The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
The Forum - On Line Opinion's article discussion area



Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Main Articles General

Sign In      Register

The Forum > Article Comments > The American dependency > Comments

The American dependency : Comments

By Bruce Haigh, published 23/6/2016

Irrespective of whether he wins or not, by nature of the fact he is where he is, Donald Trump throws into question the nature of our relationship with America, including the so called Alliance.

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. All
You show a large degree of polital bias in your article Bruce. That's not a criticism as such, but a demonstration, bias is the key point in Politics. Politics is all and sundry about bias!

Australia now as much as ever, needs America as an alliy. The problem with trump as President, is his stated contractionist intentions!
This will not be good for Australia. This will be good though, for expansionist Chinese, already making a comfortable bed in Australia, and Asia generally.

SEAsia is in peril again, not from the Japanese, as in 1943, but from the Chinese, with complete facilitation from acquessing Australian politicians.

I hope you don't live to regret your anti American bias Bruce!
Posted by diver dan, Thursday, 23 June 2016 9:21:03 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Well Bruce, Menzies was a "redneck".

Were you around when he was in power?

Before he came in butter, petrol and many other products were rationed and in our street in Hurstville there were 2 motor vehicles in the whole 2 mile length.

5 years of Menzies and there was no rationing and closer to 2 cars per home than 2 cars per street. He did a lot better for Australia than the people you obviously prefer. -- Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot etc. With them there was no refugee problem. They killed the refugees by the tens of millions before they could get into a boat.
Your lifetime of living off the public teat has fouled your mind.
Posted by Old Man, Thursday, 23 June 2016 11:03:19 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
I'm no more enamored of Mr Trump than you Bruce? But the only thing flawed here is your biased analysis?

Mr Trump Might win and dissolve the alliance; and pigs might fly? And where else in this world will they find the wide open empty spaces so critical for their essential war game military exercises?

Even so we could do worse than review a relationship that arguably treats us little better than a impoverished southern state full of poor white trash?

Rational folk would rescind the laser pulsed light method of uranium enrichment Mr Rudd gifted to the Americans!

We need to become far more self reliant and self sufficient! And able to defend ourselves against the world, if our ally tends to be unreliable or is only there if they are allowed to buy Australia and our quite massive resources, using their thrice maxed out credit cards or virtually worthless letters of credit? With blood sucking friends like that, who needs enemies?

In conclusion let me say that if D Trump wins the presidential race after putting so many voters offside, half of them republicans! I'll walk backwards to Burke.
Alan B.
Posted by Alan B., Thursday, 23 June 2016 12:52:15 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Brucey you fail in your latest attempt to parrot the scatter-gun style of Pilger. Such Socialist Slop Sporting Suspect hairpiece https://youtu.be/WYCH1Ylncxc

On "red neck fear of a loss of economic and social standing" you realise you're talking about most of the OLO chatterati, matey.

Trying to turn Turnball into a Trump Chump is going a little too far even for Otto von Kissinger like Statesmen - like Moi!

Naughty, Naughty
Posted by plantagenet, Thursday, 23 June 2016 12:58:56 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Not quite Pilger , Bruce , but you are getting the hang of it !.

Complete silence on our alternatives to the USA , I notice.

What do you suggest , Russia, China , India , Iran or do just become an Super Power ourselves.. you know.. with all that uranium etc ?

Perhaps, we could put up a "for sale" sign and then emigrate to NZ ?
Posted by Aspley, Thursday, 23 June 2016 1:09:53 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Bruce, thanks for writing on foreign policy. It is a topic that is conspicuous by its absence in the current election. Neither the Labor nor Coalition parties have a coherent policy. They appear to rely heavily upon the US, completely ignoring the great paradox that the late Malcolm Fraser pointed out.
That reliance has got us into one illegal war after another. As James Browns' essay in the Quarterly Essay pointed out, there could easily have been another disaster with Abbott mooting 3000 Australian troops in Eastern Ukraine. Fortunately wiser heads prevailed.
We are now busily involving ourselves in American provocations in the South China Sea, only a small part of which, both Australian and American, have been reported by our mainstream media.
There is an alternative foreign policy available. It will require courage and intelligence, and the ability to ignore the ignorant blathering found in too many responses to articles such as yours.
Posted by James O'Neill, Thursday, 23 June 2016 2:25:51 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Dearest James O'Putin

Its well known that Trolls from Olgino Inc employs yee
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolls_from_Olgino

Blaming the US for China's magical https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine-dash_line South China Sea construct certainly shows your leanings.

I would have hoped Australia's own Black Clad authorities shipped you back to Beijing, Moscow, or where-ever you troll from.
Posted by plantagenet, Thursday, 23 June 2016 4:02:53 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
>>How is it that a country like America, with a lot of talented people, can produce a presidential candidate like Trump and see him within a hairs breadth of becoming President?<<

That is a question that many ask also here, in Europe. However, even more puzzling is the question:

“How is it that a country like America, with a lot of talented people, can get itself into a situation where candidates like Donal Trump and Hillary Clinton, (a clown and a witch as somebody put it) - both more dangerous for the outside world than the incumbent and his predecessors, although in very different ways - are apparently the only two alternatives for becoming President?”
Posted by George, Thursday, 23 June 2016 8:20:42 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
I am no great fan of the US, but attacking a country because of the whackiness of people who run for positions of power in that country is a new one on me; and frankly, Bruce, I doubt whether it's going to run. Trump is no more within a 'hair's breadth' of becoming US President than Joh Bjelke-Petersen was within a hair's breadth of becoming PM in 1987. How would you have reacted if our neighbours, allies and trading partners had withdrawn their support for us then, just because some clown was able to manipulate the tools of democratic government briefly into their favour?

The depressing thing about this election is not who is going to win, but the consequences of the Republican party's being unable to put up an effective opposition. Had they been able to field a better candidate than Trump, the Democrats might have had to come up with someone better than Hilary.
Posted by Jon J, Friday, 24 June 2016 6:02:16 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
@Plantagenet. Pete, your personalised insults are simply tiresome and do you no credit. If you bothered to actually study the issues instead of reflexively insulting those with whom you disagree, you might discover, for example, that the Nine Dash Line was drawn up in 1947 by the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai Shek. The present day government of Taiwan makes exactly the same claims viz a viz the 9 Dash Line as does the government of the PRC.
I also write comments, and publish in a variety of places under my own name, rather than hiding behind a nom-de-plume. The reason is simple. I am not afraid of my opinions and I am happy to debate them with real people at any time.
Posted by James O'Neill, Friday, 24 June 2016 12:20:27 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
I wonder if this bloke even has a right arm, so biased his thinking. Only a fully qualified ratbag could possibly prefer the obviously criminally incompetent Hillary over Trump.

I must admit I find it amazing at just how bad the candidates for the last few US elections have been, but Clinton must be worse than even Obama, if that's at all possible.

This utter disdain for the working class & rednecks can only be because these, the very people the left considered their rusted on support, are deserting them in droves. Always the salt of the earth to the left, they are now hated by these elitists lefties. but only because they have deserted the ship.

I suppose it is good to be exposed to articles by ratbags, if only to show us how far these radical lefties would go in giving away our heritage.

Bet he really hates the result of democracy in the UK too.
Posted by Hasbeen, Saturday, 25 June 2016 4:02:02 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. All

About Us :: Search :: Discuss :: Feedback :: Legals :: Privacy