France’s initiative to hold an international conference to re-launch direct talks between Israelis and Palestinians, aimed at the ever elusive “two-state solution,” is the child of a resilient fantasy. But after decades of failed negotiations, …
An early scene in the 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia shows German planes swooping back and forth to bomb the rebel camp and Prince Feisal, who’s heroically mounted on a white charger, chasing the planes …
A trend toward greater authoritarianism seems to be spreading worldwide. Vladimir Putin has successfully used nationalism to tighten his control over Russia and seems to enjoy great popularity. Xi Jinping is regarded as China’s most …
Sea State The Commander of the US 6th Fleet has warned that Russia is a growing maritime power capable of putting ‘nearly all NATO maritime forces at risk’. In an article for the US Naval …
China came to the Shangri-La Dialogue to both romance and rumble. The language of regional romance jars mightily with the grouchy belligerence over the South China Sea. The rich suitor came wooing with honey words, …
This piece is drawn from Agenda for Change 2016: strategic choices for the next government. In the August 2013 version of Agenda for Change, I suggested four big reforms for the incoming government: Develop a …
This piece is drawn from Agenda for Change 2016: strategic choices for the next government. Australia confronts a stream of global and regional ordering challenges, almost none within its ability to solve single-handedly. At the …
In an earlier article, I considered Australia’s potential options to replace the RAAF’s 24 F/A-18F Super Hornets in the late 2020s as mandated in the 2016 Defence White Paper (4.42). Options could include manned aircraft, …
The unprecedented focus on Australia’s defence industry during the current federal election campaign has highlighted the role the industry can play in developing sovereign capability and industrial self-reliance in key areas of defence procurement. In …
When Australia discusses China without mentioning China directly, it talks of the need for a ‘rules-based’ order. In the Defence White Paper which Canberra issued in February, ‘rules’ is used 64 times—48 of these in …
Hillary Clinton delivered her major foreign policy and national security address on Thursday, and the shade she threw at presumptive Republican nominee Trump’s foreign policy plans received more attention than her own. Vox dives into …
Asia long ago took to heart Churchill’s admonition that it’s better to jaw-jaw than war-war. A lot of talking goes on around here. And the jaw-jaw intensity has risen as Asia confronts a long slope …
This piece is drawn from Agenda for Change 2016: strategic choices for the next government. Regardless of their political stripes, the next Australian government has a solid foundation from which to approach cyber policy, comprised …
‘Alternative Futures’ is a methodology sometimes used in strategic planning, in which the robustness of current plans is tested against various hypothetical futures. (The RAND Corporation sometimes uses this approach—they used it to test US …
The media philosophy offered in this series is the belief that in the Media Age the more you give the more you make. The continuous flow of honest news—good and bad—from the Australian Defence Force …
The Beat Let’s talk about drugs The AFP announced last week that a Joint Organised Crime Task Force operation in Western Australia had resulted in charges being laid against 14 people and the seizure of …
The current conflict in the Middle East isn’t the first in which online communication tools—social media platforms, private messaging apps and alike—have played a role. But the Islamic State’s ability to engage people online is …
This piece is drawn from ASPI’s forthcoming publication, Agenda for Change 2016: strategic choices for the next government. Australia’s defence strategy is a topic much loved by academics, and there’s a rich literature about its various …
By all accounts, the much-anticipated Seventh Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea was a non-event. If the first such meeting of North Korea’s highest organ in more than 35 years had any impact at …
IT Security firm Symantec believes it has tied recent high-profile attacks against Asian banks using the SWIFT network to a North Korean group. Symantec has linked a piece of malware used in the attacks with …