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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/07/surface-tension-could-the-promised-aukus-nuclear-submarines-simply-never-be-handed-over-to-australia>
"Maybe Australia’s boats just never turn up.
To fanfare and flags, the Aukus deal was presented as a sure bet, papering over
an uncertainty that such an ambitious deal could ever be delivered.
It was assured, three publics across two oceans were told – signed, sealed and
to-be-delivered: Australia would buy from its great ally, the US, its own
conventionally armed nuclear-powered attack submarines before it began building
its own.
But there is an emerging disquiet on the promise of Aukus pillar one: it may be
the promised US-built nuclear-powered submarines simply never arrive under
Australian sovereign control.
Instead, those nuclear submarines, stationed in Australia, could bear US flags,
carry US weapons, commanded and crewed by American officers and sailors.
Australia, unswerving ally, reduced instead to a forward operating garrison –
in the words of the chair of US Congress’s house foreign affairs committee,
nothing more than “a central base of operations from which to project power”."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
