Even the most ardent supporters of the alliance with the United States — the notional foundation of Australian security for more than 70 years — must be having some misgivings about the second coming of Donald Trump. (more…)
Category: Defence
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Not yet born: America at the crossroads
On a threatening June evening, America’s army turned 250 and put on a show that revealed more than it intended. (more…)
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Australia: A sovereign continent not for Marles to gift away
Yesterday’s statement by Defence Minister Richard Marles that Australia’s geography and continent would be crucial to any United States prosecution of a war against China will go down as a dark moment in Australia’s history. (more…)
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Hugh White: Why the AUKUS ‘dream’ was never realistic and is likely to die
The first clear sign the Trump administration was taking a long hard look at AUKUS came two weeks ago, when US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth gave his first major speech on US strategic policy in Asia at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. (more…)
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The illegal attack on Iran
Israel’s consistent attacks on Iran since 2023 have all been illegal, violations of the United Nations Charter (1945). (more…)
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Nuclear subs taking on water
There is every reason for Australia to jump on board the idea of having a review of its AUKUS defence policy. (more…)
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Is Marles the right fit for defence?
P&I readers don’t need to be told that Defence Minister Richard Marles is floundering when trying to make security links with Indonesia seem as though they’ve “never been in better shape”. (more…)
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Misgivings in the heart of the defence state
On a quiet Wednesday night in Adelaide recently about 50 people met in a church hall to share concerns about the militarisation of their schools and universities. (more…)
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Australia’s dependence on the US does not end with Trump
Malcolm Turnbull’s recent Foreign Affairs essay, America’s Allies Must Save Themselves, is a good intervention in the debate about Donald Trump’s impact on global order. (more…)
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Why Australia needs a defence minister
The Virgina class submarine has been repurposed since the Republicans took the White House. So, Australia’s biggest ever military project has entered another stratosphere of farce. (more…)
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Perhaps Marles should ask the US why it is building up forces around China
It now seems taken for granted that Australia needs to spend a lot more on its military. (more…)
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Israel’s attack on Iran: Nothing good will come of it
Israel has been itching for years to attack Iran, citing its nuclear facilities as an existential threat. (more…)
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Reflections on Ukraine’s ‘Spider Web’ and other attacks on Russia: why the euphoria?
Reports by invested parties of battlefield success in most wars — and the war between Russian and Ukraine is an exemplary case — are best read when accompanied by the aphorism of the ancient Greek tragic dramatist, Aeschylus — in war, truth is the first casualty — and then following the unfolding of Newton’s 3rd Law as applied to war reportage: every claim is met with a counter-claim until something resembling an account corresponding to observable facts emerges. This, almost without exception, reduces the original version to an ambitious fable. (more…)
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AUKUS: America saving us from ourselves
The decision by the United States to initiate a review of the AUKUS agreement might very well be the moment Washington saves Australia from itself. Saving us from the most poorly conceived defence procurement program ever adopted by an Australian Government. (more…)
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Two remote islands with a common purpose
After a decades-long fight, Prime Minister Starmer in late May gave up Britain’s possession of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean, while Australia keeps the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, our most distant Indian Ocean territory. The United States military has continuing use of both. (more…)
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Hugh White and our post-American future
In his new Quarterly Essay, Hard New World, Hugh White delivers a devastating attack on Australia’s current defence policies. (more…)
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Chinese flotilla fallout still has some attempting a beat-up
There is little or no evidence that China poses a direct military threat to Australia. However, the Sinophobes among political ranks and the commentariat are trying to ensure that Beijing will treat Canberra as a hostile entity. (more…)
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US unlikely to be able to hold its own against China
Were the US to come up against China in a war in the Pacific, indications are that Washington would have the worse of the exchanges. (more…)
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The Hegseth directive: Australia, spend more!
Australia’s obsequiousness before US power was again on show at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a security forum convened by the International Institute for Strategic Studies to discuss matters relevant to the Indo-Pacific. (more…)
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Friday essay: let’s rethink Australia’s national security – and focus on fairness and climate action, not blind fealty to the US
The change in the US after Donald Trump returned to power should make us think deeply whether Washington’s aims and policies will offer us the security we need.
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Chinese jet shoots down France’s best fighter. NZ and Australia should pay attention
For the first time in history, the US and the Western world face a genuine peer competitor in China.
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New Zealand cribbed Australian defence documents
New Zealand officials drew heavily on Australian defence documents to produce the 2025 Defence Capability Plan, which indicates the country’s intended military acquisitions and development for the next 15 years. (more…)
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In memory of the Marshall Plan – a primer for Gen Z
The attack on Pearl Harbour led to an enormous volume of United States resources being committed to the war against Nazi Germany. (more…)
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Danger: Global security is now in the hands of Trump, Rubio and Hegseth
The United States is a national security state. Over the past half-century, it has unnecessarily conducted “forever wars” in Vietnam (1960s-1970s), Iraq (2000s-the present), Afghanistan (2000s-2020), and now possibly in Yemen. (more…)
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Four World War II myths: Ignoring China, downplaying Russia’s role
As the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II approaches in 2025, the vital contributions of China and Russia remain largely overlooked by the West, just as they have always been. (more…)
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Brave new world
As Australia’s newly elected government seeks to navigate the shoals of President Donald Trump’s new world after the election on 3 May, it will behove us to think beyond our tariff concerns and AUKUS and focus on Southeast Asia. (more…)
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Kate Grenville’s questions about our 5000 war memorials
Now that Anzac Day is done and dusted for another year, it’s time to look at Australia’s continuing war obsession from a different angle. The late distinguished historian, Ken Inglis, estimated there are between 4000 and 5000 war memorials in Australia. They are in large cities, suburbs, regional towns and villages, and on crossroads where villages once stood. (more…)
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Sustaining hope when war is normalised
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No, it is not time for Australia to acquire its own nuclear weapons
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Only a third of Australians support increasing defence spending: new research
National security issues have been a constant feature of this federal election campaign. (more…)