HONOLULU — "Australia's Path Bends Away from the U.S.''

Thus read the headlines of an international "news analysis" commenting on the Labor Party's recent victory Down Under and new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's decision to attend the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Bali and to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.

Some pundits went even further, citing Rudd's fluency in Mandarin as foreshadowing an ominous tilt toward China. This is absolute nonsense!