Before you snuggle by the fire with some eggnog and a copy of Donald Trump’s National Security Strategy (subtitled, in case you wondered, ‘of the United States of America’), I advise you to plan ahead, …
The ANU’s College of Asia and the Pacific recently published a small volume of essays titled Nuclear Asia. With North Korea’s nuclear exploits featuring prominently in the headlines over the past 12 months, the issue …
Sea state During his visit to Beijing, Australia’s Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Tim Barrett, was formally rebuked by his Chinese counterpart. Chinese Navy commander Shen Jinlong condemned the Australian Navy for having ‘compromised the …
Like the uprising of the ‘deplorables’ against globalisation that accounts for Donald Trump’s election and Brexit, are ‘peasant states’ now rebelling against the geopolitical heavyweights? The former dominate the 193-member UN General Assembly (UNGA), while …
The organisational reforms to defence acquisition that followed the First Principles Review were extensive. Cassandras that we are, at the time we worried about the risk of a ‘perfect storm’ of deteriorating external strategic circumstances, …
Amid the focus on the North Korean nuclear threat and China’s growing power, Australia’s military operation in Afghanistan barely receives attention in the strategic debate. However, as the US-led NATO mission is about to enter …
In the run-up to multiple votes around the world in 2016, including the United Kingdom’s Brexit vote and the United States presidential election, social media companies like Facebook and Twitter systematically served large numbers of …
On 23 October, Philippine Secretary of Defense Delfin Lorenzana announced the end of the five-month battle for Marawi, after the Armed Forces of the Philippines defeated Islamic State–affiliated militants who had held the city since …
As 2017 limps out and 2018 edges in, here’s Old Dobell’s almanac of the times, trends and twists of history. Trump-eting: The US system is working, but it’s been a stress test from hell. America’s …
The most important question facing the United States—and in many ways the world—after the events of 2017 is this: Will Yeats’ fearful prophecy that ‘Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold’ come true? Will it …
In my new Quarterly Essay, I argue that Australia may have to rethink the acquisition of nuclear weapons in the post-American Asia which I believe is now upon us. Paul Dibb has recently made a …
The world Welcome to the last ‘ASPI suggests’ of 2017. Let’s kick things off with a look back at the year. The New York Times has published a list of its most-read stories of 2017 …
At the start of 2017, many feared that the European project would experience a near-breakdown within the next year. The United Kingdom had decided to leave the European Union, the United States had elected a …
The tri-border area (TBA) between Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia in the Sulu and Celebes seas has witnessed a spate of increasingly audacious hijackings since March 2016. By the end of June 2017, 23 actual …
China’s ambition to shape the future of the internet received a helpful boost last week, courtesy of the CEOs and top executives from the most influential companies on the planet, including Apple, Google and Facebook. …
Andrew Colvin had two key concerns when the prospect of a new department of home affairs first emerged. ‘A Home Affairs portfolio makes a lot of sense in this country’, the Australian Federal Police commissioner …
Foreign government efforts to undermine Australian democracy have been making headlines in the past few weeks, but we’re missing things. In announcing new legislation to ban foreign political donations, Prime Minister Turnbull told us: ‘Foreign …
It is 50 years since the Six-Day War—the June 1967 conflict that, as much as any other event, continues to define the Israeli–Palestinian impasse. After the fighting was over, Israel controlled all of the West …
The beat Drugs in flames The Pakistani Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) held its 2017 drug-burning ceremony in Islamabad. In the presence of national officials and international representatives such as the UN Office of Drugs and Crime …
As I outlined in part 1, America and, by extension, Australia are losing their military-technological edge in the Indo-Pacific. A new type of great-power competition is emerging throughout the region—one that involves a race to …