The Australian and United States governments both ordered urgent reviews of their supply chains last week amid growing concern about their vulnerability to disruption by China. Australia’s Productivity Commission, which typically takes three or four …
International momentum is building to formally censure China for human rights violations. The Netherlands parliament has now joined the Canadian House of Commons and the US government in labelling China’s treatment of the Uyghur people …
The report issued on Friday by the US intelligence community on the murder of Saudi journalist and permanent US resident Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018 at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, mostly confirms what …
The passing of Sir Michael Somare, the first chief minister and the founding prime minister of Papua New Guinea, ends a remarkable political life that began when he was elected to the pre-independence House of …
The term ‘grand strategy’ is usually too grandiose for the practical types who run Canberra. Australia does baling-wire diplomacy—pragmatic and proudly makeshift—fixing stuff with a bit of wire and keeping it going. Big powers do …
This week, an editorial in the Chinese state-run newspaper the Global Times alleged that the almost 80-year-old Five Eyes alliance of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States is an ‘axis …
At the end of December 2020, the European Union and China agreed in principle on a trade deal that will govern bilateral investment. Negotiations for the comprehensive agreement on investment began in 2013, but the …
Media reports this week have claimed that Prime Minister Scott Morrison has commissioned a Defence Department review into potential alternatives to the Attack-class submarine. That’s prompted a flurry of speculation about whether the government is …
Following the changing of the guard in the White House, a re-energised Quadrilateral Security Dialogue linking the US, Japan, India and Australia needs to prepare itself to face serious global tensions in this year and …
Hangovers result from a classic human failing: we stop and think only when a problem arises, not when it’s caused. When times are good, we’ve always got room for one more, but come the morning …
Disinformation often raises concerns about influencing politicians and the outcome of elections and about fostering extremism. Most of us are familiar with the tag ‘fake news’ and with inadvertent or deliberate disinformation spread through social …
US President Joe Biden has hit the ground running. In his first two days in office, he signed 17 executive orders—more than any previous US president over the same period. He rejoined the World Health …
US President Joe Biden has just signed an executive order launching a comprehensive review of America’s critical supply chains for strategically significant products and resources. Among those are rare-earth elements, supplies of which the Biden …
In an earlier Strategist post, I touched on Australia’s aid and soft power—an aspiration too often unfulfilled for all the rhetoric to the contrary. Australia’s efforts on soft power in Indonesia generally fit in the …
On 15 February, Canada launched the ‘Declaration against arbitrary detention in state-to-state relations’. The statement was endorsed by 59 countries, including Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Japan and the United Kingdom. While the declaration …
On 23 February, India accounted for 11 million of the world’s 112 million Covid-19 cases and 156,498 of 2,848,247 world deaths. Only the US had more cases and the US, Brazil and Mexico have recorded …
Planet A The arctic air blast that hit the US, freezing Texas power plants and leaving millions without power or clean water last week, has highlighted the country’s key vulnerabilities when it comes to extreme …
A strategist provides the decision-maker with at least three options: the most likely option, the least likely option and the most dangerous option. This methodology applies to all strategists, regardless of their discipline—national security, diplomacy, …
The Bangkok office of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime warned in recent reports that Australia is part of organised crime networks involved in trafficking in wildlife and timber, people-smuggling and money-laundering. Counterfeit …
Since its October release in draft form, China’s new coastguard law has been the subject of dozens of news reports and analyses. Maritime law enforcement legislation rarely attracts such international attention, but in this case …
