I think that Albanese is too insensitive to be embarrassed. But the rest of us should be extremely embarrassed that the galah has spat in the eye of our main ally and our only hope of protection from Communist China should it be needed. No wonder the Left doesn't want Trump as US president, given his look-after-yourself-a-bit-more to Europe, NATO and the UN when he was president. It could mean goodbye AUKUS, goodbye submarines: send 11 blokes to arm wrestle with China.

Albanese's kowtowing to Muslims and Greens - government's own vote was less than 30% - has to be seen as one important reason why the US request was denied.

See what multiculturalism does!

Albanese also sucks up too much to the Communist dictator, Xi. Think what might go on in those ‘private’ talks that Australians are not allowed to know about. And, China is on the side of the thugs causing trouble in the Red Sea.

And, of course our military is hopeless, which really emphasises what an idiot (or worse) Albanese is for refusing to support our ally in a sea via which a good part of our imports come.

Again: have secret arrangements with Communist China been part of these ‘private’ talks?

And, to make things worse, we have a non-performing Opposition.

Australia is in deep trouble.

Well, I think you explained all the possible reasons very succinctly, Graham. The one you didn't include is lack of ticker and genuine leadership!

Labor is good at the blah, blah, feigned outrage and spending taxpayers' money on shoring re-election prospects. But little if at all, backed by logic's rites.

Their lick spittle, brown nosed energy policy, case in point, that has welded us to coal and ultra expensive renewables. When every boy and his dog knows we should be transitioning to nuclear, i.e., MSR thorium or MSR nuclear burners, burning largely unspent fuel, (nuclear waste) we are paid to take!

But for this monumental and wasteful spending all over the shop, we may have been able to refit a ship for the task and honoured the Anzus treaty!
Alan B.

Australia sending a warship to the Red Sea would just be a case of it lending support to what has for a long time effectively been criminal actions on behalf of the US "Deep State". In this case, the strong Zionist lobby there backing what amounts to the Criminal Apartheid Zionist Settler State in Occupied Palestine. Which many decent Jews are strongly opposed to some aspects of. The Oct 7th attack by Hamas was a long festering sore erupting after largely immigrant Jews have for 75 years been trampling on the rights of indigenous Palestinians who have long connection with the land. Important to note that both historical and DNA evidence indicates ancestors of these Jews are largely NOT from Palestinians of Biblical times. More like from the rogue state of Khazaria over a thousand kilometres to the north. Its sordid history needs widely publicising. Now look at atrocities the Israeli government has been committing. Including large scale bombing etc of civilians causing many times the casualties Israel has suffered. The only reason there has not been much stronger action by rest of the world against this is the US has been backing it with military resources. Anyway, the Houthis in Yemen have been doing much more than any other Arab country to damage Israel and cost the US more resources supporting it. ie Attacking any ships going past that have some association with Israel. Has resulted in largely stopping any visiting Israel via the Red Sea. Then seems Houthi attacks are often costly to defend against. Have seen reports of sometimes a $2 million missile from warship used to shoot down a $2,000 drone. Unfortunately there are innocent victims of this blockade. Especially those down the line suffering from shipping delays and increased costs due to many shops that would normally travel through the Suez Canal being diverted around Africa.

Tom Lewis OAM, ex naval officer and security analyst, names Australia as an "unreliable" ally; a "disloyal" ally; a "foolish" ally.

Britain, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Holland and Norway have answered the call. Even The Seychelles, with a tiny patrol boat fleet is contributing.

Shame Australia! Shame! Shame Albanese! Shame!

Thank you, Mox.

Is there any chance that a Trump win might result in a UN-administered two-State solution that endures?

And meanwhile is there a chance for a regime change in Israel, a long-established American practice, this time to make Biden look good for his re-election?

The latest news (ABC World Today) at lunch - enlisting foreign nationals do our fighting for us. Shades of Beau Geste and the French Foreign Legion.

Back to the craven, stupid failure to stand by the US: Beijing was pleased to hear about it, as would be the other bad actors who praised Albanese-Australia for voting for an Israeli ceasefire, which thankfully Israel has ignored. What a stark difference between Israel and Australia. I wonder how long Australia would last in Israel's situation.

I much prefer the much more nuanced essay by Mack Williams titled Us Struggling with Operation Prosperity Guardian in Red Sea.
It is featured on the Pearls & Irritations website, a website for grown-ups founded and staffed by former Australian Ambassadors and high ranking public servants in the Federal government. Williams was a former Ambassador to Korea.

A quote from John Lennon - "one thing you cant hide is if you are crippled inside"
More often than not the kind of language and imagery anyone uses in writing essays (of whatever length) is a biographical description/projection of their personality.
What does that say about a certain person who always makes negative comments on this forum? And seldom, if ever, makes a positive comment/contribution.

Australia must rethink its international relations strategy given the dangers of following the US and other reckless states blindly. Instead of war we need to focus on peace and development through collaboration.
The days of the unipolar world disorder are over.

Surely mox your not that dumb and uneducated as your writing above indicates?.

The USA and the UK are both falling apart as we speak. Who in their right mind would want to be tied to the apron strings of a war-mongering state such as the USA? Hasn't Australia learnt its lesson yet about being drawn into wars lead by the USA? I am old enough to remember the disaster that was Vietnam, the Middle East and more recently Afghanistan. Thank you Albo for a calm, rational and considered decision before rushing off to join the USA in more wars.

Kudos ttbn.

CM

Thanks, but it seems like a waste of time. Some of the comments here are deranged.

e.g “the dangers of following the US and other reckless states blindly”.

e.g “Instead of war we need to focus on peace”. Tell that to China or Hamas, eh?

e.g “tied to the apron strings of a war-mongering state such as the USA”.

Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq were a mistake with hindsight, but these ‘children’ making ridiculous comments about our traditional ties to Anglosphere allies - people like us, same culture - same everything really - are either off their faces on something, or naturally ignorant: never went to school, never read a book, never learnt history.

If it wasn't for the US, we would have been invaded by the Japanese. In 1942, the US alone was providing us with air defence.

Without the US we would have been toast then. Without the US now we will be toast.

They don’t have a clue. Their naivety would be unbelievable if they didn't display themselves.

God help Australia if they are our future.

ttbn- I don't see you as a waste. You are part of the solution. Thank you for your service.

It surely must be that the Government feels the need to show China that we don't go every time we're requested to. The drone vulnerability has simply supplied a plausible excuse. The Americans will surely see this.

Even the best of goodwill cannot produce a warship out of thin air.

If not ships, then I do hope that Australia at least secretly holds some nukes in the ready for doomsday.

{t was a logical decision to not send a ship to the Red Sea Flotilla.
Any ship we have is unable to defend itself against against the drones
that the Houtis are using let alone merchant ships.

About time we just went out and bought some suitable ships.
It is like paying for an insurance policy.

I agree with the governments decision not to send a warship but I don't know for certain what the governments reasoning was.

"We always paid our 'insurance premiums' as they became 'due'."
- This would be all well and good if America was a moral and decent nation, but it's not.

Your argument that we pay our insurance premiums when due is essentially a blank check to back America up on whatever military misadventure they embark upon, no matter the cost.

Blindly following America is far more likely to get us into a war, rather than provide us defense in the event of one.
What makes you think this 'insurance policy' would actually pay out anyway?

US congress is controlled by the Israel lobby.
There's a risk of being dragged into a war that benefits Israel, but does not benefit neither Australia or America.

Many nations pulled out of Operation Prosperity Guardian.
I think what many nations first thought was just escorting other ships was actually a planned attack on the Houthis, and they didn't want any part of it.

The Houthis can launch $2000 drones and force the navy to launch 2 million dollar missiles to intercept them, it's expensive.
Beyond this, they could launch drones, and force a ship to expend its air defense missiles resulting in forcing the ship back to port to rearm.
At which point they could then launch a swarm of drones including underwater drones and possibly sink a warship.
Houthis have drones, anti-ship and ballistic missiles and are not scared to fight.
They only want the Israelis to stop killing innocent people and allow aid in, which are not unreasonable demands.
It's not worth risking the loss of a warship and naval officers simply because Israel wants to keep bombing women and kids whom it's already trying to starve.

It's not like the ships can't get to their destinations, they just have to take a longer route.

Israel are starving the Palestinians on purpose.
They're using food and water to bribe / blackmail to try to gain intelligence in regards to the hostages.

It seems that certain posters on this blog are still quite content to kowtow to the military will of the USA 82 years after WWII. They don't think that it is prudent to resist the call to blindly join, what is potentially yet another war lead by the USA, considering the historical disasters and consequences of doing so during the last 82 years. Nope, just blindly follow where the industrial war machine dictates. After all, they deserve unquestioned loyalty because they saved us 82 years ago. Get over it. Grow a spine and start to really believe in the value of Australia and stop pretending you do.

Australia needs to support the US and voice any disagreement in the back room. The rise of drone warfare is an issue. It democratizes warfare. Maybe we should be putting more effort into stopping the drones being built. Address the cause rather than the symptom. This is a very dangerous time for "international law" as there is no dominant power. Any use of weaponry gives intelligence to the enemy. We need to trust those with a history of trustworthiness for the stability of the world.

"Australia needs to support the US and voice any disagreement in the back room."
- By getting our ships sunk and our seamen killed?
All so that Israel can keep on bombing people its already starving?
Escalate the conflict in the M/E - For the sake of a shorter shipping route?

Look America got itself caught between a rock and a hard place on this one.
It's damned if it does, and damned if it doesn't.
It's risking being shown up as the incapable military it's become.
The Houthis are acting the way they are because they know the US is in no position to send in ground troops.

The Houthis are begging for this war.
"Dear United States - Please allow us the honour of fighting you"

Here is a frightening thought for you.
The Islamic countries I think have a large minority in the UN.
The Organisation of Islamic Countries has about 56 members.
We are hearing a lot of talk of the present ME war widening.
It is not beyond the bounds of reason that a WWIII could come out of
the present mess. Especially if Iran started waving nuclear weapons.
It would be considered to be the battle of the last day.

How would the moslem populations line up in the various countries ?
The mosques would come down on the side of the Islamic countries.
We could resist aggressive moslem population with the ADF and Police.
The moslems would be unlikely to have much in large infantry weapons,
however in the US and the UK it could be a different matter altogether.

This must be a matter, I hope, of concern to intelligence and defence.

Absolutely, Bezza.

War is no good for humanity.
It only helps the arms manufacturers and their government's economies - the US and Israel being the case in point at present.

What can we, the populace, do?

Stop the advertorials for WAR. That normalise WAR, as they did for cigarettes and now gambling.

Whether they are for the shambolic "rules order", our elastic western "values", or the imagined threat, jumping at the slightest shadow like a disturbed infant.

Freedom of navigation, for instance. Is it just a hypocritical show of military might, to poke communist China in the eye, in the game of provoking a WAR to sabotage China's rise and make America great again?

Hi Bezza,
"It is not beyond the bounds of reason that a WWIII could come out of
the present mess. Especially if Iran started waving nuclear weapons."

Not sure whether Iran has quietly built nukes already.
The have ballistic missiles and can enrich uranium.
If they do have nuclear weapon they probably got the tech from the Nth Koreans
And if Israel nuked Iran, Pakistan might provide a nuclear weapon to Iran for retaliation.

Whats the most likely WWIII scenario?
Maybe false flag.

Someone does something, and it gets blamed on Iran.
US is 'forced' to act against Iran, and Russia comes to Iran's defense.
Similar situation with Russia.

US or European ship gets blown up in the Black Sea or elsewhere, and it gets blamed on Russia
(I'm suggesting that Russia won't be the party responsible)
Result - NATO Article 5 triggered.
West 'Has no choice but to act'
Russia / Ukraine war becomes Russia / NATO war (and others).

"We could resist aggressive moslem population with the ADF and Police."
How? It's UN treaty, and only One Nation has a sensible immigration policy.
It's not like we can discriminate by race or religion.

You'd think that in a housing and cost of living crisis people would see this, but both main parties support large immigration and Australia doesn't seem to be pushing back against it much.

Hi Chek
"What can we, the populace, do?"
- Support diplomacy, dialogue, negotiations and compromise over conflict.
Both these current wars are a deliberate failure of diplomacy.

Beyond that UN Charter talks about nations right to soverignty.
The West needs to stop meddling in the internal affair of other nations, under the cover of 'humanitarianism' when it's really about expanding their empire.

It's too late anyway, the 'unipolar moment' is already over.

Not even bothering to read that article. Why on Earth don’t ships have high powered guns & general suitable defence armament to deal with that nonsense ? All this pussy-footing around only serves as encouragement to these criminals.

Now all the woozies are protesting about the actions taken against the
Hoodies in their bases.
Didn't they realise the penalty for Piracy is to be hung from the yardarm ?
Another favourite punishment was keelhauling.
There is a history of Islamic pirates in that area and the US Navy
sailed across from new United States to deal with them in the 18th century.
The US is following quite well established practise

Kudos Bezza.