On the American tie of Australia...

It could be a good and bad thing. If you look at Australian news site like Sydney Morning Herald like I do everyday, you would know that there's at least 1/5 to 1/3 of the "major" news are about US. Not that it's a bad thing that nothing "major" news (think catastrophic, or horrific, news like mass shooting, or murder; or political and economic news) happening in Australia. Afterall, it's the way of life in Australia that's most appealing. But when you're reading a newspaper, and there's nothing much going on, the first thing comes to mind is, it's boring. So, Australia resorts to reporting about what's happening in America, or in some instances, royalty news in Britain, or tabloid/celebrity news in other places.

Of course, there's also another reason, as noted in the article, about the Australia that is tied in the hip with America in terms of politics. While there's some truth in it, sometimes I'm not sure if Australians in general are living out this self-fulfilling prophecy that they have to go lock-step with America, simply because that's the tradition, and that's the way things were/are.

Then again, Australia doesn't even have the courage to stand on its own as a republic, and break away from the commonwealth of Britain, perhaps it will take them another 200 years in order to muster sufficient gusto to strike out on its own.

Until then, Australia will continue dredging along America, and try to be what they hope to be (an equal ally of the West), rather than what they really are. Paul Keating has had the guts to do and say things that showed Australia's true colors, but John Howard doesn't. By jove, it took Australia some 10 years to see though Howard's lapdog style. Oh well, what can I say...