History will be kind to Julia Gillard. Take this is as a relative rather than a qualitative judgement. History will have to be kinder because it would be impossible to be as harsh as current …
From the late 1940s until the fall of the Berlin Wall, the two superpowers engaged in a standoff whereby each threatened the very existence of the other with tens of thousands of strategic nuclear warheads. …
Shocked and confused. That’s how the international community is reacting to news that a major Australian radiological security initiative has just been canned. The corridors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) were abuzz with …
I discussed previously that force structure planning should take into account that new equipment projects have very long timelines—Andrew Davies’ post this morning explains clearly the downsides of getting the planning wrong. It might help …
The Prime Ministership of Julia Gillard raised important issues about the treatment of women political leaders in Australian society. Gillard’s impassioned ‘misogyny speech‘ was a defining moment of her leadership. In her resignation speech Gillard …
In my previous post on project timelines, I made the point that defence projects these days are taking longer to deliver than in the past. The reasons are many and varied–and we shouldn’t rule out …
Attention has often focused on China’s undersea fleet of conventional and nuclear-powered submarines, as an integral component of an anti-access and area-denial (A2/AD) complex that also includes shore-based aircraft, land-attack and anti-ship missiles, integrated air …
Richard Herr’s recent post on Russia’s links with Fiji was fascinating. But it’s also worth noting that Russia has been active in our southern backyard. As long time Antarctic observer Andrew Darby recently pointed out: …
Launching the ASPI International Cyber Policy Centre The ability to leverage cyberspace is one of the twenty first century’s most important sources of power. State and non-state actors can use this power to achieve financial, …
This week has seen the release of two government papers on the issue of cybercrime. On Monday The Attorney General’s Department launched the National Plan to Combat Cybercrime, the key policy announcement of which was …
I explained yesterday how the Chinese have thoroughly digested the Anglosphere’s Rules of the Road, and have steered themselves to prosperity in the process. The Anglosphere Ways of War are equally well understood. Indeed, China …
Visiting the troops deployed overseas has been a tradition for Australian politicians at least as far back as June 1916, when Billy Hughes travelled to the Western Front and met soldiers shortly before the appalling …
In July 2010, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton journeyed to Hanoi and proposed that bilateral relations be raised to a strategic partnership. Negotiations became bogged down by late 2011 when the two sides disagreed …
Consider this definition of the ‘Ways of War of the Anglosphere’ as the workings of a military and maritime mindset, powering a methodology that has fundamentally shaped the globe: The Anglosphere, the group of countries …
The normalisation of tension on the Korean Peninsula is settling onto its foundations, with South Korea pledging US$7.3 million of humanitarian aid to North Korea over the weekend. The move came one day before South …
When is off the shelf not off the shelf? When it takes an age for the shopper to decide that he wants a little from product A and a little from product B. A great …
The Cyber White Paper, originally promised for release in the first half of 2012, has been delayed several times. In October last year, responsibility for its production was quietly transferred from the Prime Minister’s Department …
ASPI’s just released Strategy Paper on Australia’s regional defence diplomacy provides a useful snapshot of what Australia’s defence engagement currently involves and where it might usefully head. It’s not as strong, however, on where we’ve …
Over the last year and a half, it’s been evident that Washington’s defence and security relations with Singapore are a lynchpin of the Southeast Asian component of the US rebalance to the Asia-Pacific. But Singapore’s …
Bang on time to complement ASPI’s extended debate about the anglosphere, a senior dialogue of Homeland Security Ministers from the five eyes countries (the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) was held this week …