Sea state The UK plans to send HMS Queen Elizabeth, one of its two new aircraft carriers, to East Asia next year. The ship could even be permanently based in the Pacific, though it’s not …
The defence outlook of major countries is fast changing amid the Covid-19 crisis and China’s increasingly coercive military posturing in the Indo-Pacific. Japan’s changing perspective on a first-strike capability, Australia’s 2020 defence strategic update, and …
When realists think about climate change at all, it’s often as the precursor for yet another demand for increased military spending. The spectre of millions of climate change refugees voting with their feet and trampling …
Politicians who don’t know what to do when confronted with new or difficult circumstances often resort to empty phrases. This certainly appears to be the case for Europe and its changing relations with the United …
Hopes and fears about the South Pacific drive Australia’s policy ‘step-up’—along with the great needs of Papua New Guinea and the islands. The hopes and needs get talked up while the fears quietly shape policy. …
Chinese video-sharing app TikTok is facing an existential crisis. By its own estimation, its parent company, Beijing-based ByteDance, is set to lose US$6 billion after being kicked out of India. A decision on a ban …
The beat AFP investigated over use of facial recognition software The ABC has obtained emails indicating that members of the Australian Federal Police tested facial recognition software from American company Clearview AI. It’s unclear whether …
The global toll of the Covid-19 pandemic is enormous: more than half a million lives lost, hundreds of millions out of work and trillions of dollars of wealth destroyed. And the disease has by no …
No film about the Vietnam War has ever touched its eerie futility as compellingly as Ted Posts’ classic Go Tell the Spartans (1978), in which the brilliant Burt Lancaster commands an American special forces unit …
Sea state An explosion and fire on the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard occurred during routine maintenance at the ship’s home port of San Diego. The fire reportedly injured 17 sailors and four civilians. …
The Hong Kong national security law establishes two new agencies: an all-powerful and unaccountable secret police force targeting Hong Kong and a secret intelligence agency that’s explicitly beyond the law and which Hong Kong officials …
The 2020 defence strategic update is analysis framed by numbers (and dollars), a melding of meanings and means and mental maps. To follow the strategic accounting, see what the update counts. Find the strategy in …