Barnaby Joyce: the face of power. Imagine being confronted by this across a bar at closing time. I’d be asking for a room for the night.

Barnaby to Depp: ‘I’m warnin‘ yer Johnny, bugger orf wiv yer dogs or so help me, we’ll kill ’em all!’

also, the same day…

Prime Minister Abbott reassures us the Americans don’t intend to base B-1 bombers here (thanks Tony, I really needed to hear that, but, come to think of it, what do you intend?)

and…

while knocking your knees at the threat of a rising China not ‘playing by the rules’ (and the ghost of the Yellow Peril – back on the agenda as ‘subtext’), you might like to read about the overt threat by the then rising U.S. – their Monroe Doctrine.

What is notable about the story of Joyce (a Federal minister speaking on behalf of the Australian government and people) and Depp’s dogs is not its trivial stupidity but the degree to which it contrasts with Australia’s true relations with the U.S.

The degree of bizarre overreaction of the former is directly related to the degree of servility of the latter.

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