FEATURED ARTICLES
Deceased estate: Oz Defence sells the silver to fund poor lifestyle choices, & US obliterating Iranian nukes (again).
by Marcus Hellyer and Michael Shoebridge | Feb 5, 2026
Deceased estate: Oz Defence sells the silver to fu | RSS.com The Grumpy Strategists look at the recent 'historic" plan for Australia's Defence real estate (okay, a shameless Government asset sale of historic sites to perhaps produce a one-off cash...
Penguins, not principles, key to Australia’s Trump management – & Ozzie maritime strategy tied to a collapsing US Navy
by Marcus Hellyer and Michael Shoebridge | Jan 21, 2026
Penguins, not principles, key to Australia's Trump | RSS.com Marcus & Michael pull together a deal Australian PM Albanese can offer to his great & powerful pal, US President Trump, at his first meeting of the Board of Peace, with lessons in...
Trump shows what coercing the neighbourhood looks like
by Michael Shoebridge | Jan 5, 2026
Donald Trump ordered the US military and CIA to abduct Venezuela’s president Maduro and his wife - and in a stunning raid against the Venezuelan capital, the US military did just that. It was a confronting use of military force by America...
Trump’s edifice complex gets Grumpy, & 2025 strategic & Aussie military takeaways
by Marcus Hellyer and Michael Shoebridge | Dec 22, 2025
Trump's edifice complex gets Grumpy, & 2025 strate | RSS.com What's in a name? The Trumpy Strategists Bunker showcases the direction of Australian policy in 2025, while the Grumpies ponder MAGA tensions from Turning Point USA to Susie Wiles' cry for...
AUKUS gets steamy, while even cherrypicking can’t make the US National Security Strategy good news
by Marcus Hellyer and Michael Shoebridge | Dec 12, 2025
AUKUS gets steamy, & cherrypicking can't make the | RSS.com Well, well, well. the Pentagon's AUKUS review is out - well, actually under lock and key, but apparently its' great news that is about "strengthening" AUKUS. Hard to know how something that...
The hunt for Defence reform downunder: Mr Conroy & the Yeti. And the mystery of sea control with a tiny fleet
by Marcus Hellyer and Michael Shoebridge | Dec 6, 2025
The hunt for Defence reform downunder: Mr Conroy & | RSS.com Marcus & his fellow SES emergency volunteers hunt for the "Biggest Defence Overhaul in 50 years" somewhere deep in the Brindabellas (WARNING: parts of this episode contain disturbing...
A democratic lockdown fit for an authoritarian & marking Defence’s Annual Report homework Part 1
by Marcus Hellyer and Michael Shoebridge | Dec 2, 2025
A democratic lockdown fit for an authoritarian & m | RSS.com The Grumpies broadcast from Australia's Parliament House while admiring the Government's lockdown of our democracy's capitol to make a visiting Chinese Communist Party member feel right at...
Australian industry gets more Aussie, while Australia writes defence cheques it can’t cash
by Michael Shoebridge | Nov 19, 2025
Australian industry gets more Aussie, while Austra | RSS.com Marcus and Michael pursue littoral dominance in Canberra's Lake Burley-Griffin while pondering the Australian Government's new definition of Australian industry, and PM Albanese's defence...
Trump’s Asia Tour: Crowned with success – and stalemated. And ‘Nuclear Submarines For EVERYONE!!!!’
by Marcus Hellyer and Michael Shoebridge | Nov 7, 2025
Trump 's Asia Tour; Crowned with success - and sta | RSS.com The Grumpies consider the net effect of US President Trump's Asia tour, and are outraged he was gifted a REPLICA crown. They examine the idea of South Korea building nuclear submarines,...
Albanese meets Trump: champagne all round – but a harder meeting would’ve been better for Australian security & the alliance
by Marcus Hellyer and Michael Shoebridge | Oct 24, 2025
Albanese meets Trump: champagne all round - but a | RSS.com The Grump Strategists move back into their renovated bunker deep in the Brindabellas and assess the finely managed Albanese-Trump meeting. Full marks to PM Albanese and Ambassador Rudd for...
Australian government prefers talking about defence funding over actually spending more.
by Marcus Hellyer | Oct 17, 2025
The Trump administration has been calling on its partners and allies to lift defence spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP. NATO has agreed to that benchmark, with another 1.5 per cent thrown in for vaguely defined national resilience and critical...
The legalities and politics of the Sumud Flotilla to Gaza
by Greg Rose | Oct 13, 2025
In the Mediterranean Sea, on Thursday 2 October 2025, the Israeli Navy intercepted a 45-boat ‘Sumud Flotilla’ that sailed from Spain intending to breach Israel’s blockade on Hamas in Gaza. The flotilla was an expensive expression of confrontational...
Having finally signed treaty, Australia must strengthen PNG defences
by Anthony Bergin | Oct 9, 2025
Recruitment in the region sits comfortably with the goal of security integration with Canberra, at a pace and scale welcomed by Pacific Island countries. on Monday, Anthony Albanese and PNG Prime Minister James Marape will sign amutual defence...
Sovereignty costs. If you won’t pay for it, you don’t have it
by Graeme Dunk | Sep 29, 2025
Sovereignty was once, fleetingly, the poster child of Australian defence policy and pronouncements. While it continues to be mentioned, it’s now in such a vague and superficial way that it has been emptied of meaning. This is a mistake. Sovereignty...
Albanese-Trump meeting: PM advised to lead with fact we are a strong and capable military ally
by Peter Jennings | Sep 29, 2025
If Anthony Albanese wants to avoid being berated by Donald Trump or JD Vance about how little Australia spends on defence, he should go to Washington with a list of proposals to expand alliance co-operation. President Donald Trump has emerged the...
Episode 50: With friends like this…& Why spend real money on defence when you can just seem to?
by Marcus Hellyer and Michael Shoebridge | Sep 24, 2025
Episode 50: With friends like this...& Why spend r | RSS.com Marcus is back from Australia's croc-filled Outback. He catches up with Michael on global events: America's end to a Baltic states security initiative and the Trump Administrations' prep...
Beijing is running rings around us in Pacific
by Peter Jennings | Sep 21, 2025
The Albanese government’s failure to conclude security treaties with Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu shows the hollowness of Australian foreign policy in the Pacific. Not finalising these deals is the result of insufficient diplomatic engagement, a lack...
The Trump-Albanese meeting: Good news – he’s just not that into us
by Michael Shoebridge | Sep 19, 2025
In the beating heart of this nation’s capital, Canberra, many of us have been thinking and rethinking about the Australia-US alliance and the AUKUS sub deal that is now so central to it. We’re reaching a crescendo as the long-awaited, much...
The contribution to peace Albanese could make at the UN
by Mike Kelly and Anthony Bergin | Sep 19, 2025
Anthony Albanese will be in New York next week to participate in a high-level meeting to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the UN. One of those sessions will be dedicated to the “Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State...
Team Albanese works hard to make Australia’s Defence budget LOOK ‘bigglier’
by Michael Shoebridge | Sep 15, 2025
Mr Albanese has two choices on Australian defence spending as he prepares to meet US President Donald Trump in New York (hopefully, perhaps). He can increase Australia’s defence budget from its current 2 per cent share of GDP to somewhere...
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