As the hawks who have been lying about the U.S. invasion and occupation of Afghanistan for two decades continue to peddle fantasies in the midst of a Taliban takeover and American evacuation of Kabul, progressive critics on Tuesday reminded the world who has benefited from the “endless war.”
Category: Defence
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The Failure of the American War Machine
The American War Machine (AWM) is big and brassy. Sound and light, chest-thumping, shock and awe. It is an extension of the American psyche.
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Too little, too late: Morrison’s Afghanistan failures
‘Too little, too late’ is one of the Morrison Government’s defining characteristics.
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After Kabul – a great opportunity for Australia
Our “great and powerful friend’, the United States of America, has suffered another humiliating defeat, this time in Afghanistan. In fact, the USA hasn’t won a single war in which it has participated for more than 75 years – since the WW2 conflict with Japan, concluded in 1945.
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Another bright shining lie: the ADF and Afghanistan
It was the celebrated American war correspondent Neil Sheehan who used the term “a bright shining lie” to characterise the profoundly corrupt nature – moral, political, social, intellectual, strategic, military, religious – of the US’s (and, by association, Australia’s) disastrous invasion of Vietnam. (more…)
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Lessons from the winds of war?
“Peace, if it ever exists, will not be based on the fear of war, but on the love of peace.
It will not be the abstaining from an act, but the coming of a state of mind”
Herman Wouk, The Winds of War
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Time for facts on Afghanistan, not platitudes and propaganda
Facing the all too predictable chaos left behind by yet another unnecessary Australian military adventure, the prime minister mouthed insulting platitudes about ‘freedom’ and sought propaganda value about no member of the military dying in vain. Such remarks display historical ignorance as well as insensitivity.
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The US disaster in Afghanistan and the growing influence of Russia and China
Afghanistan’s economic and social reconstruction could be swift, provided it is not handicapped by continuing Western interventions.
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Afghanistan is a warning for all US allies
As an ally of the US Australia should be reflecting deeply on America’s third major postwar strategic fiasco. The US military has brought overwhelming military power and technological sophistication to major defeats in Vietnam, Iraq, and now Afghanistan. In each, the allies have been let down or suffered. (more…)
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Afghanistan is gone, what comes next?
After Vietnam, and the Chinese civil war that preceded it, we assumed that the lessons had been learned – that a rural-based guerrilla movement facing a corrupt government can prevail provided it has leadership and an ideology to cling to. -
US defeat again and too little, too late by Australia.
The Taliban over-ran Kabul last night. They had been speedily advancing throughout Afghanistan for weeks. Despite the US spending trillions of dollars training and equipping the Afghan army it collapsed almost overnight due to corruption and poor morale. (more…)
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How Washington co-opts Hollywood and the news media
Latest exposé of Pentagon documents show how Washington manipulates an ostensibly free and independent media industry. (more…)
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ASPI’s proposal to further militarise and securitise the University. Part 2
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s recent proposal to enrol the science, technology, engineering and mathematics areas of the research universities as part of a national security establishment along the lines overseen by the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency is a regrettable initiative. (more…)
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ASPI’s proposal to further militarise and securitise the university – Part 1
It is now unambiguously clear that certain influential centres of government advice and government policy hold the university-as-institution in contempt. (more…)
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The Marines in Darwin, the governments dereliction, and sexual assault: predictability all round
The Australian Government needs to reassess its agreement that allows the US Marines to “rotate” through Darwin, especially in the light of the expansionist nature of this agreement. The cause is straightforward: sexual harassment, sexual assault, and rape against female members of the Australian Defence Force. And these occur at a time when such offences have reached epidemic proportions in the US and Congress has mandated radical reforms. (more…)
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Commemoration is the second casualty of war
The Australian Government is very, very slow to address veterans’ problems – witness the tardiness on the veterans’ suicide issue – yet it is always quick off the mark to dream up some new commemoration of conflict. (more…)
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ASPI outsourcing our defence policy to the gun runners!
Australia’s strategic policy discourse takes place in a fog of claims about risk and the warning time, while the key issues are the balance and trajectory of military forces in the Asia Pacific and the strategic interests of the regional states. Recent exhortations to urgent actions and radical defence reforms are alarmist and confused, and are being used to promote the outsourcing defence policy. (more…)
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The right reasons for saying no to nuclear first use
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Australian Government must ensure cases of sexual assault against Australian women by U.S. marines in NT are investigated thoroughly and the perpetrators face Australian courts
SBS News has uncovered three cases of sexual harassment/assault on women in the NT by U.S. marines. The cases have not been thoroughly investigated and there has been no trials in Australian courts. The Australian Government’s SOFA Treaty with the United States Government gives Australian authorities the right and duty to deal with such alleged assaults by U.S. marines in Australian Courts. The Australian Government should ensure this is done.
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ASPI, AZERIs, the ADF, and the Defence hierarchy
ASPI’s Michael Shoebridge’s criticism of the professionalism and competency of the Defence hierarchy is serious. He paints the military and civilian hierarchy in Defence as hidebound, and infers they are placing service personnel and the nation’s security at risk. His analysis, however, displays a surprising degree of unfamiliarity with military affairs, and does not support his grave assertion. (more…)
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Japan is tempting fate by joining the US-led anti-China coalition
War between China and the US is not inevitable. But it is becoming increasingly likely – and Japan’s actions could be the trigger. Japan and its US backers should not tempt fate. (more…)
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Public service or politics?
Senior public servants are only as good as the leadership provided by politicians working in the national interest. With appropriate checks, balances and protections in place, senior public servants should be able to give the frank and fearless advice required of their position and as set out in law. (more…)
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What are hostilities if not war?
Rarely is the United States not at war. Trump didn’t start any wars, but he didn’t end any either. Biden is keeping America’s enemies and adding new ones. Congressional control over how the US goes to war and what it’s called has again become a pressing issue. (more…)
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Afghanistan: The graveyard of empires was one of the greatest follies of US foreign policy.
The US-led war in Afghanistan looks to be ending, and not a day too soon. America’s father, Benjamin Franklin, wisely wrote: “No good war; no bad peace.” Yet for 20 years, the United States waged all-out war against this small, remote, impoverished state whose only weapons were old AK47 rifles and the boundless courage of its fierce people. (more…)
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Biden promised diplomacy, but he’s overseeing military buildup against China
Shortly after Joe Biden took office, the president delivered a speech at the U.S. Department of State, declaring, “I want the world to hear today: America is back…. Diplomacy is back at the center of our foreign policy…. By leading with diplomacy, we must also mean engaging our adversaries and our competitors diplomatically, where it’s in our interest, and advance the security of the American people.” Instead of de-escalation with China, we are witnessing an enormous U.S. military buildup through massive military exercises in the Pacific. (more…)
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Australia’s alliance with the United States: passed its use by date
Australia’s alliance with the United States has become an unthinking custom and practice. It has already cost us dearly in both blood and treasure with little to show for it. It is time to look at the alternatives.
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Qui custodiet ipsos custodes? Counting down to the 1956 Melbourne Olympics
In April 1949 Chifley agreed to host the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, the first time they were held in the southern hemisphere. Six months later, within days of returning to office as Prime Minister, Menzies agreed in principle to UK atomic weapons testing in Australia. Thirty kilotons were detonated at Maralinga in the three months before the Games opened. How was that allowed to happen? (more…)
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Australia’s strategic conundrum-Is America declining?
Jon Stanford and Hans Ohff criticise the ADF for “[P]lanning for the last war rather than the next”. Yet, their plan returns to a simplistic defence of Australia scenario from the 1980s. Nevertheless, their recent piece in ASPI’s Strategist blog (republished in P&I) provides an entrée to the related conundrums facing Australia’s strategic policy; the decline of US power and the circumstances under which Australia might come under direct threat. (more…)
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Why is Australia still investing in a balanced defence force?
When the Prime Minister recently compared Australia’s strategic situation to that in 1939, he was right in two respects. Both in 1939 and in 2021, we have put too much trust in a ‘great and powerful friend’ to secure our independence. Australia’s problem is a Defence department that, simply put, lacks foresight, resourcefulness and innovation. (more…)
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A refection on our engagement in Afghanistan – echoes of Vietnam;
As Australian troops pull out of their twenty year engagement in Afghanistan, I find myself reflecting on the similarities of the outcome of this conflict and the war that I served in- Vietnam, half a century ago.
