Last week my friend Ely Ratner echoed views he heard in Australia that Tony Abbott is spreading Australia too thin by committing RAAF fighters, surveillance planes and transports, as well as 200 SAS troops, to the fight against ISIS. Much better, the argument goes, for Australia to focus on South
If Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel’s proposed defence budget becomes reality, then the Administration's so-called 'pivot' or 'rebalance' to the Asia Pacific will have enough credibility to continue shaping regional expectations in a positive direction – at least on the military side (trade
On 17 December the Japanese government issued three national security documents: the first-ever National Security Strategy (which explains overall foreign policy strategy), the National Defense Program Outline, and the Mid-term Defense Plan (which together describe military strategy and force
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is determined to keep Japan a tier-one power in Asia and the world. Through strengthening the economy and reforming national security institutions, as outlined in the December 2013 inaugural Japanese national security strategy, he seeks a strengthening of the US-
I have been trying to understand how it is that Australia is the only US ally in Asia where former heads of state embrace the thesis that the US must gracefully surrender primacy in the Asia Pacific and seek accommodation with Beijing.
No former prime minister of Japan (not even the loopy Yukio