According to The International Herald Tribune John Howard has called an election for November 24th [Howard announces Australian elections in November]. Chances are he's going to lose. This might be a good thing for Australia except for the fact that the probable winners might not be a great improvement.
I look forward to enlightenment from all my Australian readers. Is Australia going to move away from its close relationship with George Bush?
6 comments :
According to that continental drift projection you published a month or two ago, Australia is moving toward the USA. Tough luck Larry.
... what do you mean: 'this has got nothing to do with continental drift'?
I don't think there will be a major move away from the close relationship with the USA. The currently leading party (ALP) has become a bit more "conservative" in various respects, and remain strongly pro-US.
The ALP is better on climate and environment issues; this is topical in Australia as we are experiencing a long and horrible drought, and the climate projects for our part of the world is that it will get drier. They speak of some troop reductions in Iraq; but we will continue to be a small contributor there.
I guess I'm starting to see how the Nobel Prize works. First they announce the winner a couple months ahead and then, December 10, they Nobels have to deliver their speeches. Am I right?
Yes, Kevin Rudd won't have that nauseating close relationship with Bush that Howard has cultivated, and will likely pull combat troops out mid-next year.
No, as Rudd's quite conservative and will seek to reassure the US that he isn't excessively pro-China (the guy speaks fluent Mandarin, including a slight Beijing accent).
Thanks for blogging this by the way, I'm interested how other countries are covering this election.
If Rudd wins this election I doubt that there will be any foreign policy changes in relation to Iraq or the Middle East. While we are a major player and like to assert our 'authoritah' in the South East Asian region, any further afield and we tend to snuggle under the wing of the US, regardless of the party in power.
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