While there is already introspection both in the US and among its allies as to the long-term effects of this crisis on American capabilities and capacities, will Canberra seize the moment to reflect?

Donald Trump’s Middle East debacle looks to have delivered another heavy blow to American prestige and credibility. The spectre of “Suez” is now raised regularly in commentary.

The reference is to the 1956 Suez crisis, which, given Britain’s already ailing economic and military position following the end of World War II, marked the eclipse of its global reach and power.

While there is already much introspection in the US and other allied capitals about the long-term effects of this crisis on American capabilities and capacities, will Canberra seize the moment to reflect?

Such thinking would be a new experience for Australia. Canberra has never really had to confront squarely the consequences of shocks to American belief and purpose in recent decades.

Australia did not feel directly strategic failure in Vietnam. Or this century, in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We did not see fit to undertake, after those engagements, a fundamental rethink of the assumptions guiding our defence and foreign policy.

What then breeds the remarkable Australian self-confidence about  America’s staying power in Asia?

Part of it derives from the consistency – yes, you read that correctly – of the Trump administration’s focus on defending the first island chain,........

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