Do you think that Dick Cheney's words in the US today are going to be echoed in Canberra in next year?

[from SBS) 

US Vice-President Dick Cheney has said that a
landmark nuclear deal with India will win support of the US Congress
despite strong opposition by critics.

Mr Cheney said in Washington that the deal was "one of the most
important strategic foreign policy initiatives of President Bush's
second term".

Reuters has reported that legislation prepared for action next week
by a key House of Representatives committee would require India to
strongly support US efforts to halt Iran's nuclear ambitions and would
bar lawmakers from amending the formal peaceful nuclear cooperation
agreement still under negotiation by Washington and New Delhi.

The draft bill, which was obtained by Reuters, is "much closer to
the Bush administration's initial cut than things that were being
talked about" earlier by some lawmakers, said a congressional analyst
who closely followed the drafting process.

As
time passes my admiration for Cheney continues to increase.  The man
seems to always achieve what he wants, and if the railway he built
across Australia is part of his plans then he has been working on his
objectives for a decade, and is likely to be currently initiating
events a decade hence.  I doubt this would be beyond his abilities.

In
other words, if Cheney will ensure that the U.S. Government accedes to
the Bush administration plans, then he will also ensure that the
Australian Parliament is a wholehearted participant.  In other words
we're going to do exactly as we're told. 

It's a bit sad
really, when you consider that our gigantic energy reserve makes
Australia a potentially very powerful nuclear voice.   As a major
provider of what is currently destined to become the western world's
replacement for oil,  Australia should have the ability to strongly
influence the destination of its nuclear property.  Instead we're being
treated, and perceived by the world, as nuclear naifs in need of
parenting by Vice-President Cheney.  There's true Regime Change for you.

In
the future the current Howard nuclear debate may or may not be regarded
as a psy-op and a sham, depending on the whims of the censors... and
maybe President Downer.