Today ASPI and the Centre for International Governance Innovation released a special report, Facing West, Facing North: Canada and Australia in East Asia. The report offers a road map for future security and defence cooperation …
At the end of January, ASPI hosted a 1.5 track defence and industry dialogue between Australian and French defence officials and think-tank and industry representatives. Why France and why now? Only the most one-eyed of …
This post was originally published on November 2, 2012. (The Strategist will return with new material on January 6, 2014 – Ed.) Having had the privilege [in 2012] of participating in the United States Study …
Originally published December 19, 2012. With ANZUS a core pillar of our own strategic policy, it should come as no surprise that Australians frequently turn (and return) to the subject of just how reliable that …
Evaluating Defence Minister Johnston’s address to ASPI’s national security dinner, my colleague Benjamin Schreer warns that pundits tend to over-analyse government statements. Then he dives into searching for markers of policy change. Let me do …
In the Chinese Buddhist tradition, as we flail in the ‘bitter sea’ of existential illusion, we only need to ‘turn to the other shore,’ constituted by the Buddhist path, in order to find Enlightenment. Australia …
Hovering close to the table at the annual Australia–US ministerial were ghosts, spirits and spectres. New Zealand still qualifies as a ghost at this son-of-ANZUS feast, but in recent years the Kiwis have been edging …
It isn’t often that US think tanks put pen to paper about Australian strategic and defence policy. All the more reason, then, for us to look closely at those reports that are published, just to …
Graeme Dobell produced two nice pieces on naval navel gazing, but perhaps lacks the courage of his earlier convictions! In his latest post he posits that: ‘The central strategic tension in Oz naval navel gazing …
As the annual AUSMIN consultations between American and Australian foreign and defence ministers concluded in Annapolis, I was busy attending the Australian Institute of International Affairs 80th national conference. Perhaps it was the influence of …
Australia’s new Foreign and Defence Ministers will sit down for the first time with their US counterparts in Washington on Wednesday (Thursday morning Australian time) at the annual AUSMIN consultations. Julie Bishop and David Johnston, …
As with Vietnam, so with Iraq and Afghanistan; Australia is avoiding any alliance blowback over evident disasters and misjudgements. Here’s one of the advantages of being the small ally—usually only a small part of the …