Malcolm Fraser and the American Alliance

Much of the commentary on Malcolm Fraser portrays him as the politician who moved most dramatically from the right to the left of the political spectrum. The man denounced by the left for his role …

Singapore after Lee Kuan Yew

The world’s media and international leaders have responded to the passing of Singapore’s former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew by recounting his eventful life and lauding his remarkable achievements. There is no need—or space—to enumerate …

Cyber wrap

  In news that won’t shock anyone, word came this week that China has established extensive offensive hacking units within its military and civilian government set-ups. But it’s the source of these reports that makes …

Rapid Fire

This week in Rapid Fire we see the end of Australia’s longest war, more on women in combat, arming Ukraine, Yemen’s civil war, Iran’s role in Iraq, the Tikrit offensive, Boko Haram, and children during …

The future Army – the debate rolls on

Karl Claxton has done an admirable job sustaining logical and informed debate on the future of the Australian Army on The Strategist. His most recent piece, Armour, Army and Australia’s future strategy corrals a number …

Flight Path

In this week’s update, we review the aerial response to Cyclone Pam, drones in Syria and Europe, the potential for space war, Afghanistan’s close air support capability, and miniature air launched decoy jammers. The destruction …

Lee Kuan Yew and Oz

A useful history of Australia’s actions, apprehensions and aspirations in Southeast Asia over the last 75 years could be written using Lee Kuan Yew as actor and commentator. As a young translator, working for the …

Strategic is what we make of it

In the 1990s, an American scholar wrote a famous paper called ‘Anarchy is what states make of it’. The central argument was that little in international politics is pre-ordained and how we think about issues …

Underground web – the cybercrime challenge

At the launch of the Australian Cyber Security Centre in November 2014, Prime Minister Abbott underlined the importance of cybercrime in the Government’s thinking, estimating that cybercrime costs Australia around $1.2 billion per year. That …

Sea State: future frigate contenders II

With ASPI’s Future Surface Fleet conference now less than a week away, Sea State this week will continue last week’s examination of design options for the future frigate fleet. We’ll also take a look at …