Aussies Battle the Sea

This just in from the Associated Press:

A powerful undersea earthquake Monday in the South Pacific sent a tsunami several yards high crashing into the Solomon Islands, devastating at least one village, officials and residents said. Police and residents said a wave about 10 feet high struck the western town of Gizo, inundating buildings and causing widespread destruction.

If history is any indication, this will mean a lot of work for Australian peacekeepers deployed to the islands. For "expeditionary" powers like Australia and the U.S., there ain't much difference between shipping out for war and shipping out to rebuild houses and hand out water and medicine -- and both types of operations can have the same political effects: winning friends, disabling enemies, expanding influence.

The Solomons lie around a thousand miles north of Australia and are firmly within a swath of the Pacific where the Australian government is engaged in significant peacekeeping activities, all with the expressed goal of promoting regional security and economic development. Operation Anode in the Solomons, with around 150 personnel, is broadly similar to Operation Astute in neighboring East Timor, which with 1,100 troops is Australia's second-largest operation after that in Iraq (1,400 soldiers).

Australia's Pacific operations at times include emergency and humanitarian assistance, so don't be surprised in coming days if Aussie ships and helicopters swing into action to help the tsunami's survivors. As the greatest military power in the region, with amphibious ships, heavy-lift choppers, transport planes and lots of logistics troops, Australia is uniquely equipped to speed workers and supplies to areas hit by natural disasters.

Everybody loves disaster relief, but opinions differ on other aspects of these operations. The Council on Foreign Relations relates opposing perspectives. To some, Aussies abroad are good guys; to others, they're unhappy reminders of colonial times:

*The government of conservative Prime Minister John Howard, now in his fourth term, was dubbed "deputy sheriff" to the United States by The Bulletin, an Australian magazine, in 1999 for his enthusiastic support of U.S. missions. The label stuck, and on a 2003 visit to Australia, President George Bush effectively endorsed it, calling Australia "an equal partner in the war on terror." The closeness of Canberra's relationship with the United States still upsets many in the region, who feel Australia is siding with Washington against global Islam. Australia saw its relations with Indonesia decline precipitously after its 1999 East Timor intervention, which Islamic extremists painted as an effort by a Christian nation to break apart Muslim Indonesia. *

*Others, however, say some Southeast Asians are warier of Australia's "sheriff" role in the region, viewing Australian military intervention as a form of neo-imperialism or the return of colonialism. Memories of Australia's colonial rule of Papua New Guinea — from the early 20th century until the territory's independence in 1975 — are still fresh in the region. Despite the $300 million in annual aid it receives from Australia, Papua New Guinea remains mired in crime, violence, and corruption. *

I arrive in Timor tomorrow to report on Aussie operations there. Check back for updates.

--David Axe, Darwin, Australia: cross-posted at Ares and War Is Boring