By Christopher Kennedy
Recent reports suggest that some U.S. military personnel may face pressure to prioritise loyalty to President Donald Trump over their oath to the U.S. Constitution. While these claims require scrutiny, they raise serious questions about the stability of U.S. leadership and its implications for allies like Australia.
Donald Trump’s presidency is marked by controversy, including legal challenges and polarising policies. His economic decisions strain the U.S. domestic economy, and his foreign policy often alienates allies, as seen in his trade disputes with Canada. If these reports are accurate, any attempt to demand personal loyalty from the military would undermine democratic principles and weaken the U.S. as a global partner. The U.S. military, bound by its constitutional oath, is unlikely to support such a move, given its tradition of professionalism and independence.
For Australia, this situation underscores the need to reassess our strategic priorities, particularly in our region. The U.S. has long been a cornerstone of Australia’s defense strategy, but uncertainty in American leadership compels us to evaluate our relationships closer to home, particularly with Indonesia.
Indonesia, a complex nation of diverse islands, faces its own challenges. Its government, led by a strongman figure, has been criticised for corruption, exemplified by recent parliamentary pay increases that reward loyalty over public service. Indonesia’s political and economic stagnation contrasts sharply with the growth of nations like China and Japan. Historically, Australia has navigated tensions with Indonesia, notably during the East Timor crisis in 1999, when global economic turmoil weakened Jakarta’s control over its territories.
One area of concern is West Papua, where the U.S.-based Freeport Mining operates with minimal benefit to local communities. While Australian mining companies, such as those involved in the OK Tedi mine, have faced their own criticisms, there’s an opportunity for Australia to advocate for fairer resource management in the region. Supporting West Papuan autonomy could align with Australia’s interests, particularly if Indonesian governance continues to falter.
However, any Australian intervention – diplomatic or otherwise – would require careful consideration. Indonesia’s control over critical sea lanes and air routes is vital to Australia’s security and trade. A disruption in these routes could force Australia to act independently, especially if U.S. support is unreliable. Yet, relying on European allies to engage in our region seems unlikely, given their focus on conflicts closer to home, such as tensions with Russia.
Australia’s foreign policy must prioritise regional stability and self-reliance. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade should proactively strengthen ties with Indo-Pacific partners and prepare for scenarios where U.S. backing is limited. While we await clarity on the U.S. military’s stance, Australia must chart a pragmatic course, balancing our values with the realities of our neighbourhood.
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Close Pine Gap to the USA, remove an of their forces from our country. Their enemies will become ours, and there are a few candidates already lined up. Their continuing support of the appalling actions of Israel over Gaza and the wanton bombing in any other country where Hamas may be is far too dangerous
“Recent reports suggest that some U.S. military personnel may face pressure to prioritise loyalty to President Donald Trump over their oath to the U.S. Constitution.”
Loyalty at its most basic is submission to power.
It is taking over as the dominant principle in the liberal world order.
The craven submission of EU leaders to Washington is the subject of a recent article by analyst Nel Bonilla — Elite Capture & European Self-Destruction: The Hidden Architecture of Transatlantic Hegemony
An interesting passage reads — “The tragedy lies in what’s lost, leaders such as Willy Brandt, whose years in exile taught him that sovereignty begins with the courage to disobey. In today’s Berlin, by contrast” (and world-wide), “there is little space for politicians shaped by unorthodox biographies; the pipeline produces cadres who no longer have to decide to comply, because they cannot imagine anything else. Small wonder, then, that during a 2022 visit to Washington, then-Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck could promise that Germany stood ready to exercise a “serving leadership” — a phrase so sure of its own logic that no one bothered to ask the obvious questions: lead whom, and serve what?”
The pipeline that produces those who cannot imagine anything other than complying was on show here when Richard Marles responded to criticism that AUKUS was a surrendering of sovereignty.
Marles, who is also defence minister, said on Thursday the $368bn defence pact spoke to the “heart of sovereignty”.“I mean in having a future long range submarine capability, which is the number one objective of AUKUS, that’s actually building Australia’s sovereign capability by having a more capable defence force, one that is able to defend our nation,” he told the ABC, adding that Labor “has a very proud history … of bringing to bear capabilities for our defence force”.
Is it possible to construct a more meaningless string of words to describe what we all see as a pie-in-the-sky project? A project in which we will have no input at all, both in construction and operation.
If we ever see such a vessel, it will be deployed where the US wants it, and will be commanded by US navy personnel.
Our democratic system is anti-democratic. Loyalty to constituents no longer applies, because constituents have no power.
Europe produces a stream of leaders who serve Washington.
Australia produces a stream of leaders who serve Washington.
Nel Bonilla conclude the article with this — Its cultural hegemony obliges Europe to underwrite a U.S.-centred imperium and the elites of all its allied countries, even when that imperium sabotages Europe’s material interests. Hegemonies rarely collapse out of ethical embarrassment; they yield only when external pressures or domestic ruptures make compliance more costly than defiance. One of three things (or all of these together) could put a dent in this machinery:
Narrative Rupture from Below. Organised refusal, whether through mass strikes, boycotts, electoral realignments, or sustained media counter-campaigns, can delegitimize the war-economy consensus and make Atlantic allegiance politically toxic.
Systemic Shock from Outside. A decisive loss of U.S. financial or military primacy (for instance, a petrodollar fracture or a failed proxy war) would compel European elites to reassess their allegiances.
Accountability from Above. Nuremberg-style tribunals, however improbable today, remain the one mechanism that historically deters elite adventurism by attaching personal risk to strategic folly.
There is only one solution.
Kill the liberal democratic order.
Yes SD. “Kill the liberal democratic order”, pretty strong words.
It seems that as the ‘West’ clings on, liberal democracy is rapidly decomposing, because it’s control roots are embedded in real property ownership (& all assets therefrom), and as such is self-leveraging to an ongoing (now febrile) type of dark feudal ‘medieval nobles & serfdom’ with the encouragement of self-serving religious dupers and extractors.
It seems it’s decomposition is occurring before the eyes of our generation, rightly by the heft of the well educated and internet-aware Millennials and other up-comers, who are bearing the brunt of past and present stupidities and vast inequities. They are only loyal to their observations.
As our ‘Accountability from Above’ collapses via erosion from the devices of the dogged old imperia and their supremacists, the Millennials and other up-comers are exercising by every means available ‘Narrative Rupture from Below’ and ‘Systemic Shock from Outside’.
It is obvious now (and starting) that the UN has to modernize to effectiveness, and dislocate from the clutches of the horrendous USA and gulled and gutless Europeans (and Oz). Difficult though it may seem, in the face of their shambolic hubris, it may be the only chance we now have at ‘Accountability from Above’
In the face of the rise of the ‘East’, watching the ‘West’ squirm, weapons cocked, leaves me, in my reduced footprint, gasping from amid the castles in the air, the mountains of waste and toxicity, and a broad stubborn loyalty to its propaganda.
Yay for the Millennials and other up-comers.