The Alliance is dead, long live the Alliance

Our well-worn alliance with the US ceased to exist a little while ago, at least in the way we’ve known it for several decades. The familiar parameters within which Australia operated for many years have …

Reader response: US military action in Syria

Here’s a reader response on Syria from Jose KL Sousa Santos: Robert Ayson’s support for possible US military action in response to the chemical attacks in Ghoula appears to be based upon an underlying assumption that the Assad …

Cyber wrap

In an attack linked to pro-Syrian government supporters, the sites of The New York Times, Twitter and up to ten other sites were compromised by the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA). Using stolen log-in credentials from …

Policy, what policy?

An ear-piercing alarm should ring the moment a politician pretends national security is too important for party politicking. You know they’re lying. That’s because within seconds they’ll set about violating their own injunction. Thin, grasping, …

Asia Essentials: concert not cataclysm

Europe’s 20th century offers Asia ample warning about the concert or cataclysm choice. But the solution Europe produced to deliver its own peace in the second half of the 20th century is of limited utility …

ASPI suggests

This week defence issues have been a bigger part of the election campaign than they were previously. The two big events on the calendar were Kevin Rudd’s address to the Lowy Institute and ASPI’s great …

Australia’s defence election issues

Today ASPI and Hewlett Packard are hosting a debate on Defence issues at 12pm AEST between Dr Mike Kelly, who Mr Rudd has nominated to become Defence Minister if Labor win the election and who is …

Challenges for Mr Rudd’s northern naval posture

In a speech at the Lowy Institute, the Prime Minister today announced that a re-elected government will … establish the Future Navy Taskforce that will provide advice to the Government on implementing these recommendations and …

Phase zero planning for Australia

Anthony Bergin, Hayley Channer and Sam Bateman’s recent Strategy Report ‘Terms of engagement…’ touches on a problem that’s defied strategic planners worldwide. Nations tend to know how to intervene militarily when it’s unavoidable. Doctrine lays …

The battle for cybermetrics

This July the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) released the Organised Crime in Australia – 2013 Report, an unclassified version of the Organised Crime Threat Assessment. Pointing at globalisation and technology as key enablers for the …