Welcome aboard, Minister

With the news that we’re about to get another new Defence Minister, we thought we’d provide our thoughts on what the executive summary of an incoming brief should look like. We’re tempted to copy the …

ASPI suggests

We’ll kick off this week with a collection of 230 websites and blogs for terrorism research, compiled by the journal, Perspectives on Terrorism. (Thanks Andrew Z) Also, the Lowy Institute has released their Annual Poll 2013 and for strategy buffs, there …

Has Indonesia welcomed the US pivot?

It’s no secret that in the early days of the US pivot’s announcement, there was a split between Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa’s initial caution about US troop presence in Darwin and the President’s more …

Constraints on protecting Syrians

Although the situation in Syria and the actions of Bashar al-Assad long ago passed any criteria by which a humanitarian crisis may be defined, a mix of factors has prevented any international moves that would …

Canada and the limits of maritime diplomacy

Canada has begun to play a more visible role at the Shangri-La Dialogue, and this year’s summit was no exception. Defence Minister Peter MacKay even very publicly broached the issue of participating in the ASEAN Defence …

Afghanistan: not over yet

The tragic death of Corporal Cameron Baird—killed in action in the Khod Valley in southern Afghanistan—and the wounding of two other ADF personnel, reminds an Australia reluctant to pay attention that the war in Afghanistan …

Once more around the Cape?

One of the capability announcements made along with the launch of the 2013 Defence White Paper was that ‘the Government will also bring forward the replacement of Australia’s Armidale Class Patrol Boats, with both Australia’s …