Breaking away from news of Trump, Duterte, and the terrorists in Cebu so as not to further hijack those legitimate subjects, I link here a good article about some background. I've also repeated the links from my post on the Cebu scare. http://www.globalresearch.ca/anti-a...t-dutertes-subaltern-counter-hegemony/5556831 (from Canada's Global Research) Why the Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte Hates America (from the Diplomat magazine) Duterte’s shift in foreign policy has a history. (from the Phil Star's Carmen Pedrosa)
Another example of a country breaking from America, former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating said 5 days ago (11/10/2016) that Australia is so far ahead of America economically and culturally, that they should "cut the tag" and be more independent. Among other things, he said, "....in Australia, we don't shoot our children in school, and, if we do, we take away the guns..," America of course being the country that scolded Duterte for allowing the shooting of drug dealers. What hypocrisy. (ex Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating on youtube)
Sounded to me like he was saying he thought they should break from America but the current Prime Minister does not think that. Are you saying the current Prime Minister will change his mind because the previous one from 2 decades ago says so?
ARt, thanks for pointing that out, i should have added that disclaimer in my previous post. No, i'm saying some serious people in Australia do think they should move further from the US, for many of the same reasons that Duterte is moving further. Keating even suggested Australia should consider joining ASEAN. I did not research why Keating only served 3 yrs, and, as you pointed out, 12 years ago (91 - 94).
I agree that Australia should pursue their own foreign policy rather than being led by the US. However he is obviously a socialist which is his right to be. It seems the main reason for this interview was to bash Trump and not the war monger in chief Obama...he of Nobel Peace Prize fame. Where was his outrage during all the interventions by the Obama team?
ARt, to be more forthright, you are right, this is the position of Turnbull, the CURRENT PM: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/...l/news-story/fdecfe42a1fb2983b9af81847051bed3 (Turnbull congrats Trump, Adelaide Advertiser)
The US might miss Australia as a market but I don't think they do that much business. Maybe the US imports rare earths but that is about all I can think of that would be really important. I don't see what the big deal is about trade outside of military technology.
I really don't think anyone is saying they think their country should tell the US to F-off, keep your trade, people, technology, money, etc away from us. I think they are saying their government should think for themselves and not be subservient yes men who rubberstamp US whims.
I think a lot of countries, particularly developed Western countries, have been using the US as a scapegoat for their p*ss poor political decisions for a long time. (Yes, the US has plenty of those poor decisions being made as well, but let's not act like the US is going around and putting a gun to the head of almost half of the world's leaders. Don't be giving your politicians a free pass.) Example: Afghanistan War Spoiler: Participating Countries 1 Afghanistan 2 Australia 3 Armenia 4 Azerbaijan 5 Bangladesh 6 Bulgaria 7 Belgium 8 Bosnia and Herzegovina 9 Canada 10 People's Republic of China 11 Republic of the Congo 12 Cyprus 13 Czech Republic 14 Denmark 15 Egypt 16 Estonia 17 France 18 Georgia 19 Germany 20 Greece 21 Hungary 22 India 23 Iran 24 Ireland 25 Italy 26 Japan 27 Kuwait 28 Kyrgyzstan 29 Latvia 30 Lithuania 31 Macedonia 32 Malaysia 33 Montenegro 34 Netherlands 35 New Zealand 36 Norway 37 Oman 38 Pakistan 39 Poland 40 Portugal 41 Qatar 42 Romania 43 Russia 44 Slovakia 45 Slovenia 46 South Korea 47 Spain 48 Sudan 49 Sweden 50 Switzerland 51 Tajikistan 52 Thailand 53 Turkey 54 Turkmenistan 55 United Arab Emirates 56 Ukraine 57 United Kingdom 58 United States of America 59 Uzbekistan 59 countries....and just off the top of my head I know for a fact of at least two countries that have military over there that were left off that list (Mongolia and Columbia). Even China, Russia and Iran got in on that one. The US has some pull but not THAT much pull. The rest of the world is joining in on these fights because they feel they and/or their people have something to gain from it...just as the US does. The countries that have democratically elected governments and have participated in it need to stfu about US war mongering and the war on terrorism. It's not like we are going into these wars alone. You elected your politicians, the US didn't take command of your military and order them in to a conflict - you currently are or have been participating of your own free will. If you don't like it...elect politicians that won't join the US in these conflicts, go be pacifists if you wish, nobody will care. The French told the US to p*ss off in the Iraq invasion, yet somehow they still exist as a country and people.....the only repercussion from that was that Bush renamed French fries to Freedom Fries. Everyone had a laugh and that was that.