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US-Australian ties

Reader comment on item: The Iran Deal Is 'Bizarre' and 'Wretched'
in response to reader comment: keine Garantien

Submitted by Michael S (United States), Sep 18, 2015 at 04:31

Hi, Waz

Our local paper is a Leftist rag, which fortunately doesn't dwell too much on international events. Newsworthy stories among Lefties here are like that of a treesitter trying to save three 140-year-old sequoia trees from being cut down. I am sympathetic with him to an extent, because sequoias are the largest and oldest living things on the planed, and are on the species endangered list. If any tree merits saving, then, I guess these have good credentials.

On the other matter, the "Five Eyes", of course, are the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Presumably, we freely share intelligence among ourselves; but nowadays it's assumed taken for granted that we all spy on and lie to each other, just as we do to everyone else. For a couple of decades now, New Zealand has shied away from the US; but they still have close ties with Australia.

America's (and therefore the West's) mutual defence commitments hail back to the Atlantic Charter, agreed upon between Britain's Churchill and the US's FD Roosevelt. As dominions of Britain at the time, Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, joined the US and UK early the next year in the "Declaration of the United Nations", along with the USSR, China, British India, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Yugoslavia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Rep., El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. Those, of course, were the allies who fought against Germany and its allies. The European partners were all governments in exile, but most had considerable overseas holdings.

America's intelligence sharing with the "Five Eyes" remained strong after the war. The most important sharing was our nuclear programs. When the Soviet-American relations degenerated into the Cold War, NATO was formed as a counterweight, adding Germany and Italy to the fold.

At the time of the Suez Crisis in 1956, the US joined with the Soviets against the UK, France and Israel, in what was probably the most severe Anglo-American rift since the outbreak of WWII. During the Vietnam War, the Brits and Canadians both parted with us: The former openly traded with our enemies, and the latter harbored our deserters and draft-dodgers. Australia and New Zealand, though, stuck tight with us. They have continued to be close to us ever since, especially Australia; and I, for one, have not forgotten this.

I have to reboot. Cheers.

Submitting....

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Reader comments (18) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
The world's leaders are all acting against their own interests. Has God made them made, in order to destroy them? [791 words]Michael SJul 15, 2015 16:19224228
Pluses and minuses [114 words]AnonJul 19, 2015 01:55224228
clarifies some of the reasons.... [9 words]Mohammed Waza Khiddif Id'ullahJul 21, 2015 00:37224228
Obama has an agenda, but it isn't Muslim [1303 words]Michael SAug 1, 2015 19:18224228
A major region for Middle East rivalries, and for Israel's paramount importance to the people of the world [578 words]Michael SAug 4, 2015 02:29224228
cultural divides. [536 words]Mohammed Waza Khiddif Id'ullahAug 7, 2015 06:21224228
1Of bear grease, and other smells [1927 words]Michael SAug 11, 2015 16:50224228
comments on comments [736 words]Mohammed Waza Khiddif Id'ullahAug 22, 2015 08:40224228
3The Gnostics and their great gift: knowledge [71 words]Dhimmi no moreAug 24, 2015 13:36224228
Fish and company smell in three days [855 words]Michael SAug 24, 2015 19:49224228
hope not [44 words]Mohammed Waza Khiddif Id'ullahAug 30, 2015 03:07224228
p.s. [28 words]Mohammed Waza Khiddif Id'ullahAug 30, 2015 06:59224228
I can't tell a German from an Italian. Also, it's the media who seem "wretched and bizarre" [439 words]Michael SSep 1, 2015 16:13224228
accents query [274 words]Mohammed Waza Khiddif Id'ullahSep 7, 2015 23:31224228
American eye reporting. [305 words]Michael SSep 12, 2015 03:42224228
keine Garantien [71 words]Mohammed Waza Khiddif Id'ullahSep 15, 2015 03:46224228
US-Australian ties [398 words]Michael SSep 18, 2015 04:31224228
The Iran treaty may have done Israel's work for them [396 words]MIchael SNov 13, 2015 08:22224228

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