The Sino-Indian standoff in the Doklam (Donglang in Chinese) region of the Himalayas where the borders of China, India and Bhutan converge is now nearly two months old. The dispute arose in mid-June when China …
The beat Oui, oui: French–Australian drugs ops From theoretical cooperation to practice: After the French Navy seized almost 1.5 tonnes of cocaine from a vessel in the South Pacific—presumably heading to Australia—the Australian Criminal Intelligence …
North Korea’s nuclear weapon and long-range missile programs are gathering momentum, according to a US Defense Intelligence Agency report, commented on by the Washington Post. The Post story suggests that North Korea has successfully produced …
A fortnight ago, while most Australians were safely tucked into bed, America’s Twitter-happy president took to his favourite platform to tap out another policy announcement. You never know what you’re going to get from @realDonaldTrump, …
With President Trump’s latest comments that North Korea is facing a response of ‘fire and fury’ if it endangers the US, it’s clear that the US president is at least thinking about a pre-emptive strike …
The full transcript of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s now infamous phone call with President Donald Trump seems to offer something for everyone. Coverage and analysis has ranged from describing the call as one of Turnbull’s …
Don’t say stupid things online It’s been a big week for advocates of online OPSEC. On Monday, a Google employee suffered a high-profile firing after he circulated a ‘manifesto’ railing against Google’s institutional ‘political bias’ …
During his visit to Hue, Vietnam’s former royal capital, earlier this year, Japanese Emperor Akihito and his entourage were reminded of their country’s longstanding cultural connections with Vietnam. In the eighth century, Phat Triet, a …
On 30 June 2017, the Turnbull Government made two key announcements to enhance Australia’s cyber security posture—in both war fighting and law enforcement. In the first of these, the government announced a new Information Warfare …
Democratic elections, through history, have never been perfect in function or outcome. The August polls in Kenya, Rwanda and Angola are sure to be imperfect, in their own ways. Much ink will be spilled on …
Sea state Russia has laid down the hulls for two new diesel-electric submarines to be deployed in the Pacific. The Varshavyanka-class subs, due to be completed in November 2019, are ‘primarily designed for anti-submarine and …
As the Association of Southeast Asian Nations marks its 50th anniversary today, its 10 leaders should pause from the inevitable self-congratulation to reflect on the organisation’s failings as well as its successes. ASEAN has notched …
The Kurds—who occupy a mountainous region that includes portions of Armenia, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey—are the largest ethnic group in the world without a state to call their own. It is time to change …
Here’s one suggestion that will sharply improve the performance of the Australian Government and Opposition. It’s a small step to make a big change and it doesn’t need a plebiscite (postal or otherwise), or even …
For Australia to operate a fleet of nuclear submarines would require great resources and incur a huge expense, says United States Pacific Fleet commander Scott Swift. Any country pursuing nuclear-powered vessels, ships, aircraft carriers or …
Gender perspectives in the ADF In response to the increasing demand for gender advisers, the Australian Defence Force delivered its first gender adviser course in June. Headquarters Joint Operations Command conducted the pilot course at …
Nuclear non-proliferation can be assessed from several different perspectives that are characterised by polarising and even contradictory views. Very few topics divide international opinion as much as the future of nuclear non-proliferation. On the one …
Geopolitics must look easy to Putin. Undermining US global leadership is an important Russian strategic objective. The new US president has already eroded US global leadership through his own efforts. The prospect of a Trump …
Donald Trump has caused a profound shift in the way Canberra thinks about a US leader, but not yet about US leadership. Call this The Donald dichotomy. Australia confronts an ‘America First’ president who is …
In my previous post on the recently released 2017 Independent Intelligence Review, I promised to come back to the subject of oversight. But before we get to that, it’s important to understand the legislative framework …