As outlined by Tobias Feakin and Jessica Woodall’s post last week, ASPI recently launched its new international cyber policy centre in Sydney. An expert panel discussed many facets of Australian cyber policy. What wasn’t really …
A little while back, we identified a set of challenges that whichever incoming government and Defence Minister would have to grapple with. In the new ASPI paper Agenda for change: strategic choices for the next …
The Strategist has featured a number of items recently related to the Strategic Insights paper that Crispin Rovere and Kalman Robertson have written about the proposed next step in nuclear arms control. Broadly, the original …
Today, ASPI released James Manicom’s ‘Sources of Tension in the Asia–Pacific: Strategic Competition, Divided Regionalism and Non-Traditional Security Challenges’. It’s the first in a series of three papers commissioned for a project that ASPI has …
It’s hard to disagree with the threat assessment that Julian Cribb makes in his recent Strategist post ‘Food … or war?’. We’re witnessing an emerging food crisis that’ll become the dominant human narrative for the …
The Minister for Home Affairs released the Australian Crime Commission’s (ACC) latest update to its Organised Crime in Australia (PDF) series recently. This report is important and has implications for every Australian. The media needs to …
Malcolm Davis raises some important issues regarding our proposal for a treaty restricting low-yield nuclear weapons. We’re word limited on our response, so we strongly recommend the longer discussion paper for subject-matter experts as it …
Aircraft carriers have a habit of denying what they really are. In the 1970s, Britain’s new Invincible class carriers were officially christened ‘Through Deck Cruisers’, to reassure the nation’s bookkeepers that its Navy really had …
A provocative piece by American journalist Eddie Walsh is currently doing the rounds, making some bold claims about how Australians under 40 view the US–Australia alliance. Based on meetings with ‘dozens’ of Canberra diplomats, think …
Thirteen years on from the release of the 2000 defence white paper (D2000), we’re still waiting for some of the major ADF capabilities it announced to be realised. Given the time it takes to deliver …
Julia Gillard’s approach to foreign policy must be set beside that of Kevin Rudd. Indeed, Gillard’s place in history will be inextricably intertwined with Rudd on almost every level. The vote on September 7 will …
Soft power is back in vogue. The Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop, stressed in the debate with Bob Carr at the Lowy Institute on Tuesday night that Australia needs to focus more on …
T.X. Hammes has a new article in The National Interest, ‘Sorry, AirSea Battle Is No Strategy’ in which he argues that war with China won’t be won by deep strikes. Distant, defensive deterrence and blockades …
Last weekend’s headlines were filled with what was being described as the most serious terrorism threat to Western targets in some years. As a consequence, the US closed 20 of its embassies in Middle Eastern …
Drill deeply into most of the conflicts and civil wars of the past thirty years and you will find, underneath all the political, ideological, ethnic and religious divisions, people fighting over access to food, land …
Ben Schreer’s recent post on China’s maritime dilemmas reminded us that we should always think about what capabilities are intended to achieve, and not make a fetish of the capabilities themselves. Beijing’s progress in A2/AD …
Julia Gillard defined herself early on in her leadership with the remark that foreign policy wasn’t her passion. A self-deprecating sense of humour isn’t always a political asset in a leader and this was the …
Amid the circus that was the final week of the 43rd Parliament, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) quietly tabled its report on the Inquiry into Potential Reforms of Australia’s National Security …
Crispin Rovere and Kalman A Robertson suggest eliminating low-yield non-strategic nuclear weapons (NSNW) in ‘Non-strategic nuclear weapons: The next step in multilateral arms control’. I’m sceptical of their proposed solution—a Minimum Yield Threshold Treaty. Firstly, …
Last Thursday the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, in partnership with the Commonwealth Bank, launched its new International Cyber Policy Centre (ICPC). A packed audience of key public and private sector stakeholders, all with a direct …