{"id":20487,"date":"2015-05-22T17:02:09","date_gmt":"2015-05-22T07:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=20487"},"modified":"2015-05-23T09:16:41","modified_gmt":"2015-05-22T23:16:41","slug":"aspi-suggests-22may","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/aspi-suggests-22may\/","title":{"rendered":"ASPI suggests"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Storm<\/a><\/figure>\n

Headlining today\u2019s wrap-up are three must-read pieces on Australia\u2019s strategic choices and China.<\/p>\n

In the first, Bonnie Glaser (who\u2019s visiting Australia at the moment)\u00a0argues that<\/a>\u00a0\u2018Australia should join the US to implement a cost imposition strategy aimed at changing China’s risk\/benefit calculus and thus its behaviour.\u2019 But to do this, she warns, we\u2019ll have to accept greater risk. Second,\u00a0Linda Jakobson is aghast<\/a>\u00a0at the serious gulf between Australia\u2019s security officials and China\u2019-focussed business community on how they see China. She argues a more nuanced and honest discussion between both sides about China\u2019s rise will promote a better policy\u2014it\u2019s the very reason she established\u00a0China Matters<\/a>. Lastly, John Garnaut\u00a0drops<\/a>\u00a0this truthbomb: \u2018ever since Rudd was savaged for his 2009 white paper he and his successors have not been game to publicly acknowledge that there is anything to hedge against.\u2019 In fact, when asked by Angela Merkel in November last year how he drove his China policies, Tony Abbott\u00a0responded<\/a>, \u2018fear and greed\u2019. Read\u00a0more<\/a>\u00a0on why Garnaut believes our twin imperatives of economic engagement and security hedging towards China must be reconciled.<\/p>\n

South Pacific watchers, ANU’s Melanesia Program has some new discussion papers on\u00a0nation-making and memory in Timor-Leste<\/a>\u00a0by Lia Kent,\u00a0urban-living in Papua New Guinea<\/a>\u00a0by Tim Sharp and co-authors, and\u00a0regional political settlement<\/a>\u00a0by Greg Fry. For the full catalogue, see\u00a0here<\/a>. Meanwhile, Scott Leis\u00a0makes the case<\/a>\u00a0over on\u00a0East Asia Forum<\/em>\u00a0for considering ‘climate refugees’ given that intense weather exacerbated by climate change might force many Pacific Islanders to leave their homes.<\/p>\n

Check out\u00a0Osama bin Laden’s bookshelf<\/a>,\u00a0found by Navy SEALs at\u00a0his Abbottabad compound in 2011. The\u00a0US government\u00a0released the list this week as well as\u00a0a surprisingly generic\u00a0job application form<\/a>\u00a0for prospective al Qaeda members, asking applicants to ‘write clearly and legibly’ and to divulge the details of their next of kin in the\u00a0event of\u00a0their martyrdom.<\/p>\n

With negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program still prevalent in US media and Russia\u00a0threatening to deploy\u00a0nuclear weapons in Crimea<\/a>, check out this interview<\/a> with\u00a0US State Department Under Secretary for arms control and international security Rose Gottemoeller. Despite a \u2018crowded nuclear policy landscape\u2019, Gottemoeller was optimistic about the future, stating that nuclear nations\u2019 moves since the Cuban Missile Crisis towards nuclear limitation speaks of a \u2018positive legacy\u2019. For the full interview, see\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter has approved the US Air Force’s decision to temporarily decrease its number of drone combat air patrols from 65 to 60. Why? Not because of a decrease in demand for drone patrols, states\u00a0Marcus Weisgerber over at\u00a0Defense One<\/em><\/a>, but because their pilots and related intelligence operators have been pushed ‘to breaking point’. Giving these airmen a break\u00a0makes\u00a0Air Force ‘healthy’ and happy for\u00a0long-term operations.<\/p>\n

In this week’s technology pick, Australia scientists are a step closer to\u00a0developing a bionic brain<\/a>. They’re refining a nano memory cell that more closely mimics the memory functionality and performance of the human brain, the first step in building artificial neural networks and circumventing ethical barriers in testing on human ones. It’ll be some time before the technology is deployed but scientists anticipate its use\u00a0includes as replacement parts for individuals\u00a0with brain damage\u2014a potential treatment for those injured by IEDs, for instance.<\/p>\n

Danish director Janus Metz’s powerful film\u00a0Armadillo<\/em>\u00a0(2010)\u00a0is available to watch for free on the SBS website\u2014check it out here<\/a> (1hr 40mins). The film follows a Danish platoon just before and during their six-month deployment to\u00a0Afghanistan’s\u00a0Helmand province. So candid was the film about the realities of combat deployment that it shocked the Danish public who had believed previously their soldiers were only handing out soccer balls and candy. A worthwhile insight into the life of the modern soldier (warning: graphic scenes).<\/p>\n

Lastly, eight years after being elected, Barack Obama finally arrived on Twitter\u2014and he’s\u00a0already mastered the ‘dark art of snark’ with his third tweet.\u00a0Check out his exchange with\u00a0former president and potential ‘first lady’ Bill Clinton:<\/p>\n

\n

Good question, @billclinton<\/a>. The handle comes with the house. Know anyone interested in @FLOTUS<\/a>?<\/p>\n

— President Obama (@POTUS44) May 18, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n