Rod Lyon’s thought-provoking article in The Strategist concludes with a sobering choice for Australian defence planners considering a post–San Francisco world without US extended nuclear deterrence, and suggests two basic choices for Australia, Japan and …
Most Australians are aware that the nation’s publicly funded research agencies are held in high esteem by the rest of the world. Fewer people, however, know the extent of global involvement by agencies like CSIRO, …
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) has been diligently promoting the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons—usually just called the nuclear ban treaty—since it was opened for signature on 20 September 2017. ICAN’s …
The current tensions between Washington and Pyongyang aren’t just about history. Nor are they simply the result of personal frictions between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un. At their core, they reflect the difficulties that typically …
Theresa May has provided a clear basis for the UK government’s conclusion that former Russian intelligence agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with Novichok, a military-grade nerve agent developed by Russia. As Prime …
Some years ago, Christine Leah and I published an article that explored Australian thinking about nuclear weapons and strategy. We argued that for more than six decades Australians had essentially espoused ‘three visions of the …
The Trump administration’s Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) has received mixed reviews. Some see it as a dramatic move away from a long-term US policy of reducing the size and salience of its nuclear arsenal, and …
What a way to start a year! The debate initiated by three former Australian deputy secretaries of defence—Hugh White, Paul Dibb and Richard Brabin-Smith—about the possibility of Australia acquiring nuclear weapons is certainly being noticed …
Suddenly and unexpectedly, a small but intense debate has ignited in Australia over an unlikely topic—the wisdom of acquiring an indigenous nuclear weapons arsenal. (Some of the contributions to that debate can be found here, …
One innovation coming out of last decade’s ‘great recession’ was the stress-testing of banks and other financial institutions. The idea was for regulators to posit stresses to see how banks dealt with them. A range …
Late last week, a ‘pre-decisional’ draft of the Trump administration’s forthcoming Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) was leaked to the Huffington Post. While it would be wrong to treat that draft as the final text—after all, …
We’re barely into 2018 and two major crises confront the world, both with significant nuclear dimensions. On the Korean peninsula, Kim Jong-un has once again reinforced his growing nuclear weapons capability and apparent willingness to …
