A fortnight ago, Prime Minister Tony Abbott signed a nuclear safeguards agreement with India, allowing Australia for the first time to export uranium to India for civil nuclear purposes. The agreement is touted as a …
Listening to the hyperbole that characterises much of the commentary on the rise of the Islamic State (IS), one would be forgiven for thinking that the world is witnessing an historical aberration in the Middle …
President Obama’s ‘targeted, relentless counterterrorism campaign against ISIL’ looks more like ‘sloth and pause’ compared to the 2003 ‘shock and awe’ attack on Iraq. Since the President’s 10 September statement, four air strikes (as of time …
The NATO summit in Newport, Wales has come and gone. It surely ranks as one of NATO’s better efforts, reviving the core principle of European defence and committing alliance members to expanded defence spending. But …
The avowed purpose of the Canberra officer project is to get an officer corps that can better serve Australia’s political leaders and win the bureaucratic battles. An undeclared purpose is the creation of political nous. …
Sometimes the words of our leaders can have a telling impact on strategic outcomes—interpretations limit strategic and operational adaptability and effectiveness. That may prove to be the case with words from the US president’s most …
Today’s first pick is a piece on The Bridge by Australian Army officer Jason Logue on how to effectively counter ISIS’ strategic communications and stem recruitment of Australian fighters. He writes, Playing the counter-propaganda game …
There is no more serious decision for Government than to commit Australian forces to conflict. It is not, I believe, one that is ever taken lightly. But should it be ceded to both houses of …
Scotland’s referendum on 18 September is a choice between union and significance or independence and irrelevance. Voters will decide whether to stay in the United Kingdom or to opt for full independence. The result will …
At a time the Royal Australian Air Force is busy delivering humanitarian aid and military stores to communities under threat from Islamic State militants, a Chinese Navy medical assistance voyage to help some of our …
It’s not hard to make sense of reports that a Japanese submarine is now in the forefront of the government’s mind as it turns its attention to replacing the Collins class. After all, looking around …
NATO just concluded its most important summit in more than a decade in Wales. Originally, the Alliance had planned to talk mostly about the way ahead in Afghanistan. But Russia’s intervention in Ukraine fundamentally changed …
This week in cyber, New Zealand telco Spark suffered a massive internet meltdown over the weekend as its Domain Name System (DNS) infrastructure became overwhelmed in what the company said was a ‘dynamic cyber attack’. …
Having written about the difficulties in understanding exactly why people become radicalised and involved in terrorist activities, it’s equally important to examine what can be done to reduce the likelihood of people becoming radicalised, and …
There has been a flurry of public commentary following yesterday’s News Limited claims that Australia is about to enter into a commitment to buy our next generation of submarines from Japan. The local submarine community …
In recent weeks, three of my colleagues have written about the appropriate balance that we should attempt to strike between national security and civil liberties. Toby Feakin began the series with a post which argued that positioning security …
This post is part of a joint series hosted by The Strategist and The Bridge. Strategy is meaningless without an opposing force. Since Australia currently has only hypothetical opponents, a strategic endstate for Australia can only …
In the Australian system going to war is extremely simple. The Prime Minister and Cabinet agree, the order is given and the shooting starts. Then there’s the hard stuff—not just the fighting, but handling the …
We’re kicking off today in the Asia Pacific region with this East Asia Forum post by TJ Pempel on why Japan’s collective self-defence is so politicised. The piece explains Japan’s recent developments as more than …
This year’s Independence Day on 14 August in Pakistan marked the start of political protests against the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Now into their third week, protests have become violent in recent days …