[Miron Mizrahi]

Hi,

the reason, IMO, Australia entered the war is simple. It (or at
least its govt.) craves recognition. Paul Keating (an ex. Aussie PM)
called Australia, a few years ago, "a pimple on the arse-end of the
world". this is a rather unpleasant way to think of oneself, but it
is, IMO, not far from the truth. and as such, it is a tough pill to
swallow. no one likes to think of themselves as inconsequential. but
the fact of the matter is that in most world affairs Australia is.
for decades Australia saw itself as an extension to Britain. it is
only in the last few decades that the truth has sunk in - Britain
does not give (cricket and rugby aside) a rat's ass about Australia.
more and more Aussies began seeing themselves as part of AsiaPac and
have sought to find their affiliation with it. I believe a lot of
progress has been made in this direction but Australia is still far
from being a true part of AsiaPac. so it is kinda stuck in limbo. on
one hand it prefers to be a part of the 1st world, represented by EU
and the US - but it is not seen as important enough. on the other
hand, it has not yet been fully accepted into AsiaPac. so when an
opportunity like Iraq comes along, a right-wing, conservative govt.
(which was against Australia ditching the queen as head of state)
jumps straight on it because it makes them feel important. the
problem is they confuse "the US has accepted our help" with "the US
needs our help".

I am originally from Israel, which is in a very similar situation.
And unfortunately, until we stop thinking of oursleves in terms of
what we wish ourselves to be and start thinking of oursleves in
terms of what we are, this will go on.



=====
Miron

   How could people get so unkind?

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