Why wont Turnbull yell at Trump?

Now Turnbull is of course the whipping boy of the darling left because he failed to yell enough at Donald Trump over his Muslim-but-not-really-Muslim ban. And yes, maybe Australia is the only Western country not trolling the US president on Twitter right now.

But, by an incredible coincidence, it also happens that Australia is the only country relying on the US to take our offshore asylum seekers — the most improbable detainee swap since the opening scenes of Die Another Day.

So if we hold our tongue with the Donald it means America takes more refugees and we take more refugees. Isn’t that what the activists want?

And it also means Trump is practising nice, conventional international diplomacy. Isn’t that what the establishment wants?

Not really. For all that the chatterati dictate what Turnbull should say about Trump, they never mention what he should actually do. They just want him to get indignant and outraged, which is, in their defence, all they really want to do themselves.

And of course there is nothing Turnbull can do. Australia matters too much to be able to flip the bird at America, as New Zealand does from time to time, but not enough to be able to pressure it, as some larger European nations attempt to.

But let’s face it, they can’t really do much either. Whatever tut-tutting there is from the UK, it will ultimately do whatever the US wants and since leaving the EU it needs America more than ever. And the rest of Europe, for all its noble ideals, will ultimately fall into line one way or another because they’re scared of both ISIS and Putin and it’s the US who gathers the lion’s share of intelligence and bankrolls NATO.

Indeed, since World War II the West’s relationship with America has never really been about leverage, it has only been about America’s willingness to play nice — or at least to be seen to be playing nice. To create the impression — mostly real, often not — that it is a legitimate moral force empowered by a consensus of like-minded nations.

Trump’s brutalist style has simply exposed the ugly truth behind global politics: That America doesn’t really have to do what anyone else wants and the only true global check on its power is the rise of China’s.

http://www.news.com.au/national/politics/prime-minister-malcolm-turnbull-says-australian-dual-nationals-wont-be-banned-from-the-us/news-story/4ff4fbbbe0cd1a6f2c99dfd02a8b5bab


PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull has defended his decision not to publicly condemn Donald Trump’s immigration ban, after confirming Australian dual nationals will be exempted.

Mr Turnbull said he had received a call this morning from Australia’s ambassador in Washington Joe Hockey about the ban.

“He’s had assurances, confirmation, from the White House that Australian passport holders — regardless of their place of birth or whether they are dual nationals or whether they hold another passport — will remain welcome to come and go to the United States in the usual way,” Mr Turnbull told Sky News on Tuesday.

The assurance matches those the US gave to the United Kingdom and Canada and came after confirmation from the national security adviser.

In explaining the exemption, Mr Turnbull said Australia had a “strong relationship” with the US, and said confirmation had come from US National Security Advisor, General Michael Flynn.

It means Australian dual nationals should be able to travel to the US in the same way they were prior to Donald Trump’s executive order that stopped people from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia from entering the US.

Mr Trump’s order signed on Friday has caused widespread confusion and shock, and a Melbourne schoolboy who was a dual Australian-Iranian citizen, was denied a visa on Monday to attend a space camp.

Now he is expected to join his classmates on a school trip to visit Orlando, Washington, and the US Space and Rocket Center in Alabama.

While many world leaders have condemned the ban, Mr Turnbull and other government MPs have avoided criticising the measures.


Mr Turnbull told reporters yesterday that it was “not my job” to run a commentary on domestic policies of other countries, and today defended his decision not the condemn the move.

“When I have frank advice to give to an American president, I give it privately, as good friends should, as wise prime ministers do, when they want to ensure they are best able to protect Australians and Australians’ national interest,” he told reporters in Canberra.

“Others can engage in commentary. My job is to stand up for Australia, Australian interests, and deliver, and that’s what we’ve done today.”

He said the Australian values had been made very clear.

“What I have done is made it very clear that our non-discriminatory immigration policy, our multicultural nation, our multicultural policies are not changing,” he told SkyNews.

But others have speculated that Mr Turnbull’s silence may be linked to a refugee resettlement deal that Australia has with the US, which will see asylum seekers on Nauru and Manus Island resettled in America.

Mr Turnbull publicly thanked Mr Trump for honouring the agreement after speaking with the President on the weekend.