11-25-2016, 10:02 PM
Sir An(g)us Houston kisses some USA ass!
Angus Houston chips US alliance critics
Angus Houston said he was disappointed by critics of the US Alliance after the US election.
Former Chief of the Defence Force Angus Houston has attacked critics of the US alliance such as former prime minister Paul Keating.
Mr Houston warned cutting links with the United States would force Australia to hike defence spending to as much as 4 per cent of GDP and that membership of ASEAN cannot guarantee Australia's security.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull reassured those nervous about a Trump presidency, saying Australia is the most influential ally of the US amid a fierce domestic political debate over the future of the alliance.
Former prime minister Paul Keating recently proposed Australia "cut the tag" with US foreign policy and build up an independent foreign policy and stronger ties to Asia and ASEAN, while former foreign minister Gareth Evans said Australia needs to build security ties in the region and rely less on the US.
Opposition foreign affairs minister Penny Wong then suggested Australia should take a more critical approach to the US alliance, while the Greens called for a complete review and accompanying debate on whether Australia should maintain its US alliance.
Stick to 'the glue'
Mr Houston said comments by critics were "disappointing" and a proposal for Australia to join ASEAN, as Mr Keating suggested, would not provide the security Australia needs.
"The United States is the stabilising glue that binds the region together, and there simply is no substitute for it. ASEAN is not cohesive enough to be robust on security issues," he said in an opinion piece in The Australian Financial Review.
He also said such a move to step down our ties to the US could be costly. "If we lose the US alliance and the powerful security insurance it provides, we also lose access to its intelligence and its technology. It is likely we would have to increase defence spending from 3 per cent to 4 per cent of GDP. That would have a dramatic effect on public programs like health and education," he said.
On Wednesday, Mr Turnbull reassured Washington the government would not be altering its allegiances.
"Those who assert that our ties and our alliance with the United States should be reconsidered fail to recognise that a strong trusted forthright Australia is a powerful force for good, whether it is on the fields of conflict or in the corridors of power in Washington.
"The fact is that the United States remains our most important strategic and defence ally," he said.
Mr Turnbull said while Australia has "robust" laws "to protect us from [terror] threats", Australia would now work towards "a national strategy for places of mass gathering", after such terror attacks as the one in Nice, France.
In response, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten used the opportunity to accuse Immigration Minister Peter Dutton of playing into the hands of extremists after he said Sunni-Muslim Lebanese-Australians were mostly responsible for terror offences in Australia.
http://www.afr.com/news/angus-houston-ch...123-gsvvro
So why doesn't that surprise me? He has always been a weak spineless ass kisser. At least Keating for all his faults has a set of balls.
Toot 'lick lick' toot
Angus Houston chips US alliance critics
Angus Houston said he was disappointed by critics of the US Alliance after the US election.
Former Chief of the Defence Force Angus Houston has attacked critics of the US alliance such as former prime minister Paul Keating.
Mr Houston warned cutting links with the United States would force Australia to hike defence spending to as much as 4 per cent of GDP and that membership of ASEAN cannot guarantee Australia's security.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull reassured those nervous about a Trump presidency, saying Australia is the most influential ally of the US amid a fierce domestic political debate over the future of the alliance.
Former prime minister Paul Keating recently proposed Australia "cut the tag" with US foreign policy and build up an independent foreign policy and stronger ties to Asia and ASEAN, while former foreign minister Gareth Evans said Australia needs to build security ties in the region and rely less on the US.
Opposition foreign affairs minister Penny Wong then suggested Australia should take a more critical approach to the US alliance, while the Greens called for a complete review and accompanying debate on whether Australia should maintain its US alliance.
Stick to 'the glue'
Mr Houston said comments by critics were "disappointing" and a proposal for Australia to join ASEAN, as Mr Keating suggested, would not provide the security Australia needs.
"The United States is the stabilising glue that binds the region together, and there simply is no substitute for it. ASEAN is not cohesive enough to be robust on security issues," he said in an opinion piece in The Australian Financial Review.
He also said such a move to step down our ties to the US could be costly. "If we lose the US alliance and the powerful security insurance it provides, we also lose access to its intelligence and its technology. It is likely we would have to increase defence spending from 3 per cent to 4 per cent of GDP. That would have a dramatic effect on public programs like health and education," he said.
On Wednesday, Mr Turnbull reassured Washington the government would not be altering its allegiances.
"Those who assert that our ties and our alliance with the United States should be reconsidered fail to recognise that a strong trusted forthright Australia is a powerful force for good, whether it is on the fields of conflict or in the corridors of power in Washington.
"The fact is that the United States remains our most important strategic and defence ally," he said.
Mr Turnbull said while Australia has "robust" laws "to protect us from [terror] threats", Australia would now work towards "a national strategy for places of mass gathering", after such terror attacks as the one in Nice, France.
In response, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten used the opportunity to accuse Immigration Minister Peter Dutton of playing into the hands of extremists after he said Sunni-Muslim Lebanese-Australians were mostly responsible for terror offences in Australia.
http://www.afr.com/news/angus-houston-ch...123-gsvvro
So why doesn't that surprise me? He has always been a weak spineless ass kisser. At least Keating for all his faults has a set of balls.
Toot 'lick lick' toot