Despite celebrating 12 months of surviving the Russian onslaught, promises of more money and military equipment (including tanks) from the West, and a chorus of support for the courage and resilience of the people, the war appears almost over for Ukraine. (more…)
Category: Defence
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All over bar the shouting: the inevitability of a submarine farce
The AUKUS submarine fetish has colonised the minds of the Labor ministers and ejected practical commonsense. (more…)
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Nuclear armament is a lose-lose-lose for South Korea
The path toward acquiring nuclear weapons could jeopardise Korea’s survival, endanger its prosperity, and damage its prestige in the international community. (more…)
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Time for the West to rethink goal of total defeat for Russia in Ukraine
As the war drags on, sympathy is growing for Russia as the underdog fighting the behemoth North American and EU economies. The West would get more support for its cause in Ukraine if it is seen to be pushing for either a peace proposal or a fair compromise on Ukraine. (more…)
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Richard Marles and the betrayal of Australian sovereignty
It’s clear that Australian sovereignty is being seriously, perhaps fatally, imperilled by the policies of successive Australian governments populated by Australians with divided loyalties. (more…)
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SSNs for the RAN: A response to Brian Toohey
Brian Toohey (Pearls and Irritations, 14 February 2023) makes a number of criticisms of the recent four-part series on national security by Michael Keating and myself that was published in Pearls and Irritations earlier this month. He contends that we have made “assertions that should not go unchallenged”, particularly in regard to our support for the acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines (SSNs) by the RAN. (more…)
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Defence strategy, climate change and the need for AUKUS in 2050
The AUKUS deal for nuclear submarines by 2050 indicates that government has little grasp of the likely chaotic state of the world after current trajectories on climate and environmental change have played out for the next 27 years. In turn this engenders insecurity over their knowledge and ability to deliver appropriate policies on these threats. (more…)
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Yemeni officials assess damage to ancient sites bombed by Saudi-led coalition
The Saudi-led coalition and its allies on the ground have been accused of systematically targeting Yemen’s cultural heritage through indiscriminate strikes and looting campaigns. (more…)
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The death of Australian sovereignty?
The Force Posture Agreement (FPA) clearly removes Australian sovereignty over what weapons may be launched or fired from this country by US Armed Forces. Even though the fiction is being peddled that this will occur at “Australian facilities”, the stark reality is that they are US bases under US control. (more…)
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Your atrocity is worse than my atrocity – A reply to Richard Cribb
The ‘your atrocity is worse than my atrocity’ argument at the core of Richard Cribb’s response to Richard Culllen over Japan needs to be handled with care. (more…)
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The “little Americans” that populate Australia
Greg Sheridan, in his opinion piece of Tuesday 21 February, provides yet another display of his spiteful, vacuous journalism – his erroneous claims that I am not the progenitor of the APEC Leaders’ Meeting, and that my views on Australian strategic policy are eccentric and at odds with the US alliance. (more…)
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Arms control: the only road to peace
The world was a very dangerous place in the late 1960s. It is again. This time the danger is in Asia as well as Europe, as highlighted by John Lyons’s recent two-part series on the ABC. (more…)
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Sanitising the unforgettable
I hope this article will turn out to be a short communication because my hand trembles with indignation as I write. I refer to the article “Why history does not disqualify Japan as an ally: a reply to Richard Cullen” by Robert Cribb Feb 21, 2023. (more…)
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China war pornography and hypoxia: Anticipating the Defence Strategic Review
Many government reviews or reports are leaked in part for reasons of bureaucratic politics and the Defence Strategic Review (DSR) is no exception. (more…)
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What are the possible endgames in the Ukraine war?
Prudent nations would do well to prepare for peace even in the midst of an armed conflict. (more…)
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‘Defence’ as an Australian paradox: explaining veteran suicides
It is absolutely essential that society inquiries into the fate of Australia’s war veterans. There are many reasons for our failure to rehabilitate veterans successfully, but unless we confront the nature of military activity, such investigations will remain superficial. (more…)
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Russia and China draw ‘Red Lines’ on their borders; US draws them on the other side of the planet
Reacting to China’s announcement that it will be putting forward a proposal for a political settlement to end the war in Ukraine, the US ambassador to the United Nations said that if China begins arming Russia in that conflict this will be a “red line” for the United States. (more…)
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Don’t ask the government about the next war
This is war protest month, with more to follow. Will efforts against the Iraq war, that failed twenty years ago this week, succeed in heading off the next one? (more…)
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The West’s grand Illusions in Ukraine
The Grand Illusions of the leaders of Western Democracies are crashing to defeat in Ukraine. (more…)
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When will it ever end?
Every time we Palestinians, despite all the compromises we offer, try to gain a modicum of justice we find not only is it denied to us, but that we are the ones to blame for this lack of progress for a peaceful co-existence with our occupiers.
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What would war with China look like for Australia? Part 2
Australians could wake up one morning to the news that we are at war with China. (more…)
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What would war with China look like for Australia? Part 1
If Australia sleepwalks into a war with China, as many analysts fear is happening right now, then amid our strategic slumber we should at least ask one question: what would war with China mean for Australia? (more…)
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Fighting to the last Ukrainian
On Tuesday, General Mark Milley, chair of the American joint chiefs of staff declared, in effect, that Russian had been militarily defeated in Ukraine. Russia, he said, was now a global pariah, and the world remained inspired by Ukrainian bravery and resilience. (more…)
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Why history does not disqualify Japan as an ally: a reply to Richard Cullen
Richard Cullen’s article, ‘Why Japan is not an acceptable military ally’, published in Pearls and Irritations (5 Jan. 2023) is an unfortunate piece of historical muck-raking. (more…)
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War: truly the last resort for Australians?
If war is the last resort, why doesn’t our governance system enforce that condition? Will our War Powers be reformed in 2023? (more…)
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How can this be happening?
The first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine approaches. No direct dialogue has yet been established between the warring parties. Just more hostility. More weapons, always more weapons and therefore more dead people. (more…)
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We must address the alarming rates of female veteran suicide
This article discusses suicide.
It was 10 years ago that then Chief of Army, Lieutenant General Morrison AO gave his famous speech in support of service women, (written mostly by Catherine McGregor AM). (more…)
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The Abdication of Australian Sovereignty
Reducing the risk of Australia becoming trapped in an American war in Asia, again, requires the Australian government to give notice now to the United States that it wishes to withdraw from the Force Posture Agreement. (more…)
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Willing servant: Australia’s acceptance of US nuclear ambiguity
The AUKUS alliance is increasingly adopting a nuclear tone. First came the promise to furnish Australia with nuclear powered submarines, absent nuclear weapons, a point that did not dissuade critics such as Indonesia. Then came the announcement to deploy six B-52 bombers to the Northern Territory’s Tindal airbase, south of Darwin, an exercise underwritten by the Pentagon. (more…)
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Marcos beware: US militarisation of the Philippines endangers regional peace and stability
When Ferdinand E Marcos was elected the 10th president of the Philippines in 1965, it was with the support of the United States. Laudatory articles about him appeared in the American media, and the US vice president, Hubert Humphrey, attended his inauguration. The US saw him as an amenable politician who was also popular, although it miscalculated in considering him a puppet. (more…)