The late head of Pakistan’s powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, Lieutenant General Hamid Gul, was fond of boasting that when Afghanistan’s history came to be written, it would record that the ISI, with the help …
This weekend’s G7 leaders’ summit in Cornwall in the UK might be the moment we look back on in a few years when major leaders stopped thinking about their countries’ relationships with China as mainly …
Mapping China’s Technology Giants is a multi-year project by ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre that tracks the overseas expansion of key Chinese technology companies. This data-driven project, and the accompanying database and research products, fill …
The liberal international order remains trapped in the 20th century. As autocracies like China and Russia increasingly develop spheres of cooperation, the United States is responding by building or strengthening regional groupings of its own, …
Australia’s 2020 defence strategic update identifies the northeast Indian Ocean as a priority area as part of our immediate region, but it’s also where our security relationships are the least developed. A new report published …
We’re on the precipice of Space 2.0, a new space age defined not just by bold explorations, of which there will continue to be plenty, but by the movement of more and more of our …
Why is Beijing so ‘out and proud’ in using its power in ways that conflict with others’ interests, break international law and breach treaty commitments? Since 2015, we’ve seen Xi Jinping’s government build military facilities …
Australia is currently undertaking the greatest peacetime recapitalisation of its defence force in the nation’s history, and if the prime minister, defence minister and Home Affairs secretary are to be believed it couldn’t come a …
It’s never easy being first. There are no playbooks to thumb through and no clear footprints to follow to let you know you’re on track, or even that you’re heading in the right general direction. …
ASPI celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. This series looks at ASPI’s work since its creation in August 2001. ‘Contestability’ is a very Canberra word. It’s about the need to promote arguments. So the best …
The Defence Department’s decisions on acquiring tanks and the next generation of armoured vehicles are contentious and seem to always generate passionate responses. In 2018, former major general and now senator Jim Molan duked it …
Planet A A recent study on climate-change-related mortality, published in Nature Climate Change, found that an average of 37% of heat-related deaths in recent decades is directly attributable to human-induced climate change. The authors analysed …
After 12 years as Israel’s prime minister, it appears Benjamin Netanyahu will be deposed next week when a new government is formed under Naftali Bennett of the right-wing Yamina party. The coalition agreement was announced …
Australia’s new F-35A joint strike fighters deliver tactical advantages in air combat bestowed by stealth, systems integration and data fusion. Yet, as advanced as it is, the fleet we’re acquiring doesn’t address two key deficiencies …
The arrival of the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19, which has killed 3.5 million people and counting, should have been the moment when the World Health Organization came into its own. This is its primary …
A century ago, an influenza pandemic killed more people than died in World War I. Today, the Covid-19 pandemic has killed more Americans than died in all US wars since 1945. A big difference, however, …
Australia has closed its Afghanistan embassy before its military involvement ends as part of the United States–Taliban peace deal for the withdrawal of all foreign troops by 11 September 2021. While that’s not unexpected, Australia …
Climate change has emerged as a rare zone of cooperation and civility between China and the West this year, but it remains to be seen if this will last through to, or beyond, the 26th …
Indigenous perspectives are rarely foregrounded in national policy debates. Australia has a long history of imposing solutions on First Nations communities and expecting increased economic participation and social inclusion to follow. This is a domain …
The World Health Assembly met last week amid a slew of proposals—most recently from the United Nations Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response—to create stronger, enforceable global rules for tackling future infectious disease outbreaks. …