Australia has only one agreement that automatically commits us to war and it isn’t ANZUS. At the signing of the armistice in Korea in 1953 we agreed, with South Korea’s allies, that we would defend …
Articles by: "Kim Beazley"
The Battle of the Coral Sea isn’t as iconic in our national consciousness as Gallipoli, Kokoda, or even El Alamein, Villers-Bretonneux, Amiens or Beersheba. Those battles and others in the two world wars played into …
When I was ambassador to the United States, I used to say that Australia was allied to the US—minus one building in Washington. That building housed the United States Trade Representative (USTR). Along with the Department of …
President Obama was a good ally. His agreement to take up to 1,250 refugees placed by us in the Pacific was as extraordinary as it was helpful. As ambassador in Washington I found a degree …
In its dying moments the 114th Congress passed a bill, the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, and then, for the only time in Barack Obama’s presidency, overrode his veto. The legislation negates the international legal principle …
I was permitted a point of pride late last year when reports came in that Australia’s decoy rocket, Nulka, diverted a missile attack on the American warship USS Mason off the coast of Yemen. As always, success has a …
As a number of commentators have observed, the phone call between Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen and US president-elect Donald Trump has set a cat among the pigeons. It has breached a practice in place since 1979 …
Donald Trump spoke to Malcolm Turnbull within 24 hours of his election. The event produced a quaint response in commentary redolent of an older era in the character of allied relationships. On the one hand, …
Des Ball was one of Australia’s greatest strategic thinkers and analysts; an unassuming patriot. His thoughts and analysis pervaded Australian political debate and consideration of our national security interests for decades. His output and his …
At this point in the US presidential campaign, the momentum is with Donald Trump. If the trend continues, he’ll be elected. Outside the US, his serial deceits and appallingly bombastic narcissism are redolent of candidates …
This is an era of intense political news management by governments. It’s an extraordinary thing that one of the governments that has been most effective at it, the Howard government, put in place an organisation …
US defence secretary Ashton Carter told the world at this year’s Shangri-La Dialogue that ‘the US–Australia alliance is more and more a global one. As our two nations work together to uphold the freedom of navigation and …