Military treaties are a pact with the devil!

Vanguard November 2012 p. 2
by Bill F.

The Australian people are well aware of the ANZUS treaty between Australia, New Zealand and the United States. It is the cornerstone of the ‘sacred’ US Alliance so heavily promoted by our local lackeys and apologists for US imperialism.

The corporate mass media promotes the idea that the US will automatically come to Australia’s assistance if the country is attacked by another country (Indonesia? China?). It conveniently ignores the fact that the wording of the ANZUS treaty, at best, only invokes consultation, not military commitment. “The Parties will consult together whenever in the opinion of any of them the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the Parties is threatened in the Pacific”.

 
This clause is solely to protect the interests of the US imperialism, which expects Australia to automatically defend US interests, but will not commit wholeheartedly to defending Australia. After all, US imperialism has substantial investments and political influence in other countries apart from Australia, especially Indonesia and now China.

Apart from ANZUS and the recent pact to allow US marines to be based in Darwin and the US military to have extensive access to Australian facilities (see Vanguard September 2012), there are two lesser known treaties that will further bind Australia to the military interests of US imperialism.

Defence trade agreement

The first is a defence trade agreement currently being reviewed by a Senate committee. If ratified, it would mean that academic researchers would require Department of Defence permission to communicate or discuss their findings if that involved items on the Defence and Strategic Goods List (DSGL).

According to the Department of Defence, the agreement would “remove the administrative delays associated with existing Australian and US export-licensing systems.” In other words, to speed up the supply of US weapons and equipment to the Australian military to ensure greater compatibility and integration with US forces, and to boost the profits of the US armaments monopolies.

The DSGL list covers thousands of items, both defence-related goods and ‘dual use’ goods, such as medical and computing technologies that could be used for military purposes.

Many academics are alarmed. Universities Australia chief executive Belinda Robinson said, “Many goods are routinely held by universities as they are needed to teach students and to conduct research in the fields of science and technology.”

University of Sydney deputy vice-chancellor Jill Trewhella said, “It can cover everything from vaccinations and treatments for cancers to mining research… We think it’s in the interests of Australia not to rush through legislation that could have such an impact on research that’s for the public good, and is publicly-funded.”

University of Sydney policy analysis and communication director Tim Payne said, “It’s an unprecedented incursion into universities’ independence… It’s an attack on Australian sovereignty and an attack on academic freedom.”

SOVFA

The second agreement is the Status of Visiting Forces Agreement (SOVFA) between the Philippines and Australia. It was originally signed between the Howard government and President Gloria Arroyo in 2007, but was only ratified by the Philippine Senate in July. It copies sections of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between the Philippines and the United States, and the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) which allows the temporary basing of US troops and equipment and joint military exercises.

Although Australian monopolies have considerable mining investments in the Philippines, it was not considered urgent by either Australia or the Philippines, until US imperialism decided to expand its presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

Apart from the on-going disputes over islands in the South China Sea, Australian forces could also be drawn into the long-running domestic armed conflicts between the corrupt and brutal Philippine armed forces and the revolutionary New People’s Army, as well as the various Moro Liberation groups and the private armies of the large feudal land-holders. US forces have already dabbled in these conflicts and the presence of Australians would make their role more ‘acceptable’, give it a more ‘international community’ flavour.

 (Above: People of the Philippines do not want Australian troops!)

Australia’s military involvement currently amounts to about $295 million, covering the training of an average of 120 officers per year, a coastal security program, and specialised counter-terrorism training and intelligence. So, will Australia finally pull out of Afghanistan, just to transfer to another US ‘field of operations’?

Rather than signing more pacts with the devil, Australia should be signing a treaty with its own indigenous Aboriginal and Torres Straits people to recognise their sovereign rights and their dispossession through colonial invasion.