Developments in Iraq have sent shock waves around the Middle East, but the ramifications are global. With so many security challenges, and a particular aversion to conflict in Iraq, President Obama is unlikely to commit …
Articles by: "John Blaxland"
Thailand’s Army Chief, General Prayuth Chan-ocha has detained representatives from all sides that went to meet him at the Army Club in Bangkok yesterday afternoon, finally declaring a coup. He must have known it would …
In declaring Martial Law on Tuesday, the Thai Army commander, General Prayuth Chan-ocha, appears to have sought to avert a catastrophe. Conscious of the bloodshed on the streets of Bangkok in May 2010 and eager …
Hugh White continues to paint a picture of the United States being the principal cause of the growing tensions in Asia by not making enough concessions, and by ‘containing’ rather than ‘ceding primacy’ to China. …
Cambodia’s recent suspension or ‘postponement’ of military exercises with the United States has in some ways come as a surprise and in another sense isn’t surprising at all. For several years Cambodia has been ‘playing …
Myanmar and Thailand have much in common and this is on display now more than ever. Apart from being similar in geographic and population size, they’re the two most prominent Theravada Buddhist Southeast Asian countries. …
Australia and Canada, I have argued elsewhere, are Strategic Cousins with more in common than most people realise. The Eurocentric Mercator projection leaves the impression that Canada is far removed from Asia. But in reality …
After my most recent trip to Thailand, I began to reflect upon the parallels in security between Thailand and Australia. It seems to me that Thailand faces a similar conundrum to Australia: its principal security …
In my first post, I argued while there are very good historical reasons Australia should stay close to the United States, there are a number of factors for Defence White Paper writers to consider. Here, …
There’s a conundrum facing the writers of the Defence White Paper 2013. On one hand, Australia’s geography places it at the southern end of East Asia and its economy places it in a strong trading …