In a recent Strategist article, Malcolm Davis asked an interesting question: should Australia take a cue from Japan and deploy F-35Bs (the short take-off and vertical landing variant of the joint strike fighter) at sea? …
The proper use of military force in international relations is the indispensable subject of strategic policy. The national interests that could be promoted, protected or secured by the use or threat of military force, and …
On the first anniversary of the Chibok girls’ kidnapping, Nigerian activist Hamsatu Allamin told the UN Security Council that efforts to prevent violent extremism will not succeed without women’s participation. She said women in northeast …
In October 1996, only 10 days after the fall of the Afghan capital Kabul to the extremist Taliban movement, an article appeared in the Washington Post titled ‘Afghanistan: time to reengage’. The writer, an Afghanistan-born senior strategist at …
As alcohol is an operational fluid of defence and diplomacy, it’s natural that this Wednesday’s debate on new cold war versus hot peace is a champagne challenge (the winner buys the champagne). At the Canberra …
The world President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address stole the limelight this week. This short piece from CNN summarises the highlights, and the Financial Review argues that the speech was a sign of …
After foreshadowing the move late last year, President Donald Trump confirmed on 1 February that the US was leaving the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. The 1987 agreement banned the US and Russia from having …
In early January, Indonesian finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati inaugurated the new Tawiri Ambon naval base near Ambon Bay with direct access to the Banda Sea. The base will support the navy’s major warships and …
The human cost of illicit drug use in Australia—whether from heroin overdoses in the 1990s or, more recently, from methamphetamine (ice) and MDMA (the main ingredient in ecstasy)—makes the headlines because it personalises the issue. …
Australian policymakers’ attitude to the role of northern Australia in the nation’s defence mimics a cicada’s life cycle. For a brief period, it’s out in the world, flying around and making a huge amount of …
The beat Encryption laws already yielding results The Australian Federal Police says that criminal suspects are already feeling the effects of new encryption laws, despite continuing controversy over their implementation. Under the new laws, people …
On 9 January 2019, the director of the Asian Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, Gregory B. Poling, reported on China’s undocumented fishing activities in the South China …
Following the first meeting in November 2017 of the resurrected Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad, the US has been consistent in discussing the security objectives it seeks to promote through the consultations. However, US interactions …
Of all the credible contingencies facing Australia in the foreseeable future, the most challenging would undoubtedly be our involvement with the US in countering a major Chinese attack on Taiwan. For obvious reasons, our politicians …
After nine months of squabbling, Lebanon finally got a new unity government on 31 January with the reappointment of Sunni politician Saad Hariri as prime minister. It’s clear that the balance of power in the …
This is an exciting time for Australian naval shipbuilding. Two patrol vessel programs are underway, the Anzac-class frigate midlife capability assurance program (AMCAP) is completing the first of eight ships, and Hunter-class future frigates are …
Australia may be a sunburnt country, with droughts and flooding rains, but climate change is relentlessly ramping up our nation’s inherent vulnerabilities: January 2019 was Australia’s hottest month on record, and nine of the 10 …
The dysfunctional politics of Brexit in the United Kingdom, and the midterm election reaction against President Donald Trump in the United States, are generating second thoughts about the populist tide that has been sweeping the …
Sea state Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Ballarat, deployed in the Middle East as part of Operation Manitou, took part in a successful anti-narcotics operation in the Arabian Sea. More than 2 tonnes of hashish …
In January, at the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi, Foreign Minister Marise Payne enunciated her government’s pitch to develop closer relations with India. Her speech was an attempt to reassure India and the broader region …