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ASPI suggests
Posted By The Editors on August 30, 2013 @ 14:50
This week defence issues have been a bigger part of the election campaign than they were previously. The two big events on the calendar were Kevin Rudd’s address to the Lowy Institute and ASPI’s great debate between Mike Kelly and David Johnston. Along with the debate, The Strategist ran statements on their respective defence policy from Liberal, Labor, and the Greens yesterday—available here.
The reality is that the 2 per cent figure is an arbitrary one, with no real connection to an assessment of what Australia really needs to spend on defence. It shouldn't be used as a benchmark for defence planning. The only virtue of the figure is that both major parties have started using it as a target to increase the current budget.
I am not sure that a treaty banning nuclear weapons with yields of below five kilotons is a workable solution to the threat posed by so-called non-strategic nuclear weapons… The short version of my argument is that the nuclear weapons most likely to be used have yields in excess of the treaty’s five kiloton threshold, the treaty is so unverifiable that it will amount of a meaningless political commitment that no one takes seriously and that a much better solution to the development of “more usable” nuclear weapons would simply to bring into force the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
Article printed from The Strategist: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au
URL to article: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/aspi-suggests-31a/
[1] Image: http://www.aspistrategist.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/800px-US_Navy_110329-N-XO436-010_The_Arleigh_Burke-class_guided-missile_destroyer_USS_Barry_DDG_52_launches_a_Tomahawk_cruise_missile_to_support_Joint_.jpg
[2] Kevin Rudd’s address to the Lowy Institute: http://www.lowyinstitute.org/events/address-hon-kevin-rudd-mp-prime-minister-australia-0
[3] ASPI’s great debate between Mike Kelly and David Johnston: https://soundcloud.com/aspicanberra/the-great-defence-debate-aspi
[4] here: http://www.aspistrategist.org.au/australias-defence-election-issues/
[5] the Prime Minister suggested: http://www.kevinrudd.org.au/latest2_270813
[6] here: http://www.aspistrategist.org.au/challenges-for-mr-rudds-northern-naval-posture/
[7] Murdoch: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/rudd-on-defence-all-plans-but-little-action/story-e6frg76f-1226705288934
[8] Fairfax: http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/garden-island-naval-base-faces-closure-under-kevin-rudd-20130826-2smcd.html
[9] run-in between Kevin Rudd and NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-27/harbour-showdown-between-rudd-and-o27farrell/4915752
[10] here: http://www.aspistrategist.org.au/the-ran-must-have-a-plan-to-move-out-of-garden-island/
[11] written: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/get-independent-advice-on-defence-budget/story-e6frgd0x-1226706021948
[12] said wouldn’t work: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/syria-will-require-more-than-cruise-missiles/2013/08/25/8c8877b8-0daf-11e3-85b6-d27422650fd5_story.html
[13] Britain’s Parliament voted against action in Syria: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/30/world/middleeast/syria.html?ref=middleeast&gwh=7DB354BE1BF6E0E5E690767E3234DCEF
[14] damaged Prime Minister David Cameron’s political position: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-23892783
[15] here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23876085
[16] action is not synonymous with force: http://themonkeycage.org/2013/08/29/action-is-not-synonymous-with-force/http:/themonkeycage.org/2013/08/29/action-is-not-synonymous-with-force/
[17] Center for a New American Security: http://www.cnas.org/wayforwardinSyria
[18] Where is Asia?: http://www.cnas.org/node/10878
[19] the options other than military force: http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/139884/charli-carpenter/responsibility-to-protect-or-to-punish
[20] expressing concerns to President Obama that the goals of a Syrian strike are unclear: http://www.defensenews.com/article/20130829/DEFREG02/308290015
[21] a letter criticising Obama’s lack of consultation with lawmakers about possible Syrian strikes: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324324404579041310190845266.html
[22] reportedly briefed Boehner by phone on the situation: http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/08/29/boehner-says-more-information-needed-after-obama-call/
[23] black budget: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/black-budget-summary-details-us-spy-networks-successes-failures-and-objectives/2013/08/29/7e57bb78-10ab-11e3-8cdd-bcdc09410972_story.html?hpid=z2
[24] a post: http://lewis.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/6723/size-doesnt-matter
[25] have been debating here on The Strategist: http://www.aspistrategist.org.au/?s=low+yield+nuclear+weapons
[26] presenting on Army’s modernisation program: https://www.rusi.org.au/states/act/whats_on.php
[27] information evening: http://nsc.anu.edu.au/phd-study/phd-information-evening.php
[28] What are the new federal government’s foreign policy priorities?: http://www.aiia.asn.au/events/all-events/event/798-the-new-federal-governments-foreign-policy-priorities
[29] interested in a career in international relations: http://www.aiia.asn.au/events/all-events/event/797-developing-international-scholars-workshop
[30] Wikimedia Commons: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_Navy_110329-N-XO436-010_The_Arleigh_Burke-class_guided-missile_destroyer_USS_Barry_(DDG_52)_launches_a_Tomahawk_cruise_missile_to_support_Joint_.jpg