Australia has agreed to a major escalation of military co-operation with the US.This will include more visits by American ships, aircraft and troops and their forces exercising here regularly, The Weekend Australian says.Access to Australian Defence Force facilities will allow the US to step up its military presence in the Asia-Pacific region as it comes under pressure to wind down its key bases, such as Okinawa, as concern grows about China's military expansion.Increased numbers of US personnel in Australian facilities are expected within months, and the tempo of military exercises will be stepped up as that happens.Likely early sites are Townsville, as the primary base for army operations, the port of Darwin, the Bradshaw Field Training Area in the Northern Territory and HMAS Stirling naval base in Western Australia.Three big announcements on military and security co-operation will be made after Monday's AUSMIN defence and foreign policy talks in Melbourne involving delegations headed by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Australia's Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd and Defence Minister Stephen Smith.Sources close to the talks say US forces will not establish new bases on Australian soil but they will be welcomed into existing facilities.The Australian development is part of a new US strategy to step up its military presence in the Asia-Pacific region after reviews of strategic policy concluded that the Bush government's attempts to project power from North America were not working.
Dawning One's New Blog
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Friday, November 5, 2010
...a thought...
as our consciousness increases we vibrate at a more rapid pace
and become visibly lighter in our bioluminous bodies
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Yes, I'm still here
its spring time in the south of the globe and lilacs are in blossom. happy spring! and spring rains
Friday, April 3, 2009
SPOTLESS SUNS
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
more quaking
The tremor occurred about 5km northeast of Korumburra, 100km southeast of Melbourne, at 4.28pm (AEDT) on Wednesday.
The epicentre is in the same area of an earthquake with a magnitude of 4.6 on the Richter scale which hit on March 6.
The Seismology Research Centre said an aftershock sequence is expected to continue.
There have been no reports of damage and it is unlikely an earthquake of this magnitude and depth will cause any significant damage, the centre's website said.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Roo crash
Ms Beman praised her husband's courage and said she didn't know many men who would go head-to-head with a kangaroo."I think he's a hero, a hero in Bonds undies," she said.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Quaking Melbourne
Victoria's east has been rocked by an earth tremor,on 6/3/09 in the evening with residents reporting Melbourne buildings shaking across the metropolitan area.Geoscience Australia, which monitors earthquake activity, said the tremor measured magnitude 4.6 on the Richter scale , with the epicentre at Korumburra, about 90 kilometres south-east of Melbourne .The quake happened just before 9:00pm AEDT, and while there were no reports of injury, 000, media outlets and the Bureau of Meteorology were flooded with calls from people wanting to know what had happened.John Schneider, from Geoscience Australia, says the the region has not seen an earthquake of that magnitude in over a decade."The last earthquake of any significant size in that area was the magnitude 5 earthquake at Thomson Reservoir in 1996," he said.Terry Ryan from the Bureau of Meteorology says the quake was felt far from its epicentre."Mainly out to the eastern suburbs of Melbourne and places like Pakenham, Wonthaggi, towards Phillip Island ... have reported more sort of movement than the west," he said.Allan Griggs, from the State Emergency Service (SES), says 10 crews were sent to respond to calls for help with minor property damage."There's no reports of injury to the SES, however we have received approximately 30 calls for assistance across the state this evening," he said."Most of the calls have come from the Melbourne metropolitan area ... crews are now out just assessing the damage to these properties."It is reported as minor damage at this stage."Heather McPherson, of Launching Place, was one of the many people who felt the earth move."I nearly fell over," she said."I'm an artist and all my paintings fell off the wall - I had canvasses everywhere."I came out to pick them up and I had this shudder go through the floor."I've never felt anything like it in my life, I could barely stand up."James Sandman, of Drouin in Victoria's east, was watching TV at the time."The whole house absolutely shook, like the foundations shook," he said."The walls moved, they wobbled, and myself and my wife just looked at each other and we ... both then looked at the exits wondering do we need to get out."Greg Cotton was in his apartment in South Yarra at the time."It lasted for what seemed to be about two or three seconds. It was significant," he said."I've never felt the floor move and move me, and I've lived in this particular building for 15 years."Police say no injuries or major damage have been reported so far.