For nearly ten years as Indonesia’s leader, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has presided over the most stable and productive era in the tumultuous diplomatic relationship between Jakarta and Canberra. Australia’s extraordinary $1 billion act of generosity …
There was heartache this week after a near miss in talks with Iran. On a similar note, this article in The National Interest suggests that nuclear history may at least rhyme, with Russia modernising its nuclear force. So it …
ASPI today released my report Moving beyond ambitions? Indonesia’s military modernisation which examines Jakarta’s plans to build a modern defence force over the next decade. It’s an important topic, because the military balance between the ADF …
There’s been a lot of commentary this week on Australia–Indonesia relations. For a seasoned Indonesian perspective, watch this Fairfax interview published today with Lieutenant General (rtd) Agus Widjojo, regarded as one of the post-Suharto era’s more …
Further revelations of US intelligence activity, including tapping of friendly world leaders phones, has put Washington’s intelligence community on the defensive. The Economist writes: On October 29th, realising that the political mood in Washington was, …
Turkey has announced plans to buy a long-range missile defence system (the HQ-9) from China, rather than NATO supplied Patriot missiles. Speculation is that the Chinese company (China Precision Machinery Export-Import Corporation) beat the Lockheed …
Last month, ASPI and the Australian Department of Defence co-chaired the inaugural Northeast Asia Defence and Security Forum in Sydney. It was a wide ranging discussion, with a particular focus on how all parties could …
Ask any specialist on Asian security to describe the strategic policies of China’s neighbours and you’re more likely than not to hear the word ‘hedging’ in the reply. As they become increasingly integrated with the …
This week the bare minimum of sanity has prevailed in Washington, with the GOP blinking at the last minute on the US shutdown. Further government borrowing will be allowed, and those closed parts of the …
Anthony Bergin’s recent post Is Australia a pivotal power? has sparked a lot of responses. Below are the latest submissions. We’re also happy to hear from readers who aren’t named Andrew. It’s only words Andrew Davies In …
Prof Paul Dibb’s revisiting of exactly how close we came to nuclear war in 1983 reminded me of my own small role in propelling the world towards nuclear Armageddon at that time. Armed with the …
Recent commentary on US President Barack Obama’s last minute cancellation of his trips to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Bali and the East Asia Summit (EAS) in Brunei overwhelmingly reflected classical ‘zero-sum’ thinking. …
