The new proposed American defense budget for 2015 complies with the law that requires additional cuts in American military spending. A temporary deal reached in December would soften the planned sequestration cuts for this year …
‘As things stand, Indonesia’s relationship with Australia is unlikely to become a foreign policy priority in coming years.’ That’s one of the assessments from the Lowy Institute’s Dave McRae in a new report on Indonesia …
Hugh White argues in his book China Choice that the United States should share power with China. Perhaps the starkest aspect of his proposal is that it requires real and substantive concessions to be negotiated …
In a new book (and recent excerpt), James Brown argues that the Australian defence organisation is fearful of what today’s ANZACs might say if they were allowed to. This means that ‘one of the ADF’s …
Australia is setting out an array of goodies as it seeks to restore relations with Fiji, in anticipation of better days to follow September’s election. Canberra wants to achieve a diplomatic ceasefire, and to shift …
Several months ago I wrote on The Strategist about a March 2013 incident between Indonesian and Chinese maritime law enforcement vessels in the South China Sea. Local Indonesian news sources confirmed the incident but Indonesian …
Let’s kick things off at the RSA Conference in San Francisco, which brings together information security professionals and business leaders to discuss emerging cybersecurity trends. This year’s conference has drawn criticism from leading security experts …
It’s becoming something of an annual tradition that I get asked along to the Australian Defence Magazine (ADM) conference and get to be the token economic rationalist on Day 2. At an industry-focused conference, that’s …
In what was described as a ‘fairly major breakdown’ in border security, a convicted terrorist named Khaled Sharrouf recently left Australia without authorities noticing. He’s suspected to be in Syria, where several Australians have joined …
David Hale’s ‘China’s new dream‘ offers a tremendously rich picture of China’s economic and financial situation at home and globally. It’s probably the fullest, most up-to-date account available on the ‘re-rise of China’, which affects …
In light of the execution of North Korea’s second most powerful man and Kim Jong-un’s step-uncle, descriptions of North Korea as ‘irrational’ have resurfaced. While ‘irrationality’ is an easy label for a situation not completely …
Australia likes the existing South Pacific system, while Fiji wants to change it. Even if Fiji returns to democracy, the prospect is for continuing competition between Suva and Canberra over competing visions of the regional …