US Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell observed on 11 January that the Pacific islands might be the part of the world ‘most likely to see certain kinds of a strategic surprise—basing or certain kinds of agreements …
The anniversary of the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol has come and gone, and many Americans are deeply depressed that the country’s political divide has only deepened. Though most Republican Party leaders …
There are both far-reaching opportunities and new challenges for the Department of Defence, industry and local governments when it comes to maritime sustainment in Australia’s north. Traditional Defence and industry models used in Australia’s southern …
The loss of control of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s account on the Chinese social media app WeChat should not have come as a surprise to the government. As I warned in multiple media appearances in …
Russian President Vladimir Putin has clearly decided that now is the opportune time to secure his long-held objective to bring Ukraine back within Moscow’s orbit—by whatever means it takes. In part this is because the …
It didn’t have to be this way. Since Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014 and the bloody proxy war waged since then in the Donbas region, there has been no doubt that Vladimir Putin has …
‘The future is always beginning now.’ — Mark Strand The AUKUS agreement announced in September marks a milestone in Australia’s national security posture that will be felt for decades to come. It will shape how …
Another year, same pandemic. Welcome to The Strategist’s round-up of the top 10 articles of 2021. As it was in 2020, not one of the pieces that made the list was focused on the not-so-novel …
‘Serving as minister of foreign affairs is not an easy task,’ said Joseph Wu, Taiwan’s foreign minister, in conversation with ASPI Executive Director Peter Jennings. ‘Somebody joked that the president must dislike me very much …
The new German government’s response to the evolving situation between Russia and Ukraine has been both underwhelming and complicated. Along with responding to the recent spike in Covid-19, peaking at well over 100,000 new cases …
Biden’s defence and national security strategies will make or break US response to global challenges
As US President Joe Biden enters his second year in office, his administration is expected to soon release a slew of strategic documents that will set out how it will approach and respond to a …
The Yemen conflict is now a decade old. It keeps taking on a wider dimension, with no relief in sight for the suffering Yemeni people. All peace-brokering efforts have failed to produce any tangible results, …
After a long, mysterious silence, US President Joe Biden has spoken out about the ever-increasing concentration of Russian troops near the Ukrainian border. He would have been better off keeping quiet, given his astonishing and …
The immediate significance of Friday’s AUKMIN gathering in Sydney was that it took place while a Russian military assault on Ukraine is imminent. Given the threat from Moscow, no one would have been surprised had …
On the politics of climate change, Australia crawls slowly from the cave. To mix the cave metaphor, we’ve passed peak troglodyte. Light has pierced the dark. Troglodytes still growl and glower, but those who ignore …
Few regions in the world wobble the tension of the tightrope governments walk between raw interests and principle in foreign and strategic policy more than Central America. And few have mattered less to Canberra over …
As the Defence Department’s deputy secretary for strategy between 2009 and 2012, I asked US counterparts on three occasions about the likelihood they would share submarine nuclear-propulsion technology. The answer was the same each time: …
September 2021 marked 90 years since the Manchurian crisis, when the Imperial Japanese Army attacked and proceeded to occupy the Chinese province of Manchuria. This action precipitated the establishment of the puppet state of Manchukuo …
The political and strategic ramifications of the AUKUS pact involving the US, UK and Australia continue to reverberate, but the details of how Australia will acquire nuclear-powered submarines (SSNs) have often been overlooked. There are …
In a qualifying match last November for the 2022 soccer World Cup, Iran trailed Lebanon 0–1 at the end of the scheduled 90 minutes. On social media, sceptical Iranians were getting ready to blame their …