Trump’s Gaza peace move raises questions over AUKUS priorities

Trump’s unexpected diplomatic victory has reignited debate over Australia’s defense spending and foreign policy priorities, writes Mark Beeson.

A GOOD PRESIDENT FOR THE USA Donald Trump!

These are words I never thought I would say, but when good news is in short supply, take what you can get. Stopping the genocidal massacre in Gaza is clearly a good outcome, regardless of who planned it.

True, this result could have been achieved months ago, even by the former President. Joe Biden – and thousands of lives may have been saved, but who’s counting? The real question now, of course, is whether the peace will last and, more pressingly, who will pay for the reconstruction of Gaza.

There is relatively good news on this front as well. Remarkably, it may “only” take an estimated time 50 billion dollars (about AU$77 billion) to lift Gaza from rubble. Yes, that’s a lot of money, but not compared to the money now. $997 billion (AU$1.5 trillion) America will spend on the military in 2024.

More importantly for Australian audiences, the price tag of around AU$80 billion is less than a quarter of what our Government plans to spend, with enthusiastic support from the Opposition. submarines This will probably never arrive, if it does it will not work as advertised and will cost much more than we believe.

You can guess where I’m going with this and your eyes are already rolling. But before I voluntarily shatter what little credibility I may have as a “serious” security policy analyst, let me remind you this: President Embers He’s not exactly famous for his grasp of strategic (or economic) reality, and look what he’s achieved.

I have no ulterior motives, at least not unless I’m trying to avoid watching Palestinians get ripped to shreds on the news every night.

So what we can do is scrap it AUKUS because it is increasingly seen as a pointless, unrealizable, ineffective waste of money – and not just by aging peacekeepers – and that the money should be spent on a clearly more productive purpose: the reconstruction of Gaza. This would not only delight (and no doubt disbelieve) the Palestinians, but would also do wonders for Australia’s somewhat tarnished international reputation.

It is worth remembering that we are pretty slow and we are reluctant to defend peace and the Palestinian cause. We are widely seen as incapable of acting independently, let alone opposing, anything the US is contemplating, no matter how improbable, ill-judged or irrelevant to Australia’s much-proclaimed “national interests”.

Our participation in the Iraq war remains “indicator A” supporting this thesis. How little is said about our selfishness environmental recordmaybe better.

Before the bean counters become paralyzed, it’s worth noting that we probably won’t have to pay for the reconstruction of Gaza ourselves. It is entirely possible that other countries see the value in acting in someone else’s interests other than their own.

Yes, it may be a bit difficult to sell domestically, but remember, social housing, free education, accessible healthcare, etc. We’ll still have a lot of loot left over.

Will this be the end of the alliance with the USA? Although some nefarious types (like me) may hope so, it need not be so. On the contrary, with enough flattery and perhaps some golden golf clubs (to be presented by) Greg Norman), President Trump may be encouraged to develop his own strategy observation HE “stability, security, dignity and economic development” It is the key to the future of the region.

To protect his notoriety limited attention span Once in focus, one of the first projects could be the construction of a monument to Trump on the scale of the Statue of Liberty, commemorating a feat only he could achieve. Actually, he may be right about this, of course.

Yes, it sounds unlikely, but so is the possibility of a surprisingly unqualified real estate agent running the world. But we are where we are. If it takes special skills To deal with Donald, then, let’s try to ensure that the ideas he espouses are at least thought of as useful, rather than being the product of some self-serving plutocrats and opportunists who often attract his attention.

Who knows, maybe we can convince “very determined genius” to turn his attention to his Russian friend’s destruction of Ukraine. Why is Trump like this? I fell in love with Putin It remains a secret, but if he stops the war in Ukraine, I really think he should get the Nobel Prize. That would be richly deserved.

Getting him/her to think differently about:climate change” It may be a hopeless hope, but stopping senseless carnage on two continents would still be a major achievement for someone not known for his grasp of what counts as grand strategy or diplomacy. That’s at least one thing we have in common.

Mark Beeson is an adjunct professor at the University of Technology Sydney and Griffith University. He was previously Professor of International Politics at the University of Western Australia.

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