GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The United States will station 250 Marines in Australia starting in 2012, with the number expected to grow to 2,500 at some point, US President Barack Obama and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard agreed Wednesday 16 November. The BBC reports that “The deployment is being seen as a move to counter China’s growing influence. But Mr Obama said the US was “stepping up its commitment to the entire Asia-Pacific”, not excluding China.”
The Sydney Morning Herald, in an opinion piece, notes that ”‘It’s absolutely clear that this is all about China,’ says Hugh White, formerly the top strategy planner in the Australian Defence Department. And the real significance of yesterday’s announcement was that Australia’s US alliance is being shaped around the China threat.”
Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency, for its part makes no comment in its straightforward English-language news article on the agreement, but AFP/Yahoo, in an article where it refers to China being “rankled”, says “The deployment of US Marines to Australia’s tropical north came as the allies adapted their military posture to face a new security era marked by the rise of China, which sparked an immediate negative response from Beijing. ‘It may not be quite appropriate to intensify and expand military alliances and may not be in the interest of countries within this region,’ China’s foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said.”
Two massive bombs went off in the central part of Baghdad, killing more than 75 people and leaving more than 300 wounded. A truck with a bomb hidden in it went off outside of the Iraqi foreign ministry, just outside of the protected Green Zone. It left a crater 3 metres deep and 10 metres wide. Another bomb went off near the finance ministry. Several smaller explosions, believed to be mortars, were also reported. It was the deadliest day since the US military forces handed back security to the Iraqi forces. Bomb attacks are still common in Baghdad but have tended to target poor Shia neighbourhoods. BBC, CNN
