Word: howard
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...There is no point, in a situation like this, being an 80% ally," Prime Minister John Howard said after 9/11, pledging military support for his country's closest ally. How much commitment would a Labor-led Australia give to the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq - and to the two nations' 53-year-old alliance, one of the most amicable and enduring in modern times...
...going to be pro-American and contribute to Iraq," says Dupont, "then the way Howard did it" - sending small but highly effective forces and bringing most of them home quickly and without casualties - "is a textbook example of how to make a minimal commitment militarily and reap maximum political and alliance dividends." At the Republican National Convention last month, President George W. Bush thanked the Australian P.M. before any other leader. "America is grateful," he said. "And America will not forget." The U.S. has already remembered its Aussie ally with a free-trade agreement that could boost the $A800 billion...
...before Australia," says Foreign Minister Alexander Downer. "We put Australia's national interest first. Institutions like the U.N. are important - the question is how are you going to relate to them in the national interest." The Howard government committed troops to lead the U.N. peacekeeping effort in East Timor (about 1,000 remain there). But it sees Labor's faith in the U.N. as unrealistic, given the world body's failure to enforce its resolutions on Iraq or bring peace to Rwanda, Kosovo, Bosnia or Sudan. In a post-9/11 world of terrorism, black-market nukes and bioweapons...
...within the context of the alliance." To strategy analyst Dupont, "self-reliance sounds like we would basically do everything ourselves and if the Americans assist us, well and good, but we won't assume they will." In practice, he says, independence is impossible. Since the late 1990s, when the Howard government began revamping the military for the 21st century, Australian and U.S. forces have become increasingly interdependent, sharing intelligence, training, weaponry, technology and communications systems. According to Griffith University's Tow, who last year co-authored a study on the future of the alliance, Australia learned the limits of autonomy...
...country is seen as too subservient to the U.S. Thanks to a clever headline in an Australian magazine, the impression is widespread in Asia that Australia's Prime Minister sees himself as Bush's "deputy sheriff." That image has been damaging, says Tow. The reality since Howard took office has been a steady strengthening of ties with Asia in trade, diplomacy, law enforcement and counterterrorism. But "in Asia, style is often substance," and the "deputy sheriff" image is one Labor is particularly anxious to dispel...