This piece was drawn from the first part of a presentation to the 2015 Chief of Air Force Symposium, the theme of which was ‘Integrating Air Power.’ Who could be so silly as not to want …
Put aside for one moment your emotion over the looming execution of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. Anger and appeals to decency won’t save them. The only thing that might work is to think through …
After five months of coalition airstrikes and ferocious house-to-house fighting by Kurdish militia, Islamic State (IS) fighters have been pushed out of Kobani on the Syria–Turkey border. Long abandoned by its residents, the town is …
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 …
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 …
Below is an extract from ASPI’s publication released today, Strike from the air: the first 100 days of the campaign against ISIL. It’s apparent that the campaign to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL is going to …
Below is an extract from ASPI’s publication Strike from the air: the first 100 days of the campaign against ISIL. The international coalition has managed to degrade but not destroy the Islamic State of Iraq …
Below is an extract from ASPI’s forthcoming publication Strike from the air: the first 100 days of the campaign against ISIL. Click here to register for the publication’s free launch event. The international coalition has …
Nearing a sprightly 65 years of age, the alliance between Australia and the US, underpinned by the formal ANZUS Treaty of 1951, continues to be a central part of Australian defence and security thinking and …
I’m grateful to Andrew Carr, Rod Lyon and John Blaxland for taking up the debate about Australia’s role as a ‘top 20’ global power. It’s obvious we disagree on some fundamental points about designing the …
The Australian Institute of International Affairs ran a high-quality conference in Canberra yesterday around the theme of ‘Foreign Policy for a Top 20 Nation’. It’s an intriguing theme, obviously informed by the G20 leaders’ meeting …
Recent media debate around the increased terrorism alert and concern for national security begs the question of whether the current Australian ministerial framework for domestic security would benefit from reform. Nobody seriously suggests that a …