Terrorism-related deaths fell in 2016 according to the Institute for Economics and Peace’s 2017 Global Terrorism Index. It’s the second year in a row that deaths caused by terrorist acts declined. But while the number …
Debate: "General"
US President Donald Trump certainly has a point when he complains that he inherited the difficult problem in North Korea. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has shown no interest in negotiation, or even in listening …
The beat Austerity analysis Barry Loveday from the University of Portsmouth has sounded the alarm about declining police numbers in England and Wales in his analysis of the recently released state of policing report. He …
After a bloodless coup and a transfer of power from one Zanu-PF veteran to another, things are settling down in Zimbabwe. Emmerson Mnangagwa’s inauguration as the third president of Zimbabwe last Friday at the national …
The 2017 foreign policy white paper is a well-crafted document that covers the key elements of Australia’s foreign-policy outlook. In addition—unlike its predecessors—it sets out Australia’s strategic priorities. It skilfully melds the geoeconomic and geostrategic …
Foreign policy white papers are strange creatures. As the past 14 years amply demonstrate, they’re not necessary for the conduct of effective foreign policy. They are expensive and they expend diplomatic capital by signalling policy …
Two Defence Department space projects 50 years apart have neat parallels. On 29 November 1967, Australia’s first satellite, WREsat, developed by a forerunner of the Defence Science and Technology Group, was launched from Woomera. Last …
It is clear to Taiwan that it can’t match mainland China’s military might. As a result, the country is increasingly relying on an asymmetric approach to close the gap. But Taipei’s plan to focus significant …
The decision to release Hafez Muhammad Saeed—the founder and leader of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a US- and UN-designated terrorist organisation—by a court in Lahore last week will be poorly received by Pakistan’s external interlocutors, particularly India …
Based on the volume of media coverage, the casual observer might be forgiven for thinking that Australia’s planned build-up of defence capital equipment has more to do with jobs and growth than national security. Yet, …
In The crack-up, F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote: ‘The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.’ By …
Sea state It’s been a tragic couple of weeks at sea. The search is continuing for Argentina’s San Juan submarine and its 44 crew members, which went missing on 15 November. And three members of …