The high costs of the new cold war

It’s convenient to call the escalating geopolitical contest between the United States and China a ‘new cold war’. But that description should not be allowed to obscure the obvious, though not yet sufficiently understood, reality …

ASPI suggests

The world America’s mighty defence force might not be as mighty as you think. President Donald Trump is struggling to fill key positions at the Pentagon, especially following the withdrawal of former defence secretary Jim …

Parsing Macron’s ‘Dear Europe’ letter

President Emmanuel Macron’s address to the ‘citizens of Europe’ is directed at the upcoming European Parliament elections. The European Parliament is a directly elected EU body with legislative, supervisory and budgetary responsibilities, and in the …

Can ‘revisionists’ rule the world?

Judgements about the changing shape of the global order are the stuff of current international discourse. We face a world order in transition. Our current order, built in the age of US primacy, is being …

Counterterrorism yearbook 2019: Western Europe

In 2018, jihadism remained the major security concern across Western Europe. At least 10,800 people in Germany and around 20,000 in each of France and the UK were considered radical or potentially dangerous. According to …

Lightnings over Delamere

One of Australia’s greatest but least known military assets is the Delamere weapons range in the Northern Territory. It’s a large range located around 120 kilometres south of Katherine and RAAF Base Tindal. As the …

Germany takes the middle way on Huawei—for now

For months, European governments have been debating whether to allow Chinese tech giant Huawei to participate in building their 5G mobile networks. Caught between their two largest trading partners, the United States and China, EU …

Policy, Guns and Money: Avalon Airshow special

This special edition of Policy, Guns and Money is brought to you from the Australian International Airshow at Avalon, Victoria. Avalon is the biggest airshow in the southern hemisphere and is a chance for major …

The Strategist Six: Gideon Rachman

Welcome to ‘The Strategist Six’, a feature that provides a glimpse into the thinking of prominent academics, government officials, military officers, reporters and interesting individuals from around the world. 1. British Prime Minister Theresa May …

All planned out

Open any report, article or blog piece on the contemporary strategic environment and you’re likely to find two contradictory statements. Uncertainty has never been higher, and yet we’re told the need for long-term planning has …

Submarine transition plan takes shape

The future submarine has achieved key milestones with the signing of the overarching strategic partnering agreement on 11 February and in quick succession the design contract on 5 March. This is good news for the …

Rules of the cyber road for America and Russia

The United States responded weakly after Russian cyber operations disrupted the 2016 presidential election. US President Barack Obama had warned his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, of repercussions, but an effective reply became entangled in the …