On 19 January, Defense Secretary James Mattis released an unclassified summary of the Congress-mandated US national defence strategy. In this administration’s outlook, the US military faces five major security challenges: China, Russia, North Korea, Iran …
After the Cold War ended, the existence of nuclear weapons on both sides wasn’t enough to stop the US from expanding NATO’s borders ever eastwards towards Russia’s borders, contrary to the terms on which Moscow …
As we consider whether Australia should obtain nuclear weapons, we need to ask who might subject us to nuclear blackmail. In the authoritative statement of China’s strategic vision in President Xi Jinping’s address to the …
In this three-part series, I examine the counter-arguments that proponents of Australia obtaining nuclear weapons need to address before the nation contemplates such a move. A heavyweight trio of Australia’s strategic and defence policy analysts …
Like the uprising of the ‘deplorables’ against globalisation that accounts for Donald Trump’s election and Brexit, are ‘peasant states’ now rebelling against the geopolitical heavyweights? The former dominate the 193-member UN General Assembly (UNGA), while …
On 7 July, 122 states voted to adopt a new Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. It articulates the world’s collective revulsion at the humanitarian consequences of the use of nuclear weapons, under any …
On Friday, President Donald Trump refused to recertify the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. In a vituperative speech denouncing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), he demanded that the deal be renegotiated to toughen its …
The humanitarian crisis afflicting Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya has damaged the country’s political stability and shattered its image as a country moving towards democracy. Moreover, it has tarnished the reputation of the government’s de facto leader, …
On the same day that the third and near-final draft of the text of the UN’s new Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was released, North Korea tested its latest missile, boasting it had …
On 18 September terrorists came across the border from Pakistan, attacked a fortified army base in Indian Kashmir and killed 19 soldiers. While the dilemma India confronts in deciding how to respond hasn’t changed substantially …
Speculation is rife in Washington that President Barack Obama may announce several key changes to US nuclear policy in his final address to the UN General Assembly next month. Obama is looking to advance his …
