The long-awaited and much-delayed 2021 China military power report, released by the US Department of Defense earlier this month, makes for interesting reading. The report is full of important analyses of myriad developments in the …
Planet A Heavy rain and floods in British Columbia have stranded more than 18,000 residents and sparked a widespread disaster response, including from the Canadian air force and army. The region experienced more than a …
The Australian government announced yesterday that it will not proceed with the construction of a 2,700-metre-long paved runway in Antarctica. The announcement by the environment minister, Sussan Ley, was framed as a significant decision to …
The Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan and their theocratic dispositions have once again put the spotlight on the different brands of Islam that have come to feature in the Muslim world. The Taliban claim …
Picking the right design for the Royal Australian Navy’s nuclear-powered submarines is extraordinarily complex and difficult choices will need to be made. There are two contenders, the Royal Navy’s Astute-class submarine and the US Navy’s …
On 11 November, the central committee of the Chinese Communist Party adopted a ‘historical resolution’ extoling party General Secretary Xi Jinping’s achievements. Similar resolutions have been adopted only twice before, for Mao Zedong and Deng …
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and French President Emmanuel Macron are on track to sign a bilateral accord—named the Quirinale Treaty after the Roman palace—designed to boost their countries’ industrial and strategic cooperation. But this …
At the time of the review of Australia’s intelligence agencies in 2017, extremism, state and non-state actors, climate change and technological change were all parts of the operating environment, along with rising competition between states. …
Vietnam’s prime minister, Pham Minh Chinh, made a very successful trip to the United Kingdom in early November, putting the rapidly improving relations between the two countries into the spotlight. The visit to the COP26 …
Covid-19 has disrupted labour markets around the world, causing a global manpower shortage. Lockdowns in the early months of the pandemic triggered an exodus of millions of rural migrant workers from booming megacities like New …
Now that COP26 has concluded, ASPI’s Robert Glasser and Anastasia Kapetas break down the commitments made at the summit, where they fell short, and what needs to be done to limit warming to 1.5°C. As …
In The Australian newspaper on Monday, Hugh White gave us a picture of democratic defeat in the face of overwhelming Chinese dominance should war break out over Taiwan. ‘Going to war with China,’ he says, …
Recent events in Afghanistan and their fallout in Pakistan clearly demonstrate that the problems plaguing the two countries can’t be separated. That the trajectories of the two polities are closely intertwined has become very clear …
The US government’s recent ban of Israeli technology firm NGO Group’s Pegasus spyware has significant implications for Australian efforts to regulate digital technologies in the face of new online national security threats. Putting human rights …
Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s trip to Japan in November 2020 for a historic summit deepened a relationship with Japan that is Australia’s strategic anchor in Asia; it was his sole official trip overseas in close …
‘Whatever is done well enough is done quickly enough.’ — Augustus (63 BC – 14 AD) Iran’s leadership is made up of extreme religious fundamentalists. It is the most sanctioned government in the world—following decades …
If there’s a definition of the ‘loyal wingman’ concept, it’s this: a cheap, pilotless aircraft with enough flight performance to accompany fighters and the intelligence needed to semi-autonomously support them. Functions include building a better …
International relations sometimes seems like a game that’s all about controlling and asserting simplistic national-power narratives without acknowledging the complexity of each nation’s stories. But the key to effective public diplomacy is moving from monologue …
When a post-colonial country with little or no democratic tradition escapes a brutal dictatorship, it rarely becomes a democracy. Instead, it is likely to be confronted by political chaos and foreign actors jostling for strategic …
ASPI celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. This series looks at ASPI’s work since its creation in August 2001. The strategic jolts and jumps in Australia’s South Pacific policy during ASPI’s first two decades alliterate …