Israel is on a collision course with Iran as it accelerates its nuclear development and increases its activities in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, experts have warned. The potential for an escalation of tensions between two …
The Economist recently contrasted the cold shoulder that Russian President Vladimir Putin received at the 2014 Brisbane G20 Summit in the wake of his annexation of Crimea, invasion of Ukraine and downing of the MH17 …
Annual WPS stocktake On 29 October the UN Security Council adopted resolution 2493, reaffirming its commitment to the full and continuing implementation of all previous resolutions pertaining to WPS. Although the resolution was unanimously adopted …
On 16 August, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh hinted that India might abandon its no-first-use policy: ‘Till today, our nuclear policy is “no first use”. What happens in future depends on the circumstances.’ Singh was speaking …
‘Strategy without money is not strategy.’ —Arthur Tange* ‘Everything is very simple in war, but the simplest thing is difficult.’ —Carl von Clausewitz* Australian governments are always trying to simplify defence and rein in costs. …
During most of my political lifetime, certainly during the second half of the 20th century, we lived in a world that largely reflected the terrible lessons learnt in the previous years of the century, when …
In this episode, Andrew Davies talks with Marcus Hellyer on the costs of Australia’s future submarine project and they discuss the debate around an Australian long-range strike capability. Mali Walker talks to the Perth USAsia …
The world The US State Department has released a report highlighting how the US is engaging with its partners to implement its strategy of improving economics, governance and security in the Indo-Pacific. Interestingly, strengthening US …
Weapons and expertise provided by Western countries have enabled some of the world’s richest nations to bring high-level mechanised warfare to Yemen, one of the poorest places on the planet. In the process, air strikes …
Last week, the Asia-Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect released its 2019 risk assessment of Myanmar. The assessment uses a structured framework to determine the likelihood of atrocity crimes such as war crimes, crimes …
Critical minerals such as rare earths are driving faster and more powerful technologies and Australia is an ideal place to source and develop these new materials. Rare earths, including those transformed into high-performance metals, are …
ASPI’s Catherine McGregor has highlighted the concerns of two former air force chiefs that there’s an urgent capability gap in the Australian Defence Force’s order of battle—an absence of credible long-range strike capability for the …
The beat Indonesian police arrested over abduction of British man Four Indonesian police officers have been arrested over their involvement in the abduction and ransom of a British man. He was allegedly stopped at a …
The anti-government protests that have been raging in Iraq and Lebanon for the past several weeks have sent two strong messages. First, the average citizen is fed up with corrupt ruling elites that engage in …
Until China’s emergence as a genuine military great power, conventional military threats to Australia were considered remote, yet there had to be some rationale for developing strategic policy. In practice, the Australian Defence Force prepared …
Australia needs to consider its options for projecting greater military power in an age where we can’t assume that we’ll get assistance from the US whenever and wherever we need it. In my recent Strategist …
Since it was announced in August, Indonesia’s plan to relocate its capital to East Kalimantan in Borneo has engendered much debate, but few have examined the potential military and strategic implications of the move. The …
Compared with the rich trove of memoirs from American practitioners, Australia has far too few accounts from our diplomats, members of the armed forces and intelligence officers about the practical processes of Australian engagement with …
The Kremlin is on a roll. Under President Vladimir Putin, Russia has replaced the United States in Syria, continues to intervene in Eastern Ukraine, and recently hosted an African summit in Sochi. Appearances, however, can …
The public debate about moving full-cycle dockings of the Collins-class submarines to Western Australia has been overwhelmingly political. The vital point has so far been ignored: industry is engaged to support the navy, not the …