Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s successful US visit should not be regarded as a ‘set and forget’ box-ticking exercise. Rather, it should be viewed as a sound basis for the government to pursue Australia’s national interests …
The Chinese folk saying ‘lift a rock only to drop it on one’s own feet’, or its English equivalent, ‘to shoot oneself in the foot’, perfectly describes the self-defeating inclinations of dictatorship. And nothing exemplifies …
The bipartisan tenor of Australia’s foreign policy is being stretched and tested. Scott Morrison’s Coalition government talks tough on international policy. A touch of Donald Trump is trumpeted, as foes are found and lines drawn. …
The world UK and EU negotiators yesterday reached an agreement on a Brexit deal that Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he’s confident will pass the House of Commons over the weekend. Politico has a great …
During last week’s visit to Fiji, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that Australian peacekeepers would soon be joining Fijian peacekeepers in the Golan Heights as part of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF). The …
There are several reasons why US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw American forces from northern Syria, and leave the region’s Kurds vulnerable to neighbouring Turkey’s military incursion, was a terrible one. The Kurdish forces …
The ramshackle character of public policy is most clearly on show when senior ministers go freelancing. Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton’s leap into the China fray might have felt good to a frustrated former policeman, …
Agree or disagree with Hugh White’s prognosis of Australia’s strategic situation, options and potential responses, at least he has tabled the subject, and shaken more of the general public out of their comfort zone. We’ll …
The beat Police clash with protesters in Catalonia The Catalan independence struggle erupted into violence again this week as riot police clashed with pro-independence protesters and arrested 51 people. Protesters took to the streets in …
Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 film Apocalypse Now is highly regarded as a cinematic masterpiece but is, of course, much more in its impact and continuing resonance. The film is emblematic of the Vietnam War, with …
Australia has committed a surveillance aircraft and a ship to assist in a US-led operation to ensure oil supply through the strategic Strait of Hormuz. The Persian Gulf is a critical waterway for the transport …
The United States military hasn’t conducted a single combat operation within the sprawling area of responsibility that defines the Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) in 44 years. I’m overly fond of pointing out this little-commented-on fact of …
President Donald Trump has upended American policy in Syria, and possibly in the entire Middle East, in one stroke. His unilateral decision to withdraw American troops from the Kurdish region of northern Syria, and thus …
Few countries have such a fundamental interest in addressing climate change as Australia. Yet Australia’s current conservative government refuses to take necessary actions in response to climate science: to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, and therefore play …
Defence’s worst kept secret is now officially public. Defence Minister Linda Reynolds stated at last week’s Sea Power conference in Sydney that the Defence Department is conducting a strategic review. It may not be a …
Australia’s international security outlook is starting to look very unpredictable and potentially threatening. Our defence planners must now deal with a world which is markedly different from any they’ve known before. The United States is …
Sea state The 2019 Pacific International Maritime Expo was held in Sydney last week. The new vessel designs unveiled at the conference included Navantia Australia’s joint support ship, which was conceived with the needs of …
There are three sets of reasons for a palpable rise in nuclear anxieties around the world: growing nuclear arsenals and expanding roles for nuclear weapons, a crumbling arms-control architecture, and irresponsible statements from the leaders …
In the next 15 years, the development of unmanned systems in the air, on and under the waves and on land, alongside sophisticated networks of ‘sensors and shooters’, is likely to accelerate. Australia must be …
The Chinese party-state’s technology-enhanced authoritarianism is expanding globally. But the way it’s doing it isn’t always distinctly coercive or overtly invasive. While there’s been an important focus on technologies such as 5G, surveillance and cyber-enabled …