The recently published history of the British submarine service since 1945, The Silent Deep by Peter Hennessy and James Jinks, contains much food for thought for those interested in Australia’s future submarine capability. One particular …
In late February the US Embassy in Baghdad released a statement warning that the Mosul Dam is at a ‘a serious and unprecedented risk of catastrophic failure with little warning.’ The Embassy confirmed that such …
Lord Palmerston is quite often cited in The Strategist. Had he prosecuted his thinking on the ephemeral nature of alliances and the enduring nature of interests to its logical conclusion, he might have said that …
Welcome to The Strategist Six, a new feature that provides a glimpse into the thinking of prominent academics, government officials, military officers, reporters and interesting individuals from around the world. 1. You’ve been following China’s rise for …
The Beat OECD anti-bribery meeting held in Paris The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development held an Anti-Bribery Ministerial Meeting in Paris on 16 March. The OECD released a short paper to mark the occasion, …
Again I find myself replying to The Strategist more with comfortable agreement than bad-tempered rebuttal and I appreciate Michael Clifford’s recent observations on my paper, Forging Australian Land Power: A Primer. Clifford asserts that Australia’s …
Something interesting has emerged in voting patterns on both sides of the Atlantic: Young people are voting in ways that are markedly different from their elders. A great divide appears to have opened up, based …
Lately, we Australians have had plenty to say about the South China Sea. The discussants fall into two broad groups. The first group subscribes closely to the perspectives of the United States Pacific Command and …
Readers of Australia’s DWP 2016 might well think themselves sold short in relation to one key concept: Australian strategy. The White Paper’s awash with money and equipment, but somewhat less clear about why power and …
The US Department of Justice is reportedly preparing an indictment against a set of Iranian hackers who allegedly infiltrated a small New York dam in 2013. While the attack only managed to penetrate the dam’s …
The 2016 Defence White Paper mentions ‘unmanned’ systems 15 times. The accompanying Integrated Investment Plan (IIP) [pdf] has 39 references. The government has clear ambitions to purchase UAVs for maritime surveillance and airborne strike, with …
Just under a year ago Admiral Harry Harris was the keynote speaker at the ASPI Future Surface Fleet dinner. Immaculately attired in his starched whites he warned—with a firm delivery—that China is building a ‘great …
Like its predecessors, Australia’s new Defence White Paper pays considerable attention to Southeast Asia. Its ‘Strategic Outlook’ chapter reiterates the long-held and axiomatic conventional wisdom that the geography of the archipelago to Australia’s north ‘will …
First, the good news. The American and Russian-brokered ceasefire in Syria, the ‘cessation of hostilities’, which became effective on 27 February, has been holding. Sort of. The guns have certainly not fallen silent—far from it—but …
Sea State Spanish shipbuilder Navantia has been selected as the preferred tenderer for the $1.2 billion contract to construct two auxiliary oiler and replenishment vessels for RAN, Defence Minister Marise Payne confirmed last week. The …
The Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee is holding an inquiry into the planned acquisition of the F-35 Lightning II (Joint Strike Fighter). ASPI has had a keen interest in this project for over …
Fisheries are significant renewable resources for Indian Ocean and Pacific Island countries. They underpin food supplies, maintain livelihoods and assist economic growth. Our regional fisheries engagement in the Indo–Pacific should be viewed as a whole-of-government …
Australia’s defence thinkers are ever worried about self-reliance and order. The Rs reign: rules and self-reliance and region. Those themes run through the 40 years from the first Defence White Paper in 1976 to the …
Those of us in the nation’s 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; Tom Hanson on upping …
Marking International Women’s Day this week The Economist released their annual glass-ceiling index, which seeks to show where women have the ‘best chances of equal treatment at work’. The interactive index reveals that Australia still has quite …