Privileged people trying to save the world shouldn’t be dismissed as bourgeois virtue signalling. There are worse things to signal and it could make a difference. (more…)
Mark Beeson
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Losing my religion
Theology has long been used to justify war. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, it’s happening again in the Middle East. (more…)
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The razing of the Warsaw Ghetto: Are our leaders incapable of learning from history?
If we are looking for historical parallels to the current destruction in Palestine, then the razing of the Warsaw Ghetto by the Nazis is unfortunately one that comes readily to mind. While we would all agree that this was appalling, inhuman and unfathomable, is blowing women and children to pieces in Gaza any less so? (more…)
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Australia and the US: Breaking up is hard to do
I don’t think it’s too controversial or anti-American to suggest that our long-term strategic partner has been having a few issues lately. We may have grown used to people in the US shooting each other in large numbers, taking too many drugs, and generally over-indulging in self-destructive and planet destroying ways, but we still expected them to be democratic. (more…)
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As good as it ever got? Hurtling towards the environmental abyss
As we collectively hurtle toward the environmental abyss, it’s worth asking whether we have definitively passed the highwater mark of human development. If so, should baby boomers be wracked with guilt about their entirely underserved good fortune and failure to avert the imminent crisis? The answer to both questions is probably yes. (more…)
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Inside the AUKUS bubble
UWA Defence and Security Institute’s Masterclass Series AUKUS: Pillar 1 provided an illuminating insight into what some of our brightest and best think about national security and how to achieve it. The net effect was profoundly depressing and unsettling. (more…)
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Australian foreign policy is traditionally hitched to the US – but the rise of China requires a middle path for a middle power
Few nation-states have been shaped by their underlying physical geography and location in the world quite as much as Australia. (more…)
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AUKUS: Paul Monk praises elitism, derides Australia’s vibrant civil society
In an opinion piece published in The Weekend Australian (10 June 2023), Paul Monk offers his response to critics of the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine agreement. A central focus of his critique is this open letter signed by more than 100 academics. As two of the principal co-authors of the letter, we requested a right of reply, but received no response from The Australian’s Opinion Editor. The following is our rebuttal to Monk’s criticisms of the letter. (more…)
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All’s not quiet on the home front
Labor’s ability to seamlessly follow in the Coalition’s strategic footsteps is showing welcome signs of weakening as opponents of AUKUS and the submarine deal find their voice. (more…)
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An open letter to Mark McGowan
WA premier Mark McGowan was rightly popular and admired as a consequence of his leadership, especially during the Covid crisis. Now he has a real opportunity to make an even more important contribution beyond state borders. (more…)
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Harbinger: US allies low priorities amidst America’s poisonous politics
Joe Biden isn’t coming to Australia. The good news is he hasn’t had a senior moment and forgotten all about an appointment with another interchangeable ‘fella down under’. The bad news is that the United States’ increasingly poisonous domestic politics and crises take priority over everything else, including the long-term security of the Indo-Pacific. (more…)
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Australia’s special responsibilities
Do some states have ‘special responsibilities’ or obligations to help solve collective action problems as a consequence of their position in the international system? Australia should. (more…)
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What’s the point of the Australian Labor Party?
The ALP seems intent on abandoning progressive policies and turning itself into a competent version of the Coalition. This is not good for them, our collective future, or democracy. (more…)
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Strategic culture and the AUKUS echo chamber
Despite some brilliant analyses of the AUKUS agreement from credible and informed commentators, it is hard for critics to get a hearing, much less influence policy. (more…)
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Environmental apocalypse? Don’t blame us
Like the environment itself, discussions of our collective future are becoming heated. They are also contradictory, polarised and – in my case, at least – increasingly pessimistic. (more…)
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China, UK leadership transitions illustrate how the world has changed
The leadership transitions in China and the UK shed an illuminating light on their very different political systems. (more…)
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The Defence Strategic Review: How not to think about security
In both Australia and China strategic debates are dominated by specialists with similar views, a situation epitomised by the forthcoming Defence Strategic Review. A fixation with traditional threats wastes resources, increases the risk of conflict, and makes addressing the immediate danger posed by climate change even more difficult. (more…)
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Notes from Nomadia
Thousands of ‘grey Nomads’ are travelling endlessly around Australia contributing in a small way to the destruction of the very environment they apparently admire. Good luck to them. (more…)
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Rational despair and with the US almost always at war…
It’s hard to know how to respond to a situation in which you have absolutely no confidence in the intelligence, the motivations or the historical understanding of those who lead us. (more…)
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Stupid or cynical? How our leaders contribute to climate crisis
Effective leadership on climate change is in short supply. Are our leaders too stupid or too cynical to respond to the world’s greatest problem?
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Could AUKUS open a Chinese window to international leadership?
While there may still be quite a bit of debate about the strategic merits of AUKUS, there’s one thing most people agree about: China is not very happy.
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Max Suich, China and the greatest example of our diplomatic self harm
How did it come to this? How did Australia’s foreign policymakers and their advisors manage to devise policies that have simultaneously enraged our most important trade partner, and made us even more dependent on an increasingly unpredictable notional guarantor of our national security? If our political and strategic elites had intentionally set out to undermine Australia’s economic security and exacerbate existing strategic vulnerabilities they could hardly have done a better job. (more…)
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If Australia needs nukes, who doesn’t?
Sensible people are making the case for a nuclear-armed Australia. Given Australia’s other problems, the ruinous cost, and the dangers of proliferation, this is the last thing we should be considering. (more…)
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Greg Sheridan: Principles, privilege and punditry
The Australian newspaper’s foreign affairs editor Greg Sheridan epitomises the capacity columnists have to promote ideological agendas – even ones that are seemingly at odds with their professed values and beliefs. They are hardly conservative.
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2020: Apocalypse now (or next year)
2020 was an unambiguously bad year. Unfortunately it won’t be the last. Will political rhetoric eventually have to change to acknowledge this?
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China is not the urgent threat; climate change is
Spending priorities by the federal government are increasingly questionable, if not indefensible; they raise fundamental questions about the competence and intelligence of our policymaking elites. (more…)
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The perils of pedagogy
The government hates social scientists and our views often do little to improve the mental well-being of students. Should we shut up to protect our self-interest and keep our version of the truth from our students to protect them? (more…)
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Indefensible policies – Defence Strategic Update
The recently released Strategic Update may please traditional security analysts, but it won’t influence the behaviour of China or make individual Australians any safer. (more…)
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MARK BEESON. The PRC is getting harder to like, but so is the US
China’s foreign and domestic policies are getting increasingly difficult to deal with, but so are America’s. A more even-handed approach to both might make life easier for Australian policymakers. (more…)
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MARK BEESON. The blame shifter in chief
Donald Trump is notorious for trying to shift the blame for his mistakes onto others. It’s one of his most egregious failings as a leader. (more…)