Wedged between the bushfires in South Australia and the announcement of an early election in Queensland has been the Prime Minister’s ‘surprise visit’ to the Middle East. Amongst the media’s indignation at not being permitted …
The contestants are on stage for the annual Madeleine Award for the use of symbol, stunt, prop, gesture or jest in international affairs. The previous column announced the minor prizes: the OOPS (I wish I hadn’t…) …
Welcome back for 2015! Of the news items and commentary surrounding this week’s Charlie Hebdo shooting, consider reading these thoughts by The New Yorker’s Philip Gourevitch on which is mightier: the pen or the gun. …
John Blaxland concludes his important book, The Australian Army from Whitlam to Howard, by setting out key future challenges for the Army: ‘… reinvest in skills to enable closer and more effective engagement in Australia’s …
I’ve read with interest Andy Nikolic’s two posts in October and January about the need to address the threat posed by an Iranian nuclear capability. In October he wrote that ‘the threat of a nuclear-armed …
The House of Representatives election in Japan on 14 December resulted in a comfortable victory for the incumbent coalition government parties. The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the New Komeito party won, in aggregate, more …
I’m grateful to Kym Bergmann for his recent post on the Prime Minister’s surprise visit to Iraq during bushfire season here in Australia. For one thing, Kym puts on the agenda the whole issue of …
Happy New Year from Team ICPC! Unfortunately last year’s mess that was the hack of Sony Pictures Entertainments has followed us into 2015 and tensions continue to rise between the United States and North Korea. …
At the time of the 1993 federal election I was shirt-fronted by an ardent South Australian conservationist appalled at bipartisan political support for defence spending when there was, apparently, an enormous feral cat problem attriting …
History is replete with strategic incidents that were unforeseen but set in motion events that shaped the strategic landscape for decades. The collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was one such event, which foreshadowed …
As the summer silly-season scorches across Oz, it’s time for a silly moment with a trace of serious purpose—the Madeleine Awards for the use of symbol, stunt, prop, gesture or jest in international affairs. This …
Am I the only one to have noticed that for the 14 years that Australia was involved in Afghanistan and the 11 years in Iraq, every visit by a politician is a ‘surprise’? Every single …
Nothing so clearly signals Australia’s involvement in a more strategically competitive Asia as the writings of Australia’s leading strategic academics. In quieter times, our academics focused on the meaning of self-reliance, or the durability of …
Originally published 26 June 2014. (We’ll be publishing new material on Monday 5 January) China continues to try changing the status quo in the South China Sea (SCS) through bullying its smaller neighbours and creating …
Originally posted 17 April 2014. In its first few months in office, a combination of rookie errors and challenging circumstances gave the Abbott government’s international policy a shaky start. The PM’s declaration that Japan was …
Originally published 20 October 2014. Here’s Canberra lore—or three rules of an Unholy Trinity—explaining how politicians operate. When nothing makes sense, rely on the Trinity pulsing beneath the surface of party, parliament and government: It’s …
Originally published 13 February 2014. While high profile Defence projects like the Joint Strike Fighter and future submarine have received plenty of coverage, much less has been written about LAND 400—a proposed $10 billion purchase …
Originally published 27 May 2014 It was refreshing to see some positive news emerging from the United Nations recently, with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointing the first-ever female force commander of a UN peacekeeping mission. Major-General …
Originally published 9 September 2014. 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 …
Thanks for joining us in 2014! The Strategist will be taking a break from today until 4 January. The editorial team—Rod, Natalie, Kristy and David—would like to thank all of the readers who’ve helped establish …