How does Australia operate in the world? And why? In this closely evidenced, original account, former Australian Army intelligence analyst Clinton Fernandes categorically debunks Australia's greatest myth: that of its own independence. 'This book is a bold and challenging interpretation of not only Australian Foreign Policy, but of the psyche of the nation itself. Fernandes gives us a fast-paced, thought-provoking interpretation which many readers may not like. This is what happens when someone shakes the foundations. But that's the point. Fernandes's analysis will have forced you to ask and answer some profound questions about this nation's place in the world, and the course its leaders chose to chart. Do not let the author's brevity deceive you for this work is also an iceberg-you are reading the tip of a mountain of scholarship, knowledge and analysis that lies out of view. I wholeheartedly recommend this work to any and all with even a passing interest in foreign policy, the dynamics of power and the nature of contemporary Australia. Once you start you will not put it down, and along the way you might just have uncovered a new lens through which to see the world about you.' Professor Craig Stockings, Official Historian of Australian Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Australian Peacekeeping Operations in East Timor