Originally published September 26, 2012. (This piece was written before the current ructions between the two countries over Australia’s intelligence activities. Its point about Australia needing to take account of Indonesia’s views in the development …
Originally published 17 July 2012 (While looking forward to the defence white paper of 2013, this post—incidentally The Strategist‘s first—contains plenty of observations that are germane to the planned next defence white paper. Oh, and …
Originally published Jan 14, 2013. One of the things I like most about the summer break is the opportunity to catch up on some reading. This time around one of the items on my reading …
The Strategist will be taking a break from today until the 6th of January. The editorial team would like to thank all of the readers who have helped establish our blog as an informed source …
Welcome to our final ASPI suggests for 2013! How big are the region’s navies? OpenCanada.org has a super useful infographic (above, click to enlarge) that compares the size of China’s, Japan’s, Russia’s, Canada’s and the US …
It’s the time of year when lazy editors dig through already published material it’s worth taking a breath and reflecting on what’s passed through our pages over the course of the year. I thought about …
2013 was a significant year in cyberspace, both internationally and closer to home. Whilst the Edward Snowden leaks dominated the headlines, several important agreements and policy achievements were made further away from the glare of …
The diplomatic calendar is going to help Tony Abbott work through the current period of diplomatic pain with China. Australia is chairing the G20 and China is the APEC chair as the group celebrates its …
I noted with interest Kym Bergmann’s question in the context of defence industry policy ‘why is “offsets” such a dirty word here’? The answer is actually straightforward: Australia tried offsets—and the results were hardly encouraging. …
I’m glad to see Klee Aiken offer his thoughts on cybersecurity, and I share his suspicion of intrusive surveillance. But it’s for this very reason that I’m raising alternative uses of ‘big data’, and I …
Tony Abbott is about to understand the pain inflicted by China when it applies the diplomatic version of the death of a thousand cuts. By invoking his strategic trifecta—alliance, interests and values—in standing with the …
Yesterday saw the launch of the ANAO’s 2012–13 Major Projects Report, which takes an auditor’s eye view of the biggest and most complex defence projects. This year it analyses 29 projects—more than previous, and making …
Australians shouldn’t underestimate the depth of feeling that Indonesians feel about the recent spying matter. It has aggravated some old, deep wounds and surprised many there. This kind of surprise leads to deep cracks that …
Evaluating Defence Minister Johnston’s address to ASPI’s national security dinner, my colleague Benjamin Schreer warns that pundits tend to over-analyse government statements. Then he dives into searching for markers of policy change. Let me do …
In May 2013, Myanmar’s President U. Thein Sein made an unprecedented trip to the United States where he met with American President Barak Obama. The visit was perhaps one of the most visible signs of …
According to Tony Abbott, Japan is Australia’s ‘best friend in Asia’ and a ‘strong ally’ . These are important elements of what this series calls the strategic trifecta—alliance, interests and values—which the Prime Minister has invoked …
I read with interest the contribution of my colleague Patrick Walters regarding the end of domestic car manufacturing and its implications for Australian defence industry. My point is that if we had a healthy defence …
Amid the attention given to the installation of a new government in Canberra, the Australian media didn’t, as far as I’m aware, notice the death in September of Chin Peng. That name probably means little …
Last week General Motors Holden, spurred by some cavalier observations by federal government ministers, heralded the death-knell for the Australian automotive manufacturing industry. It’s been a long time coming but it’s a safe bet that …
In his words about the argument with China, Tony Abbott quickly scored the trifecta: alliance, interests and values. These are the three things nations go to war for. And within days of China’s announcement on …