In recent years the ‘obscure mineral’ coltan—geological name Columbite Tantalite—has become widely known and politicised for being closely connected with the violence of armed groups in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Similar to …
Tag Archive for: "Australia"
Like many of our readers, I’ve been following the recent discussion of the nature of the Anglosphere with interest. It’s been a lively exchange—and a sometimes wry one—and it sheds some light on aspects of our …
Graeme Dobell’s posts on the non-tabling of the Defence White Paper and National Security Strategy (here, here and here) and the attitude of the Executive to Parliament raise some interesting issues about the separation of …
At a 6:30pm talk with reporters at the (now old) Officers Club in Guam on the 25 July 1969, President Nixon changed Australian defence policy. He announced that in future countries fighting internal threats should …
The Defence Minister, Stephen Smith, made a telling mistake in Singapore recently when proclaiming the strategic openness displayed by the publication of Australia’s Defence White Paper. At the Shangri-La dialogue, Smith began his speech by …