Last month, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s AUSMIN visit and hints at Australia hosting US missiles in Northern Territory raised many concerns about provoking and even blindly following the US into war with our greatest economic partner China. In this episode, Vince Scappatura to discuss these developments. He speaks in detail about the US and Russian withdrawal from the cold-war era Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty plus its implications for allies like Australia. He also talks The increasing US-Australia military interdependence that makes it complicated for Australia to untangle itself from any future wars with China. However, there are potential pathways and grassroots movements that can move Australia towards adopting a more neutral, diplomatic role in this situationVince is a teacher of Political and International Studies at Macquarie University with a research background in Australian-American foreign policy and International relations of the Asia-Pacific.