At my SubStack, reader Isha Drew comments about Australia, 3/17/23:

 

 

[...] Australia is in a difficult position as it could not easily make the switch to being aligned with some other group considering its strong historical loyalties. Great Britain is still very much a part of Australian life and the US is like a big bullying brother who would crush Australia if it went out on its own. Don't forget they have a semi-secret base right in the centre of Australia at Pine Gap. I recently made a trip into Melbourne and was reflecting on 'who are Australians' on my way home. First, a visit to a swimming lesson with my grandson in the green leafy suburbs, traditionally the home of the wealthier members of this society. Lots of beautiful slim Chinese women, not quite so slim but gymn-toned other ethnic groups, all obviously well to do, Caucasians as well. Lovely clothes. Then on to the train and travelling from the heart of Melbourne to the outskirts. Many Indians/Sri Lankans among the Caucasians and many east Asians who I would presume to be Chinese but could of course be Korean, Vietnamese, and many others. I changed trains at Box Hill which in the last 20 years has moved from being a mixed community to now mostly Chinese etc. The food court above the station has only Asian food and sometimes the signs are not even in English. Back on public transport to my destination where I change for a bus. The bus is quite a different matter - no Asian faces, only the poor and those unable to own a car or people like me who prefer to travel this way as my fare for a 2 hr trip is about $3 USD. So a couple across the aisle who are very much depleted by either drugs or alcohol, but I think drugs. An old lady, a mother covered in tatts with three unruly children, a young builders apprentice covered in dust on his way home from work, school kids who are allowed to leave school early for some reason. This is still within shouting distance of Melbourne but if you went further into the country you would see almost all whites, the kind of people who provided fodder for the wars of the Northern Hemisphere in the past. They are not the dominant factor in Australia any more. I wonder how all the Asians who came here to build a better, more prosperous life than they could achieve in their own country feel about Australia threatening China with its three nuclear subs! In the past the Australian soldiers were tough and unyielding. One Australian author has pointed out that the first time both the German and the Japanese invasions were stopped was by Australian forces (at Tobruk and the Kokoda trail). But if they had a draft now I think it would be a very mixed bag - certainly not the hardened young toughies who came off farms, building sites, and rugby fields in the past. So what do I think? Bloody awful. [...]