That phrase neatly encapsulates the stuff of nightmares and I have lifted it from a speech by - wait for it! - an Australian! The man concerned is Dr. Michael Fullilove who is chief honcho at the Lowy Institute in Australia. You can - and I urge you to it - read the whole thing at The National Interest site. I don't think I have read such a stream of perceptive, thoughtful commonsense for a long time. When you consider the geo-political situation of Australia, a western-style democracy stuck at the bottom of the Pacific with a swathe of Asian countries above it, it is, like the proverbial 'hanging in the morning', enough to 'concentrate the mind wonderfully'. Unfortunately, their politicians seem not to have much in their minds to concentrate upon, except getting re-elected, of course! I will not attempt to paraphrase Dr. Fullilove's speech but I do recommend you reading it, particularly if you are an 'Aussie'! What I am wondering is how we could entice him 'up over here' to do a bit of thinking on our strategic requirements.
