{"id":27832,"date":"2016-07-25T06:00:02","date_gmt":"2016-07-24T20:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=27832"},"modified":"2016-07-25T00:34:32","modified_gmt":"2016-07-24T14:34:32","slug":"oz-strategists-paul-dibb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/oz-strategists-paul-dibb\/","title":{"rendered":"Oz strategists: Paul Dibb"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-27833 size-full\" title=\"Image courtesy of Flickr user Peter Miller\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/2809042926_18ffa7d1ef_o.png\" alt=\"Image courtesy of Flickr user Peter Miller\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/2809042926_18ffa7d1ef_o.png 640w, https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/2809042926_18ffa7d1ef_o-205x154.png 205w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Starting as a geographer, Paul Dibb became\u00a0one of Australia\u2019s great strategists.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The discipline of geography is vital to the Dibb understanding of power, strategy and defence planning. For Dibb, geography disciplines strategy in the same way that you&#8217;re not discussing defence until you&#8217;re talking dollars.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In one of my first radio interviews with Paul<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">35 years ago<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">on the Soviet Union and the Baltic states, he sat with the atlas in his lap, summoning thoughts via his eyes and hands on the map.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maps matter in the Dibb universe. And his understanding of Australia\u2019s geography has profoundly shaped strategy. See Dibb\u2019s key map representing \u2018Australia\u2019s regional security interests\u2019 from the Dibb Report, the 1986<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.defence.gov.au\/SPI\/publications\/defreview\/1986\/Review-of-Australias-Defence-Capabilities-1986_Part1.pdf\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Review of Australia\u2019s Defence Capabilities.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This map has been the terrain for wars that have raged through Canberra for decades. The arguments can ascend towards the arcane, but big decisions and dollars and careers are in play.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the conceptualising and understanding of Australian defence, Paul Dibb has been as important as the best defence ministers of his time. That means his impact has been more enduring than a lot of recent defence ministers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dibb is accused of geographic determinism. Others mean this as an insult. He embraces geography as the tool that orders much else, enabling Australia to tell the difference between broad interests and vital interests. Strategic geography is the iron discipline.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Key Dibb ideas (drawing strongly on his 1986 report):<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Australia\u2019s \u2018area of direct military interest\u2019<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">10% of the globe<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">stretches east-west from New Zealand to the Cocos Islands, and north-south from Indonesia to the Southern Ocean.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Australia\u2019s \u2018sphere of primary strategic interest\u2019 encompasses Southeast Asia and the South Pacific<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A layered strategy of denial in the area of direct military interest<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The sea\u2013air gap is the key to Defence of Australia because it\u2019s \u2018a formidable barrier for any enemy\u2019. \u2018Our most important defence planning concern is to ensure that an enemy would have substantial difficulty in crossing the sea and air gap.\u2019<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Navy and Air Force get priority and the big bucks, while Army comes third<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beyond the areas of direct and primary interest, Australia should \u2018make a modest military contribution in support of our more distant diplomatic interests and the military efforts of others. But this should be seen essentially as a gesture of support\u2026 not as a contribution that could materially affect the outcome. Our forces shouldn\u2019t be specifically structured or equipped to undertake such tasks.\u2019<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Depending on what\u2019s happening in Indonesia, the archipelago is Australia\u2019s \u2018arc of instability\u2019 (as it was after Suharto fell) or, as it could be today, Australia\u2019s \u2018strategic shield\u2019<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Australian defence self-reliance and the US alliance aren\u2019t in conflict, but complementary. Australia alone couldn\u2019t afford what the alliance offers in intelligence, weapons, logistics, science and technology. \u2018But there\u2019s no requirement for Australia to become involved in US contingency planning for global war.\u2019<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Canberra\u2019s rolling Dibb wars are gathered in one volume, in the fine ANU tradition of honouring the vertical man rather than the horizontal man. The essays in honour of Paul Dibb, \u2018Geography, Power, Strategy &amp; Defence\u2019 can be found for free\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/press.anu.edu.au\/node\/1838\/download\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and all the battles are recounted.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For Army, Dibb was a swear word. The counter-arguments were many: Dibb\u2019s regionalism versus globalisation or Dibb\u2019s geography-based defence of Australia versus the Army\u2019s expeditionary tradition of going far afield in support of big allies. And what had Dibb\u2019s geographic obsession to say of 9\/11 and the George W. \u2018war on terrorism\u2019?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As Geoff Barker writes, the Dibb view is widely criticised \u2018by those who support the creation of heavily armoured Australian expeditionary defence forces capable of deploying to distant theatres and aggressively supporting the US in contingency planning for global war.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kim Beazley says Dibb was a lightning rod for \u2018brutal\u2019 debates, but he made a significant contribution to Australia&#8217;s national defence: \u2018His legacy remains real. It endures.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One other bit of geography. Paul Dibb comes from a mining village in Yorkshire. In the definition and discovery of the strategic meaning of Oz geography, Captain<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/adb.anu.edu.au\/biography\/cook-james-1917\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">James Cook<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0is the most important Yorkshireman; Dr P. Dibb, AO, is second.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From his time living in Yorkshire,<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com.au\/books\/about\/Notes_from_a_Small_Island.html?id=rTXB680gLl8C&amp;redir_esc=y\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Bill Bryson<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> concluded: \u2018I&#8217;ve never understood why Yorkshire people have this terrible reputation for being mean-spirited and uncharitable. I\u2019ve always found them to be decent and open, and if you want to know your shortcomings, you won\u2019t find more helpful people anywhere.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dibb exactly<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">he still thinks a butty constitutes food. Using Yorkshire cricket as the template, Paul is Geoff Boycott in defence and Fred Trueman in attack. And in attack or defence, he delivers with a grin.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Dibb characteristics described by Des Ball are, \u2018the mateship, the bluntness, the outspokenness, the combativeness.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If the stakes are important, the energy must match the strength of the logic.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He enjoys a fight as much as a feed<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and he knows both work better with a glass in hand.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the phrase \u2018robust public debate\u2019, Paul Dibb has all bases covered. The word \u2018public\u2019 matters.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For most of the 20th century, Oz defence was Top Secret Stuff<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to talk was treachery. \u00a0One of Paul Dibb\u2019s many contributions to Oz strategy was to shred the \u2018Secret Canberra Men&#8217;s Business\u2019 conducted deep inside the Defence Department.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dibb knows that strategy is both performance art and dark art. Much must be done<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and explained<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in the open, and Paul Dibb\u2019s life as public servant and public intellectual has helped remake the role of the Oz strategist.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Starting as a geographer, Paul Dibb became\u00a0one of Australia\u2019s great strategists. The discipline of geography is vital to the Dibb understanding of power, strategy and defence planning. For Dibb, geography disciplines strategy in the same &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":27833,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1641,66,1752,21],"class_list":["post-27832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-geography","tag-history","tag-oz-strategists","tag-strategy-2"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Oz strategists: Paul Dibb | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/oz-strategists-paul-dibb\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Oz strategists: Paul Dibb | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Starting as a geographer, Paul Dibb became\u00a0one of Australia\u2019s great strategists. 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