ASPI suggests

The US election postmortem continued this week, and no doubt will for many weeks to come. Through front pages and Twitter feeds, readers have been pummelled by a veritable avalanche of analysis, which we won’t …

Trump and Australia

Donald Trump spoke to Malcolm Turnbull within 24 hours of his election. The event produced a quaint response in commentary redolent of an older era in the character of allied relationships. On the one hand, …

Dangerous platitudes about Trump

Much of the commentary in Australia since the US election has reeked of dangerous platitudes. A lot of ‘experts’ (none of whom forecast a Trump victory) are asserting that nothing much will change: President Trump …

National security wrap

The Beat Financial crime targets Oz superannuation AUSTRAC has just released a risk assessment on Australia’s trillion dollar (PDF) superannuation sector. The key findings show that fraud is the overwhelmingly predominant crime, and is often …

Nuclear propulsion for Australia’s submarines?

There have been a number of well-argued suggestions that Australia should introduce nuclear powered submarines (SSN) and, more recently, an emotive argument that a conventional submarine is not up to the task required by Australia’s …

Cyber wrap

Last week progress was made on three initiatives announced in April’s Cyber Security Strategy. First up, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Minister Assisting the PM for Cyber Security Dan Tehan announced last Thursday that ICPC’s …

The deterrent value of submarines

I spoke on the subject of the deterrent value of submarines at the Submarine Institute of Australia annual conference yesterday. I was preaching to the choir with that crowd, but I’m often asked at public …

Trump could make the pivot great again

Speculation regarding the implications of Donald Trump’s win for Asia has been, to be charitable, all over the map. Some argue that Trump’s victory is a win for China because he’ll seek to cut deals …

Europe, alone in Trump’s world

Alone again. Since World War II’s end, Europe has looked at the world through a transatlantic lens. There have been ups and downs in the alliance with the United States, but it was a family …

Shaping and hedging in a time of Trump

Donald J. Trump is president-elect of the United States. What are the consequences for Australia? Following a 15 minute phone call with Mr Trump, Prime Minister Turnbull moved to reassure a shell-shocked public that it’s …

Strategic policy, ANZUS and dealing with Trump

On 20 January 2017, Donald Trump will be sworn in as America’s 45th president. I’m not expecting an immediate revolution in strategic affairs; his priorities will be unashamedly domestic. Indeed, like most politicians—who campaign in …

Preparing Asia for Trump

Whether or not US President-elect Donald Trump behaves better once in office than he did on the campaign trail, America’s global authority has already taken a battering, not least among its allies and partners in …

Mo’ MIRVs, mo’ problems

When you think of American and Soviet Cold War nuclear arsenals, the descriptor ‘huge’ automatically comes to mind. One technological innovation in the 1970s contributed more than any other factor to the creation of those …