Re:Australia to acquire nuclear submarine fleet (AUKUS)
by anakaine on Friday September 17, 2021 @03:42PM
(#28570096)
We also should not forget the four years most recently where the sitting US president was claiming NATO/UN/ANZUS/other military defence pacts to be a farse because the US wasn't deriving an immediate and obvious dollar value from them. To the point where he made statements alluding to those other countries finding themselves without military support if they didn't pay the US for protection. He literally tried to apply a mob protection racket via insinuation over international politics and treaties.
Any sane nation considering their own self defence and sovereignty would be looking to bolster their own position instead of relying solely on that sort of unreliable and borderline abusive relationship.
Re:Australia to acquire nuclear submarine fleet (AUKUS)
by MichaelMoser123 on Friday September 17, 2021 @11:39PM
(#28573452)
By that logic Australia would also need its own nukes, I mean the potential adversary is nuclear armed China, and nuclear submarines are most often used as launchers for missiles armed with nuclear warheads. The point being is that it is not quite clear where to draw the line.
Australia is a sovereign nation, not a client of the United States. It is free to engage in its own foreign policy and should logically want some safeguard in case its relationship with the US should ever sour.
Even if the relationship stays strong and the US makes defending Australia its top priority in a war, the US and its vast military might is on the other side of the planet - it would take many weeks to move ships to where they are needed. It is sensible for US allies to maintain forces dedicated to their own defense which are strong enough to hold out for the cavalry to arrive. A fleet of Australian nuclear subs may very well be the difference between America reinforcing a free Australia and America liberating an occupied Australia.