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.