Governments will always be outpaced by technological innovation. The internet, or more broadly cyberspace, is a unique domain that governments have yet to successfully navigate as they have with land, sea, air and space. It …
ASPI has analysed thousands of suspicious tweets posted in 2021 relating to the Indonesian region of Papua and assessed that they are inauthentic and were crafted to promote the policies and activities of the Indonesia …
Until recently, many people hadn’t heard of the Conflict Islands. This group of 21 atolls lies within the Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea, between Milne Bay and Misima Island. They are within PNG’s …
The world needs to prepare for a cascade of financial crises across emerging and developing economies. The writing is already on the wall, with Bangladesh, Ghana, Pakistan and Sri Lanka currently queuing at the International Monetary Fund’s …
Later today, either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak will be declared the winner of the Conservative Party leadership contest and the next prime minister of the United Kingdom. Whoever takes the honours, and whatever tribulations …
‘The past decade has seen a huge turnaround in Australia’s attitudes towards China. Handling this relationship is unquestionably our biggest foreign policy challenge at present. China is our largest export destination. Approximately 1.4 million Australians …
On 31 August, minutes before the end of her four-year term, UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet released a much-anticipated report on abuses in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in northwestern China. While the report …
There’s a moment to realise that you’re being played for a sucker. That moment has come for the Australian government in the case of the current Solomons Islands prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare. Since the new …
There was a time when well-meaning, if not wishful-thinking, Westerners thought that ‘China’s Gorbachev’ was the highest compliment they could pay a Chinese leader who looked like a reformer. But when Zhu Rongji, the straight-talking …
The recent Strategist post and associated Strategic Insight paper by the director of ASPI’s defence, strategy and national security program, Michael Shoebridge, again targets Australia’s infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) acquisition. I disagree strongly with the …
As the initial headline-grabbing moment of the AUKUS announcement has faded, the discussion in Australia has transitioned to the nitty gritty of getting nuclear submarines, in parallel with the pressing work of the nuclear-powered submarine …
The first visit to Papua New Guinea by Foreign Minister Penny Wong was probably a success the moment she arrived in Port Moresby. It removed, or at least eased, one longstanding irritant in the Australia–PNG …
Allan Hawke stayed the Queanbeyan boy he was born, while also becoming one of the most respected, connected and insightful public servants of our time. For a man of such achievement and prominence, it’s probably …
‘We all need to have perestroika,’ Mikhail Gorbachev would often say. The Soviet Union’s last leader lived by that credo. After becoming the general secretary of the communist party in 1985 and implementing his program …
In this special episode, ASPI’s Marcus Hellyer speaks to Palmer Luckey, founder of Oculus VR and Anduril Industries, and Shane Arnott, Anduril Industries’ chief engineer. They discuss defence industry, improving defence procurement, and bringing a …
Which country is Australia’s most important defence partner in Southeast Asia? I’m guessing not many readers of The Strategist would put the Philippines at the top of their lists. The correct answer, of course, is, …
Great powers don’t die in bed, the realist judgement goes. Empires fall amid flames and war. Not so, answered Mikhail Gorbachev, proving his greatness by achieving the gentle end of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev’s achievement …
Australia, through its diverse communities, expansive geography and entrepreneurial spirit, maintains deep, yet often not well understood, regional connections beyond its borders. If we are to build on these connections, then Australia’s Department of Foreign …
As the Russo-Ukraine conflict continues with no resolution in sight, we are painfully reminded of not only the horror of war, but also how often major powers’ interventionism, for whatever objective, hasn’t paid off. These …
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the immediate cause of the global energy crisis, but the seeds were sown by years of weak investment in fossil fuels, partly reflecting concerns over climate change. Before the war, …