Ongoing foreign occupations have lasted more than 20 years in Afghanistan and 18 years in Iraq. Neither has broughtΒ justice or peace to the region,Β arguesΒ Alex Bainbridge.Β
US-Australia alliance
On December 9, 1966, the Australian government signed a public agreement with the United States to build what both countries misleadingly called a βJoint Defence Space Research Facilityβ at Pine Gap, just outside Alice Springs.
Officially, Pine Gap is a collaboration between the Australian Department of Defence and the Pentagonβs Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency. InΒ reality this conceals the real purpose of Pine Gap as a CIA-run spy base designed to collect signals from US surveillance satellites in geosynchronous orbit over the equator.
Many Australians are unaware that up to 2500 armed personnel from a foreign nation routinely occupy Australian territory. However, soon the next contingent of US marines will arrive in Darwin, writes Nick Deane.
An emergency protest organised by , held as the US Vice President Mike Pence arrived in Sydney on April 21, drew a range of networks concerned about old and new β possibly β nuclear wars.