Cyber wrap

According to a recent survey by Tech London Advocates, London’s tech experts and cyber security professionals are ‘overwhelmingly opposed’ to the UK’s recent decision to leave the EU. Mainland Europe represents an  essential source of …

Ocean observations and trilateral cooperation

On Monday I spoke at a conference sponsored by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA, ANU’s Strategic & Defence Studies Centre and the JMSDF Command and Staff College on 21st Century Trilateral Maritime Cooperation. The conference …

ANZUS in Trumpland—should we have seen it coming?

Andrew Davies’ recent post on the possibility of Donald Trump as US President presents an interesting alternative future that could cause a fundamental rewrite of our defence plans. In concluding, he noted Andrew Carr’s concerns …

Europe after Brexit

US President Franklin D. Roosevelt once proclaimed that ‘the only thing we have to fear is fear itself’. The United Kingdom’s ‘Brexit’ referendum, in which just over half of those who voted chose to leave …

Offshore balancing, US retreat and strategic disorder

John Mearsheimer’s and Stephen Walt’s recent Foreign Affairs article advocating a return to offshore balancing is certainly generating a debate amongst the doyens of US foreign policy. Tom Switzer, for example, clearly likes their arguments. …

Britain at sea

In the early 1960s, former US Secretary of State Dean Acheson famously quipped that the United Kingdom had lost an empire, and not yet found a role. Afterwards, successive British leaders tried to change that, …

The meaning of Brexit

The Brexit vote was a triple protest: against surging immigration, City of London bankers, and European Union institutions, in that order. It will have major consequences. Donald Trump’s campaign for the US presidency will receive …

Reviving the Arab Peace Initiative

Shifting dynamics in the Middle East may have presented a rare opportunity to establish the groundwork for a lasting, regionally-backed peace between Israel, the Palestinian Authority and their Arab neighbours. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu …

An Indonesia time-bomb

Deep into the Press Club foreign affairs debate a faint ticking started—the hint of a time-bomb in Australia–Indonesia relations. The Indonesia time-bomb wasn’t directly mentioned, just hinted. That is apt because Australia’s international relations have …

ASPI suggests

Welcome back, and vale Great Britain. More to follow… First up this week, two choice pieces that paint an increasingly dire image of US foreign policy, regardless of who moves into the Oval Office. This …

Fault lines in Cambodia

It’s almost 20 years since Cambodia’s last military coup, but the country’s domestic security situation remains fragile. Over the last two years a number of events hint that the political and security situation in this Mekong …

India’s economy after Rajan

Raghuram Rajan’s decision not to seek a second term as Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI, India’s central bank) was met with shock from those of us who’ve been cheering on the Indian …

Alliance management: spending as strategy

‘If you aren’t talking dollars, you aren’t talking strategy.’ While that well-known Arthur Tange saying is often used in the context of defence budgets, it can also be applied to alliance management. One of the …

The Strategist Six: Yuki Tatsumi

Welcome to The Strategist Six, a feature that provides a glimpse into the thinking of prominent academics, analysts, government officials, military officers, reporters and interesting individuals from around the world. 1. Japan will head to …

The case for Brexit: for Britain, for Australia

To Brexit, or not to Brexit—that is the question.  The answer will have seismic ramifications for the future of democracy, sovereignty and freedom. Notwithstanding the potentially significant short-term transaction costs of Brexit, there’s a strong …