The spotlight is once again on Australia and whether it will conduct freedom of navigation operations (FONOPS) in the South China Sea. The debate has been revived as a result of remarks made by the …
Prime Minister Turnbull issued his national security statement in Parliament yesterday, again calling on cooperation on decryption from social media and messaging platforms when countering violent extremists. The topic is set to be the key …
ADF ‘call out’ was a headline issue from the coronial inquest into the Lindt café siege. Counsel assisting the coroner raised it during hearings in May last year, speculating that ADF special forces might have …
It’s tricky. On one hand, moral superiority can lead dangerously to intolerance. But too much tolerance can open up strategic problems. That seems to be the crux of Mark Thomson’s proposition in his recent piece …
Over 20 years ago, at a conference in Sydney hosted by the Australian Navy, then-Indonesian Ambassador to Australia Sabam Siagian referred to the ‘Vasco Da Gama Epoch’. That was a reference to an expression originally …
In his blustering, bumbling way, Trump may be fulfilling the long held ambition of George Kennan on the world order. And while the transition is risky, it may ultimately be for the best. To see …
Sea State The full ship’s company is now aboard the Royal Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, the HMS Queen Elizabeth. But ongoing delays to the ship’s sea trials have kept it docked in Scotland, exacerbating the …
World powers have often been known to intervene, overtly and covertly, to overthrow other countries’ governments, install pliant regimes, and then prop up those regimes, even with military action. But, more often than not, what …
Welcome to the first-ever Women, Peace and Security wrap here at The Strategist. On the first Monday of each month, we’ll be covering developments in the WPS agenda and highlighting their impacts on national security. …
The shock of Donald Trump has prompted Australia to become shriller about China. Struck dumb by The Donald, Canberra can at least find its tongue about China. ‘Shock and awe’ is probably too grandiose a …
To celebrate the Queen’s Birthday long weekend, Team Strategist is taking a day off today. But never fear, we’ll be back tomorrow with our normal schedule of considered analysis. Until then, to tide you over, we’d …
Donald Trump entered the White House promising to be ‘the most pro-Israel president ever’. This hyperbolic bombast gratified what is certainly the most right-wing Israeli government ever, which is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Israel’s …
A joint investigation run by Four Corners and Fairfax into Chinese influence-buying in Australia aired on Monday night. It was a cracker, and if you missed it then we commend both the Four Corners episode …
Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has just concluded a visit to the United States to meet the president and negotiate a way forward on trade and the South China Sea—two issues central to Vietnam. …
This week is the 73rd anniversary of perhaps the most complex joint and integrated military operation in history. Operation Overlord, the 1944 D-Day invasion of Europe, involved the largest amphibious armada ever seen, and brought …
Angela Merkel’s frustration, clearly aimed at the United States and Britain, boiled over in her extraordinary speech in Munich late last month. ‘The times in which we can fully count on others are to some …
The Chinese Communist Party exercises sovereignty over 1.4 billion people. In doing so, it suppresses free speech, regulates political activity and exercises a pervasive program of propaganda in education, the arts and the news media. …
The Beat Talk to the camera (respectfully) Police using body cameras generate data, and lots of it. But until this week there’s never been a systematic effort to mine through it. Now, linguists, psychologists and …
It has been a little over a year since the government released its Defence Industry Policy Statement. As well as setting a new world record for using the word ‘innovation’ in a single document, the …
A half-century ago, Israel won the Six-Day War against its Arab neighbors, occupying territories from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank—and establishing its rule over millions of Palestinians. In the ensuing decades, Palestinians tried …