Exit AUKUS now

In relation to our article Trump 2.0 and the crisis in Australia’s delusional middle power imagining

Margaret Callinan, Hawthorn VIC 3122, Mar 3, 2025

I love and am so grateful for P&I but that doesn’t mean I agree with every word or idea published. Assuming other fans are like me, some probably don’t — yet — share Dr Patience’s views in his Trump 2.0 article. Thus, for any such readers, the statement “It is possible … Trump (hence America) won’t care about Australia at all. …. Canberra’s timorous commitment to the ridiculous AUKUS agreement, for example, becomes ever more quixotic as Trump and his team up-end old alliances and the global order.” is not direct enough.

For current unbelievers and doubters, plain English is needed. We need to exit AUKUS “now” and re-examine every treaty, agreement and handshake understanding “now”.

And lest I’m not plain enough, this is not “because of” Trump. Our alignments with the US have only ever been in US interests from which we might benefit if we were lucky. And clearly we haven’t been – Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, AUKUS billions, etc. The only thing new with Trump is that his madness gives, or should give, us clarity of vision to see the one-sidedness and shortcomings that have always been there.

Exit AUKUS now!