Tag Archive for: "foreign policy"
Panda-prodders versus panda-huggers

 Only five years ago, it was possible to categorise Canberra’s clash over China as setting Oz dragon-slayers against Oz panda-huggers. The differences within Canberra were mild and muted compared with those in Washington, but we …

Why doesn’t DFAT do strategy?

After reading Bob Carr’s Diary of a Foreign Minister, I’m left wondering why the business of foreign policy is—well, to be blunt—so completely un-strategic. Can it really be true that ‘all foreign policy is a …

Australia in the age of an introspective United States?

President Obama’s recent Asian tour, although successful, has done little to dilute the questioning of his global leadership style. A New York Times editorial on the weekend concluded that the president’s foreign policy isn’t as bad …

Ukraine – the least bad solution?

To gauge the seriousness of the danger on the steppe, one has only to imagine German troops on Ukrainian territory, separated by a narrow front from Russian forces, quite possibly engaging them. If the US …

What strategy for the new Defence White Paper?

The Chief of the Defence Force, General David Hurley, recently addressed the National Security Institute (PDF). He gave a tour de force tour d’horizon, focused on the development of the 2015 Defence White Paper (DWP). He explained …