ASPI suggests
26 Sep 2014|
Night ops

For something non-ISIS related, David Envall argues that if Japan continues to overextend national security reforms, it could undermine the government’s ability to undertake economic changes. Also on Japan, Koichi Nakano writes on East Asia Forum that the ghosts of historical revisionism in contemporary Japan will continue to haunt East Asia and ‘jeopardise a cool-headed approach to diplomacy and security’.

Turning to the Middle East, the US announced earlier this week it conducted airstrikes not just against ISIS but also the Khorasan group. The what? If you’ve never heard of them, here are some useful BBC and Washington Post primers on their members, aims and ties to al-Qaeda.

Meanwhile, the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) has just released a report on the origins and development of ISIS support networks in Indonesia. The report also examines how a new military unit of Indonesian and Malaysian foreign-fighters might have formed in Syria, whether the current government’s response to ISIS has been adequate, and why convicted terrorists are still able to post translations of ISIS pronouncements while incarcerated. For a quick summary, here’s a Lowy Institute podcast in which IPAC’s director Sidney Jones discusses different groups of Indonesians who have pledged allegiance to ISIS and the significance of loyalty-pledge ceremonies in Indonesia (6mins).

Looking more broadly at Indonesia, Marcus Mietzner summarises the mixed legacy of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono over at New Mandala. While SBY created a decade of relative stability, he dodged a number of riskier reforms and now handballs to Jokowi a country bedevilled by high-level political corruption, the erosion of minority rights, uneven economic growth and underdeveloped infrastructure.

Over at Carnegie Endowment, Ashley J. Tellis looks at how India’s Prime Minister Modi can kickstart the relationship between India and the United States. Among his recommendations, he says ‘Modi must build personal relationships with key interlocutors’ and ‘co-opt American civil society to support India’s development’.

This week’s capability pick is on Australia’s Jindalee radar system. Bradley Perrett takes a detailed look at how the seldom-discussed over-the-horizon radar system works, as well as some of the recent upgrades. Quoted in the article, Andrew Davies says ‘Jindalee’s key advantage is that it allows Australia to better deploy its limited number of aircraft and ships’.

The Land Forces 2014 conference was held earlier this week. ASPI’s Peter Jennings presented an eight-point framework for thinking about the future Defence Force at the conference’s dinner which included the question, can Army make asymmetry something that it applies to our opponents, rather than see asymmetry as primarily something that is done to us?

Podcasts

Arms Control Wonk’s Jeffrey Lewis interviewed Dr Lassina Zerbo, the executive secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organisation, on the group’s monitoring system and the prospects of the entry-into-force of the CTBT (30mins).

Last week I had the pleasure of recording a podcast with LTGEN (rtd) Agus Widjojo, BRIG (rtd) Gary Hogan (who was the former Defence Attache in Jakarta) and Jim Della-Giacoma as part of CIMSEC’s Sea Control Asia Pacific series. It covers Indonesia’s security priorities, naval modernisation, Asia Pacific cooperation on the South China Sea, and US–Indonesia relations (35mins).

Videos

Do drones work? Georgetown University’s Daniel Byman, Christine Fair and Christopher Swift discuss the US’ drone program as part of the war on terrorism (80mins).

Over at bloggingheads.tv, Robert Farley and Ed Carpenter get stuck into the topic of women serving in the infantry as well as Carpenter’s new book on the ‘warrior ethos’ in the military services.

Events

Canberra: Hosted by the Kokoda Foundation, former Secretary General of the Indonesian Ministry of Defence, Air Marshal (rtd) Eris Herryanto will discuss Indonesian defence industry and self-reliance, Spender Theatre, Australian Defence College on Tuesday 30 September at 5.45pm. Registration is free.

Natalie Sambhi is an analyst at ASPI and managing editor of The Strategist. Image courtesy of leg0fenris.