{"id":14213,"date":"2014-06-05T06:00:24","date_gmt":"2014-06-04T20:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=14213"},"modified":"2015-05-11T13:25:07","modified_gmt":"2015-05-11T03:25:07","slug":"on-the-beach-tony-abbott-at-normandy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/on-the-beach-tony-abbott-at-normandy\/","title":{"rendered":"On the beach: Tony Abbott at Normandy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Australia<\/a>As memories are lost it becomes the role of commemorations to shape our view of history.\u00a0 The 40th anniversary commemorations of the Normandy landings in 1984 brought Ronald Reagan to Pointe du Hoc, where US Army Rangers had scaled a 130-foot cliff to capture German positions.\u00a0 Reagan\u2019s speech<\/a>, regarded as one of the best of his presidency, turned American popular opinion in favour of the ageing actor, reversed a slide in support since the disastrous bombing of a Marine barracks in Lebanon in 1983 and positioned Reagan for the fight of his political life to bring down the Soviet Union. The 50th anniversary commemorations<\/a> in 1994 were heavily focussed on the old soldiers who attended in large numbers in their 70s along with Queen Elizabeth, Bill Clinton and Francois Mitterrand. The French declined to invite Germany\u2019s Helmut Kohl that year, but Chancellor Gerhard Schroder attended the 60th anniversary<\/a>, invited by Jacques Chirac. Time heals most things.<\/p>\n

The political theatre of this year\u2019s 70th anniversary commemorations will be somewhat lower-key than Reagan\u2019s triumph.\u00a0 Barack Obama will attend, fresh from the maudlin capitulations of his West Point speech on American foreign policy.\u00a0 Vladimir Putin will be there, showing that populist militarism isn\u2019t dead yet on Europe\u2019s periphery.\u00a0 Queen Elizabeth will be the only head of state to have attended the 40th, 50th, 60th and 70th anniversary commemorations.\u00a0 In another mark of continuity, the British press are happily attacking French President Fran\u00e7ois Hollande<\/a>, for charging media outlets to broadcast the event. Regrettably few veterans are left to participate.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s direct role in the D Day landings was, on the scale of the operation, quite limited.\u00a0 Around 3000 Australians were serving in RAAF squadrons and as individuals in British units.\u00a0 In our own region, the last remaining Imperial Japanese Army and Navy Service combat aircraft<\/a> were destroyed in dogfights in June 1944 over Papua New Guinea. Australia was gearing for the costly amphibious operations in Borneo.\u00a0 Tony Abbott\u2019s participation at the 70th commemoration is important though, to recognise the service of a generation who won\u2019t be with us for the 80th anniversary.\u00a0 As always happens at gatherings of international leaders, Abbott will also have the opportunity to build contacts and pursue current Australian interests.\u00a0 What should be on the PM\u2019s check-list of things to do at Normandy?<\/p>\n

Abbott should promote the message that Australia is a consequential power with the GNP, large defence budget and activist foreign policy that well merits our temporary seat on the UN Security Council, membership of the G-20, and membership of the East Asia Summit, APEC and the rest.\u00a0 Our military efforts in Afghanistan, Iraq and East Timor show we\u2019re prepared to do heavy lifting on international security tasks.\u00a0 The PM should dispel the notion that our strategic interests are limited to Asia and emphasise that we\u2019re looking for substantive engagement with European countries as like-minded partners.<\/p>\n

Second, Abbott should stress to his French hosts that this particular bilateral relationship has been underdone in recent years.\u00a0 We should use the forthcoming hundredth anniversary commemorations of the First World War not just to remember our history but also to develop a modern Franco-Australian strategic relationship.\u00a0 I argued for closer Australia-French defence relations back in February; the essence of the case is here<\/a>:<\/p>\n

In many respects French defence policy showcases what Australia would like more of: highly capable deployable forces and a willingness to use them; a shrinking but sustainable industry base; growing credibility and respect in Washington and bipartisan popular support for a strong military. France has more than its share of economic woes, but in terms of strategic policy settings it has a good hand. That\u2019s a good basis to think about closer cooperation with Australia.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If he has the opportunity, Mr Abbott should pull Fran\u00e7ois Hollande and Barack Obama into a huddle to ask if it\u2019s really the case\u2014or just a self-serving myth\u2014that the US wouldn\u2019t contemplate allowing its weapons systems to be fitted into a French-designed submarine hull.\u00a0 France is currently the most effective of the major European defence powers; is a NATO ally in good standing; backed the US to the hilt in Libya; and is doing strategic heavy-lifting in Africa.\u00a0 France and the UK can jointly operate aircraft off a carrier, but we\u2019re supposed to believe that the ultimate no-go zone in alliance cooperation is to provide Australia with an effective submarine capability.\u00a0 Come off it!\u00a0 It\u2019s time for the political leaders of the three countries to offer some adult supervision.<\/p>\n

A French solution to Australia\u2019s future submarine requirement is one of a limited number of possible ways forward for the Collins-replacement program. Given the money and risk involved, it\u2019s in Australia\u2019s interests to at least test the waters of that possibility.\u00a0 Progress here could transform the Australia-France industrial relationship and provide a solid basis for defence cooperation into the future.\u00a0 Seek and you may find, Prime Minister.<\/p>\n

Peter Jennings is executive director of ASPI. Image courtesy of the Australian War Memorial<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As memories are lost it becomes the role of commemorations to shape our view of history.\u00a0 The 40th anniversary commemorations of the Normandy landings in 1984 brought Ronald Reagan to Pointe du Hoc, where US …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":14214,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[17,291,223,141,31,207],"class_list":["post-14213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-australia","tag-france","tag-submarines","tag-united-kingdom","tag-united-states","tag-world-war-ii"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nOn the beach: Tony Abbott at Normandy | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/on-the-beach-tony-abbott-at-normandy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"On the beach: Tony Abbott at Normandy | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As memories are lost it becomes the role of commemorations to shape our view of history.\u00a0 The 40th anniversary commemorations of the Normandy landings in 1984 brought Ronald Reagan to Pointe du Hoc, where US ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/on-the-beach-tony-abbott-at-normandy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-04T20:00:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-05-11T03:25:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Normandy.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"471\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter Jennings\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter Jennings\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\",\"name\":\"The Strategist\",\"description\":\"ASPI's analysis and commentary site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/on-the-beach-tony-abbott-at-normandy\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Normandy.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Normandy.jpg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":471,\"caption\":\"Australia meets France in this picture of Flight-Sergeant Fred Wood of Adelaide, with the Chief Gendarme in a Normandy village in 1945. 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