The empire strikes back. So it seemed as United States President Joe Biden announced this week, at a press conference attended virtually by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his British counterpart Boris Johnson, the conclusion of a new military and security agreement between their three nations.

The agreement smacks of the old "Anglo" arrangements made a century ago between what used to be called the "Mother Country" and two of her major English-speaking siblings. And President Biden's jovial reference during the latest press conference to the Australian Premier as "that fellow Down Under" only heightened the "retro" feel of the entire enterprise.