Australia’s Indo-Pacific destiny up for grabs in a new world order
Australia may have to give up on the idea of a strategic equilibrium and settle for something messier and less grand.
A United States Army MH-47G Chinook helicopter from 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment prepares to land on the Royal Australian Navy ship HMAS Adelaide during Exercise Balance Action in 2023.
Pity the stewards of Australian foreign policy watching, hair standing on end, as the Trump administration courts autocrats, attacks allies and tosses facts and reason, like old cigarette butts, out of the careening, post-truth MAGA motorcade.
US President Donald Trump’s unpredictability and the wild “burn it all down” mood that has gripped Washington make forecasting the next few years especially difficult. But Trump appears to want a new world order that privileges strong powers, whether democratic or totalitarian. Such a world will be lonelier and more dangerous for Australia.
