Under Trump, Pax Americana takes an unpredictable turn

The three dictatorships threatening the existence of Pax Americana – militarist Russia, communist China and Islamist Iran – are well outlined by Tony Abbott in his piece (“This is no time for the retreat of Pax America”, 24/2). Throw in a transactional US President who is understandably frustrated with European allies not pulling their weight and it’s time, as Abbott notes, for America’s Five Eyes allies to “become much better at offering the great republic more practical help”.

By the same token, Abbott is spot-on to say we resemble the Europeans more than the Israelis – “a warrior nation that has never taken its survival for granted and never ceased striving for strategic and military self-sufficiency”. Indeed, our weakness is well underlined by Johannes Leak’s “we’re puny” illustration (24/2).

Hopefully, when the former cop on the beat and well-respected home affairs and defence minister Peter Dutton is in The Lodge, the order will be given to former SAS captain and the next defence minister, Andrew Hastie, to adopt the maxim of their late, great colleague, Jim Molan: be ready and be strong because the world is a nasty and brutal place.

Mandy Macmillan, Singleton, NSW

Tony Abbott fails to take into account the strategic limitations of a long post-World War II Pax Americana, especially when he states without any qualification: “It was Joe Biden’s America that did enough to stop the Ukrainians from losing but not enough to enable them to win.”

Abbott makes no mention of the fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin has from the very beginning of the war repeatedly warned the West that any direct US or European military involvement would incur a nuclear response.

Under such highly problematic constraints, neither the Biden administration nor Europe should be held wholly responsible for Ukraine’s failure to achieve victory on the battlefield, despite the enormous gallantry displayed by its overstretched military forces.

This leaves President Donald Trump with no option other than to enter into direct negotiations with Putin, otherwise the ongoing pursuit of a military solution could place the Pax Americana and the entire world on a path to self destruction.

Vincent Zankin, Rivett, ACT

Many of your readers – especially older ones – would surely endorse Tony Abbott’s observation that “some form of national service … needs to get under way” in this country. Young people today are not drawn to a career in the armed forces as they were a generation or two ago. There are several reasons: ample job opportunities elsewhere, reservations about what a person’s involvement in a modern-day conflict might entail and, most worryingly, a want of patriotic spirit among Australia’s younger (and increasingly ethnically diverse) generations. There is also the lingering and lazy assumption, which recent Trumpian statements throw into question, that Uncle Sam will do the heavy lifting for us if we find ourselves in a tight corner. A beefing-up of school cadet forces would be a useful start towards reversing our mood of self-defence apathy. But to make up for our lagging recruitment into the defence forces a reintroduction of compulsory national service for all eligible young people should be on the table for discussion. Apart from making us better prepared to face any external threat, a stint of national service would deliver a national character-building dividend.

Peter Austin, Mount Victoria, NSW

As far back as the Bucharest Memorandum in 1994, which assured security for Ukraine in return for the surrender of 100 per cent of its nuclear weapons, the West’s actions insofar as Russia’s territorial ambitions have been for the most part nothing short of weak, shambolic and, at times, treacherous.

US plans under the deranged and mendacious Trump presidency for a more or less “Sykes Picot” carve-up of Ukraine’s sovereign territory is betrayal and treachery as well as showing the world the US is not to be trusted.

Barring a miraculous and unlikely resurgence of European rearmament and military growth, the result of all of this will be that WWIII will be that much closer than we all might think as an emboldened Russia takes a little time to rearm, replenish and build up its military for the real prize – subjugation of the whole of the Baltic States and at least Eastern Europe.

John Heugh, Kardinya, WA