Sea state China’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Ni Jian, has said that China is considering using its navy to help escort its commercial vessels in the Persian Gulf if a ‘very unsafe situation’ …
The crisis in Hong Kong appears to be careening towards a devastating climax. With China’s government now using rhetoric reminiscent of that which preceded the Tiananmen Square massacre in June 1989, Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters—and, …
On 13 August 1940, the Luftwaffe, Hitler’s air arm, set out to destroy the Royal Air Force’s ability to defend the airspace over and around Great Britain. That day 79 years ago—code-named Adlertag (‘Eagle day’)—was …
The planning guidance issued by the new US Marine Corps commandant, General David Berger, is unusually forward-leaning and well written by the standards of most military doctrine. It has received a positive reaction in the …
After more than a year of deliberation, ASEAN adopted the ‘ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific’ on 23 June. The outlook then got an airing at the ASEAN Regional Forum meetings in Bangkok. The document ‘provides …
Trade minister Simon Birmingham on Sunday weighed into the debate over Andrew Hastie’s warning about China rise. Birmingham said colleagues should ask themselves two questions before speaking out on ‘sensitive foreign policy matters’. These were: ‘Is …
The biggest threat to Australia’s alliance with the United States has always been posed by the US—and what it demands or fails to deliver. Wars have strengthened, not weakened, the alliance. In the Pacific war …
In his provocative new book, How to defend Australia, Hugh White suggests a strategy of ‘sea denial’ for Australia’s defence. To protect a large island from threats posed by geographically distant potential enemies, this makes …
The world India’s surprise decision to revoke Article 370 from its constitution this week ended the special status enjoyed by the now erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. For a detailed explainer contextualising the recent …
In this huge episode, Michael Shoebridge and Paul Barnes discuss Australia’s fuel security, US missiles in the Indo-Pacific and revoking the Port of Darwin lease. Aakriti Bachhawat chats with Professor Harsh Pant about India’s perceptions …
In April, in the lead-up to the federal election, Labor leader Bill Shorten pledged that if his party won government, it would ‘undertake the first review of Australia’s force posture since 2012 as one of …
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty expired on 2 August, after a period of over 30 years as one of the landmarks of nuclear arms control. Opinions vary over how much that matters. But there’s one …
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has decided to strip Kashmir of its special status—which granted considerable autonomy to the disputed Muslim-majority territory—and split it into two union territories (a status below that of states) …
The beat German police use AI to combat child pornography Authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia—Germany’s most populous state—are working with Microsoft to identify and combat online child pornography using artificial intelligence. The partnership aims to combine …
Between December 2015 and February 2019, 12 Australian dual citizens were stripped of their citizenship under the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 because of their involvement with terror groups. As the provisions of the act are …
Charles Edel and John Lee’s comprehensive report, The future of the US–Australia alliance in an era of great power competition, exposes evident gaps in the way both Australia and the US think about European engagement …
The protests in Hong Kong started over CEO Carrie Lam’s extradition bill and have turned into a defining issue for the trajectory of China as a state and a society, and for the Chinese state’s …
We are in a uniquely dangerous period in the atomic age. Geopolitical tensions have spiked in Europe, in the Middle East, on the subcontinent and in East Asia. The nuclear arms control architecture is fraying …
US President Donald Trump’s nomination of John Ratcliffe, a highly partisan Congressman with little international experience, to replace Dan Coats as director of national intelligence raised the red flag of the politicisation of intelligence. Opposition …
Last week here on The Strategist, Andrew Davies argued that the idea of ‘balance’ in the ADF’s force structure is lazy thinking. He’s not the only one concerned by outmoded constructs like this, as we’ve …