Western democracies risk being outmanoeuvred by totalitarian powers unrestrained by rules and willing to use information campaigns, cyber operations, theft of intellectual property, coercion and propaganda to weaken them, Australia’s Defence Force chief has warned. …
The world The people of Hong Kong are waging a strong protest against a proposed law that would allow them to be extradited to mainland China. Here’s a useful collection of CNN stories that covers …
President Donald Trump’s latest ploy to garner funding for a border wall between the US and Mexico was to try to impose a minimum 5% tariff on Mexican imports from 10 June. The move was …
Last week I spoke at a workshop sponsored by the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre and the National Security College at the ANU on the topic ‘How does the “Pacific” fit into the “Indo-Pacific”? The changing …
The world has been riveted by the protests raging in Hong Kong against the city government’s proposed law to allow the extradition of criminal suspects to mainland China. About one million people—roughly one-seventh of the …
A major challenge in the decades-long program to build the Royal Australian Navy’s new submarines, the Attack class, will be ensuring that they incorporate emerging transformational advances in propulsion technology. Between 2025 and 2030, the …
It’s not by chance that my first domestic address as minister is before an expert audience grappling with the challenges that are rapidly redefining our strategic environment. Challenges that are engaging our sources of national …
The Australian government’s step-up in the Pacific islands is premised on the argument that the sovereignty of Pacific states needs safeguarding from Chinese strategic designs. But how should sovereignty be conceived? In State failure, sovereignty …
The beat Senior police officer charged by Victorian anti-corruption watchdog In Victoria, Commander Stuart Bateson has been suspended after he was charged by the state’s anti-corruption watchdog on three counts of disclosing a restricted matter. …
This is an edited version of remarks delivered by ASPI’s executive director at the opening session of ASPI’s ‘War in 2025’ conference this morning. For ASPI’s 2019 conference, ‘War in 2025’, I was asked to …
Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping met in Moscow last week and agreed on many things. They agreed on their positions on the Middle East, on Iran, Venezuela, trade and energy, and even on literature and …
There was something for everyone in the European elections. The liberals and Greens did well, with voters backing their pan-European visions for the environment, worker health and safety regulation, and human rights. So too did …
As humans develop increasingly smarter machines, we may be building in a dangerous bias, to society’s detriment. The technology sector, in areas such as cybersecurity development and STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) in general, …
The executive summary of the US Senate Armed Services Committee’s (SASC’s) mark-up of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act set the stage for a number of lively discussions at this year’s Shangri-La Dialogue. While many …
US President Donald Trump isn’t concerned by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s latest tirade of missile tests and crude insults—but he’s not in the firing line. Since 2017, several North Korean test missiles have flown …
It’s been a while since Australia undertook a fundamental review of its defence strategy. Yet such a review is urgently needed as the rapid deterioration of our strategic outlook overtakes many of the assumptions that …
It’s not surprising that climate change featured so prominently in the Australian federal election given the recent record-setting extreme weather that has buffeted the country and warnings from scientists that these events will become more …
Sea state A video of a near collision between a Russian destroyer and US Navy cruiser has been released by the US Navy. It’s unclear where the incident occurred. Russia says the encounter happened in …
The 18th iteration of the Shangri-La Dialogue, the region’s premier defence and security conference, was much anticipated. The Sino-American trade dispute had stepped up with Washington imposing tariffs on a further US$200 billion worth of …
President Donald Trump assumed office in January 2017 embracing a ‘transactional’ outlook towards alliance politics. US alliances would be managed less on traditional friendship and more on assessments of how the United States would gain …
