by Michael Shoebridge | Jul 2, 2025 | AUKUS, China, Defence Budget, Indo Pacific
Beijing’s representative in Australia, Ambassador Xiao Qian, has just spent 900 words in an article this week telling us we should not spend more on defence because he says so and because China is no threat. But in all his words the ambassador fails to mention...
by Michael Shoebridge | Jun 28, 2025 | Defence Budget, Europe, Policy
Why didn’t Richard Marles explain to Donald Trump and the other 31 leaders of NATO nations that they don’t need to invest more in their nations’ defence to deal with an aggressive Russia enabled by China? Instead, they only need to focus on the quality of their...
by Michael Shoebridge | Jun 24, 2025 | AUKUS, China, Defence Budget, Indo Pacific, Policy
The Albanese government’s relationship with the US Trump Administration is a mix of contradictions–needy, dismissive and critical. It’s hard to see this as working well for either nation right now, and the US probably cares less about this than we do. The personality...
by Michael Shoebridge | Jun 23, 2025 | AUKUS, Policy, Strategy & Capability
The Albanese government is finding it hard to come to terms with the way the world works now and that’s particularly obvious in its approach to Washington under Trump. But it’s also means the government is caught flatfooted when important things happen – like...
by Peter Jennings | Jun 20, 2025 | AUKUS, Defence Budget, Policy
The coming week may be the most important yet in Donald Trump’s presidency. It will be the decisive moment for a US military strike on Iran’s deeply buried nuclear facilities. Or not: Trump may choose to hold fire. On that decision hangs the tenuous future of Iran’s...
