At the G20 Hangzhou summit earlier this month, China made clear that Russian president Vladimir Putin was a top guest. Both China and Russia claim that their bilateral relations are the ‘best ever’ and …
Sea State The US Navy will soon have eyes in the sky for much longer than before, having last week approved the commencement of low-rate initial production for the MQ-4C Triton unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). …
The war between Colombia and the FARC rebel group is over. After four years of negotiating, on 26 September in Cartagena both sides shook hands and bid farewell to the longest-running conflict in the western …
In Canberra, the orbits of the economic world and security world are coming closer and their different gravitational fields are reacting as China conundrums confront the coming Foreign and Trade White Paper. The inhabitants of …
Those of us in the bush capital are enjoying a public holiday today, but we’ll be back tomorrow with our usual program of commentary and analysis. Until then, catch up with Friday’s ASPI suggests; Matt Rainbow’s riposte …
While we’re not in the business of creating safe spaces or slapping trigger warnings on our recommendations, it’s necessary to recognise that there’s no easy way to make this feature a Trump-free zone. It’s just …
A complex network of interconnected supply chains keep Australia fed, fuelled, and functioning. But recent changes to Australia’s energy supply chain mean they’re increasingly vulnerable to disruption. Australia, like most advanced economies, relies on a …
In his recent The Strategist article, The importance of intelligence, Michael Morell argues that we, by which he almost certainly means the West, are in the midst of a golden age for intelligence. He suggests …
The Philippines under President Rodrigo Duterte’s erratic foreign and defence policy is lurching from one foreign policy crisis to the next. There’s deepening concern about extrajudicial killings that are piling bodies up and tarnishing the …
The Beat Petrobas probe deepens Former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is the latest high-profile politician facing prosecution for his role in the evolving Petrobas corruption scandal. On Tuesday, Judge Sérgio Moro, a …
The spate of recent decisions on Chinese investment in Australia and the revelations associated with Senator Sam Dastyari stepping down from his shadow ministerial position have been accompanied by a sharp rise in the media’s …
I really can’t agree with John Blaxland’s view regarding what term we should use for Islamic State, for two reasons; it doesn’t really matter what term you use, and the very people that John advocates …
ASPI recently published an anthology of pieces about the ruling by an Arbitral Tribunal established under the UN Law of the Sea Convention (UNCLOS) to deal with the dispute between China and the Philippines in …
There’s a debate going on in the US at the moment that isn’t attracting much commentary here. While it’s a touch arcane, it’s worthy of public discussion. The question is the organisational arrangement for America’s …
Imagine it is 2020. The director of the CIA requests an urgent meeting with the US president. The reason: North Korea has succeeded in making a nuclear bomb small enough to fit inside the tip …
The Chief of Army’s conference was remarkably successful. That’s a truism, because those sorts of events always will be. Gather together a parade of senior officers who’ve known one another for years; all competing to …
At this point in the US presidential campaign, the momentum is with Donald Trump. If the trend continues, he’ll be elected. Outside the US, his serial deceits and appallingly bombastic narcissism are redolent of candidates …
In July 2016, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called on his counterterrorism advisers to investigate the mental state of potential ‘lone-wolf’ terrorists. Two months later, Ihsas Khan was charged with a terrorism offence for the allegedly …
Sea State The US Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program is back in the headlines this week with new footage of the LCS Jackson’s June shock trials. The trials involved detonating a 10,000 pound (4,546 …
A Special Report (PDF) released by ASPI today examines the shifting Asian nuclear order by exploring four case studies—the US–China relationship, the South Asian nuclear dynamic, the North Korean nuclear program and the challenges confronting US extended …