Politicians often come to power with grand visions for reshaping their country's relations with the rest of the world-because, if they told the truth, and admitted they were only going to tinker with what they had inherited, think how boring that would be. But Kevin Rudd, who became Australia's prime minister in 2007, has better reason than most for describing his meeting with Barack Obama in Washington on March 24th as the start of a "new and important chapter in the Australia-United States relationship".rnThe previous chapter, under John Howard, Mr Rudd's conservative predecessor, had earned Australia the unflattering title of America's "deputy sheriff", thanks to Mr Howard's unstinting support for George Bush on Iraq and much else. According to Stephen Smith, Australia's for-rneign minister, the Rudd government got rid of that reputation when it withdrew the country's combat troops from Iraq last year. Now Mr Rudd wants to go further, building up Australia's ties in East Asia and working more through multilateral institutions, while seeking to be a partner of, not a deputy to, America.
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