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 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 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...
by Peter Jennings | Aug 29, 2025 | AUKUS, Defence Budget
What’s the rush, Richard Marles, sorry, Deputy Prime Minister? You and your government have been telling us for months that the Trump administration’s review of AUKUS is nothing to worry about. Now we have a trip organised so hastily that you missed the start of a...
by Peter Jennings | Jun 3, 2025 | Defence Budget, Indo Pacific, Strategy & Capability
Pete Hegseth, the tough-talking US Secretary of Defence, has “conveyed” to Richard Marles “that Australia should increase its defence spending to 3.5 per cent of its GDP as soon as possible”. A “readout” of this meeting was released by the US Department of...
