Last week’s horrific terrorist attack at a military-funded school in Peshawar in the northwest of Pakistan which killed 148 civilians, including 132 children, is without any doubt the worst in the country’s history, judged by …
North Korea has delivered a major blow to freedom of expression in the US and emboldened Internet hackers everywhere by successfully coercing Sony Pictures into axing the release of its new film, The Interview. The …
In 2014, China arrived as the economic Number One and Japan arrived as a ‘normal’ security player in Asia. China confronts the many meanings and huge character test of being the biggest. Japan has just …
We’re kicking off the last round-up for 2014 with peek into the new year: our colleagues at CSIS have predicted five events that will shape Southeast Asia in 2015 including a ruling on the Philippines’ South China …
Police reporting—a catalogue of the worst crime, murders and personal tragedies occupying our underworld—was big in the 1980s. So I knew I was being given a break when told I’d be spending a couple of …
The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague is currently examining China’s South China Sea claims in a case brought by the Philippines. While China isn’t expected to take part in the case—indeed, it …
A week after a serious military–police clash in Port Moresby went largely unreported in Australia, prompting some commentators to warn that PNG mightn’t always muddle-through potential crises, it’s reassuring that four of our high-profile ministers …
Underestimating Latin America’s trade opportunities and transnational organised threats may compromise Australia’s economic and security agenda. It’s time for Australian businesses, government and public to take a closer look at this dynamic region. Latin America …
For the first 100 days of the air campaign against ISIL in Iraq and Syria, most Australians were barely aware their country had entered a new Middle East war. Then a deadly siege in Sydney …
Nic Stuart’s piece, ‘Forget the carrier option’, makes a large and important judgment: that politics and defence funding won’t allow the option of deploying F-35Bs on Australia’s LHDs. But in making that case Nic repeats …
Well done (or commiserations) to those diligent souls that have yet to decamp for the summer break. To help soften the blow, here’s the last cyber wrap for the year from the ICPC. Last week …
In one of his last major decisions in office, US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has decided to continue production of the two Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) designs. The US Navy had been directed to …
With the launch of ASPI’s Strike from the Air paper yesterday, I thought it was worth looking at some data from both the current campaign and the now well-documented 1991 Gulf War air campaign. There are …
This is the last post of The Strategist’s series on the Bay of Bengal. As noted in previous posts, the Bay suffers from many trans-regional security issues—including separatist conflicts, piracy and people smuggling—which will increasingly …
I applaud Defence Minister David Johnston’s willingness to stand up to vested interests to ensure that the Australian people get the best submarines available. I hasten to add that I don’t have a clue whether …
Below is an extract from ASPI’s publication Strike from the air: the first 100 days of the campaign against ISIL released today. Most assessments of the US-led military operation in Iraq have criticised the limited …
Below is an extract from ASPI’s publication released today, Strike from the air: the first 100 days of the campaign against ISIL. It’s apparent that the campaign to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL is going to …
Below is an extract from ASPI’s newly released publication Strike from the air: the first 100 days of the campaign against ISIL. There’s no doubt that the rapid rise of ISIL in Syria and especially Iraq …
Recently, I attended the Griffith Asia Institute’s fourth annual Australia-Japan Dialogue in Tokyo. Not surprisingly, a central theme of the workshop was whether Australia–Japan security and defence relations are on the cusp of a transformation, …
Defence is big on definitions. If you can define something, you have a better chance of being able to manage it appropriately. So much of the documentation produced by Defence has pages dedicated to the …