by Graeme Dobell | Jun 29, 2026 | Featured, Policy
The mail arrives, yet the world spins awry. The global rules-based order, which has underpinned Australia’s security and prosperity for decades, is in transition. The end state is difficult to predict. While there will be elements of continuity, the coming decade will...
by Ewen Levick | Jun 22, 2026 | AUKUS, Defence Budget, Featured, Strategy & Capability
Three months ago, I asked how many American nuclear-powered submarines it would take to open the Strait of Hormuz. For the record, the US has around 52. Some called this question ridiculous. It seems the point flew over their heads. Of course the question is...
by Marcus Hellyer and Michael Shoebridge | Jun 21, 2026 | AUKUS, China, Featured, Podcasts, Policy
Unaccountable rises: A Defence leadership Trifecta | RSS.com Marcus and Michael each pick their three stand out takeaways from Australian Defence officials testimony about delivery and performance to the Parliament. It’s hard to pick winners in a field like...
by Graeme Dobell and Marcus Hellyer | Jun 15, 2026 | China, Featured, Indo Pacific, Podcasts, Policy, Strategy & Capability
America in Asia: a very different Hegesth to 2025 | RSS.com In Grumpy Strategists episode 74, Marcus talks to SAA’s man in Singapore, Graeme Dobell, about the dynamics and developments on show at the annual Defence ministers’ gathering in Singapore’s...
by Graeme Dobell | Jun 9, 2026 | China, Featured, Indo Pacific, Policy, Strategy & Capability
“The situation of our time Surrounds us like a baffling crime. There lies the body half-undressed, Until the mystery is solved And under lock and key the cause That makes a nonsense of our laws.” W.H.Auden, January 1, 1940 A mystery of our time is what the United...
by Graeme Dobell | Jun 5, 2026 | China, Featured, Indo Pacific
“The Asia-Pacific can no longer be classified as fully at peace.” from IISS’ Asia-Pacific Regional Security Assessment 2026 That Asia is no longer fully at peace is the first sentence in the annual security report by the International...
by Marcus Hellyer and Michael Shoebridge | Jun 4, 2026 | AUKUS, Featured, Podcasts, Strategy & Capability
Retreat from Singapore: Richard Marles succeeds in | RSS.com In history, a retreat from Singapore can have hairs all over it, but Richard Marles has turned that around, as the Grumpy Strategists unpack the events at Singapore’s Shangri-La dialogue. There, Mr...
by Graeme Dobell | Jun 4, 2026 | AUKUS, Featured, Indo Pacific, Policy
Maritime matters sailed through the heart of the Shangri-La dialogue, run by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, but the announceables were all at sea. Call it the horror-of-Hormuz effect: when normal ocean traffic is cut, normal life on land suffers....
by Michael Shoebridge | Jun 3, 2026 | AUKUS, Featured, Strategy & Capability
Black is white and up is down. There’s a reason Australians are losing trust in their government and in public officials, and it’s been on display in the unhappy land of submarines and our Defence department. In just a few weeks, we’ve had two major U-turns on what...
by Graeme Dobell | Jun 1, 2026 | Defence Budget, Featured, Indo Pacific, Policy
Australia has just been touched by an old alliance habit—the kick from Washington for being a military freeloader. The free rider whack was one of only two references to Australia made by the US Secretary for War, Pete Hegseth, on stage at Singapore’s Shangri-La...
