Beyond the Western alliance: Australia’s uncertain horizon

As the Western alliance crumbles under raw power politics, Australia faces a stark strategic choice. Dr Adriano Tedde writes.

22 JANUARY 2025, Minister of Foreign Affairs Penny Wong Mentioned Australia and America “common interest and ambition” On the occasion of his first meeting with his US counterpart, Marco Rubio. Who could have predicted that the minister’s words would become unthinkable and unpronounceable in just 12 months?

Expression “Common values and common interests” This has been a refrain voiced for many years by Australia and several other countries that have pledged allegiance to a family of wealthy economies with a supposedly superior political system (liberal democracy) called “the West”.

Today, this family has been torn apart by US President Donald Trump’s reckless policy, which breaks with decades of traditional assurances about the ethical and humane character of Western politics. Putting aside the rhetoric of his predecessors, the 47th US President revealed in all its frightening simplicity the stark differences between national interests and values within the Western family.

Three recent events have signaled the final disintegration of the West as we have known it for nearly 80 years. First, on January 3, the United States took military action against Venezuela, a sovereign state, and captured its President. Nicolas Maduroto U.S. territory to face drug charges. Trump announced that his country will govern Venezuela seizing huge oil reservesVenezuela’s past economic policies have made it inaccessible to America.

The open acceptance of using force solely to satisfy national interests is a clear rejection of common, agreed-upon, written and traditional rules. International law was one of the West’s greatest achievements on the difficult and utopian path of law. Kanteternal peace.

Four days later, the President and his vice president J.D. Vancejustified the murder of an unarmed woman by a federal agent because she was a woman dangerous radical individual. These words, later partially corrected, undermined the foundation of the Western tradition, namely the rule of law.

A century ago, executing citizens for their opinions was the specialty of totalitarian regimes, but even these regimes had the decency to hold a trial before imposing the death penalty on someone. Today, government officials are protected by “absolute immunity,” according to Vance. Those who read Orwell 1984 He will have no problem recognizing the transfer of the crime of “crime-thinking” into real life.

While these alarming acts of violence were taking place, Trump revived an issue that had been dormant for months. US expansion into Greenland. Again, the main driver of such action is national interest, that is, the intention to control resource-rich land in a strategic region, as in the case of Venezuela.

What is extraordinary about the Greenland case is that it is the first time that the United States has openly threatened its own allies in the Western family, revealing the many fractures within that family.

U.S. and European interests have collided since the end of the Cold War, but rather than asserting a unified, integrated power through its Union, Europe has remained a collection of medium and small satellites of U.S. military interventions, and wars ranging from the former Yugoslavia to Libya to Iraq and Afghanistan have been fought primarily to support and protect American interests.

The conflict between European and US interests could not be more obvious. Victoria Nuland’s scream (“To hell with the EU”) When America intervened in regime change in Ukraine in 2014. But even in this case the European countries remained loyal to their great allies and continued until the final industrial collapse; This was the main effect of the US will to cut off economic relations between Europe and Russia – this was only made possible by the Ukraine crisis.

Today, Trump’s appetite for Greenland makes Europe’s enduring loyalty no longer justifiable. It is now sad to witness how the impoverished satellites of Europe, with their politically meaningless Unions, try to fight against the tyrant by acting disjointedly. Some attempted a symbolic military deterrent. Sending troops to GreenlandIn a way that would bring about the end of NATO.

France And Germany They are finally reconsidering a timid return to dialogue with Russia, a partner that may share the same security interests in the polar region. MelonAlthough Italy has expressed concerns about Greenland, it remains Trump’s most loyal friend. Meanwhile, Britain, Poland and the Scandinavian and Baltic bloc remain convinced that a Russian invasion of the West is imminent.

Canadian Prime Minister to deepen cracks in the West Mark Carneyhis speech in Davos On January 21, he used clear statements to distance his middle-power country from Pax Americana. We can be sure that the phrases “rules-based order” and “shared values” will not be mentioned frequently in 2026, but one question remains.

Where will Australia stand in this fragmentation of the West?

Will it join Canada in asserting its middle-power pride and defending its own interests? Or will it continue with business as usual, hoping that better times will come?