Australia primed to be yanked into US (http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,6760977%255E421,00.html)

I wouldn't be surprised if this did happen in the next 50 years.

The reasoning is that Australia's relationship with the US is very closely tied. Basically, what we are seeing is that if the US goes to war, for Australia it is not a case of whether we will join but what forces we will send. This is how it was with Britain in the first half of the twentieth century when we became a federation. In the latter half we saw this with the US.

I really can't see how the US and Australia can forge too many more agreements without some sort of amalgamation of the two countries.

However, these agreements are not all known to the wide public. There are agreements dealing with Intelligence and R & D of technology. EG Pine Gap, which is US soil located on the Australian mainland. On the intelligence side, some agents who work for Australia actually answer to the CIA. A guy is in solitary confinement unable to speak to have contact with anyone because of divulging this information.

Personally, I'm not sure if this would be a good thing to do, but I can definitely still see it one day happening. So, I wonder if there is room on that flag for one more star, or will they tell us where to wipe it.

BTW if you read the article linked above, don't take the stuff written about Australia in a paragraph you will notice as true. Except for the Prime Minister not living in The Lodge (US equivelent of the White House).

It may seem like it would be a politically appropriate thing to do, but I would be genuinely surprised if Austrailia joined with the US in my lifetime. Australia would have to give up their way of government, among other things. I doubt that the people would be in favour of that, despite the appeal. Peopple have been saying that Canada will someday be the 51st state for 200 years, it wont happen, though.

Try reversing it:
Australia and the USA are very closely tied, will the USA become the next province of Australia?

...and you see how unrealistic it is. IMO, just wishful thinking from people who want the little USA to grow bigger.:)

Ausralia? That's too far away to be a US state, and we don't need another state in the US whose residents speak with a funny accent ;)

(for the record, that was a joke)

heh that'd be funny. seems foolish though

My country (Denmark) also headlessly threw in its support for the US. Our PM is sucking Tony Blair's c*ck, while he in turn sucks Bush's. Pathetic.

What's funny is that Blix has now criticized our government of abusing his statements and reports to make it seem as if Iraq had WMDs, even leading to forming a commision designed to investigate to see if our dear PM and Foreign minister had lied.

How could they possibly do such a thing? :rolleyes:

I do believe it wouldn't happen today or in the next 20 years, but further down, it would definitely depend on the world climate. Such as what other countries in our neighbourhood are doing, and where they are going.

The article is right in saying that if a major terrorist attack occured in Australia or Indonesia became an Islamic Fundamentalist State the chances would greatly increase.

I would also agree that Australians probably would not support it either since we would lose our sense of nationhood and culture. But again, going way down the track, things may change.

C'Jais, our Prime Minister suck Dubya's c*ck as well. They even had a slumber party at his ranch.

Us joinning with the US to be a part of the US will never happen. Well it could if the pro-Australians lose the civil war to the pro-Americians. Yes such a move would in my opinion result in a civil war. In my opinion and others the system of Government in Australia is the best in the world but unfortunately we have had Prime Minister after Prime Minister lately that are too weak and will follow others instead of standing up and doing what they know they should do (however I do think our current PM has done the right thing with world issues that have arisen, now saying that he better not get us involved in the North Korea mess unless it is ABSOLUTELY necessary.)

it seems to me that the US just wants a foothold on the otherside of the planet. dumb idea. I bet Dubya thought of it before he choked on that pretzel...

O.o

Whoa.

That would be...very interesting.

*goes to drag Lynk Former in* XD

MydnightPsion: Never heard of Hawaii? ;)

NO WAY IN HELL!
IF IT DOES HAPPEN I'M MOVING BACK TO FIJI!

Hey... then Foster's will no longer be an imported beer!

And Lynk Former will be a homeboy! What's up Homes!? :D

Hey... then Foster's will no longer be an imported beer!

Lol...and MacDonalds will be an Australian icon. :p

I doubt it'll ever happen anyways. I mean, if we gave statehood to everyone one of our lil assanine communities we have, we'd have like 84 states, and whos gonna wanna renovate the House?

Yeah, I hope it doesn't happen as well.

If it does, I hope there is room for me on Fiji as well. :)

Total conspiracy theory... (Didn't get a chance to read the article... it's gone, but I'm sure it was just a bunch of political paranoia)

First, if I'm not mistaken (I'm American and don't even know the process; we are truly pathetic) Australia would probably become an American TERRITORY before it would become a State. We already have a few territories: Some over in the Virgin Islands, Guam, and Puerto Rico (as well as a few other assorted places). The main reason they haven't become States yet is this: Why should they? They get U.S. funding and military support, but have their own independent government. They basically have all the benefits of being a State, but none of the cons. That's why whenever the subject of becoming a US state comes up in Puerto Rico, the vote their always decides not to.

Aside from all that of that, Australia is huge. Even when compared to Alaska, America's largest State, Australia is still pretty damned big. Alaska is about 1.7 million square km.; whereas Australia is around 7.6 million square km. Acquiring on such a large landmass would prove to be quite difficult. It would have to be split into three or four separate states. With that comes a general overhaul of taxes and revenue. As well as preparing Congress for all the new representatives. However, Australia wouldn’t have that many representatives. Texas has more people than Australia...

I'm sure an Australian would like to correct me on this, but the only economical reason of acquiring Australia would be for tourism. Beyond that, I don't think they have any resources to speak of. A lot of Australia is just a desert... (But I'm willing to stand corrected on this. I'm too lazy to research Australia's economy right now.)

All and in all, neither side has anything to gain from Australia joining America... And as already noted: most people probably wouldn't even want to join us. Not to mention it's on the other side of the world. America has their plate full with our current territories anyway. We're already the third largest country... Australia is the sixth... Taking in Australia would make America the largest country in the world; besting Russia by about 300,000 square km. governing that much land just isn't easy.

So what did I just prove? That article was the embodiment of paranoia itself.

I'm sure an Australian would like to correct me on this, but the only economical reason of acquiring Australia would be for tourism. Beyond that, I don't think they have any resources to speak of. A lot of Australia is just a desert... (But I'm willing to stand corrected on this. I'm too lazy to research Australia's economy right now.)

Here comes the correction. :)

Australia has heaps (I'm talking a lot of) Uranium, Coal, Bauxite (used in making Aluminium) and I believe Natural gas. Magnesium may also be another. There may also be others I havn't thought of.

The economy is quite good at the moment.

However, some of the Australian mainland does belong to the US. Its not a lot, but it does top secret stuff. The reason why it's US owned is so anything coming out of there doesn't have to go through our government but can go straight to the US. However, the land may not be owned but leased out for $1 or something like that.

The US also doesn't look after our defence. If worst came to worst we couldn't count on the US. Our officials know this.

Acquiring on such a large landmass would prove to be quite difficult. It would have to be split into three or four separate states.

I was wondering how that would work to. It would be really weird.

But when I say I wouldn't want to be part of the US, it's not that I don't like yanks. I just wouldn't like another country governing us who don't understand Australians. US culture is way different imo.

Nicely put mate. I think you summed it up nicely. Oh one important export you did forget was our scientist that leave this country in large numbers to get the research grants they need to continue their research. Aussie scientist are everywhere, especially in the US.