The beat Sudanese police ordered to step aside amid protests Protests calling for the resignation of President Omar al-Bashir are ongoing in Sudan and police have been ordered not to intervene. Interior Minister Bishara Gomaa …
Most now agree that Russia interfered in the 2016 US presidential election, using social media manipulation to support its preferred candidate. In Australia, China has been engaging in old-fashioned influence operations. To address concerns about …
It’s Bibi again. Having unapologetically allied with a racist, Jewish-supremacist party, Benjamin Netanyahu has secured a fourth consecutive term as Israel’s prime minister. The Union of Right Wing Parties says Netanyahu promised it both the …
‘The only way to deal with these people is to bring them to justice. You can’t talk to them, you can’t negotiate with them.’ —US President George H.W. Bush, 2003 Negotiations between the US and …
In the military clashes between India and Pakistan in February, the international press was fixated on the ‘military gossip’ of casualties: who shot down how many planes and who won the battle of global media …
The issue of mental health is one that police across Australia have become all too familiar with. The deinstitutionalisation and movement into the community of people with severe mental illness have resulted in the police …
Australia’s counterterrorism architecture is complex, embracing hard and soft power, and it’s challenging to determine where it begins and ends. It also includes initiatives that the government rightly can’t publicise. My latest ASPI report, 18 …
As I discussed in part 2 of this series, the Anzacs are high-quality frigates. They will likely age gradually but gracefully over the next 24 years on their journey to eventual retirement. But the issue …
Sea state A Royal Australian Navy task group joined the Indian Navy last week in Visakhapatnam for the third iteration of the biennial Australia–India naval exercises. This year’s AUSINDEX goes until 14 April and will …
For more than two years, China has waged a campaign of unparalleled repression against its Islamic minorities, incarcerating an estimated one-sixth of the adult Muslim population of the Xinjiang region at one point or another. …
In the past few months there have been several Strategist posts on a Plan B for Australia’s national security, the most useful of which have asked questions related to grand strategy. Here I explore how …
Back in the late 1990s, Ashley Tellis characterised South Asia’s nuclear balance as ‘ugly stability’—a condition, he believed, that would probably last for a decade and perhaps longer. This peculiar form of stability derives substantially …
Commission on the Status of Women wraps up The United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women focused its session this year on social protection systems, access to public services and sustainable infrastructure for gender …
As it turns 70, NATO is facing its most severe challenges since the Cold War ended nearly three decades ago. The alliance has been rocked by Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and its invasion of …
Australia zipped through budget week and now zooms off to the May federal election. The country will get to vote on the budget before the parliament, which means its tax-and-spend promises are written in sand. …
The world Foreign ministers of NATO countries have gathered in Washington to mark the 70th anniversary of the organisation’s creation. For a brief history of NATO, what it does and who is a member, see …
In ASPI’s Agenda for change 2019, I argued the case for reforming the Department of Home Affairs. Despite its many successes, the department’s establishment hasn’t been smooth and a significant number of budgetary, legislative and …
Chinese President Xi Jinping seems to be on a roll. He has sent a rocket to the dark side of the moon, built artificial islands on contested reefs in the South China Sea and enticed …
A recent piece of commentary suggests that the Australia–India ‘strategic relationship’ has been ‘put in the fridge’. In a somewhat glum assessment, the article refers to certain key issues on which these two countries appear …
Intelligence and policing AFP and ASIO get funding boost The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and the Australian Federal Police have received $570 million over five years for counterterrorism and counter-intelligence operations. The AFP will receive …