It’s almost crunch time for Australia’s bid for a seat on the UN Security Council for the first time in 27 years. After a $25 million campaign which lasted several years and some recent lobbying …
Mitt Romney’s speech to the Virginia Military Institute on 8 October was, as he said, his chance to lay out the ‘vision’ for US foreign policy under his presidency. But anyone living in Asia reading …
As the final post in this series on grand strategy, I’m going to apply the framework developed earlier to one of the day’s biggest challenges (and opportunities)—China’s emergence on the world stage. Ironically, despite the …
After a long weekend, we’re back with the latest reports and events to suit the interests of Strategist readers. How easy are Southeast Asia’s seas to defend? Our first article for today is an RSIS …
It’s a(nother) public holiday in Canberra so we’ll be back tomorrow with our usual considered analysis, stats and graphs for your reading pleasure. The Strategist team
Al Palazzo’s post ‘A defence dividend need not become a defence liability’ raises some important points and provides sage advice to those responsible for the management of the Defence budget. One of the critical points …
The Ditchley Foundation is a respected British think tank established in 1958 to strengthen trans-Atlantic ties. Today it’s increasingly interested in the Asia–Pacific and I attended a recent Ditchley conference on ‘Security and Prosperity in …
The Australian National Audit Office last week released a pair of related audit reports, on the acquisition of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and the management of the current fast jet fleet. The reports are …
The Australian Government has recently announced a series of cuts to the Defence budget. According to Greg Sheridan, writing in The Australian, more possibly loom on the horizon. Those with an awareness of Australian defence …
Who is really in charge of the Defence Department? Many would guess the military chiefs, which is logical enough. Some would even say the Minister—civil control and all that. Or perhaps, given the recent discussion …
The Strategist team is back with our weekly compilation of latest reports, interesting discussion and upcoming events. The Australian National Audit Office has just released two linked audit reports on a subject near and dear …
Jennifer Westacott of the Business Council of Australia deserves credit for her speech on public service reform (PDF) a fortnight ago, and for the attention which she also drew to the roles of ministerial staff. Her …
Andrew Davies’ recent post on workforce skills and program continuity is a breath of fresh air. Andrew cuts through the rhetoric on this issue and rightly concludes that any proposals to bring forward production simply …
Last week, I identified some of the possible dilemmas for US conventional deterrence in East Asia, so it’s now worth looking in more detail what this might mean for Australia. At least four points can …
It’s a Labour Day public holiday in Canberra so we’ll be back tomorrow with our usual considered analysis, stats and graphs for your reading pleasure. The Strategist team
The Vice Chief of the Defence Force, Air Marshal Mark Binskin AO, delivered a thought-provoking speech entitled ‘The ADF as as a foundation for Australian prosperity’ to an ASPI dinner last night, and here are …
Earlier this year, Mark Thomson and I wrote a paper that highlighted the challenges in maintaining continuity in Australia’s submarine force. One of the things we didn’t discuss at any length in that paper was …
Since the United States is our biggest ally, as generations of white papers have told us, it’s fair to say we want to be interoperable with their forces in a coalition setting. With this in …
India is presently investing in a sustained program of military modernisation. Some $40bn was earmarked for defence in the budget for 2012–13, with a significant proportion to be spent on new weapons. This year, according …
I read with interest Robert Ayson’s take on the mending of relations between the United States and New Zealand. Rob believes that New Zealand is the prodigal son from the Good Book, welcomed home by …