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  • 1 day ago
    • China
    • Taiwan
    • Defence & Security

    A Chinese invasion of Taiwan isn’t inevitable

    Daniel R. DePetris
    The logistics pose a momentous challenge. And more so, Xi Jinping knows a war will entail enormous costs.
  • 2 Feb 2023
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security
    • France

    France-Australia: Salving the wounds of AUKUS

    Eglantine Staunton
    After the crisis over the subs deal, both countries stand to benefit from a normalisation of ties.
  • 1 Feb 2023
    • Australia
    • Australian Navy
    • Defence & Security
    • France

    Marles torpedoes French subs, but is yet to explain nuclear advantage

    Sam Roggeveen
    For such a high-stakes and expensive enterprise the public deserves to know not just what boats we’re getting, but why.
  • 31 Jan 2023
    • Australia's Defence Challenges
    • Australian Defence Force
    • Defence & Security

    Australia’s return to must-win wars

    Peter Layton
    The future is not the past. Australia needs to reset its strategic thinking and plan to win the wars it fights.
  • 23 Dec 2022
    • Defence & Security
    • Russia
    • Ukraine
    • Review

    How to Interpret 2022: Russia invades Ukraine

    Clare Caldwell
    Vladimir Putin seemed convinced Kyiv would fall in days. We look back at ten months of war.
  • 22 Dec 2022
    • Malaysia
    • Philippines
    • Defence & Security
    • Nuclear Weapons
    • Russia
    • Ukraine
    • Administration

    The Interpreter 2022: Your most-read articles

    The Interpreter
    Russia’s invasion of Ukraine dominated the year. But readers also wanted to know all about Southeast Asia’s elections.  
  • 19 Dec 2022
    • India
    • Japan
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security
    • United States

    A focused direction for the Quad

    Erin Mello
    Doubling-down on existing initiatives – rather than new goals – will see the grouping deliver tangible public goods.
  • 14 Dec 2022
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security

    It’s complicated: psychology and national security decisions

    Ben Scott
    Thinking about the plethora of security threats all at once is hard ­– which can increase the risk of bias intruding.
  • 9 Dec 2022
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security
    • United States

    US-Australia alliance: beyond sentiment

    Caitlin Byrne , Peter Dean , Stephan Frühling , Andrew O'Neil
    Of supporters or sceptics alike, new research shows most Australians view the alliance via a cost-benefit analysis.
  • 8 Dec 2022
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security
    • United States

    AUSMIN: the submarine conundrum

    Justin Burke
    It’s a big challenge to manage the ambition for nuclear-powered subs and still juggle other crucial defence decisions.
  • 8 Dec 2022
    • Australia in the World
    • Defence & Security

    We need to talk about war decisions

    Josh Wilson
    Australia has just embarked on a parliamentary inquiry into how it makes choices about when and why it goes to war.
  • 30 Nov 2022
    • Asean
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security

    Supporting the kind of region we want

    Richard Marles
    In tougher strategic times, ASEAN stands as a crucial forum to ensure competition doesn’t tip into confrontation.
  • 24 Nov 2022
    • Aid & Development
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security

    Defence and development reviews: bringing parallel tracks together

    Tom Barber
    A cultural change in the way Australia’s approach to the world is formulated and prosecuted.
  • 22 Nov 2022
    • India
    • Defence & Security
    • Nuclear Weapons

    India’s military: a tech leap risks a nuclear chasm

    Rajesh Basrur , Wu Shang-Su
    India’s conventional military modernisation means grappling with the accelerated danger of nuclear miscalculation.
  • 17 Nov 2022
    • Defence & Security
    • Space exploration

    Putting a stop to destructive anti-satellite weapons tests

    Cassandra Steer
    Australia is helping bolster an emerging global norm that will secure space for the benefit of all.
  • 7 Nov 2022
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security

    Australia and B‑21 bombers: less bang for the buck

    Hugh White
    It’s an expensive habit to think about the military not as a practical tool but as a symbol of strategic intent.
  • 4 Nov 2022
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security
    • United States

    The real message B‑52s send from northern Australia

    Sam Roggeveen
    Given distances and demands on crew and aircraft, a US bomber fleet near Darwin amounts to only modest change.
  • 2 Nov 2022
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security
    • United States

    B-52 bombers only part of a very long Australian story

    Miranda Booth
    A revamp of RAAF Tindal for the nuclear-capable aircraft creates opportunities well beyond military confidence building.
  • 25 Oct 2022
    • India
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security

    Australia’s shared security in the Indian Ocean

    Lisa Singh , Lewis Baker
    As two littoral states with significant sway, Australia and India can act as a conduit to link regional groupings.
  • 12 Oct 2022
    • Defence & Security
    • Nuclear Weapons
    • Russia
    • Ukraine

    If Russia breaks the nuclear taboo

    Robert Ayson
    Would the use of a lower yield atomic weapon really prompt the same catastrophic logic of escalation?
  • 4 Oct 2022
    • Philippines
    • Defence & Security

    Philippines’ subs: the AUKUS inspiration

    Chester Cabalza , Joshua Espeña
    Manila can make its mark in the Indo-Pacific by choosing its friends, and its maritime deterrents, strategically.
  • 28 Sep 2022
    • China's Military
    • Australia's Defence Challenges
    • Australian Defence Force
    • Defence & Security
    • Maritime Security

    Buying the wrong submarine

    Peter Layton
    Being able to sink ships doesn’t end a war. Australia should consider ballistic nuclear missile subs as an alternative.
  • 21 Sep 2022
    • Defence & Security
    • Climate change
    • United Nations

    Guterres whistles in the wind

    Mark Beeson
    Yes, “our planet is burning”, yet those leaders with the power to act are stubbornly guarding their own little patch.
  • 19 Sep 2022
    • Defence & Security

    Blue-sky thinking on the Defence Strategic Review

    Victor Abramowicz
    A broader view of security offers enormous potential benefits for Australia.
  • 13 Sep 2022
    • Asean
    • Southeast Asia
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security
    • Nuclear Non-Proliferation, Arms Control and Disarmament

    Has Southeast Asia warmed to AUKUS one year on?

    Melissa Conley Tyler
    The shock of surprise has faded and a new tone from new voices may ease some concerns. But objections remain.
  • 12 Sep 2022
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security

    AUKUS, one year on

    Sam Roggeveen
    Australians deserve the details of what nuclear-powered submarines mean – for national defence and identity alike.
  • 29 Aug 2022
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security
    • Cyber Warfare
    • Technology

    Should democracies ever lie?

    Ben Scott
    Is bending the truth sometimes necessary and justified in situations short of war?
  • 17 Aug 2022
    • China
    • Taiwan
    • Defence & Security

    Why can’t Beijing renounce force against Taiwan?

    Jade Guan
    History, nationalism, the Party, deterrence and the military make for a heady mix.
  • 11 Aug 2022
    • Australia
    • Australia's Economy
    • Defence & Security
    • Global Economy
    • Trade

    Economic diplomacy: No free lunches for national security

    Greg Earl
    New foreign investment rules, nuisance tariffs and supply chains are all under scrutiny by the Productivity Commission.
  • 29 Jul 2022
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security
    • Nuclear Non-Proliferation, Arms Control and Disarmament

    Can we please have a real debate on nuclear submarines?

    Marianne Hanson
    It looks suspiciously as if a decision is already made, even with a promised 18-month investigation only half-way done.
  • 27 Jul 2022
    • Japan
    • India
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security
    • Global Issues
    • Environment
    • Coronavirus
    • Climate change
    • United States

    The Quad needs a futures focus

    Abhijnan Rej
    A better – and public – understanding is needed of the cascading effects of regional challenges.
  • 27 Jul 2022
    • Malaysia
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security
    • Review

    Semut: Australia’s secret war against the Japanese in Borneo

    Henry Storey
    A reconstruction of incomplete archives reveals one of Australia’s most audacious independent special forces operations.
  • 27 Jul 2022
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security
    • France
    • Germany
    • United Kingdom
    • United States

    France can help Albanese fix AUKUS

    Alan J. Kuperman
    Labor faces a dilemma over nuclear-powered subs and the non-proliferation regime. An old partner might offer an answer.
  • 26 Jul 2022
    • South China Sea
    • Singapore
    • China
    • Malaysia
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security
    • United Kingdom

    Answering China’s South China Sea flying safety challenge

    Peter Layton
    A regional response can best manage risks, and the Five Power Defence Arrangement offers just the mechanism.
  • 25 Jul 2022
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security
    • France
    • Public Opinion

    France-Australia: Moving beyond AUKUS

    Eglantine Staunton
    A change of PM has certainly helped, and the latest Lowy Poll suggests no enduring damage has been done to relations.
  • 30 Jun 2022
    • Defence & Security
    • Europe
    • Russia
    • Ukraine
    • Public Opinion

    War fatigue in the West

    Bermet Talant
    The democratic world passed the compassion test for Ukraine. Now it faces the real challenge.
  • 6 Jun 2022
    • Defence & Security
    • South China Sea
    • Australia
    • China

    A flare up in China’s deliberate pattern of aggression

    Peter Layton
    The intercept of an Australian patrol over the South China Sea escalates a “grey zone” conflict to a dangerous level.
  • 27 May 2022
    • Defence & Security
    • Europe
    • Russia
    • European Union
    • Ukraine

    Ukraine: The view from Warsaw

    Melissa Conley Tyler
    More than offering neighbourly support, Poland wants to ensure Russia suffers a strategic defeat.
  • 26 May 2022
    • Defence & Security
    • United States
    • Australia
    • China
    • India
    • Japan
    • Technology

    “Black ships”, the Quad and space

    Philip Citowicki
    Satellite technology underpins the attempt to tackle China’s illegal fishing.
  • 20 May 2022
    • Defence & Security
    • Diplomacy
    • Australia

    A strategy for uncertain times

    Ben Scott
    Is a case-by-case approach good enough for Australia to respond to the great and developing regional challenges?
  • 17 May 2022
    • Defence & Security
    • Australia

    What went wrong? How Morrison lost control of the khaki election

    Peter Dean
    A government determined to make national security a central campaign issue fell into the trap of fighting the last war.
  • 17 May 2022
    • Asia
    • Defence & Security
    • United States
    • Asean
    • Australia
    • China
    • India
    • Japan

    AUKUS: More than meets the eye

    Jada Fraser
    A series of small, overlapping initiatives are combining to bolster the security architecture of the Indo-Pacific.
  • 10 May 2022
    • Defence & Security
    • Pacific Islands
    • Australia
    • China
    • Solomon Islands

    Chinese bases in the Pacific: A reality check

    Sam Roggeveen
    Frustrating Beijing’s ambitions to create a sphere of influence is overwhelmingly a diplomatic task, not a military one.
  • 22 Apr 2022
    • Defence & Security

    Does commemorating war really promote peace?

    Ned Dobos
    Contrary to popular belief, reminiscing on past sacrifices actually increases the perceived value of future combat.
  • 21 Apr 2022
    • Defence & Security
    • Australia
    • China
    • Solomon Islands
    • Climate change

    Solomons security pact: Sogavare, China, and Australia

    Peter Hooton
    There is no shutting China out of the South Pacific, but if Australia gets real on climate the game will truly change.
  • 14 Apr 2022
    • Defence & Security
    • Cyber Security
    • Australia's Defence Challenges

    Australian cyber: What’s “Redspice” for?

    Ben Scott
    Canberra should explain why Australia needs a larger offensive cyber capability and how it will be used.
  • 6 Apr 2022
    • Defence & Security
    • South China Sea
    • Asean
    • International law

    Protecting law and order at sea means educating people on their rights

    Jay Batongbacal
    Broad understanding about the need to balance and compromise interests will strengthen the system of international law.
  • 4 Apr 2022
    • Defence & Security
    • South China Sea
    • Asean
    • China
    • Southeast Asia

    Cause and effect: The right security architecture for the Indo-Pacific

    Ian Storey
    Limitations in the established rules and forums have led the region to innovate.
  • 4 Apr 2022
    • Defence & Security
    • United States
    • Australia
    • India
    • United Kingdom

    AUKUS can be a good platform for cooperation with India

    David Brewster
    And it wouldn’t be the first time the partners had worked together, either.
  • 31 Mar 2022
    • Defence & Security
    • Maritime Security

    Order at sea: Southeast Asia’s maritime security

    Geoffrey Till
    Regional capacity building and the maintenance of good order in its waters are vital for the region’s ongoing stability.
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