Australia: catch all

[Backwards Observer]

Pentagon Adds Military Force to Fight Cyber-Attacks

The Pentagon reports it reserves the right to use military force against cyber-attacks, taking a stronger offensive approach against the newest threats to homeland security.

Pentagon Adds Military Force to Fight Cyber-Attacks - Forbes - Nov 17, 2011.

...

China using WA satellite station to track navy

A SATELLITE ground station in the West Australian desert is being used by the Chinese military to help locate Australian and US navy warships in the region, an expert has warned.

The explosive claim has been made by the nation's foremost expert on space-based espionage, Des Ball, who says the government may have unwittingly acted against the national interest by allowing China to use the ground station at Mingenew to track Beijing's space satellites.

``This ground station would help China's space-based listening devices to more precisely locate the electronic emissions from aircraft carriers, destroyers and other navy ships,'' Professor Ball told The Australian.

``We're talking serious stuff here . . . why was the construction of this station never announced?''

China using WA satellite station to track navy - Perth Now - Nov 16, 2011.

...

Does this explain the USMC presence in Darwin? They're prepping for an attack on the verdomme quislings in Western Australia? Interesting times...or something.

[davidbfpo]

Good to know Des Ball is still active in this field.

He is an expert, I am an observer and find this very strange. The facility in Western Australia, there are two sites at Dongara, which are part of the Swedish-owned Swedish Space Corporation's PrioraNet satellite monitoring network. There are five similar stations in the USA and of the three network control stations two are in the USA. See:http://www.sscspace.com/products-ser...rioranet-sites

One site, Dongara West:

is owned, operated and maintained by SSC’s US-based subsidiary, Universal Space Network (“USN”). USN functions under a US Government Special Security Agreement (SSA) and primarily serves US-Government and commercial customers.

Whilst Dongara East is:

owned and maintained by SSC’s Australia-based subsidiary, SSC Space Australia. The station is operated from the SSC main station in northern Sweden at the Esrange Space Center. The Dongara East Satellite Station primarily serves government agencies and commercial customers.

I would assume in the event of damaging circumstances this network would be prone to "extended maintenance", if not outright cessation.

What is curious is whether the Australian government knew what was happening. Clearly the "informed public" did not.

[Backwards Observer]

Can't. keep. up. with. events!

Joint army exercises with China 'a possibility'

Brendan Nicholson, The Australian, November 22.

AUSTRALIA and the US have embraced the idea of future joint military exercises with Chinese forces in the Top End.

...

In Bali during the ASEAN summit, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono raised with Julia Gillard the possibility of Australia and the US inviting China to take part in exercises as a way to reduce tension with Beijing over the presence of marines in Darwin.

US ambassador Jeffrey Bleich told The Australian yesterday that inclusion of units from the People's Liberation Army in exercises was the sort of co-operation that could ultimately emerge as the US military training presence in Australia was stepped up.

Asked if he could envisage exercises in which Chinese soldiers trained in Australia with those from the ADF and the US, Mr Bleich said that was possible.

Defence Minister Stephen Smith said Dr Yudhoyono's proposal of trilateral exercises involving Australia, China and the US were "interesting and a positive suggestion for possible consideration in the long term".
Mr Bleich said the US had made it very clear to China that it wanted to bolster military ties between the two countries. "The more we share information, the more we train together, the more we communicate, the less likely it is that anyone's going to misunderstand one another," Mr Bleich said.

"And if issues do arise it's much easier to pick up the phone and talk to someone who you know, who you've worked with, who you trust to resolve those issues.

"That's part of what training accomplishes. It gives you a rapport, an understanding and a trust between forces."

Joint Army Exercises With China A Possibility - The Australian - Nov 22, 2011.

alternate link - (google news)

[Backwards Observer]

Once again, one reads with increasingly milder disbelief a measured piece of analysis in The Jakarta Post:

News analysis: Wither the Community, arise East Asia rivalry

If Indonesia and ASEAN had any pretensions that its touted East Asia Community could manage a dynamic equilibrium in avoiding a dreaded Cold War-like rivalry of alliances, then such notions were thrown halfway out the window last week.

Sandwiched between two major summits, APEC in Honolulu and the East Asia Summit in Bali, US President Barack Obama’s formal announcement of heightened military presence through a Darwin military base is a marker for what could be a drawn-out era of intra-regional rivalry.

The US, Australia, the Philippines (and more timidly Singapore and India), on the one side, versus a rising China on the other. While most of Southeast Asia caught in the middle being dragged one way or another.

Wither the Community, Arise East Asia Rivalry - The Jakarta Post - Nov 21, 2011.

...

Also relatively lucid:

The USA is here to stay

China's extraordinary economic growth in recent decades has led to considerable speculation about whether its rise will continue to be peaceful and the impact it will have on the existing world order.

Its strong performance has been contrasted in more recent times by the economic struggles of the world's super power, the United States.

This has led some pundits to theorise that the US may become a lesser force in the Asia Pacific, particularly as China's military build-up continues and it develops greater naval capability.

[...]

Commentators continue to pose the hypothetical that if there were military conflict between the US and China, Australia would have to choose between its closest military and strategic ally and its biggest economic and trading partner.

The closer integration of the US and Chinese economies makes this an unlikely scenario.

A more reasonable assessment is that Australia will continue to maintain its close historical and strategic relationship with the US and work assiduously to maintain the mutually beneficial economic relationship with China.

The Bishop's Gambit - Sydney Morning Herald - Nov 23, 2011.


Let's face it, in World War 'Nam, the gringos are inevitably going to circle the wagons and send out foragers. One can only pray they know what they're doing.

[davidbfpo]

To those "down under" maybe not a surprise. Sino-Australian defence co-operation carries on - after recent agreement on US basing - well, well. Chinese defence diplomacy has appeared elsewhere on SWC.

Link:http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/...jing-want.aspx

[Ray]

US troops have landed in Darwin.

Await Chinese reactions!

[davidbfpo]

Abu M's commentary is not an April Fool's comment, but it takes a rather unusual method to deliver a critique of the USMC arriving in Darwin. A taster:

...inevitably, well-meaning U.S. Marines will offend Australians by asking awkward questions, like, "Why are all your rugby players from Fiji?"

Link:http://www.cnas.org/blogs/abumuqawam...australia.html

[Ken White]

Originally Posted by davidbfpo

Abu M's commentary is not an April Fool's comment...

It's just a little too cute...

Fortunately, most Strynes will ignore him. They tend to ignore all Pommy condescension. As they should.

[Mark O'Neill]

There is one current Wallaby who was born in Fiji, Radike Samo..

It is a bit like asking 'Why are all the kickers in the NFL Australian...' (well, the good ones, anyway...)


He was pretty much right about the rest of it......

But he forgot to mention that after FM3-XX / MCWFP 3-33.XX Counterdingo operations is published (after a celeb launch hosted by Eliot Cohen and featuring the re-formation of the CNAS COIN expert band with Ricks on backing vocals) we will studiously ignore it... until we next send a bright up-and -coming grad student to SAMS / Quantico who will come back with a 'new' idea that will look something like it and subsequently inform our conceptual force development for the next decade. After some 'unique' grammar laundering to make it look Australian.

Move along... no cultural cringe to see here...

[KingJaja]

I'm not an expert on Australia - US relationships, but apart from needlessly provoking China, what exactly is the point of this deployment?

I know China is the only justification for massive expenditures by the US Navy and Airforce, but China isn't exactly the Soviet Union. Australia's economy is heavily dependent on the Chinese and will continue to be in the foreseeable future. Thousands of Chinese students study in Australia etc.

What message are the Australians and Americans trying to send to the Chinese and is it a pointless message?

[Ken White]

Originally Posted by Mark O'Neill

Move along... no cultural cringe to see here...

I'm also not an expert or even mildly knowledgeable about Australia - US relationships but my limited experience with Australians leads me to suggest to an Australian, no less, that cultural cringe with reference to Australians is perhaps an oxymoron...

P.S.
I cannot believe you guys are wasting time and money on SAMS...

[Mark O'Neill]

Originally Posted by Ken White

P.S.
I cannot believe you guys are wasting time and money on SAMS...

Ken, Hence my point about cringe...

It is often discussed here in Australia how we as a society have continually sought 'affirmation' or 'inspiration' from others. To some extent that has also been true of our military thinking. Until 1942 ,we looked to the UK for this, since then , more so the US. A good example of this trait was our wholesale embrace of the 'Pentomic' Division rubbish in the 60s...

[Ken White]

Originally Posted by Mark O'Neill

...the 'Pentomic' Division rubbish in the 60s...

It wasn't totally rubbish. As a plank owner in the very first Pentomic Airborne Infantry Combat Group (later to be a Battle Group), it wasn't nearly as bad as painted. The concept was not properly applicable to Mechanized or Armored organizations (a minor reason for its demise) as the US Army understood Armor. However, it was a good fit for Parachute units * and an acceptable one for other walking Infantry -- the difference being the relative quality of troops at the time.

The concept suffered from being designed and activated in the Mid '50s to use equipment that did not become available until the mid 60s. That was after the experiment was ended and we had reverted to Regiments (to be falsely renamed Brigades and which had no need for much of the equipment designed for a different type of organization...). That reversion and the demise of the concept was principally due to vociferous opposition from the Colonels of the US Army who, mostly, were not physically capable of keeping up with the required foot mobility nor tactically flexible enough to employ the units to best advantage and who really objected to being told to command a 14-15 hundred man unit instead of a 3-4,000 man regiment with three or more subordinate Lieutenant Colonels. Then Colonel Frederick C. Weyand, Commander of the 1st BG, 6th Infantry and later to be CofS, Army was one of the major players in that; he had a lot of help. There were other issues. CSS for a fairly important one, Division Staffs (pretty mujch unchanged from the old triangular Div Hq organization) unwilling to tolerate the flexibility and independence required of the Battle Groups was another...

The bottom line is that if one is going to radically restructure one's force, one should lay the foundation for proper personnel support and rules, equipment and logistics BEFORE activating the new units.

Oh -- and better training is always a plus...

* Both US Airborne Divisions were reasonably successful in their employment of the concept, due primarily to much younger leaders at all levels than was the US Army norm at the time. Even they suffered from the equipment, CSS and Colonel attitude issues though. Those who then said and now say that there is no need for parachute units (but who have not yet figured out another way to move a few thousand troops over hostile territory to a very distant objective or operating area) saw that and an insured that the airborne elements were drug into the mainstream Army 'system' and that time in service and time in grade became prime promotion criteria, competence was not an issue...

[Bill Moore]

http://asiancentury.dpmc.gov.au/white-paper

Within only a few years, Asia will not only be the world’s largest producer of goods and services, it will also be the world’s largest consumer of them. It is already the most populous region in the world. In the future, it will also be home to the majority of the world’s middle class.

The Asian century is an Australian opportunity. As the global centre of gravity shifts to our region, the tyranny of distance is being replaced by the prospects of proximity. Australia is located in the right place at the right time—in the Asian region in the Asian century.

Recommend reading the Executive Summary and Chapter 8 at a minimum if you are interested in strategic and defense views in the Asia-Pacific.

[davidbfpo]

Good catch Bill M., as this White paper was only unveiled on Friday afternoon by Julia Gillard, the Australian Prime Minister.

I rely on the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank, for awareness on Australian and Pacific matters. From their pre-release comment:

This White Paper will be a signature foreign policy document for Prime Minister Gillard. If it hits the mark, it could come to be seen as a milestone for Australia's relations with Asia. Or it could be just another quickly forgotten government report.

Link:http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/...er-launch.aspx

So a few selected sentences from their commentary:

The language of the speech and the White Paper is lofty and inspirational. The PM's speech is titled 'History asks great nations great questions', and the White Paper itself calls the Asian century 'a truly transformative period in our history' and 'a transformation as profound as any that have defined Australia throughout our history'.

...there is very little sense of the risks of the Asian century.

The PM's description of Asia's explosive growth and the opportunities it offers was never accompanied by any warnings about the potential downsides, particularly the fact that Australia's relative influence in the region will decline as the region's developing economies continue their explosive growth

The commentary:http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/...pressions.aspx

[Ray]

New initiative to allow all Australian children to learn Mandarin, Hindi, Japanese or Bahasa

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/wor...#ixzz2AgHXDSAp