At http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-03/indonesian-president-wants-more-military-power/4666748 , ABC correspondent George Roberts reports this morning:

"About 16,000 Indonesian troops are preparing for joint military exercises in East Java.
Meeting with military commanders, Mr Yudhoyono told them that Indonesia's military should be bigger and more modern than countries like Australia, Singapore, and Malaysia.
Indonesia's military boasts 470,000 active troops, while the Australian Defence Force has just over 80,000 full-time personnel and reservists..
It has also embarked on a military upgrade program, building warships and drones, as well buying fighter jets, helicopters and rockets."

Australia to manage peace? What a quaint thought!

Australia has only one thought in its tiny mind: Follow the imperial U.S. in whatever it does!

Australian politicians, the most backward in the world, are American sycophants. They have never got over WW2 or the fall of the British Empire.

They have already given parts of our country to the warmongering Yanks.

The rest will surely follow.

For the sake of my children and grandchildren, I think we should be spending much more on defence, and spending it more efficiently than as reported at present. We can have much bigger service numbers, including part timers, without having a warmongering attitude. Despite the things about the US that I don't like I believe it is vital to maintain close defence links with them, and keep them thinking they need our support, including use of some of our bases and land.

David Morrison says "I think we should be spending much more on defence, and spending it more efficiently"

But we have Indonesia as our loving neighbour, I do recall that the Republic crushed the United States of Indonesia in 1949/1950; fought with Malaysia, sent several invasion forces to New Guinea in the 1950s and 1960s, invaded East Timor, has purportedly crossed PNGs borders with a thousand or so troops whenever it feels like it. But we can trust Indonesia they adore us- I have complete faith in Paul Keatings wisdom in the 1980s that Indonesia is Asia's economic tiger whose back Australia should be riding.

And we can all take comfort that DFAT no longer questions if we should be supporting Indonesian claims in Australia, because Keating created a new department inside DFAT the Australia-Indonesia Institute whose sole task is to promote Jakarta's whims to the Australia government.

Yet David then says "Despite the things about the US that I don't like I believe it is vital to maintain close defence links with them, and keep them thinking they need our support"
- Geeze the US has never cut and run? Hello North Korea, hello Vietnam, we really appreciate how the Yanks ignored Ho's pleading throughout WW-ii for help to decolonize Vietnam from French claims, how the US in 1946 sent military advisers to help the French in Vietnam and never got out until after Ho was forced to get help from China and the Soviets.

The only thing dumber that Australia's 1947-1972 quest for the A-bomb has been its subsequent program of appeasement to the whims of every corrupt self-serving foreign interest ever since..

I agree with the author we should be managing peace, not war, however that's not so easy when we seem to be making enemies everywhere because of our alliance with the US. As with our earlier dependence on Britain this alliance might prove an illusion in the long term.

We should follow Israel's example and increase investment in local hi-tech defence R&D and manufacture, we seem to import nearly all our advanced military hardware, of course many items are far beyond Australia's capacity to produce, but surely there must be scope for reducing our dependence on foreign technology.

After years of reading economic history, I'm also sceptical in regard to China's inevitable rise, when I returned to Business School in the early 90s "Japan as #1" was the fashion.

I can't remember any of the economic forecasting geniuses even mentioning China as a "contender", the country wasn't even on the horizon.

BRICS is a slick acronym, but sooner or later it will be forgotten, my money's on the US, unless of course, Niall Ferguson's prediction of sudden and catastrophic imperial decline for the country proves accurate.

The truth is we need Indonesia more than they need us.

It seems we have two main options.

1. Maintain out close alliance with the US, allowing us to keep military spending low, focusing on high tech "niche" capabilities.

2. Pursue a more independent path, meaning increased military spending to enable independent deployment of army, navy and air force.

In defense spending many people get distracted by the shiny high tech toys, however they forget that all defense spending should be driven by required capability, which in turn is driven by our defense doctrine. If Australia was to become independent in defense of our interests we will need to capability to defend against worst case scenarios. While the need for ICBM and nukes is debatable, and the potential for mainland invasion unlikely, the next scenario would be an alliance between China, Indonesia et al to enforce economic (shipping, trade) isolation upon us militarily. I think by far the most important expenditure should be on promoting strong relations with Indonesia. If we can maintain Indonesia as a close ally then the need to deploy our military outside our boarders becomes minimal. Neither Indonesia or Australia will ever have the capabilities to invade each other. We do have the potential to become very strong allies.

On the decline of the US - At one point you would agree that the USSR collapsed catastrophically, right? Well they still have the land, resources and manpower to enable them to be a potent force just 20 years after this collapse. I don't believe we are talking about the same sort of empires that we saw with the British/Romans et al. The USA will always be a superpower, what could change is that they may not be the sole superpower in the world.