USS Clueless              Voyages of a restless mind

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Stardate 20011204.0454 (On Screen): Sometimes I feel like what used to be called a "Kremlin watcher". During the Cold War there were people who would try to figure out what was happening within the hierarchy of the USSR. They'd look for subtle clues, things like what exact words were used to discuss certain people or programs, or exactly where various VIPs stood in group photographs taken during the annual May Day parade in Moscow. If you watched closely, you could see power struggles happening and see factions gaining and losing influence.

That's how I felt when I read this news report.

Australian combat troops have joined U.S. Marines who seized this remote air base last week, while Marine reconnaissance units aggressively patrolled the surrounding desert, a military spokesman said Tuesday.

Capt. David Romley, a spokesman for the Marines' Task Force 58, said the numbers of Australian troops and their equipment or mission details could not be released. Earlier, the Marines acknowledged the presence of liaison officers from Britain, Germany and Australia at the base.

So why are the Australians being referred to as "combat troops" and the Europeans as "liaison officers"? Maybe I'm looking for deeper meaning than is there, but I think it's because the Australians are there to actually go fight, and are probably present in pretty good quantity with the expectation of more to come, while the Europeans are there in onesies and are there to watch. (Which makes you wonder why they're bothering; it's just more mouths to feed at a location where movement of supplies is far from easy.)

In a crisis you find out who your friends are, and Australia didn't act the same as a lot of our other allies. The government of Australia committed troops, and moved them into the Indian Ocean very early on, and told the US that they were there to fight. No-one else did that except the UK.

And why did Australia do that? Because of a mutual defense pact between Australia, New Zealand and the United States. An attack against one is to be considered an attack against all. The US was attacked, so Australia mobilized its military to fight back against those responsible. That's what allies do. (discuss)