[red-iron-pine]

why would Australia get hit? no where near Russia, not in NATO, no nukes, and too small of a military to mount a serious offensive

for that matter they're not going to be able to supply much relief effort, either. hopefully they'll pick a side - India or China - and ride out the eventual hegemonic war between those 2.

[4bpp]

Australia did contribute troops to most US-led military expeditions of the past century. Is it that unlikely that in the event of complete nuclear devastation of the Northern Hemisphere, they would be happy to tip the scales in favour of their allies among the survivors by dispatching a few tens of thousands of troops to mop up what is left of the Russian side, which would only be up against a few disorganised pockets of resistance with no supply chain to speak of?

Also, there is a chance that in the event of a full-blown nuclear exchange Russian leadership would see the showdown as fundamentally civilisational, and seek to take Australia down simply because it is unambiguously an outpost of Anglo-American culture.

[LargoLasskhyfv]

1.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_Gap - ZAP!

2.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoal_Bay_Receiving_Station - Brrzzt!

3.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Defence_Satellite_C... - Sparkle!

[defrost]

0.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Communication_Station_Ha...

One of the places that sends the "shoot 'em up boys* signal to the stealth nuclear subs.

[082349872349872]

> "shoot 'em up boys"

I'd thought these days the signal would be "OK Boomer"?

(I'm still impressed that the РВСН has St Barbara as a patron saint. They claim that it's because they were founded on her day, 17.12.59, but I'd bet it has rather more to do with towers and lightning strikes as attributes, as well as her existing patronage over artillerymen, tunnellers, and explosives workers in general. They make severe waffle irons in Chelyabinsk: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/OUQPxihQfQDuPE-8f8X1... )

[ekianjo]

> why would Australia get hit?

when you have 30 000 warheads you might as well sprinkle them around for all allies of NATO for good measure. When you are doing a nuclear exchange that's the strategy anyway.

[bilbo0s]

I'm assuming our Navy would harbor there when other ports were gone.

Maybe the Australians wouldn't allow that?

I guess I always assumed they would. Kind of like North Korea with Russian warships. I don't think we could take the chance that the Russian naval assets harbored in N Korea were harmless. Likewise, I'm assuming Russia wouldn't be able to make the assumption that American warships harbored in Australia were harmless.

I don't know? Maybe everyone's naval ships just surrender or something? I doubt it though. Your nation being destroyed is, in my mind, more reason to fight in those circumstances, not less.

[monkeydreams]

> Maybe the Australians wouldn't allow that?

I think the US leases bases in Australia. Given that a single aircraft carrier group contains more power than the ADF combined I would suggest any that limp back to Australia's shores would be able to continue using these ports.