They say timing is everything. This week I’ve been devouring the United States Studies Centre’s excellent new report, Averting crisis: American strategy, military spending and collective defence in the Indo-Pacific. It makes a convincing argument …
Debate: "General"
On Monday, Twitter and Facebook announced that they had taken down a network of accounts that were undertaking covert influence campaigns designed to undermine the protest movement in Hong Kong. In their statements, both companies …
In March last year, Australia and Vietnam upgraded their diplomatic relations to a strategic partnership, stressing among other things the importance of a region ‘shaped by rules and norms’ and annual meetings between their defence …
Rob Bourke’s new study, Defence projects and the economy, lets us draw important lessons for maximising the economic benefits of building military equipment in Australia. As the study states, ‘domestic builds tend to be economically …
In response to Australia’s increasingly uncertain strategic outlook, there are now calls to boost defence spending well beyond the current target of 2% of GDP in what’s assumed to be a steadily growing economy. Taxpayer …
For well over a century, Myanmar’s remote mountains and valleys have played a central role in the regional supply chains for illicit drugs. Initially, opium poppies were grown in Myanmar; later, high-purity heroin was produced …
Hugh White’s latest book has stimulated a debate about the defence of Australia and the capabilities and shape of the Australian Defence Force. This is an important discussion to have, not only because it will …
Sea state BAE Systems has started construction on HMS Cardiff, the second of Britain’s Type 26 City-class frigates, which are set to replace the current anti-submarine warfare Type 23 frigates. The new class will ‘contribute …
The Haiyang Dizhi 8, a survey vessel belonging to a Chinese government-run corporation, began surveying a large swath of seabed on 3 July northeast of Vanguard Bank, which falls within Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone. The ship has been …
This month marks 30 years since Europe—and human civilisation generally—began to undergo a miraculous transformation that is now etched in the world’s memory. By the summer of 1989, the Soviet Union was already in terminal …
The public discourse on artificial intelligence in the military context tends to get messy very quickly. There seems to be an AI variant of Godwin’s law (which holds that as any online discussion grows longer, …
With the federal election out of the way, and some welcome stability in the leadership of the major political parties in prospect, Australia now faces the challenge of forging a national consensus on an external …