While Australia looked to America in 1941–42 to defeat a military threat, the post-war vision of Prime Minister John Curtin and his successor Ben Chifley was to restore the British Commonwealth to bind and strengthen …
The Strategist on: "The Australia–US alliance"
In part 1 of this series, I argued that though on the surface ANZUS seems in good health, there are at least four diverging strategic interests: American primacy in Asia, the institutional status quo, Taiwan, …
Australia always frets about the US alliance. Today, fret is becoming frenetic. Even a touch feverish. Fear darkens the fancies. Donald Trump could do to US alliances what he’s done to US trade policy. The …
All alliances are political compacts. The health of these agreements relies on each party being clear about its responsibilities and committed to the terms. The political compact of the ANZUS treaty is simple: Australia provides …
Speaking at the Hudson Institute in Washington two weeks ago, Defence Minister Linda Reynolds affirmed Australia’s readiness to play a more active role in supporting US deterrence in the Indo-Pacific. Her remarks come at a …
Scott Morrison’s upcoming state dinner with Donald Trump in the White House offers a rare opportunity for both leaders to explore ambitious and creative options for the future of US–Australia relations. This month’s AUSMIN meeting …
Washington’s ambassador to Australia, Arthur Culvahouse, has used a speech to ASPI to stress the strength of the alliance with the United States and to reject suggestions that China and America are involved in a …
Discussions of burden-sharing among allies typically focus on the amount of money spent. Yet there is also an intellectual burden that needs to be distributed. In April 2017, two relatively new leaders of global superpowers, …
NATO and ANZUS are cousins. The defining family characteristic of the two alliances is the central, essential role of the United States. NATO is a complex organism of 29 members; in comparison, ANZUS—just the US …
The network of US alliances built in the early years of the Cold War has proven remarkably resilient. Nowadays, it’s easy—and wrong—to take that resilience for granted. Back in 1997, Stephen Walt, analysing alliance durability, …
Arthur B. Culvahouse Jr has been nominated by Donald Trump to be the new US ambassador to Australia. He will need to be ‘confirmed’ by Congress before he takes up the appointment, a process that …
If the Australia–US alliance were a family car, then this year’s AUSMIN was a very successful routine-maintenance period. That’s good news in comparison with other US allies’ engagements with America’s leaders recently (think G7, NATO, …