Australia’s Foreign and Trade White Paper—expected next year—will have several sacred cows grazing through its pages, and the holiest of beasts will be the US alliance, a cow of a bipartisan colour. On the partisan …
On the back of Gary Johnson’s ‘What is Aleppo?’ gaffe overnight, The Atlantic have gathered a harrowing set of photos to show us all exactly what Aleppo is. Commentators have put their hands up to …
The art and science of naval command has traditionally been passed on from captain to captain through tutelage and mentoring. Cook and Nelson, in particular, trained many junior officers who went on to illustrious careers …
ASPI’s Counter-terrorism Policy Centre (CTPC) recently launched a new series or reports, the CT Quick Look. The reports will be brief and easy-to-read, and will follow significant terrorist incidents and counter-terrorist actions. Each will be …
There’s no shortage of dark, pessimistic visions out there, including a revisionist Russia, an assertive China, the end of globalisation, a declining America and an endless war on terrorism. A strategist might tell you that …
Australia needs a forward-looking foreign policy to guide the efforts of our hardworking diplomats. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop’s intention, as reported recently, to commission a Foreign Policy White Paper is timely. As Graeme Dobell’s post …
The Beat The net closes on Panama Papers suspects Tax evading high net wealth Australians will be sweating on ATO investigations into Australians allegedly identified in the Panama Papers. The ATO advises that criminal charges …
As the UN summit addressing large movements of refugees and migrants approaches this September it’s worth looking at new approaches to the refugee crisis in the Levant. The refugees of the Levant are trapped between …
Soon after Turkey officially entered the fray in Syria last month, some 350 Turkish troops marched alongside more than 1,000 US-equipped Syrian rebel forces to clear the Islamic State (ISIS) out of the Syrian city …
Last week witnessed a milestone in Australia’s fight against terrorism when Hamdi al Qudsi was sentenced to prison for eight years, with a non-parole minimum of six, for facilitating foreign fighter travel from Australia to …
There were some high-powered bilateral discussions about cyber incidents this week, with Barack Obama meeting Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 in China. Following the Putin meet, Obama sought to …
Terrorist attacks by Islamic State (ISIS) affiliates and sympathisers over the past year have raised alarms in Europe, but they’ve not yet reached the frequency Europe experienced in the 1970s, according to the Global Terrorism Database. However, …
Emerging technologies often prompt fanciful and erroneous predictions, such as personal jetpacks, flying cars and even houses made of plastic. Nevertheless it’s difficult to understate the transformative impact that additive manufacturing—where a digital design file …
Lawmakers return to Washington, D.C. today for an abbreviated session before the Presidential election. While Congress will seek to maintain the status quo over the one-month sitting, funding the Zika response must be at the …
Sea State The South China Sea’s about to get more crowded, with the Russia–China naval exercise—fittingly named Joint Sea 2016—scheduled for 11–19 September. Russia has sent a task force of anti-submarine warfare destroyers, support ships …
While the DCNS leak crisis shouldn’t deeply harm France’s relations with India and Australia, it has already had consequences. In particular, recent reporting that India might not go ahead with a follow-on buy of Scorpenes …
The most frightening periods in history have often been interregnums—moments between the death of one king and the rise of the next. Disorder, war, and even disease can flood into the vacuum when, as Antonio …
China is waging a relentless propaganda campaign against its opponents in the South China Sea. Following the Hague arbitral tribunal’s verdict rejecting Beijing’s historical rights within the nine-dash line, China’s publicity managers have raised their …
Hakainde Hichilema, the presidential candidate of the Zambian Opposition, says that international observers have been ‘absolutely useless’ in supporting the democratic process in the Central African country. ‘HH’, as he’s widely referred to, knows better …
Europe is under pressure. Integrating asylum-seekers and other migrants—1.1 million in Germany alone in 2015—into European society poses a major challenge, one that has been complicated by a spike in crimes committed by new arrivals. …