China, the agency has said, as the UAV is "mostly assembled from Chinese-manufactured components." Beijing has repeatedly denied supplying drones or weapon components to Russia, whilst Trump and Biden have both hit China with sanctions to stop it getting access to computer chips. Marking a new escalation in the war, the drones use camera images to navigate and AI to independently locate targets. The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine said: "The key feature of the drone is its ability to autonomously search for and select targets using artificial intelligence. "Its computing system is based on the Chinese Leetop A203 minicomputer, with a high-speed processor assembly built on the NVIDIA Jetson Orin module." This comes just hours after drones and missiles were launched at Kyiv as Russian Tu-22M3 strategic bombers were reportedly unleashed to rain hell on the infamous Snake Island in the Black Sea. Moscow launched a massive strike on Rivne using its Tu-22M3 and Tu-95MS strategic bombers to hit Dubny airbase. Squadrons of these fighter jets were targeted and destroyed last week in Kyiv's daring Operation Spiderweb. Russia bombs Kyiv killing 4 in blitz as Putin plots revenge for Op Spiderweb Another key Ukrainian military airport - Hostomel - was also attacked as Putin sought revenge for the humiliating attack. Polish armed forces command said Nato fighter jets were patrolling due to 'intensive air attack by the Russian Federation on Ukrainian territory'. Just days ago, Kharkiv was rocked overnight as 48 kamikaze drones, along with missiles and guided bombs, slammed into residential areas, according to the city's mayor. 'We have a lot of damage,' Ihor Terekhov said. More than 50 explosions rocked Kharkiv, with the mayor adding it was 'the most powerful attack' on the city of the 39-month war. In the latest terror strikes on civilians, 18 multi-story buildings and 13 private houses were hit and damaged. In Kyiv, a dramatic tower block video filmed by a resident showed the terror of another Putin strike on civilians as flames from the exploding drone shot some 80ft up the building. Three were killed and at least 21 wounded, including a six-weeks-old baby, and a 14-year-old girl. A woman, 26, trapped under a slab of concrete was eventually freed three hours after the strike, and was seen being stretchered to an ambulance. Ukraine's foreign minister Andrii Sybiha described how hundreds of drones and missiles "rained down" on his country overnight. He wrote in a social media post: "Kharkiv had a particularly terrible night. "People were injured and killed, and the energy infrastructure was also damaged." Sybiha added there were further strikes in the Donetsk, Dnipro, Ternopil and Odesa regions. 5 5


NBC News
33 minutes ago
- NBC News
Judge blocks administration from enforcing anti-diversity and anti-transgender executive orders
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California has blocked the Trump administration from enforcing anti-diversity and anti-transgender executive orders in grant funding requirements that LGBTQ+ organizations say are unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar said Monday that the federal government cannot force recipients to halt programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion or acknowledge the existence of transgender people in order to receive grant funding. The order will remain in effect while the legal case continues, although government lawyers will likely appeal. The funding provisions "reflect an effort to censor constitutionally protected speech and services promoting DEI and recognizing the existence of transgender individuals," Tigar wrote. He went on to say that the executive branch must still be bound by the Constitution in shaping its agenda and that even in the context of federal subsidies, "it cannot weaponize Congressionally appropriated funds to single out protected communities for disfavored treatment or suppress ideas that it does not like or has deemed dangerous." The plaintiffs include health centers, LGBTQ+ services groups and the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Historical Society. All receive federal funding and say they cannot complete their missions by following the president's executive orders. The San Francisco AIDS Foundation, one of the plaintiffs, said in 2023 it received a five-year grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to expand and enhance sexual health services, including the prevention of sexually transmitted infections. The $1.3 million project specifically targets communities disproportionately affected by sexual health disparities. But in April, the CDC informed the nonprofit that it must "immediately terminate all programs, personnel, activities, or contracts" that promote DEI or gender ideology. President Donald Trump has signed a flurry of executive orders since taking office in January, including ones to roll back transgender protections and stop DEI programs. Lawyers for the government say that the president is permitted to "align government funding and enforcement strategies" with his policies. Plaintiffs say that Congress — and not the president — has the power to condition how federal funds are used, and that the executive orders restrict free speech rights.