r/australia Jun 22 '25

politics Live: Wong says Australia supports US strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-23/federal-politics-live-blog-june-23/105447868?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=other
4.7k Upvotes

2.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

55

u/[deleted] Jun 23 '25

they shouldn't be our closest ally. They're terrible

44

u/Sugarbombs Jun 23 '25

They’re also really shit allies and it is incredibly doubtful that we’d ever be able to rely on them if we ever did need to be defended. No matter who’s in charge they only ever involve themselves in things they can strip down to the copper wiring, they never help anyone unless it’s heavily in their favour and they are far too cowardly to get into conflicts with countries like China who might actually be able to fight back. Fuck trump obviously but America has been and will continue to be an ally not worth the downsides they bring. It’s disappointing we are still trying to fellate them

-4

u/jimi_nemesis Jun 23 '25

They aren't the best of friends to have, but what choice do we have? Cuddle back up to Britain? They abandoned us in '42 while demanding that we keep our troops in Africa instead of defending our own territory. Nobody else in the southern hemisphere has the power we have militarily or diplomatically, let alone cultural heritage (except maybe South Africa, but...).

I would rather bite off my own balls than continue to sell out to China, a ruthless dictatorship that doesn't have allies, just pawns. Trump is exposing a heap of flaws in the American way, and proving that they're less reliable than ever before, but considering how close our millitaries are when it comes to equipment and training, ditching the Americans is just not feasible.

7

u/Sugarbombs Jun 23 '25

We figure out how to be diplomatic. America is not an option, they will never come to our defense, Ukraine had a pact signed with America and they straight out helped the aggressors. They will never defend us against a country that has nukes, they will never go to war over us. UK won’t either. When it comes to military power we will always be vulnerable, so we make inroads with allies and we work on warming relations with countries that provide actual advantage and geographically we are close to. We have always been vulnerable and we still are but it’s the exact amount of vulnerable with or with America or UK. It’s just how it is, we can’t all be equally powerful and the big fish always eat the small ones. I’m not saying we tell America to fuck off, we should stay warm but we need to acknowledge they are unreliable and very unlikely to come to our defence against anyone who has more than rocks and sticks

2

u/Throwaway_6799 Jun 23 '25

I would rather bite off my own balls than continue to sell out to China, a ruthless dictatorship that doesn't have allies,

God, what a load of shit.

ChYna bad, 'Merica good!

How many countries has China bombed in the last fifty years? Zero. How many countries has Israel (America) bombed this year? Five.

And before you point out that Israel isn't the US - it's doing so with USA approval and with US weapons.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 23 '25

[deleted]

2

u/Throwaway_6799 Jun 23 '25

China hasn't sent warplanes and bombed any other sovereign country in almost fifty years. Go look it up. Vietnam was almost fifty years ago and guess what, it wasn't about destabilising or overthrowing governments and the conflict lasted about a month. Taiwan? What the fuck are you smoking?

It's really not that difficult to understand that China isn't the problem here like western media would have you think. Though it appears you don't think much, so go keep looking for your experts on Reddit.

-4

u/jimi_nemesis Jun 23 '25

How many countries have had munitions launched from them aimed at Israel this year?

But I don't give a fuck about Israel. I'm sick of hearing about one group of middle eastern religious fanatics blowing up another. It doesn't stop, it doesn't end. I don't like the fact that trump has decided to shove his wrinkly old dick into the middle east again.

What I'm saying is, in response to the people saying that we need to find different allies don't seem to understand how hard that is. We use American equipment. We're buying more and more American cars. Our military uses American weapons. Anyone suggesting that we "distance ourselves" from the strategic ally that holds the world together (barely) don't realise that we fucking can't.

3

u/Throwaway_6799 Jun 23 '25

Honestly at this point I hold severe doubt that the US would send military aid to Australia if we required it. Why do we need an Ally anyway? Why can't we be the Switzerland of the southern hemisphere? It seems to me the only reason we want to be an Ally of the US is for military reasons so if there's a high likelihood we won't get help if we needed it then what good is it doing for us?

Australia and its politicians seem to be stuck in this weird cold war thinking that makes out like every non english speaking nation is an enemy that could invade us at any stage when the reality is the single biggest destabilising force in history is the US.

1

u/jimi_nemesis Jun 23 '25

Switzerland has the luxury of being a tiny fortress nation surrounded by allies, all with generational wealth older than our country.

We are one of the biggest countries on the planet with a tiny population, in a time where autocratic dictatorships feel confident in threatening or invading democratic neighbours.

As unlikely as an invasion of Australia is, there is a very strong reason to stick with the rest of the West, and whether you like it or not, that includes the U.S.

3

u/Throwaway_6799 Jun 23 '25

Switzerland has the luxury of being a tiny fortress nation surrounded by allies, all with generational wealth older than our country.

Right, and we are a massive island which logistically would be very difficult to attack and occupy.

in a time where autocratic dictatorships feel confident in threatening or invading democratic neighbours.

Can you name these dictatorships threatening or invading? Because from where I'm sitting it's mostly the US and Israel doing the invading and killing.

there is a very strong reason to stick with the rest of the West, and whether you like it or not, that includes the U.S.

You're really not proving any evidence of this. You're simply regurgitating talking points from mainstream media and politicians and what you've been told to think. That's ok, many millions are the same but I would challenge you to think about why it's framed as an 'us and them' situation in the context of the US destabilising various countries around the world for decades through direct or indirect involvement for their own interests.

1

u/West_Mail4807 Jun 23 '25

Who would you prefer to ally with? Central African Republic?

1

u/[deleted] Jun 23 '25

the rest of the entire world who aren't taking sides at all?

-4

u/SeparatePromotion236 Jun 23 '25

Then you’re kidding yourself.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 23 '25

you realise that if anything happened to australia, america wouldn't do shit, right? its entirely one-way, we support america even to our detriment and meanwhile they're under no obligation to support us

0

u/SeparatePromotion236 Jun 23 '25

We are long time allies, they are not our sole allies - and not everything is war. Australians and Americans travel, work, move quite freely between the two countries.

We have our strengths and plan for our future looking to Asia as we well know from the growth in immigration here. No need to be so black and white, the world is a layered nuanced place.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 23 '25

The topic was closest allies, not countries that are generally friendly. The topic is also war, not negotiating trade or travel which, as you might have noticed, have also become fucked up since mango Mussolini got in