Articles by: "Graeme Dobell"
General MacArthur on the US pivot to Oz

Turn to Douglas MacArthur for a tough and true description of what Australia means to the United States. It’s 1942. The US commander is meeting Australia’s Prime Minister John Curtin to plan the war against …

A new era for Australian defence 

Titles are always difficult, so give a good mark to ‘Australia’s Defence: Towards a New Era?‘ Mixing pickiness with praise, tick the ‘new era’ idea while guffawing at the question mark hanging off the title. …

What Jokowi confronts

Through the Suharto years, the economists were optimistic about Indonesia and the political scientists were pessimistic. Now the roles have reversed. With the explosion of Indonesian democracy, the political types can hardly contain their joy …

Japan as small ‘a’ ally

Some key elements have yet to embrace the idea of Australia and Japan as allies. Two groups not to have noticed or still to be convinced are the peoples of Japan and Australia. Fair enough, …

The Canberra officer (8): politicisation

The avowed purpose of the Canberra officer project is to get an officer corps that can better serve Australia’s political leaders and win the bureaucratic battles. An undeclared purpose is the creation of political nous. …

The House resolves to give death-with-sense

In the Australian system going to war is extremely simple. The Prime Minister and Cabinet agree, the order is given and the shooting starts. Then there’s the hard stuff—not just the fighting, but handling the …

Hard news and soft power in the South Pacific

Australia has sent forth many outstanding journalists to spend their careers reporting on Asia. Sean Dorney stands with those correspondents but, uniquely, he devoted his life to covering Papua New Guinea and the South Pacific. …

The Oz PM’s 10 points for meeting Jokowi

In the next few months, Australia’s leader will have four opportunities to spend quality time with Indonesia’s new president. Prime Minister Abbott can (will/should/must) attend Jokowi’s inauguration in Jakarta in October, following the precedent John …

Oz and Indonesia

When Australia thinks strategy, it quickly comes to Indonesia. So it was when the Howard Government was mulling the 2000 Defence White Paper. The National Security Committee of Cabinet was grilling the defenceniks: ‘If Indonesia …

What Indonesia and Australia share

Indonesia can direct Australia’s regional dreams or dominate its nightmares. Just as Papua New Guinea shapes the way Australia thinks about the South Pacific, Indonesia frames Australia’s view of Southeast Asia. In those key regional …