Will Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's lack of judgement place Australia at risk?

Prime Minister and Liberal MP for Wentworth, Malcolm Bligh Turnbull, was happy to say this to the Australian people on 20 April 2017, during an interview with ABC TV 7.30 current affairs host Leigh Sales:

“I do. I trust the judgment, the wisdom of the American government, the president and the vice president.”

Two days later he meets with U.S. Vice President Pence in Sydney and showers him with uncritical praise of American policy.

Two weeks after that he was in the United States meeting with President Donald Trump and expressing solidarity with his government.

Of that visit the prime minister stated; “It was great for Lucy and I to meet with the president and Mrs Trump. Again, that was more family than formal.”

Given the following, one wonders if Australia should trust the current U.S. government as much as Turnbull professes he does.

The Washington Post, 15 May 2017:

President Trump revealed highly classified information to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador in a White House meeting last week, according to current and former U.S. officials, who said Trump’s disclosures jeopardized a critical source of intelligence on the Islamic State.

The information the president relayed had been provided by a U.S. partner through an intelligence-sharing arrangement considered so sensitive that details have been withheld from allies and tightly restricted even within the U.S. government, officials said.

The partner had not given the United States permission to share the material with Russia, and officials said Trump’s decision to do so endangers cooperation from an ally that has access to the inner workings of the Islamic State. After Trump’s meeting, senior White House officials took steps to contain the damage, placing calls to the CIA and the National Security Agency.

“This is code-word information,” said a U.S. official familiar with the matter, using terminology that refers to one of the highest classification levels used by American spy agencies. Trump “revealed more information to the Russian ambassador than we have shared with our own allies.”

The New York Times, 15 May 2017:

In fact, the current official said that Mr. Trump shared granular details of the intelligence with the Russians. Among the details the president shared was the city in Syria where the ally picked up information about the plot, though Mr. Trump is not believed to have disclosed that the intelligence came from a Middle Eastern ally or precisely how it was gathered.

General McMaster did not address that in naming the city, in Islamic State-controlled territory, Mr. Trump gave Russia an important clue about the source of the information.

Like the United States, Russia is also fighting in Syria, where it has stationed troops and aircraft. The two countries share some information, but the cooperation is extremely limited, and each has widely divergent goals in the civil war there.

Russia’s primary focus has been propping up the government of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, not directly battling the Islamic State. The United States, in contrast, views the Islamic State as the primary threat, and is aiding rebels who are fighting both the Islamic State and the Syrian government.

The Washington Post, 16 May 2017:

H.R. McMaster, the president's top security adviser, repeatedly described the president's actions in a press briefing just a day after a Washington Post story revealed that Trump had shared deeply sensitive information with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during an Oval Office meeting last week.

"In the context of that discussion, what the president discussed with the foreign minister was wholly appropriate to that conversation and is consistent with the routine sharing of information between the president and any leaders with whom he’s engaged," McMaster said. "It is wholly appropriate for the president to share whatever information he thinks is necessary to advance the security of the American people. That’s what he did."

McMaster refused to confirm whether the information the president shared with the Russians was highly classified. However, because the president has broad authority to declassify information, it is unlikely that his disclosures to the Russians were illegal — as they would have been had just about anyone else in government shared the same secrets. But the classified information he shared with a geopolitical foe was nonetheless explosive, having been provided by a critical U.S. partner through an intelligence-sharing arrangement considered so delicate that some details were withheld even from top allies and other government officials.

McMaster added that Trump made a spur-of-the-moment decision to share the information in the context of the conversation he was having with the Russian officials. He said that "the president wasn’t even aware of where this information came from" and had not been briefed on the source.

McMaster's pushback came just hours after Trump himself acknowledged Tuesday morning in a pair of tweets that he had indeed revealed highly classified information to Russia — a stunning confirmation of the Washington Post story and a move that seemed to contradict his own White House team after it scrambled to deny the report.

Trump's tweets tried to explain away the news, which emerged late Monday, that he had shared sensitive, “code-word” information with the Russian foreign minister and ambassador during the White House meeting last week.

Trump described his talks with the Russians as “an openly scheduled” meeting at the White House. In fact, the gathering was closed to all U.S. media, although a photographer for the Russian state-owned news agency was allowed into the Oval Office, prompting national security concerns.

The Atlantic, 16 May 2017:

Would the president have so abjectly tried to impress representatives of any other country? He blabbed because he bragged, and he bragged because he values Russia’s and Putin’s goodwill so bizarrely much. As the economist Justin Wolfers noted, if officials had not revealed the truth to the media, the Russians would now genuinely have damaging kompromat on Trump: the secret of a dereliction of duty that would have gotten anybody else in government fired, if not indicted.

On 18 May 2017 the Full House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has set a 9.30am 24 May 2017 hearing date to investigate if President Trump interfered in an FBI probe into the his election campaign's ties to Russia.

Even in the face of Trump’s intelligence disclosures to the Russians Turnbull declares his trust in the current U.S. Government.

As a member of the top-secret Five Eyes global surveillance and intelligence sharing group Australia is potentially affected by Trump’s loose lips and, it is becoming increasingly possible that a prime minister who trusts Trump is an additional risk to his own country's national security.

Turnbull Government not exactly charging ahead in latest Newspoll - which is unlikely to foster calm and considered decision making on the part of the prime minister

These polling numbers represent a dangerous period for the people of Australia.

We already have Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull quickly popping over to a war zone this month for a photo opportunity in a flak jacket (left) and he is scheduled to meet with President Trump on 4 May 2017 to talk about the Korean situation, China and whatever thought bubble is exercising the U.S. president's mind at the time.

No prizes for suspecting Turnbull will offer more support for Trump's attempt to force a breakdown of the almost 64 year-old military armistice agreement between the United Nations and Korean People's Army & Chinese People's Volunteers and, a recommencement of the hostilities with North Korea.

After all, becoming a war leader is almost always good for polling numbers - at least in the first heady rush into combat - and both Turnbull and Trump have persistently low voter satisfaction levels which neither can currently shake off as well as unhealthy budget deficits and/or public debt levels*.

Both the U.S. governing Republican Party and the Australian governing Liberal-Nationals Coalition go the ballot box again in 2018, with mid-term elections for the U.S on 6 November and a general election in Australia anytime from 4 August 2018 through to 18 May 2019.

* In January 2017 the US Government budget deficit was an est. US$559 billion and public debt stood at est.US$14.8 trillion. While the Australian Government budget deficit stood at est. AUD$42.5 billion and public debt at AUD$323.8 billion net. 

Before the flag waving hype over Trump's latest bombing in Syria gets out of control, think about this......

It's not just the Syrian Government, Russia, ISIS or rebel groups killing innocent civilians, it is also the US-led Coalition and the nations which support it.

That includes Australia which is involved in the air war in Syria.

On 9 September 2015, Prime Minister Tony Abbott indicated that Australia would expand its commitment to Syria, with RAAF airstrikes to be extended to Islamic State targets there, following a request from the US Government. Prime Minister Abbott noted that the extended operations would mirror the efforts of other allied nations already operating in Syria to 'help protect Iraq and its people from [Islamic State] attacks inside Iraq and from across the border'. The expansion of operations to Syria was justified on the basis that the anti-Islamic State effort directly relates to Iraq's collective self‑defence and the continued commitment of humanitarian efforts in the region. The Syrian state's inability to exert control over that area and address the Islamic State threat, negates its right to object under the circumstances. [www.aph.gov.au, Parliamentary Library Briefing Book: Iraq and Syria]

The Federal Government says it will continue Australia's bombing missions over Syria in the wake of a mistaken operation that killed dozens of Syrian soldiers…..

[SBS News, 19 September 2016]

Perspectives on the situation on the ground......

The Telegraph, 7 April 2017:

US missile strikes on a Syrian air base [al-Shayrat] have reportedly killed nine civilians - including four children - as Donald Trump launched the first direct American attack on Bashar Assad's regime.

RT, 7 April 2017:

The governor of Homs province, Talal Barazi, said the US strike on a Syrian airfield 
has led to civilian casualties in a village near the base, as well as the airbase itself. At least five people have been left dead and seven wounded, he told RT.

Politicus USA, 7 April 2017:

For most people who have lost innocent loved ones to violence, the means of their relatives' demise is completely irrelevant; a senseless death is a senseless death. It doesn't matter if innocent civilians are killed as a result of terrorism, civil unrest, a civil war, or an American caused human catastrophe; a needless death is exactly that, a needless death.

Over the past couple of days Americans, including Trump, have made an issue over the deaths of innocent Syrians, and displaced Iraqis, allegedly killed by the Syrian military using chemical weapons. Of course it is a big issue, but while the Americans and the international community are outraged over the deaths of an estimated 86 innocent civilians in Syria, no-one is the least bit concerned, much less outraged, over the estimated 1,472 civilian casualties, all Muslim casualties, in the month of March alone and all at the hands of the United States of America under the Trump regime.

One can fairly say it would be a sure and safe bet that none of the family members of either the 86 innocent Syrian civilians or 1,472 innocent Syrian and Iraqi civilians really care about how their innocent loved ones were massacred; they just know their loved ones died. And yet all the attention is being focused solely on the 86 deaths by chemical weapons as opposed to 1,472 civilians killed by American-made and delivered bombs in the month of March alone.

As an investigative journalist who heads a British monitoring group, "Airwars," Chris Woods reported:

"This is worse than anything we have ever seen from the coalition, and it's up there with the levels of allegations we saw against Russia a year ago. Something is shifting — a lot more [innocent Muslim] civilians are dying, and it's happening on Donald Trump's watch."

It is believed by many international experts and a few American pundits unafraid of being labeled "un-American" that the "dramatic jump in civilian casualties" is the direct result of a Trump order to change the "risk/reward calculations" when determining how many innocent civilians, innocent Muslim civilians, are acceptable casualties when America launches airstrikes against what it certainly knows are heavily-populated civilian areas.

It is worth reiterating that Trump pledged during the campaign that if he was controlling America's military, he would direct them to "bomb the shit" out of ISIS'; in Trump-speak ISIS means Muslims. And, it is noteworthy to mention that despite the outrageous numbers of innocent Muslim civilians killed as a result of Trump "bombing the shit" out of "them," neither he, his administration's spokespeople, or Republicans have uttered even one word about the catastrophic deaths of innocent civilians under Trump.

Newsweek, 31 March 2017:

U.S.-led coalition airstrikes in Iraq and Syria may have already killed 1,484 civilians in just Iraq and Syria this month alone, more than three times the number killed in President Barack Obama's final full month in office, according to British monitoring group Airwars. For the first time, the number of alleged civilian casualties in events carried out by the U.S.-led coalition has exceeded the death toll of attacks launched by Russia.

Vox, 28 March 2017:

Syria, too, has been hit by US airstrikes with some remarkable civilian casualties this month. A US strike in a rural area of Raqqa province killed up to 30 noncombatants who had taken shelter in a school last week, according to residents' reports. And the week prior, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed that 42 people, most of whom were civilians, were killed by a US bombing in the town of Al Jinah, in what it deemed a "massacre." The US military said it had a legitimate military target in the area, but noted it would investigate possible civilian loss of life.

I Am Syria:

Civilian Death Tolls: March 2017

- Government forces: 417
- Russian forces: 224
- ISIS: 129
- Armed opposition factions: 14
- International Coalition forces: 260
- Other Parties: 84
- Kurdish Forces: 11

[my yellow highlighting]

UPDATE

The New York Times reported that the direct US attack on Syrian Government forces and property ordered by Donald Trump was internationally an illegal act and domestically may be a breach of US law. According to The Guardian “Malcolm Turnbull has hinted that Australia may be involved in an expanded US-led military strike on Syria, after outrage at Tuesday’s chemical weapons attack in Idlib”.

Trump's border warriors conduct an internal investigation of ASIO chief

Australian Financial Review, 5 March 2017.

spare a thought for Nick Warner, the Director-General of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service. You'd think being the top government spy of a staunch US ally – travelling on a diplomatic passport – would spare you the latex welcome, but no. Not even. Warner got the full treatment last month at LAX arrivals, transferring for meetings in the capital (including, you'd safely assume, at Langley, Virginia). Could you imagine the uproar in Washington if John Brennan or Meroe Park copped a solid frisking at Tullamarine? Yeah right – as if they'd even countenance the indignity of flying commercial!

Hey, we can all sleep soundly knowing that not even one of our most decorated public servants and security officials can accidentally pack his nail scissors as carry-on.

Apparently the gentleman was subject to a rectal and genital search as part of his welcome by Trump’s foot soldiers.

70 year-old Australian children's picture books author treated like dirt by Trump Regime

Mem Fox is a retired Associate Professor of Literacy Studies (Flinders University, South Australia) and a well-known picture book author.

On 25 February 2017 ABC News reported on her experience of the Trump Regime:

Australian author Mem Fox has received a written apology from the United States after what she said was a traumatic detention by immigration officials at Los Angeles Airport.

Fox, who was questioned by Customs and Border Protection officers for two hours earlier this month as she was on her way to Milwaukee to address a conference, said she collapsed and sobbed at her hotel after she was released.

She said the border agents appeared to have been given "turbocharged power" by an executive order signed by President Donald Trump to "humiliate and insult" a room full of people they detained to check visas.

That executive order was eventually halted by Federal Courts and it was expected a new order would be signed this week, designed to avoid the confusion caused by the original.

"I have never in my life been spoken to with such insolence, treated with such disdain, with so many insults and with so much gratuitous impoliteness," Fox said.

"The entire interview took place with me standing, with my back to a room full of people in total public hearing and view — it was disgraceful.

"I felt like I had been physically assaulted which is why, when I got to my hotel room, I completely collapsed and sobbed like a baby, and I'm 70 years old."

Fox, whose books include classics such as Possum Magic and Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes, said she was questioned about her visa status, even though she had travelled to the United States 116 times previously without incident.

"My heart was pounding so hard as I was waiting to be interviewed, because I was observing what was happening to everybody else in the room," she said.

"They accused me of coming in on the wrong visa and they were totally wrong about that.

"The person who interviewed me was heavy with weaponry, was totally dressed in black with the word 'police' in hand-sized letters across his chest."

The author lodged a complaint with the Australian embassy in Washington, and later one with the United States embassy in Canberra to which she received an emailed letter of apology.

"I said any decent American would have been shocked to the core by what had happened, it was so dreadful," Fox said.

"And I had an absolutely charming letter from them within hours of my email hitting their desk."

The author said she was unlikely to visit the United States again despite the friendliness of ordinary Americans.

Australia-U.S. relations in 2017: "If the dead could shout, they would be shouting at us now."

A timely history lesson………………..

The Sydney Morning Herald, 21 February 2017:

We have no excuse for overlooking the meaning of this anniversary. And its timing compels us to consider its lessons.

In last week marking the 75th anniversary of the fall of Singapore, Malcolm Turnbull called it "shattering". Bill Shorten called it "unthinkable". It was the bitterest strategic betrayal in Australia's history since white conquest.

The fall of Singapore was, according to Winston Churchill, "the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history". Britain has never recovered from the blow to its prestige. For Australia it was about much more than prestige. It was about national survival. The fall of the supposedly impregnable British fortress in Singapore opened Australia to Japanese invasion. With Singapore taken, Japan's bombers opened their first attacks on Darwin just four days later.

Yet even as Parliament paused last week to reflect sombrely on that shocking event, officialdom showed troubling signs of utterly missing the point. Neither Turnbull nor Shorten drew any big conclusions about the fall of Singapore in their speeches. They paid tribute, rightly, to the troops and the civilians who were the immediate victims of Britain's incompetence when they were killed or captured by the Japanese…..

Betrayed by one great and powerful friend, Australia threw itself into the arms of another. Curtin's expression of independence was to take Australia from one dependency to another. Of course, it was the right thing to do in the face of imminent invasion.

But the lesson of the fall of Singapore must surely be that Australia can not trust its survival wholly to a foreign power. Even a close ally. Yesterday Britain, today America……

Yet, as historically tectonic as China's return may be, it is not the biggest source of uncertainty for regional security. Nor is it Russia's aggression. As a Russia expert from America's Georgetown University, Angela Stent, remarked at the Munich Security Conference on the weekend: "You come here and you realise that the biggest source of instability in the world right now is not Russia. It's the US."

There is no prize for guessing what, or whom, she could possibly be talking about. Some American patriots are trying hard to reassure US allies that the America remains reliable despite its President……

Did Payne or her US counterpart mention the biggest source of instability in the world, the man who overshadows every conversation, Donald Trump, I asked?

"Given the strength of the defence relationship," Payne told me, "there was no need to venture further afield in that regard."

In other words, the Australian and American defence ministers and their governments are trying to conduct relations pretending Donald Trump doesn't exist. "Oh, who is the mad king shouting from the top of the castle?" we ask. "What mad king?" the officials reply, straight-faced, trying to be heard over the ruckus.

Which sane country would wager its national security on the sanity of the mad king? Would you catch him in a moment of lucidity, or would he be preoccupied with a non-existent terrorist attack on Sweden, perhaps?

When the commander of the British fortress on Singapore, General Arthur Percival, was asked why he refused to erect essential defences against the Japanese, he told his subordinates that it would be "bad for the morale of troops and civilians".

Allan Gyngell, former head of the top intelligence body, the Office of National Assessments, writes in the Financial Review: "The natural tendency of Australian foreign policy advisers faced with change is to suggest going along for the ride [with America] and seeing where things end up ... It is sometimes excellent advice. But not this time."

We have no excuse for overlooking the meaning of the fall of Singapore. If the dead could shout, they would be shouting at us now.

President Trumble of Argentina?

First Turnbull became Trumble, then Prime Minister morphed into President and now ‘unimportant’ Australia appears to have become Argentina………

U.S. President Donald Trump, excerpt from press conference, 16 February 2017:

Same thing with Australia. All of a sudden, people are finding out exactly what took place. The same thing happened with respect to General Flynn. Everybody saw this. And I’m saying — the first thing I thought of when I heard about it is: How does the press get this information that’s classified? How do they do it?

You know what I say, when I — when I was called out on Mexico, I was shocked because all this equipment, all this incredible phone equipment — when I was called out on Mexico, I was — honestly, I was really, really surprised.

But I said “you know, it doesn’t make sense. That won’t happen” but that wasn’t that important a call, it was fine, I could show it to the world and he could show it to the world, the president who’s a very fine man, by the way. Same thing with Australia. I said “that’s terrible that it was leaked” but it wasn’t that important…..

So I’m dealing with Mexico, I’m dealing with Argentina, we were dealing on this case with Mike Flynn. All this information gets put into the “Washington Post” and gets put into the “New York Times” and I’m saying “what’s going to happen when I’m dealing on the Middle East? What’s going to happen when I’m dealing with really, really important subjects like North Korea?

We got to stop it. That’s why it’s a criminal penalty…..

Fitch Ratings Inc: The Trump Administration Poses Risks to Global Sovereigns

According to the Australian Dept. Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) the United States ranks as Number 1 in the Top 20 countries with direct investment in Australia [ABS catalogue 5352.0, May 2016 & UNCTADstat database, October 2016].

In 2015 Australia direct investment in the U.S. was led by manufacturing, and the finance/insurance sectors and U.S. direct investment in Australia is led by the nonbank holding, mining, finance/ insurance companies, and manufacturing sectors. [Office of the United States Trade Representative: Executive Office of the President, 2017]

So international credit rating agency, Fitch Ratings Inc’s media release of 10 February 2017 may raise some concerns:

Fitch Ratings-London-10 February 2017: The Trump Administration represents a risk to international economic conditions and global sovereign credit fundamentals, Fitch Ratings says. US policy predictability has diminished, with established international communication channels and relationship norms being set aside and raising the prospect of sudden, unanticipated changes in US policies with potential global implications.

The primary risks to sovereign credits include the possibility of disruptive changes to trade relations, diminished international capital flows, limits on migration that affect remittances and confrontational exchanges between policymakers that contribute to heightened or prolonged currency and other financial market volatility. The materialisation of these risks would provide an unfavourable backdrop for economic growth, putting pressure on public finances that may have rating implications for some sovereigns. Increases in the cost or reductions in the availability of external financing, particularly if accompanied by currency depreciation, could also affect ratings.

In assessing the global sovereign credit implications of policies enacted by the new US Administration, Fitch will focus on changes in growth trajectories, public finance positions and balance of payments performances, with particular emphasis on medium-term export prospects and possible pressures on external liquidity and sustainable funding. US positions on some countries may change quickly, at least initially, but any potential rating adjustments will depend on consequent changes to sovereign credit fundamentals, which will almost certainly be slower to materialise.

Elements of President Trump's economic agenda would be positive for growth, including the long-overdue boost to US infrastructure investment, the focus on reducing the regulatory burden and the possibility of tax cuts and reforms, assuming cuts don't lead to proportionate increases in the government deficit and debt. One interpretation of current events is that, after an early flurry of disruptive change to establish a fundamental reorientation of policy direction and intent, the Administration will settle in, embracing a consistent business- and trade-friendly framework that leverages these aspects of its economic programme, with favourable international spill-overs.

In Fitch's view, the present balance of risks points toward a less benign global outcome. The Administration has abandoned the Trans-Pacific Partnership, confirmed a pending renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, rebuked US companies that invest abroad, while threatening financial penalties for companies that do so, and accused a number of countries of manipulating exchange rates to the US's disadvantage. The full impact of these initiatives will not be known for some time, and will depend on iterative exchanges among multiple parties and unforeseen additional developments. In short, a lot can change, but the aggressive tone of some Administration rhetoric does not portend an easy period of negotiation ahead, nor does it suggest there is much scope for compromise.

Sovereigns most at risk from adverse changes to their credit fundamentals are those with close economic and financial ties with the US that come under scrutiny due to either existing financial imbalances or perceptions of unfair frameworks or practices that govern their bilateral relations. Canada, China, Germany, Japan and Mexico have been identified explicitly by the Administration as having trade arrangements or exchange rate policies that warrant attention, but the list is unlikely to end there. Our revision of the Outlook on Mexico's 'BBB+' sovereign rating to Negative in December partly reflected increased economic uncertainty and asset price volatility following the US election.

The integrative aspects of global supply chains, particularly in manufactured goods, means actions taken by the US that limit trade flows with one country will have cascading effects on others. Regional value chains are especially well developed in East Asia, focused on China, and Central Europe, focused on Germany.

Tighter immigration controls and possible deportations could have meaningful effects on remittance flows, as the US has the world's largest immigrant population. World Bank data confirm that the US and Mexico share the world's top migration corridor and have the largest bilateral remittance flows. Relative to GDP, remittances are even larger for Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua, all of which receive most inflows from the US.

Countries hosting US direct investment, at least part of which has financed export industries focused back on the US, are at risk of being singled out for punitive trade measures. The list of these countries is potentially long, since US-based entities account for nearly one-quarter of the stock of global foreign direct investment. Countries with the highest stock of US investment in manufacturing are Canada, the UK, Netherlands, Mexico, Germany, China and Brazil.

Dear Australia,.......Love, America

Two Washington residents have come to the Australian Embassy in DC - complete with homemade signs - to apologise for President Trump. pic.twitter.com/q8ydKWWbz8

— Stephanie March (@steph_march) February 3, 2017

The Age shared some letters it received after 28 January 2017:

Please share with the good people of Australia our deepest and sincerest apologies for the behaviour of the man who now occupies the White House. ("Donald Trump will 'respect' deal made with Prime Minister 'Trunbull'", February 3)
As an American citizen, who has spent a lifetime in government service, who has lived through the administrations of Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and beyond, I can tell you that we have never had such an oaf in office before.  I am so sorry.  To PM Turnbull, please accept our apologies.
Please, never forget, He does NOT represent the views and attitudes of the American people.  He is a minority president who lost the popular vote by approximately three million votes.  He barely won the electoral college by 42,000 votes in states where over 400,000 voters were purged from the rolls and were not permitted to vote. It will get worse before it gets better ... brace yourselves, we're all in this together.
Robert Mikol, Fairbanks, Alaska

Dear Australia,
I am so very sorry that we have elected such a boor and ignoramus as our president, and that he has chosen to insult such a good friend as you have been to us.  As you probably know, most of us did not vote for this so-called person, but through bad luck and electoral peculiarities we are stuck with him. I just want all of you to know that we love and appreciate Australia, and that we are horrified and embarrassed at his daily hissy-fits. You, of all people, should never have been at the receiving end of one of his tantrums. Please bear with us and accept our heartfelt apologies.
Love America.
Kyle Riggs, Ashland, Oregon 

Come now, can anyone be surprised by anything that Donald (Tweety) Trump says and does? Weren't you watching and listening to his performance during the campaigns and election for the presidency?  It's P.T. Barnum Goes to Washington. Malcolm Turnbull should not feel too upset that his call to the White House ended abruptly.  Anything that runs beyond 140 characters stretches beyond Tweety's attention span.
Bill O'Reilly, Hastings on Hudson, New York

I would like to apologise to the people of Australia and their Prime Minister for any offence given by our current President. This apology for the words and actions of a defective human being, are for both current events and for all future episodes of intellectual and civilised lapses.
Robert Pike, Fremont,California

On behalf of the 70 million voters in America who did NOT vote for Donald Trump, please accept our sincerest apologies for his behaviour. Americans, regardless of political stripe, admire, respect and love your country. Aussies rock!!
Dean Starr, Libertyville, Illinois

I woke up this morning, and read a brief account of Trump's phone conversation with your Prime Minister this week.  I was and am in shock.  I apologise (even though I know I really don't have to for myself) for what happened.  I have never been so embarrassed and so ashamed to be an American.  And I am crying deep tears of sorrow and anger.
Know that there are millions of Americans marching and protesting and writing letters in defiance of this president and this new administration, and we hope beyond hope that their tenure will be short, and the world can regain some of it's sanity.
I'm sorry.
Jack Leishman, Ashland, Oregon

I wanted add my apology to the Australian people for the embarrassing actions by our new president. Australia collectively is one of our closest and cherished friends and it pains me that Trump's treatment of your government, country and people is behaviour beyond belief. Keep the faith as we fight here toward minimising Trump's damage or removing him completely from office.
Bruce Barnes, Atlanta, Georgia

I've been lucky to travel extensively through Australia, enjoy its people, its beauty, and its culture. In the process, I made some very dear friends. The childish, reactionary, petulant behaviour of Trumplethinskin does not represent who or what most Americans are. His unhinged rants and tweets are a product of a seriously diseased mind. To put it in simple terms, terms which even he may comprehend - WE APOLOGISE!
Robert Kezelis, Palos Heights Illinois

Dear People of Australia and Prime Minister Turnbull,
I apologise for the boorish behavior of Mr. Trump. I have no idea how we raised him so poorly.
Steven Miles, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Australia-US relations in 2017: just for the record

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On Sunday, 29 January 2017 (Saturday 28 in America) U.S. President Donald Trump made a scheduled telephone call to Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

The Washington Post  broke this story on 2 February 2017, listing it under "National Security":

It should have been one of the most congenial calls for the new commander in chief — a conversation with the leader of Australia, one of America’s staunchest allies, at the end of a triumphant week.

Instead, President Trump blasted Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull over a refu­gee agreement and boasted about the magnitude of his electoral college win, according to senior U.S. officials briefed on the Saturday exchange. Then, 25 minutes into what was expected to be an hour-long call, Trump abruptly ended it.

At one point, Trump informed Turnbull that he had spoken with four other world leaders that day — including Russian President Vladi­mir Putin — and that “this was the worst call by far.”

Trump’s behavior suggests that he is capable of subjecting world leaders, including close allies, to a version of the vitriol he frequently employs against political adversaries and news organizations in speeches and on Twitter.

President Trump speaks on the phone with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in the Oval Office on Jan. 28, 2017. (Pete Marovich/Pool photo via European Pressphoto Agency)

“This is the worst deal ever,” Trump fumed as Turnbull attempted to confirm that the United States would honor its pledge to take in 1,250 refugees from an Australian detention center.

Trump, who one day earlier had signed an executive order temporarily barring the admission of refugees, complained that he was “going to get killed” politically and accused Australia of seeking to export the “next Boston bombers.”

Trump returned to the topic late Wednesday night, writing in a message on Twitter: “Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!”

U.S. officials said that Trump has behaved similarly in conversations with leaders of other countries, including Mexico. But his treatment of Turnbull was particularly striking because of the tight bond between the United States and Australia — countries that share intelligence, support one another diplomatically and have fought together in wars including in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 The characterizations provide insight into Trump’s temperament and approach to the diplomatic requirements of his job as the nation’s chief executive, a role in which he continues to employ both the uncompromising negotiating tactics he honed as a real estate developer and the bombastic style he exhibited as a reality television personality.

The depictions of Trump’s calls are also at odds with sanitized White House accounts. The official readout of his conversation with Turnbull, for example, said that the two had “emphasized the enduring strength and closeness of the U.S.-Australia relationship that is critical for peace, stability, and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region and globally.”

A White House spokesman declined to comment. A senior administration official acknowledged that the conversation with Turnbull had been hostile and charged, but emphasized that most of Trump’s calls with foreign leaders — including the heads of Japan, Germany, France and Russia — have been productive and pleasant......

But U.S. officials said that Trump continued to fume about the arrangement even after signing the order in a ceremony at the Pentagon.

“I don’t want these people,” Trump said. He repeatedly misstated the number of refugees called for in the agreement as 2,000 rather than 1,250, and told Turnbull that it was “my intention” to honor the agreement, a phrase designed to leave the U.S. president wiggle room to back out of the deal in the future, according to a senior U.S. official.

Before Trump tweeted about the agreement Wednesday night, the U.S. Embassy in Canberra had assured Australian reporters that the new administration intended to take the refugees.

“President Trump’s decision to honour the refugee agreement has not changed,” an embassy spokesman had told the reporters, according to an official in the Sydney consulate. “This was just reconfirmed to the State Department from the White House and on to this embassy at 1315 Canberra time.”

The time the embassy said it was informed the deal was going ahead was 9:15 p.m. in Washington, one hour and 40 minutes before Trump suggested in a tweet that it might not go ahead.

During the phone conversation Saturday, Turnbull told Trump that to honor the agreement, the United States would not have to accept all of the refugees but only to allow each through the normal vetting procedures. At that, Trump vowed to subject each refu­gee to “extreme vetting,” the senior U.S. official said.

Trump was also skeptical because he did not see a specific advantage the United States would gain by honoring the deal, officials said.

Trump’s position appears to reflect the transactional view he takes of relationships, even when it comes to diplomatic ties with long-standing allies. Australian troops have fought alongside U.S. forces for decades, and the country maintains close cooperation with Washington on trade and economic issues.

Australia is seen as such a trusted ally that it is one of only four countries that the United States includes in the “Five Eyes” arrangement for cooperation on espionage matters. Members share extensively what their intelligence services gather and generally refrain from spying on one another.

There also is a significant amount of tourism between the two countries.....

At one point, Turnbull suggested that the two leaders move on from their impasse over refugees to discuss the conflict in Syria and other pressing foreign issues. But Trump demurred and ended the call, making it far shorter than his conversations with Shinzo Abe of Japan, Angela Merkel of Germany, François Hollande of France or Putin.

“These conversations are conducted candidly, frankly, privately,” Turnbull said at a news conference Thursday in Australia. “If you see reports of them, I’m not going to add to them.”

After news of the content of Trump's telephone call became public, the ruling Republican Party went into damage control:

Feb 02 2017

STATEMENTBY SASC CHAIRMAN JOHN McCAIN ON U.S.-AUSTRALIA ALLIANCE

Washington, D.C. ­– U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, released the following statement on his call this morning with Australia’s Ambassador to the United States Joe Hockey:

“On the Fourth of July 1918, American and Australian soldiers fought side-by-side at the Battle of Hamel. In the century that followed, our two nations struggled and sacrificed together in World War I and World War II, Korea and Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. Those of us who took part in the conflict remember well the service of more than 50,000 Australians in the Vietnam War, including more than 500 that gave their lives.

“Today, Australia is hosting increased deployments of U.S. aircraft, more regular port visits by U.S. warships, and critical training for U.S. marines at Robertson Barracks in Darwin. This deepening cooperation is a reminder that from maintaining security and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region to combatting radical Islamist terrorism, the U.S-Australia relationship is more important than ever.

“In short, Australia is one of America’s oldest friends and staunchest allies. We are united by ties of family and friendship, mutual interests and common values, and shared sacrifice in wartime.

“In that spirit, I called Australia’s Ambassador to the United States this morning to express my unwavering support for the U.S.-Australia alliance. I asked Ambassador Hockey to convey to the people of Australia that their American brothers and sisters value our historic alliance, honor the sacrifice of the Australians who have served and are serving by our side, and remain committed to the safer, freer, and better world that Australia does far more than its fair share to protect and promote.”

###

Meanwhile in Australia ABC News was reporting:

Mr Trump's declaration via Twitter that the proposed Australian refugee settlement arrangement struck with former president Barack Obama was a "dumb deal" has startled long-term observers of the ANZUS alliance.

"I've been watching the alliance relationship for more than 30 years now and I think this is as difficult a period as we've seen since the so-called MX missile crisis of the early 1980s," said Peter Jennings, the director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

"I think it's sensible for us to be working through all manner of contingencies, which includes a temporary freezing of the alliance, a sort of lull in alliance cooperation," Mr Jennings warned.

"Ordinarily you'd say that was very unexpected, but I just think we've got to be prepared for any contingency under the new presidency".

And of course Twitter lit up over the subject:

Business Insider Australia, 2 February 2017

The Sydney Morning Herald reporting from New York on 2 February 2017:

New York: The revelation that Donald Trump berated Malcolm Turnbull, the leader of one of America's closest allies, during a recent official phone call has been met with shock, disbelief and some embarrassed humour in the United States, fuelling concerns about the US president badly damaging important international relationships.

The Washington Post scoop revealing the tense conversation broke late in the day in the US and went on to dominate late night news television shows and social media, with many expressing disbelief that of all the countries the US could have offended in the first weeks of a new administration, it would be America's genial allies across the Pacific.

"Dear Australia: The majority of Americans who don't support Trump want to say we are sorry. We will make it up to you in four years or less," Ted Lieu, a Democratic congressman from California who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote on Twitter after the story broke.  

"I made a Top 100 Possible Trump Administration Foreign Crises list & I gotta admit 'Rupturing US-Australia Relations' was NOT on there," senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut who sits on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, also wrote.

Lawrence O'Donnell, the left-wing commentator and host of MSNBC's The Last Word, lambasted the president for insulting Turnbull, "while having no idea that Australia has stood by us like no other ally, marched into battle with us where no other ally would go, including Vietnam, something Donald Trump would have known if he had served in Vietnam and heard those men beside him with those Australian accents, men who saved the lives of American troops".

Mr Trump avoided serving in the Vietnam War due to a series of deferments, including a medical deferment for bone spurs in his heels.

Democratic senator Jeff Merkley said much of the president's behaviour had been "extremely disturbing" and that "many of us are worried we are going to stumble into war".

David Gergen​, a former presidential adviser to Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan, who is now an analyst for CNN, accused Trump of bullying a friend…..

Kevin Madden, a former adviser to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, said people had long expected that Trump, a mogul and reality television star known for his combative, impudent manner, would eventually conform to some level of political protocol, but that a pivot of that nature was never going to come. 

"He's just not going to change but that's what's problematic," he said on the same CNN panel…..

Trump felt compelled to explain himself publicly at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday 2 February 2017 as reported by The Independent UK the next day:

Donald Trump has warned that he plans to be “tough” and “straighten things out” after reports emerged that he had “yelled” at the Australian Prime Minister about their refugee resettlement deal and had hung up mid-conversation.

At a prayer breakfast, the President said: “That’s what I do, I fix things. We’re going to straighten it out. Believe me.

“When you hear about the tough phone calls I’m having, don’t worry about it. Just don’t worry about it. They’re tough. We have to be tough. It’s time we’re going to be a little tough, folks. We’re taken advantage of by every nation in the world virtually. It’s not going to happen any more. It’s not going to happen any more.”

The call with Malcolm Turnbull on Saturday should have lasted an hour, but after 25 minutes Mr Trump wanted off the call.

Australia Sky News sources reported that the President “yelled” at Mr Turnbull as he sat in the Oval Office, flanked by Chief Strategist Stephen Bannon, Press Secretary Sean Spicer and Defence Secretary Michael Flynn. It was the last call of the day after several other scheduled phone calls with several foreign leaders. 

News.com.au reported Trump further on 3 February 2017:

AS the White House confirmed a “horrible deal” between Australia and the US on refugees would remain, US President Donald Trump cast more skepticism.

He said he questioned the purpose of the agreement, and suggested the number of refugees could increase to 2,000, after the Trump administration agreed to honour an Obama-era plan to resettle 1,250 asylum seekers in the US.

“For whatever reason President Obama said that they were going to take probably well over a thousand illegal immigrants who were in prisons and they were going to bring them and take them into this country,” Trump said.

“And I just said why?”

“Why are we doing this?”

“We have to be treated fairly also, we have to be treated fairly.”

“So we’ll see what happens. When the previous administration does something, you have to respect that, but you can also say, why are we doing this?” he said.

News footage of Donald Trump has him stating that the United States is being taken advantage of by Australia. 

He has forgotten - if he ever knew in the first place - just how many U.S. strategic defence/intelligence installations are sited on Australian soil, sometimes at a genuinely peppercorn rent. One, Pine Gap, collects a wide range of signals intelligence as well as providing early warning of ballistic missile launches and allegedly controls certain American spy satellites as they fly over China, North Korea, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Middle East.

On the morning of Thursday 2 January, Australia’s Ambassador to the United States met with two of Trump’s senior staff, Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon, at which time they conveyed the president's deep admiration for the Australian people - presumaby because the story of Trump’s telephone tantrum refused to die a quick death and they were obviously desperate to see it interred six feet under.

Despite this clumsy olive branch  9 News carried footage from that same day which clearly demonstrated how untrustworthy this new White House is:

Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway has blamed Australia for leaking a transcript of the US president berating Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull despite reports it came from the White House.

Conway who was speaking on Fox & Friends on Thursday took the opportunity to address the heated phone call that has turned many Americans against Trump for verbally attacking the leader of one the USA’s closest allies.

However, despite the Washington Post reporting the leak came from US officials briefed on the exchange, Conway refuted claims the leak came from the US.

"This is the practice for us… we’re the ones not leaking. You saw it with the earlier reports, you see it here. You’re a little bit hamstrung when you’re the ones upholding the law or, more frankly, upholding a gentlemen’s agreement to not release," Conway said.

When asked who leaked the transcript the Trump advisor insinuated it must have been Australia.

"Well, you can make your own conclusions," she said.

More reliable rumour has it that the leaked details of the Trump-Turnbull conversation came from within Trump's close circle of advisers, in an attempt to either lay the groundwork for a reluctant agreement to the Obama-Turnbull Nauru & Manus asylum seeker arrangement or to poison this deal the eyes of the American public and so give Trump an excuse to eventually withdraw.

Either way Donald Trump has misread the relationship with Australia and it may come back to bite him.

When they decide enough is enough, Australians can become decidedly bloody-minded and President Trump needs to keep that in mind.

Right now a good many Australians have narrowed eyes and grim mouths as they turn their gaze towards this man.