Gordon, what does this mean going forward for the next two years of Donald Trump's presidency?

So again, the U.S. system is structured in a way that the executive branch, headed by the president, still remains control of a lot of levers of government itself, particularly in foreign policy.

But the Article I branch of the U.S. system, in the system of checks and balances with the executive branch, the judicial branch, and the legislative branch, has always been the Congress, the legislative branch.

For the last two years, as Republicans have, not just Republicans, but a unique type of Republican that you would call a MAGA Republican, held both the Senate and the House on the legislative branch, they didn't carry out their normal function.

They functioned as an arm of the executive branch.

And so the normal checks and balances in the U.S. system haven't been working.

But they are certainly going to be working now.

Is this an entirely United States result or does it tell us something about political shifts more broadly?

What can we make of that?

Oh, look, this announcement and the way the announcement was made is disturbing on many different levels.

Obviously, if you're looking at it from the perspective of treaty allies of the United States in the region, including Australia, Japan, South Korea, it's a bit concerning in terms of the linkages that were made and the way it was announced.

But if you're looking at it specifically from the perspective of American troops, some 28,000 of them, on the ground in South Korea, and their treaty ally, the South Koreans, it's a bit concerning.

Because there is a reason why these exercises are taking place on a regular basis.

You can only perform what you have practiced.

And military exercises, despite the fact that Donald Trump decided to use North Korean framing or Russian framing and call them hostile in preparations for an invasion, these are fundamentally deterrents, fundamentally defensive, and they are a reaction to what has been a fundamental shift on the security situation on the Korean Peninsula.

What do you think is actually behind this move?

What can we make of that?

Oh, look, this announcement and the way the announcement was made is disturbing on many different levels.

Obviously, if you're looking at it from the perspective of treaty allies of the United States in the region, including Australia, Japan, South Korea, it's a bit concerning in terms of the linkages that were made and the way it was announced.

But if you're looking at it specifically from the perspective of American troops, some 28,000 of them, on the ground in South Korea, and their treaty ally, the South Koreans, it's a bit concerning.

Because there is a reason why these exercises are taking place on a regular basis.

You can only perform what you have practiced.

And military exercises, despite the fact that Donald Trump decided to use North Korean framing or Russian framing and call them hostile in preparations for an invasion, these are fundamentally deterrents, fundamentally defensive, and they are a reaction to what has been a fundamental shift on the security situation on the Korean Peninsula.

What do you think is actually behind this move?

Then how do you view the current situation that what people have been saying, the old world order is dying, the new one is not yet born and so on, and where Australia fits into this transition?

We are deeply anxious, but we're not the only country that is deeply anxious.

For the better part of 20 years, particularly the last 15, not the rise of China.

The rise of China is something over 30 years that collectively, Indonesia, Australia, the US, Europe, we not only welcome, we help facilitate.

Because we wanted it.

We wanted the economic growth of China.

So I'm not talking about the growth of China.

How does Australia view the conflicts that are happening at the moment? I mean, we have, of course, invasion of Ukraine, but also Gaza and the Palestine-Israel conflict.