This is not another “what is the war about?” thread. Whether it’s about oil or spreading democracy is not the question. Rather the question is what will the UK and Australia and the other two nations primarily involved gain from this war?
My own opinion is that it is unclear. I am not sure whether the UK had wonderful relations with Arab states before the war that have been ruined since. But for years the UK seems to have got nowt out of the so-called special relationship with the USA. Will this change? What crumbs will be passed the UK’s way?
What does Australia hope to gain? What will it actually gain?
For John Howard, reelection. It is hard to believe that he got so much out of the war. Australia’s contribution was minimal a token force really. It was less than a thousand and mostly operated offshore except for the special forces during initial conflict. Only one soldier has been injured. All up for the current government it has been a bonus as an electral issue.
If you are Australia and you are convinced that the States is going to go with or without you, I think strategically it is better to go with them right or wrong. It is a military alliance after all.
What do we get out of it besides high oil prices for a decade, and the increased likely hood of terrorist attacks on Australian soil, I’m not sure.
because god knows you can’t do things like topple a dictator without expecting goodies as a reward. funny how the us is accused of self interest for everything it does.
Sympathy constitutes FRIENDSHIP, but in LOVE there is a sort of antipathy, or opposing passion. Each strives to be the other, and both together make up one whole.
–Coleridge
My guess is that power - of the naked sort the US has wielded under Bush - precludes Coleridge’s “sympathy” and thus allows the “opposing passion” to overpower LOVE for the United States. Hopefully this condition is temporary.
In other words, Bush may have the world’s sympathy or power over the world, but not both - unless under Bush the US inspires INDIFFERENCE.
And indifference is neither likely nor desireable. (Thank god for the Brits and the Aussies.)
No sense whining about it, Flipper; sympathy for the US doesn’t come with the friendless territory Bush has somehow managed to stake out for us.
but if the us threw some juicy contracts australia or britain’s way, then all is well with the world?
look at this thread. it’s people asking about what nakedly self-interested benefits britain and australia can hope to get out of the us for their “friendship”.
basically, this thread is saying bush hasn’t done enough to buy off his friends.
Precisely. Damn you anyway. Instead of turkey for Christmas and bad TV, I could have been driving a nice BMW and have loadsamoney and exotic foreign holidays like the Germans. :raspberry:
Exactly. Thanks to you lot swaggering over with your flapjacks and chewing gum, for 50 years the most exotic death we were able to look forward to was dying of boredom on the bus to Bundoran.
The doughnuts and apple pie were good. Why did you wait until the war to send them over? Actually, the coffee and the flapjacks weren’t bad either. Turkey’s OK I suppose, once in a while. Some of the films, I mean “moo vees” were alright too I suppose. I liked that one where Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn agreed to meet at the top of that tall pointy building in New York. The other one.
