Category Archives: Defence/Security

GARETH EVANS. How we should manage Donald Trump’s meltdown world (AFR 20/6/2018)

22 June 2018

The assumptions that have sustained and underpinned Australian security and economic policy for decades are in meltdown. The post-Second World War global order – an open, rules-based system underpinned by a robust network of security alliances, and by effective multilateral … Continue reading →

Posted in Defence/Security, International Affairs | 5 Comments

KEN MOAK. US-led naval operation will not change China’s posture.

19 June 2018

At the 2018 Shangri-La Dialogue, the defense ministers of France and the UK announced that their governments will send warships to join those of the US in challenging China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea  (Naval Today, April 6). … Continue reading →

Posted in Asia, Defence/Security, International Affairs | 2 Comments

RICHARD BUTLER. Singapore: Sound and Lights  

18 June 2018

Trump told us that, in Singapore, he would make it up as he went along. It appears that he kept his word on that. Afterwards he told the world that if it all tanks, he will “make up an excuse … Continue reading →

Posted in Defence/Security, International Affairs | 1 Comment

MUNGO MacCALLUM. America’s frightened allies.

18 June 2018

Donald Trump has spent the last three years scaring the crap out of his allies, but suddenly it has become serious.  His predilection for ruthless dictators, traditionally anathema to America and its allies, has now got to the point where those … Continue reading →

Posted in Defence/Security, International Affairs | 3 Comments

MACK WILLIAMS. North Korea – managing Donald !

16 June 2018

Amid the avalanche of reporting and commentary of the Singapore Summit one needs to step back to assess just how the Trump’s much vaunted (by him) negotiating style so far has played out . This is not just an academic … Continue reading →

Posted in Defence/Security, International Affairs | 2 Comments

RAMESH THAKUR. The Kim–Trump Summit: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Australian Outlook. 15/6/2018)

16 June 2018

Despite praise for Tuesday’s “unprecedented” meeting, there were good reasons why previous US administrations had refused multiple requests from North Korean leaders to meet. The results of the Kim–Trump summit so far can be divided into the good, the bad … Continue reading →

Posted in Defence/Security, International Affairs | 2 Comments

ROSEMARY O’GRADY. Meanings of War.

16 June 2018

As war memoirs go, the horrors of the conflict concluded by the Treaty of Westphalia, 1648, have long stood in a class of their own. They are also the subject of the autobiographical, first novel of the German language.

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SIMON ROUGHNEEN. How Beijing is winning control of the South China Sea (Nikkei Asian Review 13/6/2018)

15 June 2018

Erratic US policy and fraying alliances give China a free hand.  

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PEPE ESCOBAR. The key word in the Trump-Kim show

14 June 2018

By reaffirming the Panmunjom Declaration, the US President has committed to bringing its military back from South Korea and thus a complete denuclearization of the South as well as the North.

Posted in Asia, Defence/Security, International Affairs | 1 Comment

GARETH HUTCHENS. Australia should not join US in South China Sea operations, says retired defence chief (The Guardian 21/2/2017)

14 June 2018

Activities in the South China Sea continue to be in the news.  Published below, are comments made in February last year by Sir Angus Houston, who was formerly Australia’s defence chief.  John Menadue.  

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TRAVERS MCLEOD. Fog of law in war not the Australian way

14 June 2018

“We will never forget that 100 years ago a young and brave nation on the other side of the world made history by writing our history. Lest we forget.” So ended French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe’s tribute to the Anzacs … Continue reading →

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DENNIS ARGALL. Trump-Kim, Korea, China and the future.

13 June 2018

The underpinnings of Australian strategic utterances are slipping away. There will be, it is the way the world is, a flood of “yeah, but…” comment on the Trump-Kim Singapore summit. Not least because the number of experts on Korean affairs … Continue reading →

Posted in Defence/Security, International Affairs | 1 Comment

JOHN MENADUE The media are finding Chinese under most rocks.

13 June 2018

The campaign run by some of our security agencies  and people close to them about the alleged  Chinese threat is getting great support from some  journalists.  The latest is Andrew Greene, the  security and defence  reporter at the ABC who … Continue reading →

Posted in Defence/Security, Media | 5 Comments

JACK WATERFORD. Trust Labor on national security? Sure can’t. (Canberra Times, 9 June 2018)

13 June 2018

The looming five by-elections are giving the government an opportunity to polish and rehearse one of the centrepieces of its re-election strategy for the next election – the argument that the alternative government – Labor – is fundamentally unsound on … Continue reading →

Posted in Defence/Security, Politics | 1 Comment

ABHISHEK MOHANTY. Renaming the US Pacific Command: Why Indo-Pacific?

11 June 2018

In a pivotal move projecting a new set of national interests, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, barely a day before the Shangri La Dialogue began, announced that the US Pacific Command will now be called the US Indo-Pacific Command.  The name … Continue reading →

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MIKE YEO. France is deploying forces to the Indo-Pacific for more than just a drill.

11 June 2018

MELBOURNE, Australia ― France will be deploying a detachment of combat aircraft to the Indo-Pacific region for a major air exercise in Australia and for additional interactions with Asian air forces, as France seeks to increase its presence in the … Continue reading →

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MIKE WALLER. Welcome to the Panopticon: time for an Australian bill of rights?

11 June 2018

Panopticon: a circular prison with cells arranged around a central well, from which prisoners could at all times be observed (Jeremy Bentham).  Mr Turnbull has told Neil Mitchell security and police will be given extra power to conduct random checks … Continue reading →

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MICHAEL McKINLEY. Australia’s China policy: who rules, who governs and the SAS connection

9 June 2018

Australia’s China policy in recent days has moved from being a subject of heated and understandable debate and controversy based on argument and evidence, to a target of bureaucratic and organisational guerrilla warfare.  From within the state and parliamentary system, … Continue reading →

Posted in Defence/Security | 5 Comments

SAUL ESLAKE. The quest for ‘security’. Is it rational? Has it made us safer? And at what cost? (reposted from 23/2/2018)

9 June 2018

In November last year, I gave an address to the Royal Society of Tasmania – the oldest such society ‘dedicated to the advancement of knowledge’ outside of the United Kingdom – at an event hosted by the Governor of Tasmania, … Continue reading →

Posted in Defence/Security | 4 Comments

ROSS GITTINS. The threat of terrorism in Australia is a scam that costs us dearly (SMH 25/7/2017)

8 June 2018

This article by Ross Gittins was published on 25 July 2017 in the SMH.  Since then, the government has continued to ratchet up fear of terrorism.  This is a particular stock in trade  of conservatives – promoting fear- fear of … Continue reading →

Posted in Defence/Security, Politics | 1 Comment

ADAM NI. Despite strong words, the US has few options left to reverse China’s gains in the South China Sea.

8 June 2018

At a top regional security forum on Saturday, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said China’s recent militarisation efforts in the disputed South China Sea were intended to intimidate and coerce regional countries.

Posted in Asia, Defence/Security, International Affairs | 3 Comments

MICHAEL McKINLEY. Are we preparing to fight the wrong war : an interesting but lower order question.

6 June 2018

In weapons systems, as in many other areas of life, Artificial Intelligence is being heralded as “the future for all humankind”.  This description is part of the problem: it comprises a submission to a fatalistic view of the future in … Continue reading →

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LUCY BERAUD-SUDREAU. Asia’s defence budgets dispel ‘arms race’ myth.

4 June 2018

Asian defence spending has not grown faster than the region’s economies – and the share of defence budgets allocated to procurement and R&D has held steady over time.

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WAYNE SWAN. Foreign influence and foreign donations in Australia.

2 June 2018

The debate over foreign influence in our domestic politics and policymaking is an important one for our country – too important for political point-scoring and manipulation by vested interests and political vendettas.  

Posted in Defence/Security, Media, Politics | 1 Comment

RICHARD TANTER. Pine Gap electricity supply and the Ausgrid controversy

30 May 2018

The giant Pine Gap intelligence and military base outside Alice Springs consumes a great deal of electricity to operate its intelligence-gathering and analysis operations.   It now appears that the Turnbull government’s rejection of a $25 bn. bid for the NSW-government … Continue reading →

Posted in Defence/Security, Economy, Politics | 1 Comment

JOHN MENADUE   Our security agencies are not accountable.

29 May 2018

The performance and integrity of our security services is a serious national problem. These are particular problems for agencies which operate in secret and with few public checks. We have seen that they are prepared to upstage ministers and undermine … Continue reading →

Posted in Defence/Security, Media, Politics | 5 Comments

SUE WAREHAM. How the Australian War Memorial has lost its way.

23 May 2018

In a submission to the Joint Standing Committee on the National Capital and External Territories inquiry into Canberra’s national institutions Sue Wareham ,on behalf of the Medical Association for Prevention of War (MAPW) calls for major changes at the AWM … Continue reading →

Posted in Defence/Security, Politics | 4 Comments

IAN McAULEY. Dutton’s extended police powers won’t be confined to airports

22 May 2018

Dutton’s proposal to allow police to stop people at random at airports has little if anything to do with community safety, and everything to do with his desire to extend police powers and to help the government in its bid … Continue reading →

Posted in Defence/Security | 3 Comments

TSEEN KHOO. What Anzac Day meant for Asian Australians.

19 May 2018

This year, just before ANZAC Day, I read a poignant, insightful piece by Nadine Chemali about what new migrants to Australia really thought about Anzac Day.

Posted in Defence/Security, Human Rights | 4 Comments

MICHAEL McKINLEY. Australia, China and three fragments of militarisation in context.

18 May 2018

The term ‘militarisation’ is the new portmanteau expression for describing China’s initiatives in the South China Sea; it is at once accusatory and exculpatory: China is the instigator, the Western powers and those Western-aligned (defensively-minded, and innocent) are exonerated from … Continue reading →

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