Lots of commentary—in fact, most—right now about America in the world is simplistic, binary and trapped in the moment. Not that the US isn’t in crisis right now. It is. Like the rest of us, …
Prime Minister Scott Morrison made a point of emphasising Australia’s commitment to ‘our Pacific island family’ in his remarks at last week’s virtual special G20 summit. In addition to the support already provided for healthcare, …
Over the coming decades, climate change will have serious and pervasive impacts on human security across the Indo-Pacific region. From supporting regional disaster-assistance missions to responding to sudden climate-change-related mass migration, Australia’s north will need …
In October 1942, Edward Ward, the minister for labour and national services, accused the Australian government of having planned to abandon the country’s north in the event of a Japanese invasion. While the ‘Brisbane Line’ …
While Australia looked to America in 1941–42 to defeat a military threat, the post-war vision of Prime Minister John Curtin and his successor Ben Chifley was to restore the British Commonwealth to bind and strengthen …
In four days of madness from 23 to 26 February, rioters ran unchecked and destroyed entire neighbourhoods of northeast Delhi in the deadliest outbreak of violence since the anti-Sikh pogrom of 1984. By 6 March, …
In the 1959 Alfred Hitchcock thriller North by Northwest, the hero (played by Cary Grant) is drawn in a northwesterly direction to the movie’s climax on Mount Rushmore. The movement is inexorable and inevitable. In …
The Chinese government was likely well aware of Australia’s plans to significantly enhance the Royal Australian Air Force base at Tindal in the Northern Territory before it was announced last month. Nonetheless, the government’s decision …
While Australians are often hawkish about community safety and border security, they’re far less accepting of their security agencies being given new domestic surveillance powers without government making a strong case for their use. You …
In part 1 of this series, I argued that though on the surface ANZUS seems in good health, there are at least four diverging strategic interests: American primacy in Asia, the institutional status quo, Taiwan, …
Australia always frets about the US alliance. Today, fret is becoming frenetic. Even a touch feverish. Fear darkens the fancies. Donald Trump could do to US alliances what he’s done to US trade policy. The …
The government’s decision to significantly expand the Royal Australian Air Force’s key northern base near Katherine, around 300 kilometres southeast of Darwin, is a giant strategic step forward and will deliver a firmer deterrent posture …