Originally published 26 October 2018. The release earlier this month of a major UN-sponsored scientific report on the significant impacts expected from 1.5°C of global warming—the aspirational limit countries adopted in the Paris climate agreement—generated …
That’s all from The Strategist this year. Starting on Boxing Day, we’ll be republishing some of our favourite posts from 2018. Thank you very much for reading and supporting The Strategist over the past 12 months. We’ll be …
The politics of Brexit is descending into chaos. The European Union is fragmenting into northern, southern, eastern and western tribes. And now the Franco-German marriage at the centre of the European project is in danger …
US President Donald Trump may be mercurial, but he does have a doctrine. As his speech in September at the United Nations General Assembly again confirmed, Trump rejects multilateral institutions and liberal values in favour …
In 2018, we’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly in terms of … well, almost everything. Brexit, a trade war, a migrant caravan, a Saudi journalist murdered, renewed relations on the Korean peninsula, …
A day after President Donald Trump announced a US troop pullout from Syria, his highly respected defence secretary, James Mattis, announced his resignation. Here The Strategist republishes the full text of General Mattis’s letter to Trump. …
With the year coming to an end and things winding down for the summer break in Australia, it’s worth looking ahead and mentally preparing for a big year. Here’s my take on the events that …
The sharp increase in illicit drug use across Australia should scare us all. Whether it’s from methamphetamine (ice) or, more recently, opioids, the number of people dying across the country has risen dramatically over the …
When he announced his decision to remove the 2,000 US troops in Syria, US President Donald Trump tweeted, ‘We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency.’ The …
In our final podcast for 2018, ASPI Executive Director Peter Jennings discusses the big issues of the year including Australia’s stance on China, US President Donald Trump, defence spending and Huawei with Michael Shoebridge, ASPI’s …
It’s a fantastic idea: given the government is spending some 36.4 billion taxpayer dollars on defence, much of which is in the 10-year, $200 billion investment program buying major weapon systems, it makes sense to …
The beat Neo-Nazis in the Frankfurt police? German state police are investigating the possibility that a right-wing extremist network may have infiltrated the Frankfurt police force. The investigation was prompted by a threatening fax containing …
As China and Russia stepped up their offensive cyber capabilities, Australia responded in the 2016 defence white paper by investing $400 million in improving its ability to protect its own systems and to respond to …
In February, New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters announced a revised approach to the Pacific islands. Central to the coalition government’s ‘Pacific reset’ was a pledge to increase New Zealand’s diplomatic and development footprint in …
At the end of 2017, US President Donald Trump’s administration and congressional Republicans rammed through a US$1 trillion cut in corporate taxes, partly offset by tax increases for the majority of Americans in the middle …
As I noted in April, this year’s ASEAN chairmanship wasn’t going to be an easy one. Singapore’s prime minister Lee Hsien Loong used every opportunity to remind people of ASEAN’s purpose and its fragile beginnings …
Observers outside of Papua New Guinea may find it a somewhat puzzling exercise to try to pinpoint PNG’s position on the current geopolitical manoeuvrings between the United States (and its allies) and China. What factors …
Over the centuries, Jews have been blamed for all sorts of ills in Christian and Muslim societies, from the Great Plague of the 14th century to the financial crashes of modern times. In 1903, The …
If the past two years haven’t already, the past two weeks have certainly shown that Brexit will be a complicated affair with the power to reshape European politics. The UK’s departure from the European Union …
In this podcast Lisa Sharland speaks with Major General Cheryl Pearce on her appointment as the next commander of the UN peacekeeping mission in Cyprus, Georgia Grice asks deterrence expert Dr Brad Roberts if nuclear …