Istanbul, in western Turkey, is one of Europe’s great cities. As Constantinople, it was the capital of the Roman and Byzantine Empires, and after its capture and renaming by Mehmed II in 1453, it served …
Debate: "General"
‘There are only two people I trust, God and the Commonwealth Statistician.’ So said Billy Hughes—statesman and patriot, renegade and mountebank—Australia’s seventh prime minister and federal MP for a record 51 years. Whatever the trust …
The New York Times this week put out some compelling investigative work on the US think tank scene. The first piece explores the degree to which research agendas at outfits like Brookings, CSIS and the …
It seems that practically no Western democracy nowadays is immune to right-wing populism. While populist rhetoric seems to be reaching fever pitch, with far-reaching consequences—most notably the United Kingdom’s vote to ‘Brexit’ the European Union—the …
Malcolm Turnbull has requested that Australia’s counterterrorism agencies develop a strategy to prevent rapidly radicalised terrorists from carrying out Nice-style attacks in public areas. Senior sources have told The Australian that the Prime Minister is …
In the 20th century, Australia’s strategic relationship with India was so frigid it was in negative territory for decades. In the 21st century, Australia and India have begun to attempt strategic convergence. That rapid shift …
The Beat Darknet rising A new RAND report has found that the dark web’s illicit drug trade is booming despite attentive law enforcement and persistent fraud in online marketplaces. Following Silk Road’s closure in 2013 …
The so-called Islamic State (ISIS) continues to pose a serious challenge not just to the Middle East, but to the entire world. While the efforts of a US-led coalition have weakened ISIS, destroying the group …
In a seminal article in 1978 Robert Jervis outlined the concept of the security dilemma. Jervis observed that ‘many of the means by which a state tries to increase its security decreases the security of …
There’s renewed interest of late in the US Navy’s electromagnetic railgun. Plans to perform at-sea weapon testing appear to have been delayed in favour of further research. So, while development will probably continue, there are …
Las Vegas was the place to be last week, with the world’s largest annual hacker conferences, Black Hat and Defcon, taking over the town. The events unearthed lots of cyber gossip, but it was the …
Terrorists have again struck in Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but least populated province. The attack confirmed that this resource-rich province remains Pakistan’s weakest security link against militants and separatists. And what’s more, it could threaten China’s …