Hugh White writes ‘I don’t believe that Australia must make a choice between America and China’ and adds another perilous twist to his ‘China-Choice’ journey. Well, you could have fooled me! Hugh and I agree …
Cybercrime is presenting law enforcement agencies worldwide with new and evolving legislative problems and operational challenges. Identifying and stopping nefarious online actors, many of whom are based thousands of kilometres away on foreign soil, is …
The first week of August marks not only the centenary of the guns of August 1914, but also the fiftieth anniversary of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which was as near as the United States …
This energetic debate began with Peter Jennings taking issue with Hugh White’s gloomy prognostications about where Australia’s enthusiasm for closer strategic cooperation with Japan might lead. For Peter, the basic structure of the current order …
As cybersecurity concerns edge higher on policy agendas worldwide, establishing ‘rules of the road’ for cyberspace has grown more challenging. International cyberspace meetings have multiplied, and the views expressed within them are, typically, divided. In …
To watch a new government is to see a party’s shibboleths, suspicions, suppositions and superstitions mugged by reality. Time in opposition is supposed to be when new thinking gets done. Yet often that period of …
I’m kicking off today with biosecurity: Ebola outbreaks in West Africa have raised fears it might spread to other continents. In a new video interview (7mins), CSIS Senior Vice President and Director, Global Health Policy …
The prospects for Islamic State (the organisation formerly known as ISIS) playing a major part in the future of Iraq and Syria shouldn’t be under-estimated. The future of IS depends on its military performance, image-building …
At the Defence and Industry conference this week, we got an official update on the status of the Future Submarine project (SEA1000) from the project head, RADM Greg Sammut and DMO’s General Manager of Submarines, …
The destruction of Malaysian flight MH17 could hardly have come at a more inopportune moment for Russia, already reeling from Western sanctions and isolation. A growing body of evidence suggests that pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine …
The election of Jokowi is a good result for Indonesia, for Indonesia’s neighbours and for democracies in particular. State visits to democracies by a President Prabowo would have been dogged by protests. It’s also an …
It’s been a couple of weeks since Japan’s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, delivered an historic address to the Australian Parliament, during a visit that attracted widespread media commentary here. But how was the visit covered …
This week, leaders at the Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Palau received a clear warning on the state of the region’s fisheries. Fisheries are one of the key issues on the minds of Pacific Island …
The worst-kept secret at the DMO Defence and Industry conference this week was the government’s active consideration of buying submarines from Japan. Although it was never mentioned in any presentation, Option J, as it has …
With this week marking 100 years since the start of World War I, the Australian Army’s release of its Future Land Warfare 2014 report (PDF) is a timely consideration of what war means in the …
Hugh White and others are right to worry about a drift toward antagonism among Asia’s great powers. China’s recent assertiveness in local maritime disputes should moreover disabuse anyone of the comforting conceit that China will …
The good news is that Australia is doing just fine in shaping its relations with both China and the United States. The bad news is that things could still go wrong for Australia at any …
Australia has a simple policy on North Korea: say ‘tsk-tsk’ to its ongoing nuclear and missile programs and lightly criticise Kim Jong-un’s leadership. Our Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, said as much last month. For a …
Much has been written of late about the potential for Australian citizens to go to the Middle East and take up arms with one militant group or another. Recent commentary about an Islamic State fighter, …
Strategic analysts have a poor record of anticipating the future shape of international relations. Most famously, apart from a few obscure French historians, no-one seriously foreshadowed the demise of the Soviet Union and subsequent end …