Democracy has been increasingly securitised in recent years, but that’s set to change, as outlined in Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil’s National Press Club speech earlier this month. The big question is, what does the …
After their latest AUSMIN talks, Australia’s defence and foreign ministers and their US equivalents noted that the alliance and partnership had never been stronger or more vital to regional peace and prosperity. They resolved to …
Ukraine will enter 2023 with wind in its sails. Against all odds, it repelled Russia’s initial attempt to take Kyiv, then recaptured extensive territory around Kharkiv and Kherson, and inflicted heavy losses on the invading …
Dictators stay in power with one another’s help. As a Venezuelan pro-democracy activist told Lithuania’s recent Future of Democracy forum when asked how dictator Nicolás Maduro holds on to power, the answer is always the …
Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s trip to Beijing this week was the next logical step in the bilateral thaw and should be welcomed by everyone who wants Australia to be well positioned for the turbulent decades …
Security cooperation between India and Australia has taken another step forward. The two countries recently completed the inaugural round of a joint military exercise, Austra Hind 2022, involving the Indian and Australian armies. This is …
The world has witnessed the outbreak of economic warfare this year, quite unlike anything seen since the end of World War II. The machinery of economic sanctions, which has been honed over decades against minor …
The aim of an Australian Defence Force conventional deterrence by denial capability is to ensure that key combat and support assets survive initial enemy air and missile attacks should Australia become involved in a high-intensity …
On 9 December 2022, Indian and Chinese troops clashed in the Yangtse area along the India–China border. The confrontation in the Tawang region was the most serious skirmish between the two sides since their deadly …
Australia’s recent decision to deploy Magnitsky-style sanctions against 13 individuals and three entities from Russia and Iran is an important symbolic step, albeit one expected to have a negligible real-world impact. Magnitsky sanctions are designed …
Last month, just days before hosting the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia was officially named as chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations for 2023. In chairing ASEAN, Indonesia will play a pivotal role …
It seems obvious that sanctions—an increasingly important tool of Western foreign policy—should inflict significant pain on the target without exacting unsustainably high costs from the country imposing them. But the European Union’s sanctions on Russia—intended …
Machine-learning algorithms that process data might not immediately come to mind when we think about Covid-19, but they supercharged our ability to respond to a disruptive threat. Countries emerged from rolling lockdowns due, in part, …
At the end of 2022, Australia’s Indo-Pacific policy is much better calibrated than in recent years. But the right balance between deterrence and engagement remains elusive. An inherent tension between the two concepts was apparent …
The 19th-century English historian J.R. Seeley famously said Britain acquired its empire in a ‘fit of absence of mind’. The same could be said of the post–Cold War European Union. In some ways, the EU’s …
The US Navy chief recently warned that China could attack Taiwan by 2024. Others argue that an invasion of Taiwan may occur by 2027, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army. …
The past year has not been good for Japan, or for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government. Japan has faced a dramatically deteriorating global and regional security environment and a perfect storm of challenges on the home front, …
A pundit’s privilege at year’s end is to pronounce on the progress of presidents and princes and point the paths of power. Wield a broad-brush broadsword to dub the winners and smite the losers. The …
Visiting senior US Space Force officials were on the money when they said Australia is a ‘pot of gold at the end of the rainbow’ for future space operations. Australian space launch providers like Gilmore …
Sea state A new report to the US Congress has found that China’s naval modernisation program has substantially improved the capabilities of the People’s Liberation Army Navy. The PLAN is already the largest navy in …