ASIA: "Australia's Chinese entanglement: For all China's commercial charms, Australia still looks to America as Asia's sheriff," by Banyan, The Economist, 2 May 2009.

The recent Australian military white paper is a true work of goofy strategic paranoia. Their military--at least the planning elements--sounds far more dislocated from the real world of economics than ours is (and ours is pretty bad--hell, I feel like this nut sometimes when I get together with national security crowds in the U.S. because they lead such oddly isolated intellectual lives and I checked out four years ago).

But based on my time with the Aussie gov types out at the Great Barrier Reef island a couple years back, I think their policymakers (exemplified by PM Rudd) are far more sensible and enlightened. The security types, though, struck me as being from Central Casting, circa 1950s America.

And this all strikes me as odd, this sudden fear-mongering and desire to Leviathan itself up, because Australia's record on peace-keeping and SysAdmin work in its neighborhood is not just good, it's arguably a standard for the world.

That's why I find this recent mental shift so queer.

But I guess it's cool to piss in the wind if you like wet socks.