Aside from fake snow and Covid-19, the Beijing Winter Games are controversial for many reasons. They are a potent political symbol of the Chinese state’s ambitions and authority. Held just a year after the triumphalist 100-year anniversary of …
The announcement last year of a security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States to procure nuclear submarines sent shockwaves across the Indo-Pacific. AUKUS promises to transform America’s force posture in the …
In the lead-up to federal elections, ASPI looks at the big challenges facing Australia and publishes what our authors think is needed to address them. ASPI’s Agenda for change 2019: strategic choices for the next …
As the Ukraine situation intensifies, ASPI executive director Peter Jennings talks with Russia specialists Paul Dibb and Kyle Wilson about the likelihood of a Russian invasion and how far it would go, what Vladimir Putin …
Iran and the US need to strike an agreement to reinstate the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, for their own and international interests. Without a deal, greater Middle East instability is inevitable and both sides, …
In the 10 months since Russia began building up troop numbers on its Ukraine border, it still isn’t crystal clear what President Vladimir Putin will accept as a resolution to the crisis he has generated, …
Two years ago this month, Italy recorded its first domestic case of Covid-19. The country was the first in Europe to be hit by the coronavirus, and it offered examples of both the best and …
The strategic and capability judgements outlined in the Australian government’s 2020 defence strategic update have superseded the Defence Department’s last force posture review released in 2012. The expectation that the Australian Defence Force will be …
Xi Jinping and Joe Biden both face major political events in the closing months of this year and want economic conditions to be as favourable as possible, but the two have taken opposite tacks on …
The new year is well underway for US President Joe Biden. It’s not pretty. The Russians are coming at Ukraine. The pandemic is not under control; America this year will come close to one million …
Beijing may be 6,500 kilometeres from Kyiv, but the geopolitical stakes for China in the escalating crisis over Ukraine’s fate couldn’t be higher. If Russia invades Ukraine and precipitates a drawn-out conflict with the United …
Follow the dollars to see what worries Australia about China in the South Pacific. The cash flows to Melanesia from an alert and alarmed Australia: the partnership to electrify 70% of Papua New Guinea; a …
Comments implying that President Vladimir Putin’s ultimatums and threats against the US, other NATO states and Ukraine are counterproductive have appeared in Russia’s hitherto unimpeachably loyal media. Even muffled dissent in an increasingly authoritarian state …
Every great power needs an organising principle of foreign policy; great powers rise and fall on the tide of history and no power remains great forever; no great power retreats forever; there’s no way to …
US Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell observed on 11 January that the Pacific islands might be the part of the world ‘most likely to see certain kinds of a strategic surprise—basing or certain kinds of agreements …
The anniversary of the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol has come and gone, and many Americans are deeply depressed that the country’s political divide has only deepened. Though most Republican Party leaders …
There are both far-reaching opportunities and new challenges for the Department of Defence, industry and local governments when it comes to maritime sustainment in Australia’s north. Traditional Defence and industry models used in Australia’s southern …
The loss of control of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s account on the Chinese social media app WeChat should not have come as a surprise to the government. As I warned in multiple media appearances in …
Russian President Vladimir Putin has clearly decided that now is the opportune time to secure his long-held objective to bring Ukraine back within Moscow’s orbit—by whatever means it takes. In part this is because the …
It didn’t have to be this way. Since Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014 and the bloody proxy war waged since then in the Donbas region, there has been no doubt that Vladimir Putin has …