{"id":11235,"date":"2013-12-06T14:54:46","date_gmt":"2013-12-06T03:54:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=11235"},"modified":"2013-12-09T09:27:06","modified_gmt":"2013-12-08T22:27:06","slug":"aspi-suggests-44","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/aspi-suggests-44\/","title":{"rendered":"ASPI suggests"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/p>\n Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has travelled to Jakarta to meet with her counterpart Marty Natalegawa to help mend a rift in\u00a0Australia\u2013Indonesia relations,<\/b>\u00a0which has come in the wake of a recent spying scandal that led to Indonesia suspending some areas of cooperation. Both sides have now agreed to establish a special communications channel (a \u2018hotline\u2019) to resolve misunderstandings<\/a>.<\/p>\n For those interested in the latest spying dispute<\/a> between Timor-Leste and Australia<\/b>, here\u2019s a useful backgrounder on the Timor Gap Treaty<\/a>.<\/p>\n Speaking of intelligence, here\u2019s a\u00a0Washington Post<\/i> primer<\/a> on how metadata<\/b> from mobile phones can be used to locate intelligence targets of interest, and to track people\u2014including working out who is travelling together. Includes graphics and videos.<\/p>\n Turning back to Southeast Asia, Thailand\u2019s<\/b> political situation has been heating up of late, with ANU\u2019s Andrew Walker writing that the country could be headed for civil conflict<\/a>. According to Walker, \u2018Unfortunately for Thailand, a rush to confrontation on the streets of Bangkok is now more attractive to opposition forces than a long-term process of electoral rebuilding\u2019. There doesn\u2019t seem to be an easy resolution on the horizon without a strong statement from the King that democracy is the only way forward.<\/p>\n Looking now at regional strategic relations, Strategist<\/i> contributor Carlyle A. Thayer<\/a>\u00a0examines\u00a0India\u2013Vietnam ties<\/b> over on\u00a0The Diplomat<\/i>. Of interest to Australians is his observation:<\/p>\n India and Vietnam have convergent security interests, including maximizing their room for maneuver in dealing with China and other major powers within their respective regions. India\u2019s relations with Vietnam provide a basis for a larger Indian role in East Asia, particularly in the maritime domain.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Lastly, if you\u2019re into all things international and social media, international relations blog e-IR<\/i> is currently <\/a>recruiting a social media editor<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Update: two next reports from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict\u2014one on recent patterns<\/a> of Indonesian extremist groups <\/strong>and another on special autonomy in Papua<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n