Obama lands in Wales

Vivjen

Vivjen

Senior Member
Location
UK
Just a statement of fact....Obama lands in Wales.
 

NATO summit, Ina; he dropped into Estonia at lunchtime, (our lunchtime) on his way.
 
i visited Wales a number of yrs ago; a friend & i were doing a low budget tour of Britain. gorgeous country, really! amazing place names, but i couldn't understand a word those lovely Welsh folks were saying, even when they were speaking English.
 
Well, Australia has just been invited to become an enhanced partner of NATO which is a bit odd given our geography which is nowhere near the Atlantic Ocean, north or south.

Australia is set to boost ties with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), the world’s most powerful political and military grouping.

Foreign minister Julie Bishop says Australia will accept a formal invitation to become an enhanced partner when she and defence minister David Johnston attend the NATO leaders’ summit in Wales this week.

Bishop says it is a rare honour for Australia and the Australian Defence Force.

Australia’s relationship with NATO strengthened substantially over the past decade due to participation in NATO’s longest mission, the Isaf (International Security Assistance Force) mission in Afghanistan.

“Australia has proven itself time and again to be a reliable and capable partner,” she said.
Bishop says Australia will maintain autonomy in deciding the extent and character of involvement in future NATO-led operations.

The NATOsummit will focus on Afghanistan and involvement there beyond the end of this year when the Isaf mission expires. Also on the agenda will be Syria, Iraq and Russia’s behaviour in eastern Ukraine.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/02/australia-to-boost-ties-nato
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Our Foreign Minister and Defence Minister are in Wales to lobby NATO countries about a move to ban Putin from the upcoming G20 Leaders' meeting in Brisbane later this year. We will also be kicking in funds towards the sustainment of Afghanistan’s security forces.

So, it looks like what ever military operations the NATO nations are engaged in, Australia will be there too. That means Russia and China, if push comes to shove.

I hope it does not.
 
Boots on the ground? Not likely.
Missile attack from China or Russia, possible.

Your bases in the Northern Territory are a tempting target because you need
a Southern Hemisphere listening post for intelligence and control of drones.

However, if Indonesia lines up against NATO, they would have the capacity to invade from the north.
That would only be likely if we end up fighting a war against all Islam plus Russia and China, in other words World War III.
 
We aren't complaining.
Before WW II we looked to Britain for protection by a great power.
It was a naïve hope.

With the fall of Singapore and the commencement of the Pacific War we discovered that we could not rely on Britain because she had her hands full in Europe and even tried to prevent our troops detaching from the Middle East to come home to protect Australia.

It was then that we discovered the American Alliance and ever since we have looked towards the US to be our great friend and protector. It is those bases in our north that will ensure that America might actually commit troops to defend Australia should we come under attack. The price for that protection is our ongoing support for American foreign policy, if necessary with our blood.
 
Dame Warrigal dont forget thatt he Americans have just as much to gain from the alliance as we do. We are a convenient spot in this part of the world for them to put their bases....not to mention an uninterrupted source of cherry ripes!!
 
Well, you certainly participated in the Battle of Brisbane
The Battle of Brisbane, 26-27 November 1942


According to Australian historian Barry Ralph,[SUP][9][/SUP] on 26 November an intoxicated Private James R. Stein of the U.S. 404th Signal Company left the hotel where he had been drinking when it closed at 6:50 pm and began walking to the Post Exchange (PX) on the corner of Creek and Adelaide Street some 50m further down the road. He had stopped to talk with three Australians when Private Anthony E. O'Sullivan of the U.S. 814th Military Police Company (MP) approached and challenged Stein for his leave pass. While Stein was looking for it, the MP became impatient and asked him to hurry up before grabbing his pass and arresting him.

At this the Australians began swearing at the MP and telling him to leave Stein alone. American MPs were not well regarded by Australians as they were notorious for their arrogance and use of batons at the least provocation. When O'Sullivan raised his baton as if to strike one of the Australians, they attacked him. More MPs arrived, blowing whistles, while nearby Australian servicemen and several civilians rushed to help their countrymen. Outnumbered, the MPs retreated to the PX, carrying the injured O'Sullivan. Stein chose to go with them. In the meantime, a crowd of up to 100 Australian servicemen and civilians had gathered and began to besiege the PX, throwing bottles and rocks and breaking windows. Police Inspector Charles Price arrived but could do nothing as the crowd continued to grow, with the American Red Cross Club diagonally opposite the PX also coming under siege.

Sporadic fights broke out throughout the city. The Tivoli Theatre was closed with servicemen ordered back to their barracks and ships, while soldiers with fixed bayonets escorted women in the city from the area. By 8pm up to 5,000 people were involved in the disturbance. Several Australian MPs even removed their armbands and joined in. Corporal Duncan Caporn commandeered a small truck driven by an Australian Officer and three soldiers. The truck contained four Owen sub-machine guns, several boxes of ammunition and some hand grenades. The local Brisbane Fire Brigade arrived but simply looked on and did not use their hoses. The American authorities were later to criticise them for not doing so.

The 738th MP Battalion in the PX started to arm the MPs with shotguns in order to protect the building and they moved to the front. People in the crowd took umbrage at this demonstration of force and attempted to relieve Private Norbert Grant of C Company of his weapon. He jabbed one Australian with his gun before Gunner Edward S. Webster of the Australian 2/2nd Anti-Tank Regiment grabbed the barrel, while another soldier grabbed him around the neck. During the scuffle, it was discharged three times.

The first shot hit Webster in the chest, killing him instantly. The following two shots hit Private Kenneth Henkel in the cheek and forearm, Private Ian Tieman in the chest, Private Frank Corrie in the thigh, Sapper De Vosso in the thigh, and Lance Corporal Richard Ledson was wounded in the left thigh and left hand and also received a compound fracture of the left ankle. Two civilians were also hit, Joseph Hanlon was wounded in the leg, and 18-year-old Walter Maidment was also wounded. Ledson was later discharged due to his injuries.

In the confusion, Private Grant managed to run back towards the PX hitting an Australian over the head with his shotgun, breaking the butt of his weapon while doing so. An American soldier, Private Joseph Hoffman received a fractured skull in the scuffle. By 10pm the crowd had dispersed leaving the ground floor of the American PX destroyed. A War correspondent, John Hinde, was on a hotel balcony overlooking the scene and later stated, "The most furious battle I ever saw during the war was that night in Brisbane. It was like a civil war."

On the following night, a crowd of 500 to 600 Australian servicemen gathered outside the Red Cross building. The PX building was under heavy security and heavily armed American MPs were located on the first floor of the Red Cross. NCOs went through the crowd and confiscated several hand grenades. In Queen Street, a group of soldiers armed with MP batons ran into 20 U.S. MPs who formed a line and drew their handguns. An Australian officer intervened and persuaded the American commander to take his men away from the area. The crowd then moved to the corner of Queen and Edward Streets outside of MacArthur's headquarters in the AMP Building and began shouting abuse towards the building. The intersection was filled with rings of Australians beating up GIs and more than 20 were injured. U.S. Army Sergeant Bill Bentson who was present on both nights recalled how he was amazed to see "Americans flying up in the air."
But after that, it sort of settled down and you go into a pub and an Aussie would come and up and slap me on the back. "Oh, wasn't that a good ruckus we had the other night? And have a beer on me."
​
Australian writer Margaret Scott who, along with her American husband, had been assaulted in Edward Street during the riot, has stated that several U.S. servicemen were beaten to death and one shot in the fighting, but there are no official records supporting this claim.[SUP][2][/SUP]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Brisbane
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Had you minded your own business and just let the police do their job this whole appalling incident could have been avoided...
 
On a serious not for a moment, this story reveals that all was not rosy in Queensland and apparently some sort of mutiny happened among the US military.

Secret documents lift lid on WWII mutiny by US troops in north Queensland

AM
by Josh Bavas
Updated 10 Feb 2012, 1:25pmFri 10 Feb 2012, 1:25pm
Photo: Mutiny revealed: An African American engineers unit of the US Army on parade during WWII (National Archives)

Map: Townsville 4810

An Australian historian has uncovered hidden documents which reveal that African American troops used machine guns to attack their white officers in a siege on a US base in north Queensland in 1942.
Information about the Townsville mutiny has never been released to the public.

But the story began to come to light when James Cook University's Ray Holyoak first began researching why US congressman Lyndon B Johnson visited Townsville for three days back in 1942.

What he discovered was evidence detailing one of the biggest uprisings within the US military.

"For 70 years there's been a rumour in Townsville that there was a mutiny among African-American servicemen. In the last year and a half I've found the primary documentation evidence that that did occur in 1942," Mr Holyoak told AM.

Audio: WWII mutiny uncovered by Qld historian (AM)

During World War II, Townsville was a crucial base for campaigns into the Pacific, including the Battle of the Coral Sea.
About 600 African-American troops were brought to the city to help build airfields. Mr Holyoak says these troops, from the 96th Battalion, US Army Corps of Engineers, were stationed at a base on the city's western outskirts known as Kelso.

This was the site for a large-scale siege lasting eight hours, which was sparked by racial taunts and violence.
"After some serial abuse by two white US officers, there was several ringleaders and they decided to machine gun the tents of the white officers," Mr Holyoak said.

He has uncovered several documents hidden in the archives of the Queensland Police and Townsville Brigade detailing what happened that night. According to the findings, the soldiers took to the machine guns and anti-aircraft weapons and fired into tents where their white counterparts were drinking.
More than 700 rounds were fired.

At least one person was killed and dozens severely injured, and Australian troops were called in to roadblock the rioters.
Mr Holyoak also discovered a report written by Robert Sherrod, a US journalist who was embedded with the troops.
It never made it to the press, but was handed to Lyndon B Johnson at a Townsville hotel and eventually filed away into the National Archives and Records Administration.

"I think at the time, it was certainly suppressed. Both the Australian and the US government would not have wanted the details of this coming out. The racial policies at the time really discluded [sic] people of colour," Mr Holyoak says.
Both the Australian Defence Department and the Australian War Memorial say it could take months to research the incident, and say they have no details readily available for public release.

But Townsville historian Dr Dorothy Gibson-Wilde says the findings validate 70-year-old rumours.
"Anytime it was raised, people usually sort of said, 'Oh you know, no that can't be true. Nobody's heard about that', and in fact it must have been kept pretty quiet from the rest of the town," she said.

Mr Holyoak will spend the next two years researching the sentences handed out to both the officers and the mutineers involved, and why the information has been kept secret for so long.
Click to expand...
It would be interesting to get confirmation from the American records. What chance of that, do you suppose?

Additional - quite good apparently. This is a part of a report written by Lyndon B Johnson when he was in Townsville. He goes on to give Gen MacArthur a serve.

http://www.ozebook.com/test/townsville-mutiny.pdf
 
Are you kidding? Those old skeletons will remain locked in our closet on racial intolerance if at all possible...
 
LBJ knew when to open his mouth and when to keep it closed. Fragging during the Vietnam War couldn't so easily be covered up...
 
Fragging was throwing grenades into the tents of officers. Mainly done by black soldiers to white officers I believe...
 
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