4 ms·

I live in Darwin. when I moved here last century, NSA were already well established, there were bi-annual R&R USA ship visits, and annual joint airforce traini

I live in Darwin. when I moved here last century, NSA were already well established, there were bi-annual R&R USA ship visits, and annual joint airforce training. The USA started to develop a USMC base in 2012 At the time we were instructed that they co-locate and personnel rotate, so you can't call it a base. not a base. definitely not a base. They began permanently locating USAF assets at our airport a coupla years later. They are investing $$big in USAF facilities a few hundred km south AUKUS announcements have included: new bases for five branches of the USA military, including a second USMC MAGTF. - and with that big step they've given up gaslighting locals with insistence that these are not foreign war bases. Suddenly the growth of usa war bases switches from being fake news ('notabase') to not news ('they've been building over ten years').

wolverine876 5y ago
I'm actually aware of (some of) the basing in Darwin. Didn't a military-connected Chinese organization acquire a port there also, maybe back when the US Marines started building? I'm afraid that, given Darwin's location, allied military activity is going to be 'big business'. But the stanadard argument is that China has shown they are going to be aggressive, and that the alliances are much better than facing China alone. But living where a lot of that activity will likely be happening, what is your perspective? The 'good' news for you, perhaps, is that the US's strategy now is not to concentrate in large bases, which can be overrrun by new and future long-range precision missiles, but to spread out on many smaller facilities.
- justatdotin 5y ago
  yes a chinese company (Lanbridge) got a 99 year lease on the port. I guess they are military-connected in so far as being state-owned. my perspective is that it is a great indignity to host foreign war bases during peace time. But if they are here, even to visit, then I want better protections against the reality of crimes committed by visiting service personnel; and I want to close the loopholes allowing the USA to bring illegal weapons.

wolverine876 5y ago

I'm actually aware of (some of) the basing in Darwin. Didn't a military-connected Chinese organization acquire a port there also, maybe back when the US Marines started building? I'm afraid that, given Darwin's location, allied military activity is going to be 'big business'. But the stanadard argument is that China has shown they are going to be aggressive, and that the alliances are much better than facing China alone. But living where a lot of that activity will likely be happening, what is your perspective? The 'good' news for you, perhaps, is that the US's strategy now is not to concentrate in large bases, which can be overrrun by new and future long-range precision missiles, but to spread out on many smaller facilities.

justatdotin 5y ago
yes a chinese company (Lanbridge) got a 99 year lease on the port. I guess they are military-connected in so far as being state-owned. my perspective is that it is a great indignity to host foreign war bases during peace time. But if they are here, even to visit, then I want better protections against the reality of crimes committed by visiting service personnel; and I want to close the loopholes allowing the USA to bring illegal weapons.