A persistent rumour round this neck of the woods has it that the US intends to relocate its troops from Okinawa to a nice patch of land south of Townsville. Makes sense - right next to our biggest barracks, and our population is quite used to the Yankee invasion that comes along every couple of years. Still, if it happens, I'll be relocating rather than living in an American colony.

As for Julia's speech, it was quite an intelligent piece of diplomacy - give the Americans what they want and what they will lap up, even if Australians are reaching for their buckets. It seems that a little bit of theatre and sentimentality goes a long way in the U.S.A.

But the thrust of the article is right - the fact that she gave the American Congress what they wanted rather than what Australia would reasonably expect shows that she's willing to suffer indignity and ridicule in order to maintain our friendship. Who other than a vassal would do this?

It really is amusing that when left wing politicians get into power, they suddenly stop preaching every left wing value and adopt the policies that they previously condemned in their political opponents. Remember when Obama said he would close Guantanamo Bay down? Well, it is still open for business. How about getting all US troops out of Iraq? Some of them are still there. And then (eeeeeek!) Tony Blair joined the Evil USA in liberating Iraq. One presumes that once they get into power, somebody in the admin has a whisper in their pink, cockleshell ears, and they start to realise that the left wing ideals they previously advocated were totally dotty.

It looks like Bruce Haigh is sore at Julia for the same reason.

Julia has gone and expressed admiration for the USA which is absolute anathema to the inner city, chardonnay sucking, trendies. According to Haigh, she has “put aborigines in limbo”, and has not allowed Australia to be overrun by 18 year old, country shopping illegal immigrants who claim that they are 17. Horrors!

Bruce Haigh then tosses a a couple of more brickbats. First, he criticizes Australia’s defense preparedness, which is an odd position for people from his tree hugging, World Saver demographic group. Advocating a strong defense force will get Bruce tossed out of every wine bar in Sydney, for conduct unbecoming an ideological zealot.

Next, he seems to be advocating the idea that the USA should invade Libya with Australian help and create a democracy, even as he complains about the USA and Australia fighting in Afghanistan to create a democracy. You just can’t please some people. The rule of thumb seems to be, that the USA is always wrong whatever it does, and Australia is always wrong if we agree with the USA.