I’ve just got back from the Korber Foundation’s 154th Bergedorf roundtable in Jakarta. They set me the easy task of describing Asia’s five most significant military developments, along with their drivers and the confidence-building measures …
Anthony Bergin and Anthony Press’ recent post ‘Defence and Climate Change‘ is right on the money. Defence needs to do more than it’s already doing to prepare the ADF to face the challenges of a warming planet. …
As with Vietnam, the Australian military will leave Afghanistan believing it won its bit of the war, even if the Afghanistan war is eventually judged a disaster. This is the limited right of small alliance …
Further revelations of US intelligence activity, including tapping of friendly world leaders phones, has put Washington’s intelligence community on the defensive. The Economist writes: On October 29th, realising that the political mood in Washington was, …
Julian Assange and Edward Snowden have provided manna from heaven for the army of journalists and editors besotted by spy stories. Sensational disclosures of government secrets and spying activities are splashed all over the media …
A recent media report that the Australia in the Asian Century White Paper has been removed from DFAT’s website is correct. The White Paper now resides at Australia’s web archive, known as PANDORA, perhaps in …
This week, I participated in the 39th meeting of the Australian Member Committee of the Council for Security Co-operation in the Asia-Pacific (Aus-CSCAP) in Darwin. This year’s theme was the US ‘rebalance’ and Southeast Asia, with …
This week the fallout from the leak of classified NSA documents continued, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her outrage at the revelation the US had been tapping her phone for up to ten years, …
If you read some of the media coverage of this week’s meeting between US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and New Zealand Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman, you might have thought that the two countries have just …
Russell Hunter and Victor Lal’s reflection on the implications of the election on Australia’s relations with Fiji raises more questions than it answers. The orthodox view since the military coup in December 2006 has been …
On Monday, seven weeks after Australia’s federal election, the new Prime Minister and the new Opposition leader stood together in Afghanistan to declare the end to Australia’s longest war. The message from Tony Abbott and …
What it means to be part of the Anglosphere (or, more precisely, what it means to be outside the Anglosphere) has apparently become very clear in the last week, following the revelation of America spying …
View Larger Map In a recent post here on The Strategist, Benjamin Schreer spoke of China’s ‘Achilles heel’ in Southeast Asia: its unwillingness to compromise in the territorial disputes in the South China Sea. This …
I think Geoff Wade has overstated China’s interest in Sabah and Malaysia’s willingness to work militarily with a big power such as China. Except for its traditional allies (US, UK, Australia, NZ & Singapore), I’d …
It makes sense to think of Europe’s response to the United States pivot towards Asia as an episode in Europe’s continuing preoccupation with retaining US commitment, rather than as a moment of epiphany. That preoccupation …
While it’s good to see ASPI writing about Antarctica and pointing out some obvious areas where further investment would pay dividends, I think it undersells some existing scientific efforts. It’s true that Australia’s Antarctic program …
The headline message from the recently released IPCC 5th Assessment Report (Climate change 2013: The Physical Science Basis) is pretty straightforward: Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the …
No executive in charge of a major construction project should announce the scheduled date for the Queen to open the building until after it’s up and finished. This bit of British building lore drew its …
Turkey has announced plans to buy a long-range missile defence system (the HQ-9) from China, rather than NATO supplied Patriot missiles. Speculation is that the Chinese company (China Precision Machinery Export-Import Corporation) beat the Lockheed …
In thinking about whether Australia is a middle or pivotal power, Damien Kingsbury asks the best question: what would happen if Australia were to disappear? Andrew Davies provides an intelligent, thought-provoking response but I think …