SMH
Jonathan Pearlman Defence Correspondent
May 2, 2009
THE Rudd Government has acknowledged that the supremacy of the US has begun to fade and Australia is preparing for an uncertain future in which it can no longer rely on the protection of its main ally.
In a fundamental shift in defence plans, the Government has explicitly declared that US primacy in the Asia-Pacific - the bedrock of the nation's security since
World War II - may be ending. The change, caused by the rise of new great powers such as China, is set to produce growing regional tensions and a "sudden deterioration" in Australia's security.
A 20-year defence blueprint, to be released by the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, today, prepares for a multibillion-dollar build-up of naval and air forces to ensure that Australia can defend its northern and sea approaches.
It says a regional shake-up is under way but US supremacy will not be blunted before 2030 and assesses the chances of an attack on Australia in the short term as "very remote".
The white paper, Defending Australia In The Asia Pacific Century: Force 2030, is the first since 2000 and outlines a range of security threats, including instability caused by the financial crisis, cyber warfare, failed states in the Pacific, Islamist terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, and climate change.
It warns that Australia must ensure it can protect itself amid an emerging range of great powers in the region - particularly China, India and Russia - which could lead to a "miscalculation" with disturbing consequences for Australia.
"Australia has been a very secure country for many decades, in large measure because the wider Asia-Pacific region has enjoyed an unprecedented era of peace and stability underwritten by US strategic primacy," the paper says. "That order is being transformed as economic changes start to bring about changes in the distribution of strategic power. Risks resulting from escalating strategic competition could emerge quite unpredictably."
The Minister for Defence, Joel Fitzgibbon, said the world faced "the beginning of the end" of the unquestioned dominance of Australia's principal ally since the Cold War.
The paper criticises China for failing to explain its substantial military build-up in recent years, which appears to have exceeded the force needed for a war over Taiwan. China's military modernisation will be little affected by the global financial crisis and is set to limit the ability of the US to control the region, it says.
"The pace, scope and structure of China's military modernisation have the potential to give its neighbours cause for concern if not carefully explained, and if China does not reach out to others to build confidence regarding its military plans.
"As other powers rise, and the primacy of the US is increasingly tested, power relations will inevitably change. When this happens there will be the possibility of miscalculation … A potential contraction of US strategic presence in the Asia-Pacific region, with a requirement for allies and friends to do more in their own regions, would adversely affect Australian interests, regional stability and global security."
The paper affirms support for the US alliance and for US-led efforts to bolster global security but warns Australia will not put troops at risk "in distant theatres of war where we have no direct interests".
Instead, the Government has focused on defending the borders of Australia, primarily by building air and naval power to protect the northern sea-air gap, maritime approaches and offshore oil and gas reserves.
A range of large-scale purchases includes a doubling of the submarine fleet to 12, about 100 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, eight frigates with submarine detection capability and - as planned - three air warfare destroyers. For the first time Australia will acquire an arsenal of sea-based long-range cruise missiles.
"The ability to deter or defeat armed attack on Australia will continue to be the primary force structure determinant … This means focusing predominantly on forces that can exert air superiority and sea control in our approaches."
The Government has kept its commitment to boost the Defence budget by 3 per cent each year until 2018, but plans to scale this back to 2.2 per cent until 2030.
It says an internal reform program will save $20 billion.
"America (Hussein) will not protect us", warns Rudd
Beijing's man in Australia, Comrade Rudd, aka Kevin "I have never been a Socialist" Rudd, aka " "Le Kewan", aka Dear Leader,aka " Kevin 07", is perhaps getting Australians ready for what his head office sees as the inevitability of the Hussein Obama led slide of the USA and the west into "International Socialism" aka Communism.
Comrade Rudd could be asked by the Australian media why he recently sent an Australian envoy to kneel at the Beijing throne of his masters, and reveal all of Australia's defense plans for the long and short term, seeking his Beijing masters approval of same before he dared implement any of them, however the Australian media are still high on the euphoria of their Dear Leader, Kevin 07's November 2007 election victory to notice anything untoward, not as if they ever did think the Australian Labor Party ever needed any busy body, media, Journalist types, scrutinizing their Party's actions.
Comrade Rudd is a big Hussein Obama fan, and if Hussein decrees something on a Monday,his echo in Australia, Comrade Rudd, will repeat it before the sun rises on the following day.
Both Hussein and Comrade Rudd have ensured their respective nations are, and will be indebted to Beijing, for at least the next three hundred years, obviously Beijing will want their money back well before then, both nations can either surrender their soverignty via debt for equity, or FIGHT when the demand for full paymenty is received and a request for an extension to the repayment terms is requested and denied by the lender.
As an Australian I am in the position of having a man who leads a party renowned for it's trechary against and contempt for Australia,it' speople and it's military forces,the Australian Labor Party, the present leader Kevin Rudd is a well documented multi millionaire internationalist, like all Socialists there is no way I would go into battle with the likes of him and his fellow Socialists behind me, If I am going to die I want to get shot in the guts not in the back by some smirking purpose bred Beijing centric, Manchurian Candidate and his cabal of Union parasites.
As for the USA, the greatest economic and military force on earth,I am wondering just how much safer ,if indeed Americans do , feel now, they have a President, who bows to the Wahabbist Saudi Arabian King Abdulla, apologises to every despotic South American Communist ruler who stands in front of him, and spews their hatred of America into his face and plunges Americans into trillions of dollars of debt, so much debt that even their great, great, great grand children will never be able to repay.
The majority of the American population will not kneel at the feet of Internationalism I hear you say,I agree,well if the bum's that have orchestrated the circumstances that require you to do so are also in charge of the US military what will you do?
Australians and Americans got what they voted for, CHANGE !
Enjoy the ride into Chinese Communism, aka Internationalism,World View,Fairness,Time for Change.
“ If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival.
“There may be even a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than live as slaves”
Winston Churchill. Pg.310 “The Hell Makers” John C. Grover ISBN # 0 7316 1918 8
“There may be even a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than live as slaves”
Winston Churchill. Pg.310 “The Hell Makers” John C. Grover ISBN # 0 7316 1918 8