The AUKUS program—sweeping in the intimacy and level of its proposed cooperation—has enjoyed a high level of bipartisan support among the Australian political elite. First agreed by the Coalition government in September 2021, it was …
Articles by: "Rod Lyon"
The Labor party avoided an open stoush over nuclear weapons at last week’s national conference. But it would be wrong to imagine the issue’s gone away. Nuclear weapons are becoming more prominent in a more …
The recent defence strategic review has much to recommend it. Even the publicly released unclassified version is the boldest statement of Australian strategic policy in many decades. But it is not without flaws. The chapter …
Late in 2022—a year of war, pandemic, climatic disaster and attempted nuclear coercion—a number of news outlets published a photograph of a rare event. True, the photograph was of particular interest to only a small …
Nuclear weapons are once more a serious political issue. They seem likely to be a topic of close discussion at next week’s AUSMIN talks, especially after Washington’s recent concerns that the Albanese government might seriously …
Nuclear weapons are serious capabilities, and declaratory policies are serious commitments. So readers who have followed the US government’s nuclear posture product line since President Bill Clinton’s first review in 1994 have learned to expect …
It’s still early days in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but so far nuclear issues have enjoyed a much higher profile than might have been expected. A strategic missile exercise formed part of the lead-up …
The extent to which the ANZUS Treaty turns upon the US provision of a nuclear umbrella to its smaller ally is a topic both complex and controversial. J.G. Starke opined that, while the treaty certainly …
Originally published 1 April 2020. In a world filled with think tanks, shrewd minds and an internet, interesting assessments of the geopolitical ramifications of Covid-19 appear almost daily. From Michel Duclos’s observation that the pandemic …
Australia’s defence strategic update is not recommended reading for the faint-hearted. It depicts a starkly divided world in which the prospects of conflict are growing. In this post, I’ll explore only one small part of …
Covid-19 might be dominating the headlines these days, but other important issues still play out in the smaller font sizes. In last month’s executive summary of the 2020 edition of the US State Department’s annual …
In a world filled with think tanks, shrewd minds and an internet, interesting assessments of the geopolitical ramifications of Covid-19 appear almost daily. From Michel Duclos’s observation that the pandemic is ‘a crisis revealing a …