Defence Minister David Johnston got a late Christmas present in the form of the National Archives’ release of Cabinet papers from 1986 and 1987. In this trove—surely among the last Cabinet papers to be produced …
We enter 2014 with the Asian security mosaic as complicated as it’s been in a long while. The two rising regional great powers, China and India, are still rising but at least in China’s case …
This post was originally published on November 12, 2012. (The Strategist will return with new material on Monday January 6, 2014) Andrew Davies’ graph of the week about the elderly USAF tactical fighter fleet raises …
Originally published 26 June 2014. China continues to try changing the status quo in the South China Sea (SCS) through bullying its smaller neighbours and creating more facts on the ground. After moving an oil …
This post was originally published on November 6, 2012. (The Strategist will return with new material on January 6, 2014 – Ed.) Our Antarctic claim is about the size of Australia, minus Queensland. So it’s …
These posts were orignally published on 11 and 14 Dec 2012 respectively. (The Strategist will return with new material on January 6, 2014 – Ed.) 1. Getting carried away (Harry White) In last Wednesday’s Autumn …
This post was originally published on November 2, 2012. (The Strategist will return with new material on January 6, 2014 – Ed.) Having had the privilege [in 2012] of participating in the United States Study …
This post was originally published on November 8, 2012 (The Strategist will return with new material on January 6, 2014 – Ed.) The Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) is often overlooked as a regional security …
Originally published October 9, 2012. (This post was the final in a series by regular contributor Peter Layton on the topic of grand strategy. The previous ones are linked in the text and at the …
Originally published December 19, 2012. With ANZUS a core pillar of our own strategic policy, it should come as no surprise that Australians frequently turn (and return) to the subject of just how reliable that …
Originally published September 26, 2012. (This piece was written before the current ructions between the two countries over Australia’s intelligence activities. Its point about Australia needing to take account of Indonesia’s views in the development …
Originally published 17 July 2012 (While looking forward to the defence white paper of 2013, this post—incidentally The Strategist‘s first—contains plenty of observations that are germane to the planned next defence white paper. Oh, and …
Originally published Jan 14, 2013. One of the things I like most about the summer break is the opportunity to catch up on some reading. This time around one of the items on my reading …
The Strategist will be taking a break from today until the 6th of January. The editorial team would like to thank all of the readers who have helped establish our blog as an informed source …
Welcome to our final ASPI suggests for 2013! How big are the region’s navies? OpenCanada.org has a super useful infographic (above, click to enlarge) that compares the size of China’s, Japan’s, Russia’s, Canada’s and the US …
It’s the time of year when lazy editors dig through already published material it’s worth taking a breath and reflecting on what’s passed through our pages over the course of the year. I thought about …
2013 was a significant year in cyberspace, both internationally and closer to home. Whilst the Edward Snowden leaks dominated the headlines, several important agreements and policy achievements were made further away from the glare of …
The diplomatic calendar is going to help Tony Abbott work through the current period of diplomatic pain with China. Australia is chairing the G20 and China is the APEC chair as the group celebrates its …
I noted with interest Kym Bergmann’s question in the context of defence industry policy ‘why is “offsets” such a dirty word here’? The answer is actually straightforward: Australia tried offsets—and the results were hardly encouraging. …
I’m glad to see Klee Aiken offer his thoughts on cybersecurity, and I share his suspicion of intrusive surveillance. But it’s for this very reason that I’m raising alternative uses of ‘big data’, and I …