The beat Police clash with protesters in Catalonia The Catalan independence struggle erupted into violence again this week as riot police clashed with pro-independence protesters and arrested 51 people. Protesters took to the streets in …
Debate: "General"
Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 film Apocalypse Now is highly regarded as a cinematic masterpiece but is, of course, much more in its impact and continuing resonance. The film is emblematic of the Vietnam War, with …
Australia has committed a surveillance aircraft and a ship to assist in a US-led operation to ensure oil supply through the strategic Strait of Hormuz. The Persian Gulf is a critical waterway for the transport …
The United States military hasn’t conducted a single combat operation within the sprawling area of responsibility that defines the Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) in 44 years. I’m overly fond of pointing out this little-commented-on fact of …
President Donald Trump has upended American policy in Syria, and possibly in the entire Middle East, in one stroke. His unilateral decision to withdraw American troops from the Kurdish region of northern Syria, and thus …
Few countries have such a fundamental interest in addressing climate change as Australia. Yet Australia’s current conservative government refuses to take necessary actions in response to climate science: to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, and therefore play …
Defence’s worst kept secret is now officially public. Defence Minister Linda Reynolds stated at last week’s Sea Power conference in Sydney that the Defence Department is conducting a strategic review. It may not be a …
Australia’s international security outlook is starting to look very unpredictable and potentially threatening. Our defence planners must now deal with a world which is markedly different from any they’ve known before. The United States is …
Sea state The 2019 Pacific International Maritime Expo was held in Sydney last week. The new vessel designs unveiled at the conference included Navantia Australia’s joint support ship, which was conceived with the needs of …
There are three sets of reasons for a palpable rise in nuclear anxieties around the world: growing nuclear arsenals and expanding roles for nuclear weapons, a crumbling arms-control architecture, and irresponsible statements from the leaders …
In the next 15 years, the development of unmanned systems in the air, on and under the waves and on land, alongside sophisticated networks of ‘sensors and shooters’, is likely to accelerate. Australia must be …
The Chinese party-state’s technology-enhanced authoritarianism is expanding globally. But the way it’s doing it isn’t always distinctly coercive or overtly invasive. While there’s been an important focus on technologies such as 5G, surveillance and cyber-enabled …