It appears that a new consensus has taken hold these days among the world’s business and policy elites about how to address the anti-globalization backlash that populists such as Donald Trump have so ably exploited. …
How does an independent Australia make its way in Asia? And can Australia have an Asian future while holding tight to the alliance with its great and powerful friend? The ‘great and powerful’ reference speaks …
Team Strategist will be enjoying a four day break over the Easter long weekend and will be back on Tuesday with our usual considered debate and analysis. Until then, why not check out Rod Lyon’s thoughts …
Despite last week’s cruise missile attack in Syria, the outlook for the strategic policy of the Trump administration is still deeply uncertain. After all, one missile strike doesn’t make a strategic policy. And US declaratory …
I frequently travel overseas, and invariably my foreign friends ask, with varying degrees of bewilderment: What in the world is going on in your country? Here is what I say. First, do not misinterpret the …
The Beat Taser’s body cameras—razorblades in a free lunch? Axon (formerly Taser)—is offering free ‘Axon Body 2’ cameras to every sworn law enforcement officer in the US. It’s a big bet on the future of …
Australia has historically taken a stop-start approach to naval shipbuilding, investing in a mixture of domestic- and foreign-sourced warships at uneven increments. The current Australian government is planning to invest tens of billions of dollars …
It’s often been claimed that terrorism doesn’t present an existential threat to the survival of the nation-state. Former vice president of the United States, Joe Biden, took this view, which he claimed helped to keep …
South Korea, Japan and the United States expressed outrage at North Korea’s simultaneous launch of four extended-range SCUD ballistic missiles in early March 2017. The missiles—the most primitive in the DPRK arsenal—splashed down about 1,000 …
In big news this week for our Kiwi neighbours, New Zealand opened its first national Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT). CERT NZ, a deliverable of New Zealand’s 2015 Cyber Security Strategy, has been established within …
Across the Middle East there has been a marked increase in terrorist attacks in the wake of the Arab Spring, the rise of the Islamic State (IS), and the revival of al-Qaeda and its offshoots. …
President Trump’s decision to fire dozens of missiles at a Syrian airbase in retaliation for the Syrian government’s alleged use of sarin gas to attack a town in Idlib province has demonstrated several dimensions of …
A debate over the future of US naval fighter jets has been on a slow burn for months, but it’s starting to heat up. There are reports that Boeing is surreptitiously marketing the F/A-18XT or …
The US strike on Syria signals the first decisive action by a White House administration coming to terms with its foreign policy responsibilities in an ever more precarious international order. In a move that was …
Sea State The USN needs an extra $2.1 billion this year to address immediate readiness shortfalls, says Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson. Testifying last week before the House Armed Services Committee on the …
The much anticipated first meeting between presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping ended in smiles all around at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s luxury private club in Florida. That’s good news for Australia. When China and the United …
A senior US military general in South Korea recently advised Foreign Minister Julie Bishop that Australia would ‘soon be within range’ of a North Korean nuclear strike. That raises several crucial defence policy questions. First, …
Most of the attention in the South China Sea has focused on China’s military activities. But the impending natural disaster there is also cause for concern. As a recent report makes clear there’s been significant coral …
The Middle East now has the dubious honour of spawning two of the world’s most notorious terrorist organisations: al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS). While IS experienced significant losses in 2016, it remains a potent …
In 2003, Solomon Islands stared into a national abyss—confronting ethnic conflict and state failure. The Melanesian nation appealed for help, prompting the largest, longest and most ambitious security effort ever mounted by the Pacific Islands …