[LINK] Howard in the footsteps of Menzies

[Craig Sanders]

On Wed, Feb 12, 2003 at 09:57:39AM +1000, Russell Ashdown wrote:
> The question in my mind is: What, if anything will Mr Howard's
> submissiveness to the whims of the US government do to affect this
> country's relationship with the US?  Will it give us as a nation more
> bargaining power with the US administration?  Will our government now
> carry more weight with this administration and future US
> administrations than domestic US lobby groups?  Will for example, the
> US administration now be predisposed to halt the "dumping" of US farm
> produce in competition with Australian produce?

AFAICT, we're getting nothing and likely to get nothing.

Turkey, on the other hand, is being offered a 25 billion dollar bribe to
allow US troops to launch an attack on Iraq from Turkey (without regard
to the Kurds who are in the way).

25 billion sounds like a lot of money, but it's not much compared to the
hundreds of billions worth of Iraqi oil reserves  - estimated to be
worth over $60 billion per year at current rates of production.

craig

PS: i still wouldn't be in favour of Howard's actions if we were offered
a substantial bribe for Australian support....but i could at least
understand the motivation if there was something in it for Australia.

-- 
craig sanders <cas@taz.net.au>

Fabricati Diem, PVNC.
 -- motto of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch